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After Chinese phones blocking weather data for Arunachal and Ladakh, now Twitter shows Leh as part of China

OpIndia Staff
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After Chinese phones blocking weather data for Arunachal and Ladakh, now Twitter shows Leh as part of China

A day after netizens revealed that default weather apps in Chinese mobile phones are deliberately omitting weather reports of Indian territories, which China claims as ‘disputed’, microblogging website Twitter has stirred a new controversy on Sunday.

During a live session on Twitter, national security analyst Nitin A Gokhale found that Twitter has labelled the Indian territory of Leh in Ladakh as part of People’s Republic of China (PRC). Gokhale, the founder of Strat News Global, had marked his location as ‘Hall of Fame Leh’. However, the microblogging platform displayed the area as a part of PRC. The screengrab of the video read, “Nitin A Gokhale was live. Jammu and Kashmir, People’s Republic of China.”

Twitter labels Leh as part of China

While slamming Twitter for its outrageous action, the national security analyst demanded immediate action from the Government of India against the microblogging platform. He wrote, “Tweeple please put Hall of Fame Leh as your location for live broadcast and see what’s happening.” Gokhale emphasised, “It shows the location as Jammu and Kashmir, Peoples Republic of China. I tested it again. Outrageous.” He urged netizens to flood Twitter with complaints so as to mount pressure on the micro-blogging platform to correct the error.

Later when he entered Leh’s Kushak Bakula Airport as his location, the result was same. This time also the location was determined by Twitter as China.

Technical glitch or deliberate oversight?

On the request of Nitin A Gokhale, another Twitter user (@rohitpandita000) went live with ‘Hall of fame Leh’ as the location. The objective was to ascertain whether it was a one-time technical glitch or a recurrent issue. To everyone’s surprise, the microblogging platform again marked Leh as part of the People’s Republic of China. The National Security analyst then tweeted, “There you are. Someone else also tried it. Same result.”

Chinese phone weather app controversy

In a shocking revelation, it was found that the default weather apps of Chinese phones in India do not show reports for cities that China considers as ‘disputed. When OpIndia tried to make search queries, it found that the default weather app on Xiaomi phones did not provide results for Itanagar. Not just Itanagar, Xiaomi default weather app also provided no results for other districts in the State such as Pasighat and Longding. However, the weather reports of both Itanagar and Pasighat can be accessed by downloading third-party weather apps from the play store. Therefore, it is not that the weather data for locations in Arunachal are not available, rather, the locations are deliberately blocked by the company in the default weather app pre-installed on the phones. Same behaviour was reported by netizens in other Chinese phones also.

Here is how former AAP member Mayank Gandhi is working to boost farmers’ income in rural India through water harvesting and conservation

OpIndia Staff
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Here is how former AAP member Mayank Gandhi is working to boost farmers’ income in rural India through water harvesting and conservation

A novel effort appears to be under way across rural India in an attempt to boost farmers’ income and the man leading it is a former member of the Aam Aadmi Party, Mayank Gandhi. Disillusioned by political realities, Mayank Gandhi realised there are other ways to work for the betterment of the country and its people. And thus, the Global Vikas Trust was established.

The plan was to devise a replicable method to augment farmers’ income. The target was set to Rs. 2 lakhs per acre when the same stood at Rs. 10,000 to 40,000 across the country at the time. Consequently, Parli Taluka in Beed district, Maharashtra was selected due to its extreme levels of poverty and pitifully low levels of irrigation that stood at 1.72% as against a national average of 40%.

For the first two years, 2016 and 2017, the focus was on supplying water through tankers and all around development in the areas of education, water management, healthcare, skill development, capacity building, social reforms, gram Swaraj etc. Global Vikas Trust said, “Water harvesting and conservation is the fountainhead for any agricultural endeavor. Once the fountainhead is established, all agricultural activity will flourish. This logically leads to maximizing income from land. Horticulture is the answer.”

Image Credit: GVT

It added, “In 2018, we created 222 crore liters of water storage – 70 kms of deepening and widening of river and its tributaries, 164 farm ponds, 62 check dams, 5 KT weirs etc. More importantly, the water table increased from around 500 feet to 50-70 feet. All of this was accomplished through ‘shramdaan’ — voluntary physical labor of thousands of villagers. It brought credibility and support of all the stakeholders and converted into a people’s movement.”

In 2019, the farmers were convinced to change their cropping patterns and plant more fruit trees. 11.87 lakh fruit trees were planted by farmers including mango, papaya, drumsticks, lemon, guava and custard apple as such products provide a good remunerative value. The objective was to “marry” traditional farming techniques with modern knowledge in order to produce “better-than-US” yields. Consequently, the best variety of fruit saplings, resilient, fruitful and best suited to the local agro-climatic condition was sought to be provided.

Image Credit: GVT

The other objectives were to “Plant in large clusters so that the market converges to our farmers rather than the other way around. and wholesalers converge to our farmers to purchase their produce” and “Facilitate forward linkages like innovative marketing, value added post-harvest processing, input procurement, supply chain etc.”

By now, the papaya and drumsticks that were planted have started giving harvests and consequently, farmers have started earning Rs. 3 to 4 lakh per acre, which happens to be 15 to 20 times of their earlier income. 20 lakh fruit trees have been planted in 2020 despite the lockdown and 4000 villages have been covered.

The target for 2021 has been set to provide forward linkages through direct marketing centres, procurement centers, sorting and packing units, godowns, cold storages, processing and drying units and “Plant around 25 lakh fruit trees in Marathwada, cover districts of Nanded, Jalna, Hingoli and Aurangabad to complete Marathwada, and thereafter focus more on increasing plantation in Madhya Pradesh with a target of planting another 5 lakh trees.”

Global Vikas Trust has also met with the Union Agricultural Minister, a few other Union Ministers and bureaucrats. The institution now seeks to scale up their project in order to boost farmers’ income.

Shashi Tharoor wears Mani Shankar Aiyar’s hat, denigrates India and praises Pakistan at Lahore Literature Festival, claims Modi govt targeting Muslims

OpIndia Staff
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Shashi Tharoor wears Mani Shankar Aiyar’s hat, denigrates India and praises Pakistan at Lahore Literature Festival, claims Modi govt targeting Muslims

Shashi Tharoor appeared on the Lahore Literature Festival through video conferencing and during a conversation with a Pakistan based journalist, denigrated India and praised Pakistan’s efforts in combatting the Coronavirus pandemic. The discussion revolved around the subject matter of how the Coronavirus changed the world.

The senior Congress leader said, “We look with envy across the border because you chaps seem to be having a rather pleasant time of it in terms of being able to return to normalcy. We are still facing many places where numbers are going up so there’s no sense yet of a peak having been reached and in some parts, including both the capital where I am now, and in my constituency of Thirvananthapuram in the extreme South, the numbers are worse than they have ever been.”

“The Indian government is not doing well and the people realize this. Rahul Gandhi mentioned as early as February that COVID-19 must be taken seriously otherwise India will face economic catastrophe so he should get credit for it,” Shashi Tharoor said further. Then he chastised the Indian government for organising the Howdy Modi event.

The Congress leader then mourned the fact that people are continuing to place their faith in the leadership of Narendra Modi and expressed a sense of bewilderment while saying so. Shashi Tharoor added, “Tablighi Jamaat super-spreader event was used to justify open bigotry and discrimination against the Muslims”.

The BJP condemned his comments and said, “It is so foolish and juvenile for someone who calls himself an intellectual to say what he said by painting Rahul Gandhi as modern-day Nostradamus.” It is not the first time that a senior leader of the Congress party has denigrated India and played politics at a Pakistani platform.

Before Shashi Tharoor, there was Mani Shankar Aiyar who in November 2015 sparked off a controversy when he told a Pakistani media channel that Modi had to be removed in order to restore relations between India and Pakistan. That was construed by many as soliciting help from Pakistan on defenestrating PM Modi.

Two youths working as dentist and computer applications specialist recruited youths to join Islamic State in Syria: NIA

OpIndia Staff
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Two youths working as dentist and computer applications specialist recruited youths to join Islamic State in Syria: NIA

In a sensational disclosure, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has said that a dentist and a computer applications specialist were the key people involved in sending a group of six to seven Muslim youths from Bengaluru to Syria to join the Islamic terror outfit – Islamic State back in 2013-14.

According to the reports, the NIA has booked 29-year-old Muhammad Tauqir Mahmood and 28-years-old Zuhaib Hameed alias Shakeel Manna under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). A case was also registered by the NIA against these two Muslim youth on September 29, who earlier lived in Bengaluru but later escaped to Saudi Arabia.

The two Muslim youths had reportedly built contacts with Islamic terror outfit ISIS through a schoolmate from Saudi Arabia. Tauqir and another NIA suspect, Shihab had studied in Saudi Arabia during their school years.

The duo recruited Muslims youths to join IS in Syria

The existence of terrorist recruiters was revealed after the arrest of Abdur Rahman, a 28-year-old ophthalmologist from Bengaluru, who had conspired with a Kashmiri couple – Jahanzaib Sami and Hina Bashir, arrested in Delhi in March for their links to Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP) unit in India. The terrorist couple linked to the ISIS was accused of motivating Muslims to unite against CAA and carry out terror strikes inside the country. 

The investigations had revealed that Rahman had travelled to Syria back in 2013-14 with the assistance of Hameed and Mahmood. Two other Muslim youths who had joined IS – Faiz Masood, an MBA degree-holder, and Abdul Subha was killed during their stay in Syria.

On 7 October, NIA had also arrested a business analyst named Ahamed Abdul Cader from Chennai and a rice merchant identified as Irfan Nasir from Bengaluru for allegedly funding the Bengaluru-based ISIS module. Ahamed Abdul Cader, Irfan Nasir and their associates had arranged funds through donations and own sources for the visit of accused Abdur Rahman and other Muslim youth of Bengaluru to Syria to join ISIS.

Default weather apps in Chinese phones refuse to show weather info about Indian territories like Arunachal and Ladakh that China claims to be ‘disputed’

OpIndia Staff
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Default weather apps in Chinese phones refuse to show weather info about Indian territories like Arunachal and Ladakh that China claims to be ‘disputed’

In a shocking revelation, it was found that the default weather apps of Chinese phones in India do not show reports for cities that China considers as ‘disputed.’ The grave issue was first highlighted by Tech Youtuber Gaurav Chaudhary aka Technical Guruji.

On Saturday, Gaurav took to Twitter and stated that it was a matter of huge concern that the default weather app in Xiaomi phones do not show weather report of cities in Arunachal Pradesh. He has sought for the intervention of Home Ministry, Prime Minister’s Office and Amit Shah, Ministry of Information technology in the matter. Gaurav Chaudhary had also shared a screenshot where the query for weather report of Itanagar, capital of Arunachal Pradesh, threw no results.

When OpIndia tried to make similar search queries, it found that the default weather app on Xiaomi phones did not provide results for Itanagar. A comparison between search results for ‘Mumbai’ and ‘Itanagar’ can be seen below.

Screengrab of the Xiaomi weather app results

Not just Itanagar, Xiaomi default weather app also provided no results for other districts in the State such as Pasighat and Longding. The search results for the two can be seen below in the screenshot. It is pertinent to remember that Xiaomi is a Chinese multinational company with several manufacturing facilities in India. The founder, chairman and CEO of the company is Lei Jun, who also happens to be a Chinese billionarie.

Screengrab of the Xiaomi weather app results

However, the weather reports of both Itanagar and Pasighat can be accessed by downloading third-party weather apps from the play store. The screenshot shown below is taken from the Weather App by Accurate Weather Forecast and Weather radar Map. Therefore, it is not that the weather data for locations in Arunachal are not available, rather, the locations are deliberately blocked by the company in the default weather app pre-installed on the phones.

Screengrab of the weather reports of Itanagar and Pasighat

It is interesting to note that the default weather app in Xiaomi phones derive weather data from Accuweather. While Accuweather shows weather info for Arunachal in its app and website, the phone’s default app blocks that data.

Although the Xiaomi mobile handsets are now made in India, the absence of weather reports of Arunachal Pradesh, which China considers as disputed territory, on its default weather application raises serious questions about its integrity and the underlying connections of the private company and the CCP (Communist Party of China).

Problem not limited to only Xiaomi phones

Following the tweet of Gaurav Chaudhary, netizens pointed out how the problem was not just limited to Xiaomi phones. Twitter user, Srimant Mishra, highlighted that while his Vivo (another Chinese electronics company) phone showed results for Itanagar, it did not throw weather results for Leh and Kargil in Ladakh. He also shared screenshots wherein Vivo displayed Gilgit Baltistan and Mirpur, territories which are an integral part of India, as belonging to Pakistan. The app was however quick to label Taipei, the capital of independent Taiwan, as part of China.

Another Twitter user, Aditya Dogra, pointed out how the problem is recurrent across all Chinese mobile manufacturing companies. He stated that Realme phones also did not provide weather reports for Ladakh.

One Plus, a renowned Chinese brand, also did not provide weather results for Leh and kargil, which are considered as ‘disputed’ by China despite being integral territories of India.

Indian govt had earlier banned Chinese apps

The outrage on social media over the ‘deliberate’ omission of weather reports of Indian territories, owing to alleged Chinese objections, comes months after the Indian government banned several Chinese apps in the country. Earlier in June this year, the Government of India (GOI) had banned TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps from operating in India. A month later, it had blocked access to an additional 47 Chinese applications.  The banned apps operated as ‘clones’ of the earlier banned apps.

The Ministry of Information Technology, invoking its power under section 69A of Information Technology Act, ordered a block on the use of 59 apps saying that these apps are “engaged in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, the security of the state and public order”.

In 2012 ‘out of town’ Salman Khan partied with Parambir Singh in Mumbai on day Bandra cops could not serve him Court summons for hit-and-run case

OpIndia Staff
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In 2012 ‘out of town’ Salman Khan partied with Parambir Singh in Mumbai on day Bandra cops could not serve him Court summons for hit-and-run case

In December 2012, Bollywood actor Salman Khan was served summons in the 2002 Bandra hit-and-run case because ‘out of town’ since November 30 that year. However, as it turns out he was very much in Mumbai and partying with none other than the then Mumbai Special IGP Parambir Singh. According to a Mid-Day report from December 2012, Bandra Police was unable to serve court summons to Salman Khan as local senior inspectors claimed he was out of town. However, when police claimed he was ‘out of town’, Khan was busy partying and shooting at Mehboob Studios in Mumbai.

Parambir Singh leaving party as reported by Mid-Day

As reported by Mid-Day in 2012, Salman Khan and Parambir Singh were both found attending a Christmas party hosted by Sunny Dewan and his wife Anu Dewan in Mumbai. This when the Bandra cops claimed Khan was not in town.

Mid-Day reported that as per a witness, the party went on till 7 AM the next day. “Special IGP Parambir Singh was seen leaving the Union Park venue around 3.15 am with wife Savita. He later sat in his Tata Indigo Manza, which had a beacon on it, and left. Singh was seen avoiding the photographers and requesting them to not click him,” Mid-Day quoted the eyewitness.

The party was also attended by Congress leader then Home minister Sushilkumar Shinde’s daughters Preeti and Praniti, who was also an MLA. As per the Mid-Day report, a police officer at Bandra Police station on condition of anonymity had expressed helplessness on taking action against the actor as high profile guests including the Home Minister’s daughters were present.

Salman Khan hit-and-run case

On September 28, 2002, Salman Khan run over a group of people sleeping on the pavement near a bakery in Mumbai. One person died and four were injured. On 24 July 2013, he was formally charged with culpable homicide in the case, to which he pleaded not guilty. On 6 May 2015, Khan was found guilty of all charges in the case. However, in December 2015, he was acquitted of all charges from this case due to lack of evidence. In 2016, Supreme Court admitted Maharashtra government plea challenging his acquittal.

Details emerge about the Paris beheading case, the Islamic terrorist may have been influenced by online campaign against the victim

OpIndia Staff
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Details emerge about the Paris beheading case, the Islamic terrorist may have been influenced by online campaign against the victim

On Friday, an Islamist terrorist beheaded a 47-year-old high school teacher named Samuel Paty in the Paris suburb of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine for showcasing cartoons of Prophet Mohammed to his students at College du Bois d’Aulne. Samuel Paty, a history teacher, showed the cartoons to his students on October 9 during a civics class on freedom of speech. Now, some details have emerged regarding the gruesome beheading case.

The gruesome attack was executed by a Muslim teenager of Russian origin, Abdoullakh Abouyezidovitch A. He stabbed the 47-year-old teacher in his throat, right outside the school, while shouting “Allahu Akbar”. He was later shot dead during an encounter with the police. French President Emanuel Macron has condemned the barbaric attack and had dubbed it as ‘Islamist terrorist attack.’

Online campaign and a ‘call for mobilisation’

The terrorist attack took place in the backdrop of an online campaign by the father of a female Muslim student, who was present in Samuel Paty’s class. He claimed on social media that his daughter was ‘disciplined’ for ‘expressing displeasure’ over the manner in which the lesson was taught. He had also demanded the removal of the said teacher. Although he initially did not name the victim, later revealed his name in a Facebook video.

In another Youtube video on October 12, published on Youtube, the man came on air along with his daughter. A man off-camera, now known to French security agencies, had claimed that President Emmanuel Macron was inciting hatred against Muslims and called for ‘mass mobilisation’ in case teacher Samuel Paty was not removed. It is now being speculated whether the 18-year-old terrorist was motivated by the online campaign to avenge the insults against the Prophet.

Terrorist asked students to identify the teacher, prior to beheading

Abdoullakh Abouyezidovitch A, born in Moscow, had come to France as a refugee and was out of the radar of the anti-terrorism police. He had earlier been to courts for minor offences. Reportedly, he wanted to ‘punish’ the teacher for his ‘blasphemous act’. The 18-year-old Islamic terrorist, who lived in the Normandy town of Évreux, had no connections with the school or the teacher. On Friday, he waited outside the school premises and asked pupils to point out Samuel Paty.

He then followed the victim, who was en route to his house on foot. Abdoullakh, then, attacked Paty, inflicted wounds to his head and then beheaded him. The young terrorist then uploaded the gory picture of the severed head on Twitter and wrote, “In the name of Allah the most gracious, the most merciful, … to (President Emmanuel) Macron, leader of the infidels, I have executed one of your hell-hounds who dared to belittle (Prophet) Mohammad.”

10 people detained over beheading case

As per reports, France police have initiated a probe into the beheading of the 47-year-old high school teacher. Since Friday, the police have arrested a total of 10 people in connection to the case. On Saturday, France 24 reported that 9 people were arrested on Friday including the parents of a child at the school where the teacher was working. While condemning the incident, Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said, “Our unity and our resolve are the only responses faced with the monstrosity of Islamist terrorism.”

Paris beheading a grim reminder of Charlie Hebdo massacre

The Friday’s attack comes amidst the ongoing trial against the terrorists responsible for the January 2015 attack on Charlie Hebdo. In January 2015, Islamist terrorists had gunned down 12 people in and around the Charlie Hebdo offices for publishing caricatures of Prophet Muhammad.

Charlie Hebdo, a satirical newspaper, had published cartoons that depicted Muhammad, which is strictly prohibited in Islam. Offended by Charlie Hebdo’s actions, two Islamic terrorists had attacked the office of Hebdo in 2015 and had killed 12 people. The terrorists had stated that the attack was an act of revenge for depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

Just last month, Charlie Hebdo had commemorated the beginning of the trial by publishing new cartoons of Muhammad. However, weeks later, four people were stabbed outside the former offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris. The officers had said that the assault was another attempt to attack the newspaper’s journalists.

BARC email to Republic TV nails Mumbai Police chief Param Bir Singh’s lies, says no case or proof of TRP manipulation against Republic media network

OpIndia Staff
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BARC email to Republic TV nails Mumbai Police chief Param Bir Singh’s lies, says no case or proof of TRP manipulation against Republic media network

In a sensational disclosure, the TV viewership rating agency BARC has confirmed that there has been no case, complaint or proof against Republic TV in the ongoing ‘Fake TRP’ scam as alleged by Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh. This was revealed in an email sent by BARC to Republic network.

The BARC’s mail written to Republic TV has categorically stated that there has been no manipulation by Republic media network. The mail states that if there was any complaint against Republic, BARC would have informed about the same to the media house. With this sensational disclosure by BARC, the entire campaign by Mumbai Police against Republic Media Network has turned out to be a lie.

The BARC e-mail now proves that Mumbai Police Param Bir Singh had lied about the involvement of Republic Media Network in ‘Fake TRP’ scam during the press conference. .

Earlier, Mumbai Police chief Param Bir Singh had addressed a press conference to name Republic TV in the ‘fake TRP’ scam despite the FIR naming India Today in the scam. Param Bir Singh, who had seemingly made up its mind that Republic TV was the culprit, had sent a notice to BARC to acquire their viewership data. Singh had also claimed that BARC had found that Republic TV had carried manipulation in viewership data.

But later it was revealed that both the FIR filed in the case, and the complaint based on which the FIR was filed, had named India Today as guilty of manipulating viewership data, not Republic. Even after this, Mumbai police kept saying Republic is accused on the case, and have continued to shield India Today despite an official FIR against the channel.

In its mail to Republic TV, BARC has now stated that there is no complaint against Republic TV contrary to the claim of Mumbai Police Commissioner Singh, who had gone on lie at the press conference saying that BARC had found irregularities in Republic TV’s TRP data.

“If there was any disciplinary action initiated under the said code against M/s ARG Outlier Media Private Ltd., then BARC would have communicated the same to you along with necessary documents for your response,” the e-mail written by BARC to Republic TV CEO says rejecting the claims made by Mumbai Police chief Param Bir Singh.

BARC’s clean chit to Republic TV

The response from BARC comes after Republic media network had urged BARC representatives to confirm in public about the clean chit given by rating agency to the media network. The CEO of Republic TV Vikas Khanchandani had written to BARC CEO requesting him to publicly acknowledge about BARC’s finding that it had found no infringement the Republic TV.

Republic TV’s email to BARC CEO

Republic TV responds to BARC’s findings, demands apology from Mumbai Police chief

Responding to e-mail, Republic Media Network said it was delighted to inform that BARC clearly stated that there is not a single complaint or malpractice found against Republic TV, Republic Bharat or any other affiliate of the News Network.

“With the disclosure of BARC, the fake news – based campaign against Republic led by Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh comes to an end,” the media network added.

The media network also said that the Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh’s comments against Republic TV were blatantly false, lies and an extension of political vendetta. The network said that it is now incumbent on him to apologise for his lie-ridden campaign against the news network.

“With today’s disclosure ultimately busting the entire charade of lies Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh tried to personally float against Republic, serious questions regarding the malicious attempt to concoc evidence against the Network come to the fore”.

“Right from his news conference on 8th October 2020 where he claimed that he had received a complaint from BARC against Republic to every news interview, he gave consequently wherein he repeated that unsubstantiated and vicious crafted narrative— the Mumbai Police Commissioner went on a tirade against Republic based on a series of complete lies,” the Republic TV noted.

Slamming other media networks for propagating the lies of Param Bir Singh, Republic TV said, “Now that the truth is out in the public domain, the onus is now on those portals to correct themselves, apologise for the fake news and put out the truth”.

Following the clean chit by BARC, Republic TV also stated that they had always believed the truth has a way of coming out and added that nothing and nobody can stop the truth from coming out.

“Let this case serve as an example before the people of India of just that. Republic will fight every attempt to bury, pressurise and subdue an independent news network by those attempting to fabricate evidence, spreading mistruths and initiating action based on fake allegations,” the network said.

The Republic TV network also said that they have full faith in the Honourable courts of law to take this matter and every other matter in the campaign against us to its logical conclusion.

“We are grateful to the Supreme Court and the High Court for its orders in other cases wherein Republic has been wrongfully targeted. We will fight this campaign against us and come out unscathed, no matter how hard the Mumbai Police or anyone else tries to intimidate and harass us. We will comply with the law of the land, but not for a moment give in to the coercive attempts to shut down our pursuit for truth through our journalism. We will fight this campaign both in the courts of law and the court of public opinion, with the people of India by our side,” the Republic TV said in its statement.

The ‘Fake TRP’ scam

The ‘Fake TRP’ scam has taken a sensational turn in the last two days. On Thursday, Mumbai CP Param Bir Singh, in an explosive statement had accused Republic TV of ‘TRP manipulation’. In a witch hunt attack against Republic TV and Arnab Goswami, the Mumbai Commissioner had claimed, that the channel had illegally paid some households to keep some channels on even if they were not at home to boost their TRP.

However, by the end of the day, it was revealed that in the original FIR, Republic TV did not find a mention anywhere. In fact, it was India Today that had been named in the original FIR. Later, the Joint Commissioner had to admit even India Today was named in the ‘Fake TRP’ FIR.

Kamala Harris’ niece deletes morphed picture of Maa Durga after netizens ask her if she would do the same to Islam

OpIndia Staff
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Kamala Harris’ niece deletes morphed picture of Maa Durga after netizens ask her if she would do the same to Islam

Meena Harris, the niece of Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee Kamala Harris, took to Twitter to share a photoshopped image, which depicted Kamala Harris as Maa Durga. The image also showed Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden as a lion, the ‘vahana’ (vehicle) of Maa Durga.

Tweet by Meena Harris, now deleted

In the image, Kamala Harris symbolized as ‘Durga’ was seen killing US President Donald Trump, who was depicted as buffalo demon “Mahishasura”.

“I am actually speechless, other than to say that the first day of Navaratri was LIT,” said Meena Harris in her tweet.

However, the tweet did not go down well with netizens who slammed her for trying to exploit Hindu traditions for the political brownie points.

Some even questioned whether Harris would draw up such a caricature with Prophet Muhammad of Islam.

Just few days back, a man chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’ had beheaded a teacher over allegations of showing caricature of Prophet Muhammad to his students.

Some even questioned the fairness of trying to use Hindu symbolism in a bid to sway votes ahead of US Presidential elections.

Some even questioned what work Kamala had done to be compared to Goddess Durga.

Amusingly, Kamala Harris also appears pretty clueless about the festival.

In a strangely worded tweet, Harris had wished Hindu Americans happy Navratri as a ‘holiday’.

Following the social media outrage, Meena Harris quietly deleted her tweet.

IMA scam: CBI files supplementary charge sheet, names several police officers including husband of Congress MLA Anjali Nimbalkar

OpIndia Staff
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IMA scam: CBI files supplementary charge sheet, names several police officers including husband of Congress MLA Anjali Nimbalkar

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday filed a supplementary charge-sheet against 28 accused persons, including five police officers, in connection with the multi-crore IMA scam. One of the accused is senior police officer Hemant Nimbalkar, the husband of Congress MLA Anjali Nimbalkar.

According to the reports, the charge-sheet filed by the CBI also include the CEO and managing director of the Bengaluru-based investment firm I-Monetary Advisory (IMA), Mohammed Mansoor Khan, who had duped investors across the state to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore.

Earlier, the CBI had registered four cases in connection with the IMA scam. According to the charge-sheet, the accused had collected unauthorised deposits from a large number of depositors on the promise of a dream return and had duped them approximately Rs 4,000 crore.

The CBI has named six police officers, who are currently under investigation by the SIT for their alleged involvement in the IMA scam. The senior officers named in the FIR are LC Nagaraj, EB Sridhara, Hemant Nimbalkar, Ajay Hilori, M Ramesh, and P Gowrishankar.

The charge-sheet alleges that Nagaraj, along with other police officials, did not verify and act on the complaints against IMA. The CBI said that the accused instead gave a clean chit to the company and recommended that the complaints be closed stating that IMA had not indulged in any illegal acts.

The charge-sheet also alleges that the ‘illegal’ activities of the company continued unabated and thousands of investors were scammed, who lost crores of rupees in the scam. In August 2019, the Karnataka government had transferred the multi-crore scam case to the CBI, in which several politicians and senior government officials are accused.

MA halal investment scam

The IMA halal Ponzi scheme was run by the founder of IMA group Mohammed Mansoor Khan and his associates, who duped lakhs of people by promising higher returns using Islamic way of investment. The IMA promoter has been charged for running the Ponzi scheme, which allegedly duped 40,000 investors to the tune of over Rs 4,000 crore. 

The IMA scam is one of the biggest money laundering and financial fraud cases unearthed in Karnataka recently. Around 40,000 investors reportedly lost their money in this scam. IMA Managing Director Mohammad Mansoor Khan had attracted investors, especially Muslims, by offering an investment scheme that appeared to follow Islamic precepts and provided lucrative returns.

More than 41,000 complaints were registered by investors accusing IMA directors of committing fraud after the firm closed in May 2019 and ceased to pay dividends. 

The names of few Congress leader had also surfaced for their alleged involvement in the Ponzi scheme, making it a high-profile case. Senior Congress leaders like BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan, former Congress MLA Roshan Baig, Congress legislator from Khanapur in Belagavi Anjali Nimbalkar’s husband and Karnataka IPS officer, Hemant Nimbalkar’s name had also surfaced in the investigation.

 

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