Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad, who is convicted in a multi-crore fodder scam, was shifted to Delhi by air ambulance on Saturday evening after his health deteriorated while undergoing treatment at RIMS hospital in Ranchi.
The former Bihar Chief Minister, who has been convicted in three fodder scam cases, enjoyed his time in the bungalow allotted to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) Director in Ranchi till recently causing massive controversy. Following the outrage, he was shifted back to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi.
However, as his health continued to deteriorate yet again, Lalu Prasad Yadav has now been shifted to Delhi’s AIIMS for further treatment.
Amidst the air-lifting of Lalu Yadav to Delhi, the left-liberals, who are often fascinated by the ‘secular’ credentials of the former Bihar Chief Minister despite his notorious history of extortion and scamming the public, sympathised for the scam convict Lalu Yadav and demanded his immediate release from the jail even though he has been convicted duly by a court.
The Wire employee Arfa Khanum Sherwani sheds tears for Lalu, demands his release
Continuing to shed tears for Lalu Prasad Yadav, the controversial Arfa Khanum Sherwani, who is an employee at far-left propaganda portal – The Wire, took to Twitter to express her admiration for the scam convict and hailed him as a ‘Dalit-OBC’ messiah. According to Arfa, the accused in the terror and communal riots were sitting in the Parliament, however, ‘Dalit-OBC’ messiah Lalu Yadav was still languishing in jail.
“How is this justice? Where is this justice?” asked Arfa Khanum Sherwani, who herself has a history of peddling false propaganda on social media platforms.
Arfa Khanum Sherwani’s tweet
Not only that, she went to the extent of demanding the release of Lalu Yadav, who has been convicted by the court for misappropriation of public money.
Arfa’s another tweet demanding Lalu’s release
Interestingly, the tweet posted by Arfa Khanum Sherwani hailing scam-convict Lalu Yadav as some ‘Dalit-OBC’ messiah was all over social media platforms as many pro-RJD and pro-Congress accounts and suspicious accounts picked up the same content raising doubts about whether the self-proclaimed ‘journalist’ was part of a larger paid trend to voice her opinion in favour of scam convict.
A coordinated campaign to demand release of Lalu Yadav?
Arfa Khanum’s tweet praising Lalu Yadav was posted at 11:20 PM on Saturday. Within minutes after her tweet, a barrage of tweets having the same words were posted on Twitter, clearly indicating a coordinated social media campaign supporting former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Yadav.
Here is a tweet which was posted by the Lalu Yadav supporter exactly a minute after Arfa Khanum posted her tweet:
Dr Azimushan’s tweet with exact words came a minute after Arfa’s tweet
As per his Twitter profile, Dr Azimushan is Vice President of Hardoi Congress.
Within minutes of Arfa Khanum’s false propaganda, several other troll accounts associated with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and supporters of scam-convict Lalu Prasad Yadav descended on the Twitter to tweet in favour of Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Several social media users tweeted the same exact tweet posted by Arfa Khanum calling for the release of Lalu Prasad Yadav by claiming that the alleged accused in the communal riots and terror charges were sitting in the Parliament, while the ‘messiah’ Lalu Yadav was languishing in the jail.
A social media trend by Lalu Yadav followers having exact words used by Arfa Khanum in her tweets:
Multiple accounts using Arfa’s tweet for Lalu Yadav’s release
While the hashtag was used for paid promotion to garner support for Lalu Prasad Yadav, Arfa Khanum Sherwani’s tweet appeared before the other paid tweets. It is not yet clear whether Arfa Khanum was the one who started the paid trend and Lalu Prasad Yadav’s followers just picked her tweet.
Hence, it cannot be conclusively confirmed or denied that she participated in paid twitter trend for demanding Lalu’s release.
Interestingly, Lalu’s bail plea on December 11, 2020, was deferred by six weeks. The six week period got over on Friday, December 22, 2021.
Lalu Prasad Yadav and the Fodder scam
RJD President and former Chief Minister of Bihar, Lalu Prasad Yadav, was convicted in four fodder scam cases. He was sentenced to jail for 14 years. It has been two decades since the fodder scam was unearthed. The multi-crore scam involved many politicians and bureaucrats siphoning off several crores of rupees on the pretext of purchasing fodder, medicines, and animal husbandry equipment for ‘vast herds of fictitious livestock’ over 20 years.
A special CBI court in 2013 convicted Yadav in the first scam case involving the withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crores from the Chaibasa treasury. In a second case involving the Deoghar treasury of Rs 89 lakhs in December 2017. Later in another case, Lalu and Jagannath Mishra were found guilty of the third fodder scam involving the Chaibasa district treasury of Rs 33.67 crores. In March 2018, a special CBI court in Ranchi pronounced RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav guilty in the fourth fodder scam. Lalu Prasad was sentenced to five years of jail term and a fine of Rs 10 lakhs.
Yadav was imprisoned in Jharkhand jail, but he spent a large portion of his sentence at RIMS allegedly undergoing treatment.
In a major development in the sensational Puja Bharti death case, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) AV Homkar has claimed that the victim had committed suicide. The case pertains to the unnatural death of a 22-year-old medical student named Puja Bharti Purve whose body was recovered from Patratu Dam near Ranchi on January 12.
As per reports, the police informed that they were no injury marks on her body. DIG Homkar has stated that the investigative team has reached the conclusion that the victim had committed suicide after probing several aspects of the case. It must be mentioned that Puja Bharti’s body was recovered from the dam, with her hands and legs tied up. The DIG has claimed that the victim had tied herself up using different ropes, prior to committing suicide.
It has also been revealed that the victim had gone to Hazaribagh to write her exams, one day before her death. Her family members informed the cops that they were worried after receiving no information about her till evening. According to them, her phone was also switched off. However, the cops have not been able to ascertain how Puja Bharti reached Patratu from Ranchi, the mode of transportation used or the whereabouts of her cell phone. As such, the police is conducting a further probe to unearth more details of the intriguing case.
Autopsy report revealed that Puja Bharti died of drowning
The autopsy, conducted under the supervision of a three-member medical board, had earlier confirmed that Puja died due to drowning. During the post-mortem, the doctors did not find injury marks on her body or private parts. The police had also sent the victim’s undergarments, vaginal swab, nail clippers, ropes and other items to the State Forensic Science Laboratory (SFL) to probe the angle of rape, as per a report in Jagran.
As per the CCTV footages and police investigation so far, Puja left her home in a normal condition and did not return even after 6 pm on January 12, when the main gate is closed. She had boarded an AC bus from Hazaribagh and arrived in Ranchi, although the bus driver failed to identify the exact location where he dropped her.
The incident, earlier believed to be a murder case, has triggered a social media outrage, prompting netizens to demand justice and fair investigation from Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren. She was a resident of Godda and a student at the Sheikh Bhikhari Medical College in Hazaribagh.
On January 23, a Naga Sadhu, identified as 60-year-old Sompal, was murdered in Sindhaura village of Diaoria Kala police station area, Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh. As per the reports, the police have registered a case against unknown people based on the complaint.
Somnath did not have any dispute with anyone
The Seer lived in a hut in the complex of a small temple located on the Nagori canal of a river in the village. The Seer had two dogs for his protection who stopped anyone unknown from going close to the temple. Sompal was 25-years-old when he became Naga Sadhu, left his family, and started living outside the village. However, his family members, who live in the same village, often visited him. The family members said that Somnath did not have any dispute with anyone.
Miscreants attacked the Seer on Friday night
As per the reports, some unknown miscreants attacked the Seer on Friday night. During the altercation, he suffered severe injuries on the head and died on the spot. Reports suggest that the dogs attacked the miscreants. One of the dogs was also found injured. On Saturday morning, when his niece visited to meet him, she found him dead and informed the family. The police visited the location of the incident and filed a case after investigating the crime scene, and sent the body for post-mortem.
Case against unknown registered
Jai Prakash, Superintendent of Police, Diaoria, said that they have registered a case against unknown people based on the family’s complaint and started an investigation. He claimed the accused would be arrested soon.
A day after the protesting farmer leaders at Delhi border had presented a ‘masked man’, claiming that he was engaged by police to kill four farmer leaders on Republic Day, Haryana Police has confirmed that he was tortured by the farmer union leaders to give false statement against the police. The man was beaten up by the farmers, and he gave false statements under fear, said Haryana police.
In a press conference this evening, Sonipat SP Jashandeep Singh Randhawa said that while the masked man had alleged that he was tasked by one inspector named Pradeep from Rai Police station, actually there is no police inspector named Pradeep in either the Rai police station or the whole district. He said that the person is from Sonipat and is unemployed, who had an argument with the protesting farmers over allegations of eve teasing. He was taken into a farmer camo where he was beaten up. “He has said he made statements under fear”, said that Sonipat SP.
Yesterday, he alleged that he was tasked by one inspector Pradeep, SHO of Rai Police Station. Our preliminary investigation shows that there is no inspector named Pradeep is in the district or at Rai Police Station: Sonipat SP Jashandeep Singh Randhawa https://t.co/OL3ATXHzzBpic.twitter.com/vV0bTwiXDQ
The police official informed that masked man has not been detained or arrested, he is only being just questioned.
The ‘masked man’ was presented by the farmer unions on Friday night at Singhu border, where the union leaders had claimed that he was part of an alleged conspiracy to disrupt the ‘farmer’ agitation. The man had claimed that he and his team members were allegedly asked to pose as policemen and baton-charge on the crowd if things go out of control during the January 26 tractor rally. He had also claimed that he was asked to kill four farmer leaders on stage on 26th. However, interestingly, he had forgotten to say this, and had to be reminded by farmer leader Rakesh Tikait. This had raised the suspicion that the man was tutored by the leaders to make the serious allegations against police.
Proving those suspicions right, today a video of the masked man had appeared, where he had said that the farmers had tortured him to make false allegations. The man, identified as Yogesh Singh, had confirmed that he spoke in the press conference against police officials after he was threatened by farmer leaders. Making a shocking disclosure, Singh said that ‘farmer’ leader had warned of killing him if he did not make false conspiracy theories of attacks on farmers and blame Haryana police for the same.
Singh was taken away by Haryana police after the press conference last night. Singh had revealed that a few protestors, who mistook him for the misbehaving youths near the protesting site, picked him up to the camp where they forced him to falsely implicate Haryana police saying that they had plotted to kill four leaders.
The ‘farmer’ leaders also planted images of four protesting ‘farmer’ leaders in Yogesh Singh’s phone to strengthen their argument that the ‘masked man’ plotted to kill four leaders at the Singhu border. The Haryana police have also recovered photographs of four farmer leaders – Balbir Singh Rajewal, Baldev Singh Sirsa, Kuldeep Sandhu and Jagjeet Singh – from his mobile phone.
Interestingly, when the police had arrived at the press conference site last night, the farmer leaders had hesitated to hand over the ‘masked man’ to police. The had demanded the Haryana police not to take any action against him. They also asked the police not to treat him harshly, raising eyebrows about the reality of the alleged conspiracy of an attack against the so-called farmers.
Farmer leaders have claimed that they have received the approval of the Delhi Police to conduct a tractor parade in Delhi on the occasion of Republic Day. The routes are largely decided but details of the matter are yet to be finalized. Yogendra Yadav made the announcement at a press conference on Saturday.
26 जनवरी किसान इस देश में पहली बार गणतंत्र दिवस परेड करेगा।पांच दौर की वार्ता के बाद ये सारी बातें कबूल हो गई हैं। सारे बैरिकेड खुलेंगे, हम दिल्ली के अंदर जाएंगे और मार्च करेंगे। रूट के बारे में मोटे तौर पर सहमति बन गई है: किसान प्रतिनिधियों और पुलिस की बैठक के बाद योगेंद्र यादव pic.twitter.com/oUMaU1qmq5
“Tractor parades likely to start from Ghazipur, Tikri and Singhu border points. Details of the march will be finalised tonight,” farmer leaders are reported to have said. According to Darshan Pal, farmer leaders have been permitted to enter Delhi and march up to 100 kilometer on each route.
The tractor parade will commence at 10 am on the 26th of January and will witness the participation of around 2 lakh tractors, farmer leaders claim. Farmers from many districts of Punjab are reportedly starting from their places with tractors.
Delhi Police has now issued a statement that appears to contradict what the farmer leaders are claiming. Delhi Police has said that no proposal has been submitted to them in writing regarding the routes of the proposed rally.
Sonipat Police has said that they have taken adequate measures for the Tractor Parade and adequate manpower has been deployed.
For tractor yatra, Sonipat Police has taken adequate measures. We have deployed sufficient manpower in sub-division levels, especially from Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) to Singhu border: Sonipat SP Jashandeep Singh Randhawa. #Haryanapic.twitter.com/SzO3UzqroC
There was an incident on Friday where a masked man was paraded by ‘farmer leaders’ to claim that there was a conspiracy to murder them. Later, the masked man identified as one Yogesh said that he was held captive by the ‘farmer leaders’ and thrashed brutally in order to coerce him into making the false claims.
Note: The report has been updated with relevant information
Actress Krystina Arielle, who was recently declared the host of upcoming Star Wars: The High Republic Show, came under fierce criticism for her brazen display of racist behaviour on social media. In a series of tweets posted last year, Krystina was seen making sweeping generalisations and bigoted remarks against the white community, prompting netizens to demand her sacking.
However, instead of paying any heed to the demands made by fans, Star Wars extended full support to the anti-white actress. In a tweet on Saturday, the media franchise wrote, “Our Star Wars community is one of hope and inclusivity. We do not stand for bullying and racism. We support Krystina Arielle.”
Our Star Wars community is one of hope and inclusivity. We do not stand for bullying and racism. We support @KrystinaArielle.
Star Wars: The High Republic Show is an upcoming bi-monthly web series that will feature deep dives with the creators of the Star Wars: The High Republic, a subseries of the Star Wars media franchise.
Anti-White remarks of Krystina Arielle
The left-liberal cabal in the United States has time and again resorted to open display of racism against white people and has justified such an attitude by invoking America’s history of the slave trade. With the advent of political correctness, actresses such as Krystina Arielle have been successful in effectively playing the race card and avoiding repercussions of racist behaviour online.
In June last year, the actress had claimed, “Just a reminder that White Women are just as complicit in the upholding and enforcing White supremacy.” In another tweet, Krystina had alleged, “Because White people can’t let us have shit unless they can centre themselves as the hero.”
Screengrab of the tweet by Krystina ArielleScreengrab of the tweet by Krystina Arielle
Besides, she had also made several outlandish claims about ‘white people’, under the assumption that every individual must be the same because of their skin colour. In a bid to appease the ‘social justice warriors’ (SJWs), Krystina has been unperturbed in peddling hate against the white community. Earlier, she said, “It’s white people can’t comprehend a person of colour being in an establishment where they only expect to see white people suspicious.”
Screengrab of the tweet by Krystina Arielle
The host of ‘The High Republic Show’ had also alleged that ‘White people’ would rather defend a fictional character than standing up for ‘black people’. Displaying her disdain for an entire community, she said, “You do not have to comment under every post that you’re trying to be better. Have read x,y,z. Any combination of ugh white people, when you are white people. I do not care. Talk is cheap. I’m not here for your accountability checkups.”
Screengrab of the tweet by Krystina ArielleScreengrab of the tweet by Krystina Arielle
Social Justice Warriors and their vicious campaign against Gina Carano
Despite her vitriolic and racist comments, Star Wars, which claims to fight ‘bullying’ and ‘racism’, somehow decided to cut Krystina some slack. Netizens were quick to point that another actress, namely, Gina Carano, is being vilified online since August last year by social justice warriors (SJWs) for her conservative, pro-Trump political views. They emphasised how Star Wars refrained to stand by her or support her publicly.
Gina Carano, who plays the role of Cara Dune in the TV Series ‘The Mandalorian’, had earlier called for fixing the US voting process in the aftermath of US Presidential election results. “We need to clean up the election process so we are not left feeling the way we do today. Put laws in place that protect us against voter fraud. Investigate every state. Film the counting. Flush out the fake votes. Require ID. Make Voter Fraud end in 2020. Fix the system,” she had tweeted on November 5 last year.
Compilation of abusive tweets targeting Gina Carano (Image Credits: @Dataracer117)
However, her tweet did not go down well with social justice warriors, who were seen actively engaging in name-calling and character assassination. “Hey Gina Carano, F*ck u Bitch! Haha Biden 2020 Muthafcukaa,” wrote one SJW. “How have we not cancelled her and made Disney fire her ass yet,” wrote another advocate of ‘cancel culture’. The vicious campaign against the actress did not stop her.
Compilation of abusive tweets targeting Gina Carano (Image Credits: @Dataracer117)
With labels such as ‘racist’, ‘alt-right’ and ‘transphobic’, the leftist Twitter mob hoped to get actress Gina Carano fired from her show ‘The Mandalorian’. They not only tried to tarnish her public image and but also attempted to destroy her career in Hollywood, just because she happened to be a conservative. And as unfortunate as it may sound, Star Wars did not bother to extend support to her.
Netizens call out the hypocrisy of Star Wars
Netizens were quick to spot the dual standards of the media franchise over their defence of a racist and indifference meted out to a pro-Trump supporter. A Twitter user asked, “Where was this support for Gina Carano when she was being targeted by the mob to be fired. Double standards going on here…”
Where was this support for @ginacarano when she was being targeted by the mob to be fired. Double standards going on here… https://t.co/pRbvwx7ESt
Popular Twitter user, Andy Signore wrote, “I never heard of Krystina… but I’m confused where your tweet of support for Gina Carano was? She’s been endlessly bullied for things she’s never even said. Stop picking favorites and be truly inclusive by supporting ALL your talent equally no matter who they vote for.”
I never heard of Krystina… but I’m confused where your tweet of support for @ginacarano was? She’s been endlessly bullied for things she’s never even said. Stop picking favorites and be truly inclusive by supporting ALL your talent equally no matter who they vote for ✌?♥️. pic.twitter.com/7MLWGBuy19
Another user (@mystic_joel) emphasised, “For those who do not know Krystina Arielle openly called all white people racist. If anyone had swapped the word white for black, there’d be hell. Boycott this company because racism in ANY form should not be supported.”
For those who do not know @KrystinaArielle openly called all white people racist. If anyone had swapped the word white for black, there’d be hell. Boycott this company because racism in ANY form should not be supported. https://t.co/XXagCnB9Cs
Hailing the resilience of ‘The Mandalorian’ actress, another user said, “Cool. Now do (support) Gina Carano. She’s been bullied, unfairly, something fierce. But like the warrior she is, she’s soldier on – undeterred and unfazed. #istandwithginacarano”. A Twitter user asked whether Star Wars would disavow those who have been actively bullying the actress.
While highlighting the hypocrisy of the media franchise, one Wammer tweeted, “They don’t like bullying & racism, unless the person tagged says how bad white people are. Self-awareness: -100.”
They don’t like bullying & racism, unless the person tagged says how bad white people are. Self-awareness: -100 https://t.co/h57B8lYg3M
In recent years, the Social Justice Warriors have upped their social media game, with openly advocating ‘cancellation’ of influential conservative individuals with different political opinion. Overwhelmed by the vicious environment of political correctness, several media franchises have given in to such demands, leading to social ostracisation, online boycott and premature termination of jobs for such individuals. The glaring hypocrisy of Star Wars is just one of many such examples.
Sometime in 2018, an obscure ‘advocate’ emerged into political discourse on social media. Hardly anyone knew anything about him then but people assumed, with no apparent reason to doubt his motivations, that he had gotten himself into the fight out of the goodness of his heart. That was almost three years ago. Now, he is universally reviled and one of the few things that the left and the right agrees on is that the ‘advocate’ here is the human equivalent of animal faeces. We are, of course, referring to Advocate Vibhor Anand.
Vibhor Anand in January 2021 is pretty well known as a lunatic who would practically say anything to build building his follower base. But it wasn’t known when he first surfaced, which was sometime around 2018. Due to the spontaneous nature of the growth of the ‘right-wing’ in India, individuals on social media had the natural inclination to trust people on the same side of the political spectrum unless they specifically gave reason not to.
Thus it came to pass that he quickly became popular for a time with people on social media. His initial tactic for gaining fame was maintaining a pretense that he was fighting the Big Bad Baddies of the mainstream media. He established the ‘India Against Biased Media’ (IABM), an initiative to combat propagandists in the media legally. Consequently, many popular figures on social media are claimed to have been invited as speakers at the IABM Conclave 2018.
Vibhor Anand formed the India Against Biased Media to combat propagandists
According to a crowdfunding campaign that was launched, “Advocate Vibhor Anand Founded India Against Biased Media (IABM) this year to counter the rampant menace of Fake and Biased Media reporting in India.” “IABM has been very successful to channelize the anger of the Public at large in a positive direction through legal mean in a short span of time,” it said.
The campaign added, “IABM within one month of its launch has a strong volunteer force of over 3000 individuals across the country and further has a very strong presence in Social Media, with almost 10000 followers collectively in all SM platforms. IABM further has strong team of over 50 Legal Professional headed by Adv. Vibhor Anand himself across India. IABM plans to expand its legal team to over 300 Lawyers in next three months.”
Since IAM was founded, the campaign claims to have “filed over 100 criminal cases across India against actress Swara Bhaskar, Dhruv Rathee, Sagarika Ghose, Shekhar Gupta, Aroon Purie, Barkha Dutt, Shehla Rashid, Rana Ayub etc. collectively for spreading Fake and Biased News. And all these cases would soon reach courts for logical conclusion.” But the cases never really reached their logical conclusion and it managed to raise only Rs 10 as per the Crowdkash website.
The Crowdkash campaign of Vibhor Anand
By October 2018, nevertheless, there were murmurs about the possible fraud he was running.
The tweet was made on the 31st of October 2018
Vibhor Anand and the Nirbhaya Case
Before proceeding any further, it needs to be stated that earlier Vibhor Anand used to tweet under the username @Vibhor_anand. However, that account has been suspended on Twitter. Since then, he tweets under @OfficeOfVA. Therefore, a lot of the screenshots used here are sourced from tweets where people shared screenshots of the tweets Anand had made.
Sometime in 2019, it became known that the Nirbhaya rapists were defended in Court by Anand’s father. Now, people can ignore a lot of things but this is something that cannot be ignored. Thus, it led to an immense loss of credibility and ultimately, people stopped taking him seriously and considered him a malicious entity.
In July, he addressed the controversy and admitted that two of the accused in the Nirbhaya case were defended by his father and also admitted that it was him who convinced his father to defend the rapists. But that was not all.
Source: Twitter
Vibhor Anand claimed that the main accused and the prime witness in the case, that would be Nirbhaya’s friend, knew each other beforehand. He claimed that the then Home Minister of India had requested him to not disclose the evidence and went on to assert that it was ‘Pandey’ who called the bus.
Source: Twitter
2019: Vibhor Anand vs Indian Tweeter
Soon, however, people became suspicious of Vibhor Anand and he started becoming less and less popular on social media. Faced with the prospect of losing credibility, he made bizarre allegations against a popular user on Twitter on the right of center of the political spectrum. That was the proverbial nail in the coffin for Vibhor Anand but by then, he had lost a lot of the credibility already.
On the 19th of August, 2019, Vibhor Anand claimed that people associated with @indiantweeter were trying to locate him and kill him in Delhi. He did not provide any evidence, of course, but as we shall see, slandering people and leveling baseless allegations is his forte.
Vibhor Anand claims people are trying to kill him
A short while later on the same day, Anand claimed that 3 groups were attempting to kill him and he had been advised by intelligence agencies to stay away from Delhi. One of the groups, he claimed, was from Chandni Chowk and therefore, he sarcastically urged @indiantweeter to help locate them. Again, it was evident by this point that Anand loves to slander people.
Vibhor Anand claimed he has been warned to stay from Delhi
Then on, his allegations and claims escaped the domain of sanity and transcended into the boundless infinity of the insane.
The bizarre claims continue
Eight days after his slanderous allegations against the Twitter user, Vibhor Anand resorted to spreading conspiracy theories about the death of the late Union Minister Arun Jaitley. On the 27th of August, he asked his followers, “Was Arun Jaitley’s death a murder? Why Rahul Gandhi is so afraid?” He promised a ‘big expose’ within the next 24 hours but that never came.
Vibhor Anand spreads conspiracy theories about Arun Jaitley’s death
A day prior to that, on the 26th of August, he had claimed that he was told by a “senior intelligence official posted in Dubai” about an ISI plan to assassinate Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. A tweet had apparently posted earlier was necessary, he claims, to save Imran Khan. He does not take the Pakistani PM’s name but it appears unlikely that the ‘IK’ could refer to anyone else.
Vibhor Anand claims ISI was planning to assassinate ‘IK’
On the 2nd of September, he claimed that he was looking for ‘hackers’ and offered to pay Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh per month to “hack pakistani government sites”. What became of it is not clear and it is not clear how he would have paid them.
Vibhor Anand was looking for hackers
On the 12th of September, Anand claimed that he had names of 16 Indians working for ISI as Pakistan agents. He did provides a few names later on but those names could have belonged to a hundred thousand people in a country of 1.3 billion.
And the grift continues…
On the 27th of September, he levelled grave allegations against BJP leader Kapil Mishra, 25 days after he had claimed that he was unfollowed by BJP leaders for making the suggestion that Kapil Mishra should become the Chief Minister of Delhi.
Source: Twitter
On the 2nd of October 2019, he claimed that he had attempted suicide three days previously. This was one of the first times when he had floated having suicidal tendencies on social media. As we shall see, it is also part of a pattern.
Source: Twitter
It is pertinent to note that sometime earlier, probably in June 2019, although we are not sure about the precise date, Vibhor Anand claimed that he would commit suicide in front of the Delhi Police headquarters for alleged ‘harassment’. And through it all, he maintained the charade of a persecuted ‘nationalist’.
Source: Twitter
Such bizarre claims continued and by the end of 2019, Vibhor Anand had absolutely zero credibility. Things remained much of the same in 2020 but his fortunes were about to turn around. But before that, a quick detour.
Vibhor Anand and his past tirade against Narendra Modi
At some point, the opinions that the advocate reserved for Narendra Modi in 2012 went viral on social media. In November 2012, he had called the then Chief Minister of Gujarat a ‘mass murderer’ on Twitter.
Source: Twitter
Anand went on to compare Narendra Modi to the Mumbai attack terrorist Kasab and said that the latter ‘at least had the guts to accept his wrongdoings’.
Source: Twitter
By August 2018, however, his opinions had changed completely. Vibhor Anand then claimed that it would be his honour to be followed by the Prime Minister of India.
Source: Twitter
But as late as even 2016, the advocate was busy mouthing liberal talking points on social media.
Source: Twitter
Year 2020: The continued descent into madness
In April, Vibhor Anand claimed that he had initiated legal action against China for spreading Covid-19 and “waging a worldwide war”. ‘Details soon,’ he promised but we do not have any details regarding the matter as of now.
Source: Twitter
But it was in the death of Sushant Singh Rajput that Vibhor Anand found the ideal fertile ground for his new grift. He has made a series of bizarre allegations at different points and he conveniently jumped from one point to another without going into too much detail of his prior allegations. For instance, he claimed that BJP leader Subramanian Swamy is “trying to manipulate the AIIMS Medical Report”.
He went on to demand that Swamy and his associates be arrested.
Source: Twitter
That was not all. After Akshay Kumar announced that the game ‘FAU-G’ will be launched soon, Vibhor Anand said that he could say with a “200% surety” that it was the “same AI gaming project” which the late Sushant Singh Rajput was working on.
Source: Twitter
By October, the conspiracy theory started falling into place. He would make puzzling tweets in the form of riddles that appeared to suggest that he knew a lot more than he actually did. “Connect the dots” became his trademark lingo.
Source: Twitter
However, all of this is quite different from what he was saying in the immediate aftermath of the actor’s death. While he now lionizes Sushant Singh Rajput, earlier he had claimed that the real reason behind the actor’s depression was the money he owed to the underworld.
Source: Twitter
For all his antics, Vibhor Anand was arrested by the Mumbai Police on the 15th of October. It was a decision that was widely welcomes on all sides of the political spectrum. He was arrested by the Mumbai police on charges of spreading conspiracy theories regarding the death of Sushant Singh Rajput and making ‘false’ allegations against Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
An article on a media outlet ‘Agency Reporter’ the same month stated, “Anand shared a tweet with pictures of Bollywood stars Salman Khan and Jacqueline Fernandes, as well as members of the British Royal family with clumsily photoshopped bloodshot eyes, claiming the Bollywood elite is involved in drug and child trafficking. In other videos, Anand claimed – baselessly – thatSalman Khan has a penchant for young boys and that Aditya Thackeray is a paedophile.” We could not confirm this on our own.
He was booked under Sections 509, 505(2), 500, 504 of IPC and Sec.67 of IT Act. Since then, he has been released and now, more than ever, his conspiracy theories are running absolutely wild. In November, he also claimed that he was assaulted and shared images of himself bloodied and bruised.
January 2021: Vibhor Anand loses it
By 2021, Vibhor Anand was a popular figure among certain sections of ‘SSR Warriors’ and his videos on YouTube were watched by lots and lots of people. He does not appear to have his own YouTube channel but live discussions featuring him always attract significant viewership.
The most outrageous claim that he has made so far is that Sushant Singh Rajput is still alive and he has even met him. Of course, he is careful not to mention his name specifically but the implications of his words is abundantly clear. Videos featuring him on YouTube have the title that say the actor is alive and he does not appear to have any objection to it.
And during a live sessions on YouTube, he has said very cryptically that the actor is alive and it was interpreted as such by his followers. Of course, he leaves enough room around for himself to later claim that SSR is ‘alive in his heart’ or some other such thing but that is not the message he conveyed on YouTube.
YouTube screengrab
In the abovementioned video, on the 30th of December, he says that ‘Jacob is alive’. Jacob is a code word he uses for SSR. In the video, he says that he has met him and ‘Jacob’ is apparently extremely hurt with what has been happening.
On the 21st of January, SSR’s birthday, he said, “Thanks dear for meeting me again”.
Source: Twitter
But this is a complete turnaround from what he was saying earlier. If any reader was expecting him to make sense or some amount on consistency, they would have noticed by now that making complete about turns has become a core part of his identity.
For instance, previously, he has slandered the family of SSR and claimed that they are involved in his death.
YouTube screengrab
Earlier, he has went to the extent of claiming that the “murder” of Sushant Singh Rajput was streamed live on the “Dark Web” and Shah Rukh Khan watched it all happen live.
YouTube Screengrab of the video
On the 18th of January 2021, he claimed that SSR’s death was being investigated by 18 top agencies across the globe.
Source: Twitter
Vibhor Anand: A Fraud or a lunatic?
On the 23rd of January, Anand announced that he was taking a break from social media. “I would surely miss you all but be assured that I would be watching everything silently,” he said after declaring that he will be gone for a longer duration now.
Source: Twitter
Thus, it brings us to a question. Is Vibhor Anand a fraud or a lunatic with delusions of grandeur? People on social media suspect that he engages in such conduct in order to scam people off their money. We can neither confirm nor deny these allegations. However, what is evidently clear at this point is that he is not one to be trusted with your money.
Furthermore, it is quite evident that he has taken a lot of genuine fans of Sushant Singh Rajput on a merry go ride. It is abundantly clear that he is playing, either intentionally or otherwise, with the sentiments of these people. The Sushant Singh Rajput saga has seen a great many twists and turns over time. However, it is pretty safe to say that the craziest conspiracy theories have come from Vibhor Anand.
Larry King, the legendary television host, died on Saturday in Los Angeles. The 87-year-old TV veteran was hospitalised after he was diagnosed with Covid-19.
“With profound sadness, Ora Media announces the death of our co-founder, host, and friend Larry King, who passed away this morning at age 87 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles,” King’s official Twitter announced on Saturday. Ora Media is a television production studio launched by Larry King in 2012.
The statement further added, “for 63 years and across the platforms of radio, television and digital media, Larry’s many thousands of interviews, awards, and global acclaim stand as a testament to his unique and lasting talent as a broadcaster. Additionally, while it was his name appearing in the shows’ titles, Larry always viewed his interview subjects as the true stars of his programs, and himself as merely an unbiased conduit between the guest and audience. Whether he was interviewing a U.S. president, foreign leader, celebrity, scandal-ridden personage, or an everyman, Larry liked to ask short, direct, and uncomplicated questions. He believed concise questions usually provided the best answers, and he was not wrong in that belief.”
King was hospitalized at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles since the last week of December after contacting the Coronavirus. He had faced several medical issues in the past years. He had Type 2 Diabetes, had suffered several heart attacks, and had undergone bypass surgery in 1987. In 2017, he was diagnosed with lunch cancer and successfully underwent surgery to treat it.
Larry King is most known for his radio talk show “Larry King Show” which was broadcast nationally over the Mutual Broadcasting System from 1978 to 1994. The show consisted of interviewing a guest, then taking questions from listeners on telephone.
For 25 years from 1985 to 2010, he had hosted the television interview program the “Larry King Live” on CNN. After that, he hosted Larry King Now on Hulu and RT America from 2012 to 2020. He was hosting the political talk show “Politicking with Larry King” on both the channels from 2013 till the time of his death.
Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, he was hosting the show from his home.
In his television career, Larry King has won two Peabody awards, an Emmy award, and 10 Cable ACE Awards.
Larry King had married eight times to seven women. His first marriage was at the age of 19 in 1952, while his last marriage took place in 1997. He had five children and nine grandchildren. His two children, from Alene Akins whom he had married twice, Andy and Chaia, died within weeks of each other in August 2020 due to health issues.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was seen walking out of the stage refusing to address the public gathered at Kolkata’s Victoria Memorial for Netaji birth anniversary celebrations. WB CM Mamata Banerjee who was sharing the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, lamented of “being disrespected” because she could not stand the slogans of Jai Shree Ram, Bharat Mata ki Jai, etc, when she was invited to address the event.
Lashing out after hearing ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans, Mamata Banerjee lamented before walking off the stage: “Inviting people and then disrespecting them does not behove the government. This is a government programme, not a political party’s programme”.
भारत माता की जय, जय श्रीराम,जय हिंद, जय बांग्ला के नारे के बाद उखड़ी ममता बैनर्जी, कहा सरकार के कार्यक्रम की अपनी गरिमा होती है, ये राजनीतिक कार्यक्रम नहीं है, मै आभारी हूँ कि कोलकाता में प्रोग्राम बनाया लेकिन किसी को बेज़्ज़त करना ठीक नहीं #NetajiSubhasChandraBosepic.twitter.com/05e8pYtwfV
In what appeared to be a rare moment, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar came together at Kolkata’s Victoria Memorial on Saturday to honour freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his 124th birth anniversary.
When she was invited on to the stage to speak a few words, some people were chanting slogans of Jai Shree Ram, Bharat Mata ki Jai and Joy Bangla. Getting offended by the slogans of Jai Shree Ram, Mamata Banerjee said that as a mark of protest against this ‘disrespect’, she would not say anything. Sulking, she walked off the stage even though several other dignitaries, including the Prime Minister, were on the stage.
BJP and Mamata Banerjee-led TMC have been engaged in a skirmish over the celebrations of the 124th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. While the centre has declared that Netaji’s birth anniversary will be known as Parakram Diwas, Mamata Banerjee had requested the centre to declare it as ‘Desh Nayak Diwas’ as Rabindranath Tagore had bestowed the title of Desh Nayak on Netaji.
Earlier in the day, when Mamata had led a march from Shyam Bazaar to Red Road in the city and paid a surprise visit to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s ancestral residence at Elgin Road she had criticised the Centre’s decision to announce 23 January as ‘Parakram Diwas’. “I don’t understand the meaning of ‘Parakram Diwas’. We celebrate the day as ‘Desh Nayak Diwas’,” Banerjee said.
Mamata Banerjee seems to have taken offence that the Modi government did not fulfil her demands. And to add salt to her injuries, the crowd gathered at Victoria Memorial decided to greet her with “Jai Shri Ram” slogans, which she considers as BJP’s deliberate attempt ‘to sell hatred ideology’. It is rather ironic that while Mamata Banerjee herself walks out of the stage, nonchalant about the fact that the Prime Minister was also present on the stage, she complains of “being disrespected” by the central government.
Days ahead of the Republic Day, fear and panic have the state of Uttar Pradesh firmly in their grips after at least six hoax bomb threats were reported from Noida, Ghaziabad, Allahabad and Kanpur this week.
The police have, so far, not been able to nail the people responsible for raising the false alarms that have led to the evacuation of malls, hospitals and theatres. Though, the police have filed FIR in connection with some of the cases.
Noida
On Friday, the bustling neighbourhood in Noida’s Sector 63 suddenly came to a standstill after a bomb-like device found on a road prompted the administration to deploy the forces and cordon off the area.
A bomb disposal squad was summoned by the administration which found that the suspicious-looking item placed on the road had no detonator or explosives attached to it. The item had a watch cinched around, giving an impression of a timer that is usually found with the bombs.
Hours before, Noida was rocked with another bomb scare when an unidentified person called a well-known hospital in Sector 27 and informed that a bomb was placed in its basement. The call touched off a wave of panic in the hospital and triggered a slapdash evacuation.
The Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Noida, Ranvijay Singh said that dog squad, bomb disposal squads, fire tenders and police personnel were rushed to the hospital and the premises were combed for any suspicious item. But, it turned out to be a hoax, he said.
Ghaziabad
Similarly, Ghaziabad was awash with panic and fear on Wednesday this week when an LPG cylinder with a watch-like device attached set off alarm bells ringing. The suspicious item was discovered at an empty plot in Madhuban Bapudham area by two police officials on patrol duty.
A bomb disposal squad was immediately sent to the place and found that it was not a bomb. However, an FIR has been filed against an unidentified person, Ghaziabad police officials informed.
Prayagraj
A hoax bomb call on Friday kept the Prayagraj police on the jitters for more than two hours. A wave of relief was writ large on the faces of the police officials after they found no explosives at the civil lines located Vinayak City Center Mall and Katghar based Starwood complex after carrying out a comprehensive search operation.
The police had received the bomb threat on its Twitter account that explosives were planted at two prominent locations in the city. Soon after the police received the bomb threat on Twitter, teams of BDS (bomb defusal squad) and AS (anti-sabotage ) checking were deployed at both the sites.
However, the threat turned out to be a hoax call and the police have assured that legal action would be initiated against the persons who had provided with the fake information. Though, the miscreants are yet to be arrested.
Kanpur
Kanpur police were on Friday on high alert after a person posted a bomb hoax on Twitter, tagging city and police official handles. The threat which was posted on Friday afternoon said that a bomb would go off within minutes after the screening of the movie Madam Chief Minister in a multiplex at a Mall in Kanpur South, Gurudeo and Pammi theatres.
However, the police stated that the tweet was later removed by the user and a high alert was sounded at the Kanpur South, Gurudeo and Pammi theatres in Kalyanpur. The police carried out an extensive search at the three theatres and city’s crime branch, dog squad and bomb disposal squad was called in to search across locations.
But the search by the bomb disposal squad and sniffer dogs proved to be a futile exercise and the Twitter post was declared as a hoax. The police officer stated that strict action will be taken against the offender.
The police, along with the cyber cell, is now probing the matter. According to the police, the person who posted the hoax bomb threat was playing a prank. An FIR has been filed against the offender and investigations are underway to arrest the prankster.
