On Tuesday (May 18), the Delhi police apprehended a man for threatening to upload naked videos of a 13-year-old girl on social media.
As per reports, the accused has been identified as one 21-year-old man named Mohammed Aamir. He had demanded a sum of ₹5000 from the father of the minor in exchange for not uploading her intimate videos on social media. Initially, the victim’s father gave in to his threats and transferred him ₹2000 online. However, the accused kept on threatening him to send the remaining amount.
Faced with constant intimidation, the victim’s father then filed a complaint with the Alipur police station in Delhi. The cops then initiated a probe in the case and nabbed Mohammed Aamir from Nehtaur in the Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh. DCP (Outer North) Rajiv Ranjan Singh informed that a case has been registered against the accused under Section 387 (extortion) and relevant Sections of the Prevention of Child Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
A 21-year-old man has been arrested from Nehtaur in UP’s Bijnor for extorting money from young girls and threatening to defame them with inappropriate videos. A case under Section 387 IPC & POCSO Act has been registered in this regard: Delhi Police (18.05)
Reportedly, Mohammed Aamir would befriend unknown girls on Instagram and lure them by claiming to be from a good family. He would then coerce them into sending him their nude videos. After receiving the explicit material, he would then threaten, blackmail, and extort money from the family of the girl. He used to work at a saloon in his village in Uttar Pradesh.
Major online sextortion racket busted by Delhi police
In January this year, the Cyber Cell of Delhi police unearthed a cybercrime racket that was allegedly extorting money from people on Facebook by blackmailing them. The Cyber Cell arrested six men from Bharatpur in Rajasthan who were allegedly running an online extortion racket. The culprits were identified as Waris, Rayees, Annay Khan, Wahid, Mufeed and Akram. All were residents of Bharatpur.
The culprits reportedly used to create fake profiles on Facebook and would send friend requests to unsuspecting people, their victims were mostly men over 50 who were generally active on social media. They would ask these people to talk over video calls and would show them obscene videos over video calls. While the victims watched these videos, the culprits would record them watching the videos. Later, the culprits would pose as senior officials of social media platforms and would demand money for deleting the video.
The Ministry of External Affairs has responded to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s fear mongering about ‘Singapore variant’ and said that the Delhi CM does not speak for India.
Singapore Government called in our High Commissioner today to convey strong objection to Delhi CM’s tweet on “Singapore variant”. High Commissioner clarified that Delhi CM had no competence to pronounce on Covid variants or civil aviation policy.
On Tuesday, Kejriwal had taken to Twitter to claim that a new variant of Covid-19 was found in Singapore and appealed to Indian government to shut down flights to and from Singapore to not let the ‘new variant’ reach India.
सिंगापुर में आया कोरोना का नया रूप बच्चों के लिए बेहद ख़तरनाक बताया जा रहा है, भारत में ये तीसरी लहर के रूप में आ सकता है।
केंद्र सरकार से मेरी अपील: 1. सिंगापुर के साथ हवाई सेवाएं तत्काल प्रभाव से रद्द हों 2. बच्चों के लिए भी वैक्सीन के विकल्पों पर प्राथमिकता के आधार पर काम हो
The official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs revealed that the Singapore government had called the High Commission raising a strong objection to Kejriwal’s statement.
Embarrassing not just himself but even the nation, Union Cabinet Minister Dr S Jaishankar too had to issue a clarification on Kejriwal’s unwarranted statement.
“However, irresponsible comments from those who should know better can damage long-standing partnerships. So, let me clarify- Delhi CM does not speak for India,” Jaishankar said in a Tweet.
However, irresponsible comments from those who should know better can damage long-standing partnerships.
So, let me clarify- Delhi CM does not speak for India.
Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan too took to Twitter to suggest that politicians should stick to facts and slammed Kejriwal’s statement reiterating that there is “no Singapore variant.”
In fact, the B.1617 variant of the virus was first found in India and has since spread to many countries including Singapore.
The callous attitude and ignorance by the Chief Minister has embarrassed the nation on a global platform.
Arvind Kejriwal’s tweet came at a time when India was recovering from a devastating second wave of the pandemic that has resulted in a large number of deaths compared to the first wave that ravaged the country last year. In fact, to fight the second wave, Singapore has sent medical aid including oxygen to help fight the oxygen crisis at home.
Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA and former state forest minister Umang Singhar was booked for abetment of suicide after a 40-year-old woman was found dead at his bungalow in Bhopal on Sunday.
An FIR has been registered against Umang Singhar under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code basis his recorded conversations and chat history with the woman and her son’s statement.
Madhya Pradesh: A woman allegedly died by suicide at the residence of Congress MLA Umang Singhar, in Bhopal.
ASP Bhopal Rajesh Singh Bhadoriya says, “Postmortem was done today, report awaited. Statements of her mother & son were recorded. Further investigation is underway.” pic.twitter.com/tQybrupUHg
Singhar is said to have met the widowed woman on a matrimonial site last year and got engaged to her in December 2020 while still being married to his first wife.
Additional superintendent of police (ASP) Rajesh Bhadoriya informed, “The woman had been living in the MLA’s bungalow for the past 20 days while he was visiting his assembly constituency of Gandhwani in Dhar district.”
“They met many times in Bhopal and at the woman’s hometown in Punjab in the past few months. Recently, she told her family she was in depression due to regular fights with Singhar,” the ASP added.
The body was found by the house help employed at the Congress leader’s Shahpura bungalow who informed the police immediately. A suicide note was also recovered from the woman’s articles accusing Singhar of anger issues and lack of clarity on some matters.
The statements of the house help and the woman’s mother and son have been recorded. An investigation is underway.
The son’s statement
The 20-year-old son of the woman arrived from Ambala on Monday. During a media interaction claimed that he does not fear anyone.
The boy informed the police that his widowed mother met Singhar on a matrimonial website in September last year and they decided to get married.
Singhar’s first wife
Umang Singhar’s estranged wife lives in Indore with their two sons. Sources close to Singhar revealed that the two are at loggerheads, however, the couple had not filed for a divorce.
Umang Singhar’s statement
Singhar has blamed the Bhartiya Janta Party for his private affairs. Claiming that he has lost a “dear friend”, the MLA said, “I am cooperating with the police in the investigation but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led state government is doing dirty politics on this issue.”
However, as per reports, upon realizing that a case was to be filed against him, the Congress MLA wrote a letter to IG Bhopal requesting him not to register a case against him.
Singhar in the letter claimed that he is a public representative and is busy helping the people of his constituency amidst the pandemic. He also claimed that he got to know about the suicide only through media and was unaware that his friend was reeling under stress. He also appealed that the matter should be investigated thoroughly before filing an FIR. The authenticity of the letter has not been determined.
Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra has failed to step down from the top contributor position for new Covid-19 cases for a long time. While the Maharashtra government was struggling to manage Covid-19 and reported a higher number of new cases than any other state, CM Uddhav Thackeray has not approached the PM for any support for seven months, an RTI query has revealed.
RTI was filed to CMO maharashtra seeking information on 2 points.
In an RTI filed by RTI activist Vivek Pandey, it was revealed that the Chief Minister of Maharashtra wrote a letter to PM in the last week of August 2020 and did not communicate with him until the first week of April 2021. By that time, the state was under the immense pressure of the second wave already. In between, it was the Central Government that had approached the Maharashtra Government in March 2021 to be on high alert as the state was on the brick of the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic.
What did Pandey ask in his application?
In his application, Pandey asked the government to provide an answer to two queries.
He asked for soft or hard copies of official communication between the CM of Maharashtra to Union Health Ministry seeking help for the fight against Covid-19 between July 2020 and April 2021.
He asked for soft or hard copies of letters sent by the CM of Maharashtra to the PM of India seeking help for the fight against Covid-19 between July 2020 to April 2021.
The Maharashtra government did not provide any soft or hard copies in reply to the first query about CM’s communication with Union Health Ministry. It is unclear from their reply if they had approached the Health Ministry for any support.
What did CM write in his letters to PM?
In the official communication between CM Thackeray and PM Modi, CM had asked for allocation of funds for increasing testing in the state. He said that the state had been aggressively testing for Covid-19 across 151 laboratories, and ICMR had been providing kits and consumables to the state. However, those would not be provided from September 2020 as per the circular issued by the Central Governemnt and asked to continue the support to the state.
CM asking Union Government to continue supply of kits and consumables in letter dated August 26, 2020
Silence for 7 months, then a barrage of letters after April 2021
After the letter in August, no further communication was initiated from CM’s office. Later, in April 2021, CM talked about ramping up testing and vaccination in the state. He sought more vaccine doses from the centre and thanked the centre for lowering the age limit for vaccination. He further requested the Central Government to consider lowering the age limit to 25 so that more citizens could get the vaccine shot.
CM asking to reduce age limit to 25 for getting vaccination in letter dated April 5, 2021
In the official communication on April 22, 2021, CM talked about the availability of Remdesivir injection and alleged the state was not getting the allotted quota of the medicine. He had requested the PM to ensure the state gets the injection so that lives could be saved.
CM asking PM to provide the allotted Remdesivir injections to the state in letter dated April 22, 2021
On April 30, 2021, he wrote to the PM he suggested to allow the states to have their own Covid-19 vaccination platforms where citizens could register as opening slots for the 18-45 age group would put immense pressure on Cowin servers. He also asked PM to allow the states to procure the vaccine directly from the other manufacturers.
CM asking PM to allow states to procure vaccines directly from manufacturers in letter dated April 30, 2021
Central Government’s communication with states for Covid-19 second wave
As per reports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had warned the states about the second wave of Covid-19 during six meetings. In his interactions with chief ministers, PM Modi had raised the issue of rising infections in certain parts of the country. The Prime Minister had also asked them to take measures to handle the surge, the BJP said.
When the infections started soaring again around March, heralding the onslaught of the second wave, at PM Modi’s meetings with various Chief Ministers on March 17, he had alerted them about a fresh spike in infections and had asked them to take urgent steps before it was too late.
In fact, PM Modi held six interactions with chief ministers, starting from September 23 last year till April 23 this year, to monitor the situations in the country. During such meetings, PM Modi had constantly asked Chief Ministers to focus on 60 districts with a high burden of cases and increase testing substantially.
Had blamed centre after second wave hit
It can be noted here that while CM Thackeray maintained silence over Covid preparedness, and the through the time when the Centre’s warnings of a second wave, he has sent multiple letters in April, highlighting several issues. It was the time when Maharashtra’s covid situation had worsened and the state was seeing constantly increasing Covid caseload, being India’s worst affected state.
In September 2020, the Maha government had complained that they are not getting PPEs and other medical supplies from the centre. Health minister Rajesh Tope had also stated that the Centre’s help is needed to deal with the rising caseloads in the state. PM Modi had held a special meeting with CMs of the states with biggest caseloads on September 23. Maharashtra was included.
Maharashtra government and several party leaders have also been vocal about the alleged ‘lack of support’ from the centre. As the second wave raged in Maharashtra in April, CM Uddhav Thackeray had tried to blame PM Modi again, claiming that he could not get through to PM because the latter was busy campaigning in West Bengal.
Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi had tweeted, “We will wait, Hon. PM for your election campaigning and rallies to conclude for an urgent intervention to save lives. But those who need remdesivir and Oxygen may not have the luxury of time. PS. EPIDEMIC IS AN EMERGENCY NOT THE ELECTION.”
Sena’s attempt to create a political drama was criticised by union minister Piyush Goyal, who had clarified that the centre is coordinating with state governments on a daily basis and Maharashtra has been provided the highest quantity of oxygen.
It is interesting to note that while Uddhav Thackeray and his government kept blaming the centre over the alleged lack of support, even going to the extent of petty political gimmicks and Twitter allegations, the CM had been maintaining no communication with the PM’s office all these months, right upto April 2021 when Covid’s second wave came back with a vengeance.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s decision to appoint his own son-in-law as a minister in the cabinet has now fuelled a major controversy in the southern state.
On Tuesday, the LDF-led government, which retained power in the state after winning the recently held polls, announced its new cabinet causing surprise to many. The Pinarayi Vijayan-led government decided to drop all of its ministers, including the incumbent health minister Shailaja Teacher to appoint fresh faces into his cabinet.
Among the ‘young’ fresh faces who have been appointed as the ministers are Pinarayi Vijayan’s son-in-law Mohammed Riyaz. Mohammed Riyaz, who contested and won from the Beyopre constituency was given a cabinet berth by father-in-law and CM Pinarayi Vijayan.
It is also pertinent to note that Mohammed Riyaz, who is the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) chief, has an extremely controversial past. Mohammed Riyaz, who rose through the ranks in the Left serving in the Students’ Federation of India, the DYFI, and then CPI-M, has been accused of orchestrating violence in Kerala.
In fact, in March this year, Riyaz was sent to judicial custody for orchestrating violence near the Air India office in Kozhikode to protest against the air tariff hike and reduction in the flight services by the national carrier. A case was registered against four people, including Rajesh, for breaking the law after the DYFI protests had turned violent. The two accused, including Pinarayi Vijayan’s son-in-law Mohammed Riyaz, was later granted bail in the case.
Mohammed Riyaz is married to Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter Veena. The couple married last year in a private ceremony. Riyaz is infamous for leading ‘beef cooking’ protests after the center sought to regulate cattle purchase and sale. He had also unsuccessfully contested for the Kozhikode Lok Sabha seat in 2019.
The Kanpur district administration has initiated a probe against cricketer Kuldeep Yadav for being vaccinated allegedly at a guest house instead of a hospital.
On Saturday (May 15), the ace spin bowler had posted a picture of him, taking the Coronavirus jab, on Twitter. His tweet read, “Whenever you get the chance, please get vaccinated. Please stay protected as we need to remain united in this fight against Coronavirus.” The visuals suggested that the jab was administered outdoors instead of a hospital wardroom, where he had booked his slot.
Screengrab of the tweet by Kuldeep Yadav
Citing an anonymous senior official, PTI reported that Kuldeep Yadav received the first dose of the Coronavirus vaccine in the lawns of Kanpur Nagar Nigam guest house. This is despite the fact that he had booked a slot at the Jageshwar Hospital in Govind Nagar. While speaking about the matter, Kanpur District Magistrate Alok Tiwari informed that a probe has been initiated into the allegations. Reportedly, ADM Atul Kumar has been tasked to inquire about the details.
Woman gets vaccination certificate without getting inoculated
Amidst the ongoing vaccination drive in the country, several cases of negligence and mismanagement have come to light. Earlier, Maharashtra BJP MLA Mihir Kotecha revealed that a woman residing in Vikhroli in Mumbai received the vaccination certificate of the first dose without even getting inoculated. The Mulund MLA, while speaking to media, informed that a woman had approached him after getting a provisional certificate for the vaccination even though she had not taken the first dose. Hinting at a scam, the MLA has demanded an audit of every vaccine given to Mumbaikars suspecting there could be more cases like hers.
On Monday (May 17) night, a frenzied mob attacked a police station in Islamabad and tried to lynch a man accused of blasphemy.
As per reports, a case was registered against two unnamed individuals under the draconian blasphemy law at the Golra police station. They were accused of allegedly passing derogatory remarks, throwing stones at a mosque, and tearing a sacred poster. When the cops detained one of the suspects, a large crowd of radical Islamists reached the police station with batons and iron rods. They demanded that the accused must be handed over to them.
The police locked the gate to keep the frenzied mob from entering the station. However, they managed to break in and overpowered the guards. The radical Islamists then began damaging the offices of the investigating officers, Station House Officer (SHO), and moharrar. The mob wanted to lynch the suspect to death for allegedly insulting Islam. In order to ensure the protection of the suspect and their own lives, the cops locked themselves up in lockup rooms.
Screengrab of the FIR filed against the duo
After being ambushed by the mob, the police officials pleaded for help from a police contingent. On receiving information, a team of police reinforcements including anti-riot units, anti-terrorist squad, counterterrorism departments was dispatched at the Golra police station. They charged the mob with batons, fired teargas shells to pacify the situation. After a one-hour long operation, the entrapped cops and the suspect were then rescued by the contingent.
Fearing danger to the life of the suspect, the cops shifted him to an undisclosed location and kept him under tight security. The transfer was carried out during a blackout in the area. The locality was cordoned off and all routes leading to the Golra police station were sealed. The cops were seen patrolling the area and maintaining strict surveillance. A contingent of Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and ARU was deployed at all sealing points.
Victim axed to death in Pakistan over blasphemy
On March 24, a Shia cleric was brutally murdered over allegations of blasphemy in the Jhang district of Punjab in Pakistan. As per reports, the Shia religious scholar was identified as one Taqi Shah. He had gone to a local fair (mela) along with his friend Hasnain Shah in Basti Murad in Shorkot Tehsil. The duo was attacked by an unnamed Islamist, who was armed with an axe. Taqi Shah was on a motorcycle when the accused assaulted him. He fell on the road from his bike, following which Shah was slaughtered with the axe.
According to the complainant, Taqi Shah was killed over a personal dispute with the main accused. Reportedly, the victim and the accused had a heated argument while playing volleyball, a few days prior to the incident. Although the matter was resolved, the accused held grudge against the victim and killed him with his axe on Wednesday. It must be pointed out that a case of blasphemy was also registered against the Shia religious scholar in September 2019 and the accused confessed that he killed Shah due to blasphemy.
With the state of Kerala recording 31,337 new Covid-19 cases in just 24 hours Pinarayi Vijayan is all set to conduct his swearing-in ceremony in the presence of 500 people on Thursday. At present, there is triple lockdown in place in Kerala where a common man cannot venture out to get essential commodities.
The oath-taking ceremony of the newly-elected LDF government is scheduled to be held at the Central Stadium at 3:30 PM on Thursday amidst the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
It is imperative to note that the state is currently going through the second week of lockdown after witnessing a sudden surge in new Covid-19 cases resulting in the complete collapse of the health care system.
Turning a blind’s eye to the bleak situation of the state to justify the decision, Chief Minister Vijayan claimed that the stadium has a capacity of 50,000 people, however, only one-hundredth of this number is being allowed making it a “low-key” affair.
Suggesting that 500 is not a big number, Vijayan informed that the other pillars of democracy including the judiciary and media are not going to be a part of the ceremony and that the guests will have to produce a negative RTPCR report to attend the event.
Ironically, the state as of now does not allow a gathering of more than 20 for any function.
Grim situation in Kerala
As per an ANI report released last week, over 1000 medical staff were found corona positive in 10 days. Speaking to ANI, Dr T N Suresh, general secretary of Kerala Government Medical Officer’s Association said, “The number of Covid cases is increasing day by day in the state and that at an alarming rate. About 4.5 lakh patients are currently under treatment in the state. More and more health workers are turning into patients.”
The testing positivity rate is as high as 23.29% in the state of Kerala.
In a major embarrassment to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Singapore’s Health Ministry on Friday dismissed fear-mongering by the Delhi Chief Minister that a “very dangerous” strain of the coronavirus was prevalent in the South-East Asian country that may affect children in India and could be the cause for the third wave in the country.
On Tuesday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had taken to Twitter to claim that a new variant of Covid-19 was found in Singapore, which could result in India’s third wave. Resorting to unnecessary fear-mongering, the Delhi Chief Minister put out unverified information to claim that the new variant was extremely dangerous for children.
The Delhi Chief Minister also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government to immediately halt air services with Singapore and prioritize vaccination drive for children.
“The new form of Corona that came to Singapore is being said to be extremely dangerous for children, in India, it may come as a third wave. My appeal to the central government are air services with Singapore to be canceled with immediate effect and prioritize the options for vaccinating children at the earliest,” the Delhi Chief Minister tweeted in Hindi.
Arvind Kejriwal’s tweet came at a time when India was recovering from a devastating second wave of the pandemic that has resulted in a large number of deaths compared to the first wave that ravaged the country last year. Even as the country is fighting the deadly pandemic, Kejriwal resorted to rumour-mongering and attempted to instil a false sense of fear in public by claiming that there was a new variant of the virus that could cause another wave of the pandemic.
Singapore government rejects Arvind Kejriwal’s claims
Hours after Kejriwal put out unverified claims pertaining to the so-called Singapore strain, the Singapore government refuted all the claims made by Arvind Kejriwal and stressed that no new coronavirus strain had been detected in the city-state.
The Singapore High Commission tweeted on Tuesday, responding to Kejriwal’s tweet calling for a stop to air-traffic to and from Singapore.
There is no truth in the assertion that there is a new COVID strain in Singapore. Phylogenetic testing has shown that the B.1.617.2 variant is the prevalent strain in many of the COVID cases, including in children, in recent weeks in Singapore.https://t.co/uz0mNPNxlEhttps://t.co/Vyj7gyyzvJ
“There is no truth whatsoever in the assertions found within the reports. There is no ‘Singapore variant.’ The strain that is prevalent in many of the COVID-19 cases in recent weeks is the B.1.617.2 variant, which originated in India. Phylogenetic testing has shown this B.1.617.2 variant to be associated with several clusters in Singapore,” its health ministry said in a statement.
There are no flights between India and Singapore: Aviation minister fact checks Kejriwal
Following Kejriwal’s misleading and fear-mongering tweet, Minister of Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri fact-checked his claims. The minister reminded him that at present there are no commercial flights between India and Singapore and there is no ‘air-bubble’ operation either. He reminded him that India had banned international flights from March 2020 itself, and the only flights operational are flown under the ‘Vande Bharat’ mission to bring stranded Indian citizens back to the homeland.
केजरीवाल जी, मार्च 2020 से ही अंतर्राष्ट्रीय उड़ानें बंद हैं। सिंगापुर के साथ एयर बबल भी नहीं है।
बस कुछ वन्दे भारत उड़ानों से हम वहाँ फँसे भारतीय लोगों को वापस लाते हैं। ये हमारे अपने ही लोग हैं।
Minister Puri reminded Kejriwal that India had banned international flights from March 2020 itself, and the only flights operational are flown under the ‘Vande Bharat’ mission to bring stranded Indian citizens back to homeland.
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called for a diplomatic boycott of 2022 Beijing Olympics citing the human rights violation by Chinese government. In a a joint video hearing of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Pelosi said, “We cannot proceed as if nothing is wrong about the Olympics going to China.”
Pelosi further said that global leaders who attend the event would lose their moral authority. Pelosi said world leaders should not attend the competition because “of a genocide that is ongoing while you’re sitting there in your seats.” China has been accused of atrocities against the Uyghur Muslim community especially in the Xinjiang region.
Pelosi also hit out on the corporate sponsors of the Olympics whom she accused of “looking the other way” on China’s human rights abuse “out of concern for their bottom line”.
Republican congressman Chris Smith, who was co-chairing the committee meeting called upon the US and other countries should boycott the games unless the International Olympic Committee finds a new host city. “In granting Beijing host status for the Olympic Games, we are crowning a barbarous regime with laurels while we should be condemning their abuse and genocide,” Rep Smith said.
Democratic Congressman Jim McGovern said the games should be relocated.”If we can postpone an Olympics by a year for a pandemic, we can surely postpone the Olympics for a year for a genocide,” he said.
Atrocities on Uyghur Muslims in China
The US Department of State had estimated that up to two million Uyghurs as well as members of other Muslim minority community have been detained across intermittent camps in the region. A report by CNN states that camp detainees face food and sleep deprivation and forced injections. Further, some Uyghur women were forced to use birth control and undergo forced sterilisation as a part of deliberate attempt to bring down population of the minority.
China, however, has denied the atrocities and human rights abuse. It claims that these steps are important to curb religious extremism and terrorism in an area which is home to about 11 million Uyghurs.
The Beijing games are scheduled to begin from 4th February 2022. The Tokyo Summer olympics scheduled for later this year were postponed in wake of Chinese coronavirus pandemic.
