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In a bid to score political point, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra makes Unnao rape victim’s name public

OpIndia Staff
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In a bid to score political point, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra makes Unnao rape victim’s name public

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in a bid to score a political brownie points on the Unnao rape case victim’s accident that took place on Sunday, she shared the copy of the FIR on her Twitter account making the name of the rape victim public. Priyanka Gandhi later on deleted the tweet.

OpIndia has blanked out the name of the victim in the video recording of her tweet shared above to abide by the laws of the country.

After deleting her tweet, she posted new tweets urging the BJP to sack BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar, one of the main accused in the rape case. Sengar is also named in the FIR filed on Sunday on charges of murder and criminal conspiracy.

According to the law, identity of a rape victim cannot be disclosed and those guilty of doing so faces punishment under Section 228-A of the Indian Penal Code. The person who discloses such identity is liable to be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend up to two years and shall also be liable to fine.

On Sunday evening, when the Unnao rape victim, along with her aunts and lawyer was traveling to Rae Bareli, the car met with an accident. Her two aunts died whereas the girl and her lawyer were critically injured. In a shocking revelation, reports have emerged that the truck which was involved in the Unnao rape victim accident on Sunday evening belongs to a Samajwadi Party leader, Nandkishor Pal aka Nandu Pal. Lal, is a Samajwadi Party leader from Fatehpur district and his wife Ramashree Pal is also a Samajwadi Party leader. Nandu Lal has reportedly denied any conspiracy angle to the incident and insists that it was nothing more than an accident.

Kuldeep Sengar is a BJP MLA from Bangarmau. He had joined BJP in 2017 after a ten-year stint with Samajwadi Party. He had first become an MLA from Unnao Sadar on a BSP ticket. He had joined SP later and had won the Bangarmau seat in 2007 and Bhagwant Nagar seat in 2012. He had joined BJP in 2017 and won the Bangermau seat.

Chandauli: 17-year-old Khalid Ansari who set himself on fire in a dargah succumbed to his injuries

OpIndia Staff
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Chandauli: 17-year-old Khalid Ansari who set himself on fire in a dargah succumbed to his injuries

The 17-year-old Muslim boy from Chandauli, UP, named Khalid Ansari who had allegedly set himself on fire in a dargah has succumbed to his burn injuries. A resident of Township of Lohia Nagar town of Thana Syedaraja he had claimed that he was set on fire for refusing to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ on 28 July. However, the Police, after investigating the case, examining the CCTV footage and talking to eyewitnesses had concluded that Khalid himself had set himself on fire.


The boy was admitted in Kashi’s Kabir Chaura hospital. He was critical and had received over 60 per cent burns.

After the media houses published that Khalid was a victim of hate crime, Chandauli Police had issued a statement on its social media account through which they clarified that the Khalid’s statements were fabricated.

They had also taken to Twitter and posted the conversation it recorded with Dinesh Maurya, the eyewitness to the entire Chandauli incident. However, the usual fearmongers continued to spread falsehood by lying that a Muslim boy was set on fire for not chanting “Jai Shri Ram.”

Ira Trivedi deactivates her Twitter account after lying to cover-up her anti-Hindu views

OpIndia Staff
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Ira Trivedi deactivates her Twitter account after lying to cover-up her anti-Hindu views

Yoga Instructor Ira Trivedi, who was called out on social media after her old Hinduphobic tweets went viral, has deleted all her tweets and deactivated her Twitter account. Ira’s account @iratrivedi, which was a verified Twitter handle, now shows that it does not exist.

Via Twitter

Ira Trivedi’s old Tweets displaying her blatant Hinduphobia had surfaced after DD National had shared a tweet that Ira will be featuring in their morning Yoga show. Ira had called Hinduism a ‘regressive’ religion. She had also claimed that beef is the cheapest source of protein (a false claim) and had spoken for the promotion of beef as food.

DD had later dropped her show from their schedule.

Trivedi had also attempted to deride BJP’e female leaders for being ‘saffron-clad’. In her tweets, she was seen claiming that the Quran is a progressive text while Hinduism is ‘regressive’.

Following the social media outrage, Ira had first attempted to clarify that she does not hate Hinduism. Later, after deleting the said tweets, she had claimed that the old screenshots are fake, a claim which was again debunked by Twitter users.

Trivedi is the granddaughter of former Congress leader VC Shukla who was the I & B minister in Indira Gandhi’s government.

Last year, Ira had claimed that author Chetan Bhagat has shown inappropriate behaviour towards her. Bhagat had denied the charges and had shared old emails that Ira has sent to him where she had addressed him in a loving and endearing manner. Bhagat had also asked that if he had misbehaved with Ira why had Ira invited him as a chief guest to her book launch.

As CCD founder goes missing, here is how the Income Tax sleuths had uncovered Rs 650 crores undisclosed income in 2017

OpIndia Staff
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As CCD founder goes missing, here is how the Income Tax sleuths had uncovered Rs 650 crores undisclosed income in 2017

VG Siddhartha, the founder of India’s largest coffee chain Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) and also owns Asia’s single-largest coffee estate, is reportedly missing since Monday evening.

Siddhartha, the son-in-law of former Chief Minister of Karnataka SM Krishna, got off from his car near a bridge across the Nethravathi River in Mangalore. His driver raised an alarm when he did not return even after an hour.

While the search operations are on, a letter has now surfaced that Siddhartha, the founder of CCD wrote to the Board members before he went missing. In the letter, Siddhartha apologises for not being able to create a profitable business model. He also alleges several pressures which he is not being able to manage anymore and harassment by Income Tax officials. Siddhartha, in his letter, says that he fought long and hard, but has finally decided to give up.

Cafe Coffee Day was started as a retail chain in the year 1996 by BG Siddhartha, the son in law of former Karnataka CM SM Krishna. With an initial investment of Rs. 1.5 crores, the first outlet of CCD was opened by Siddhartha in Bangalore, Brigade road. Cafe Coffee Day has around 1,700 cafes, 48,000 vending machines, 532 kiosks and 403 ground coffee selling outlets across the country.

While speculations about the business model and the various pressures that could have contributed to Siddhartha missing are being fuelled, one recalls that Cafe Coffee Day and VG Siddhartha were in trouble with the tax sleuths 2 years ago.

In September 2017, after 4 days of raids, the Income Tax sleuths had uncovered over Rs. 650 crores of undisclosed income. The raids were conducted in multiple locations in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai, including Siddhartha’s hometown of Chikmagalur in Karnataka.

According to reports, the raids had concluded with VG Siddhartha admitting that Cafe Coffee Day had an undisclosed income of over Rs. 650 crores.

An informal PR release by the Income Tax Department had said, “The detection of undisclosed income is expected to be much higher since there are a number of other issues, including violations of other statutes on which there is no disclosure, but relevant evidence has been found. These will be pursued effectively with vigour, energy and imagination”.

A team of I-T sleuths had also cracked down on Coffee Day Square in Bengaluru, the headquarters of Cafe Coffee Day, and Siddhartha’s residence in Bengaluru’s upscale locality of Sadashivanagar. In Chikkamagaluru, another team carried out raids in the Coffee Day Global Limited office, two of his coffee estate offices, a residential school office and the Serai Resorts.

A day after the income tax raids, the Cafe Coffee Day shares had dropped by 9%.

Earlier this year, the Income Tax department had attached around 46 lakh shares in Cafe Coffee Day held by VG Siddhartha against the tax demand for the undisclosed income. Initally, shares in Mindtree held by CCD and Siddhartha were attached, but those were released and the promoter’s shares in CCD were atatched instead.

These facts become pertinent to remember since several people are charting out Siddhartha’s disappearance to ‘tax terrorism’. In his letter as well, Siddhartha talks about how he was being “harassed” by tax officials.

While harassment by officials of the IT department is not new, the reports have indicated that Siddhartha himself had agreed to the undisclosed income of Rs. 650 crores. The tax sleuths had suspected that the amount could be far more than that.

In his letter, Siddhartha had also written, “I would like to say I gave it all, I am very sorry to let down all the people that put their trust in me. I fought for a long time but today I gave up as I could not take any more pressure from one of the private equity partners forcing me to buy back shares, a transaction I had partially completed six months ago by borrowing a large sum of money from a friend”.

He had further added that he faced tremendous pressure from other lenders led to “me succumbing to the situation.”

He had also said, “I sincerely request each of you to be strong and to continue running these businesses with new management,” said VG Siddhartha in his letter to the Board of Directors and his Coffee Day family, adding that “every financial transaction” is his responsibility.

“My team, auditors and senior management are totally unaware of all my transactions. The law should hold me and only me accountable, as I have withheld this information from everybody including my family. My intention was never to cheat or mislead anybody, I have failed as an entrepreneur. This is my sincere submission. I hope someday you will understand, forgive and pardon me,” Siddhartha wrote in the letter.

Congress triggered over PM Modi’s appearance in Man Vs Wild, peddles old lies and asks Discovery to share shooting timings

OpIndia Staff
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Congress triggered over PM Modi’s appearance in Man Vs Wild, peddles old lies and asks Discovery to share shooting timings

The Congress party has ‘asked’ the Discovery Channel to make public the timings of the shooting of their special episode in Man Vs Wild where PM Modi is set to appear with the show’s host Bear Grylls. The special episode featuring PM Modi in the Man Vs Wild show will be telecast on August 12 at 9 pm.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari has referred to an old claim by former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and has asked Discovery Channel to make public the exact timings when the episode was shot.

Tewari has stated to PTI that if one would recall that when the Pulwama terror incident took place earlier this year, at that time it was pointed out that the prime minister addressed a public meeting at 5.15 pm that day, but he did not condemn the incident or paid obeisance to the martyrs or warn Pakistan.

Tewari has further stated, “There is an inescapable conclusion that the Prime Minister was unaware even after two hours that such a huge terrorist attack has taken place. If the Prime Minister was aware, then it reflected gross insensitivity by not condemning the incident on the first occasion that he got, the first occasion was the public meeting that he was holding and now with this particular film ready to be telecast on August 12.”

Manish Tewari added that it is incumbent upon the Discovery Channel to put it out on the public space the exact timings and duration the said episode was shot in the Jim Corbett National Park.

It is notable here that earlier in February, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi had shared the media images of the PM visiting the Jim Corbett National Park and had claimed that the PM was ‘busy shooting a film’ when the Pulwama attack had happened. Congress had claimed then that even 3 hours after the attack, PM Modi was busy shooting for a film in the Jim Corbett. The claim was categorically debunked here.

The BJP had then called Rahul Gandhi a liar and stated that the then Congress president is sharing photos from the morning to mislead the nation. It is notable here that the Pulwama attack had happened around 3.15 on the afternoon of 14 February and media reports had started pouring in a while later.


Interestingly, Congress had itself shared a video of Rahul Gandhi dancing and laughing with people after the Pulwama attack. They rushed to delete the images and video after their attack on PM Modi was countered.

As per a latest report in the Economic Times, government sources have confirmed that PM Modi was already back from Jim Corbett about 30 minutes before the Pulwama Attack happened. ET has stated quoting government officials that PM Modi had a number of prior commitments that day and he was in the shooting for about 45 minutes. PM Modi was reportedly informed about the attack on his way back from Corbett to Rudrapur and immediately after being informed, he had held review calls to access the situation.

Discovery Channel had yesterday announced a special episode of their immensely popular wildlife show Man Vs Wild where wildlife explorer Bear Grylls will share an adventurous journey into the wilderness with PM Modi. The news was shared by the channel and Bear Grylls himself on the occasion of the International Tiger Day yesterday and had instantly become the top news in India.

Indian Express communalises road rage incident, says Muslim youth beaten up for being a Muslim

OpIndia Staff
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Indian Express communalises road rage incident, says Muslim youth beaten up for being a Muslim

The Indian Express today communalised a road rage incident in Dahej, Bharuch, by reporting that a Muslim youth was beaten up by five men upon identifying his religion.

The report stated that a man named Faizal was beaten up by a group of men ‘after they inquired about his name and out out his community in Bharuch on Saturday.’ The report quotes Faisal who mentions (and we quote verbatim from Indian Express report), “I left on my bike and after crossing around 100 metres, I saw five youths in a verbal duel with another youth who was travelling on bike. I did not pay attention and tried to pass through the side when the men, speaking local language, caught hold of me and asked my name. When I said my name, they asked which company I was working for. I gave the company’s address when three of them started slapping me. When I asked what was my fault, they replied with fists. Somehow I managed to escape from the spot as my bike was on. I hid myself at a distance and informed a colleague, Imtiyaz Shaikh, about the incident.”

Even in his statement to Indian Express, Faisal himself has not mentioned that he was beaten up because of his religious identity. As per Faisal’s statement to IE itself, the assailants had asked him his name and where he worked. Following which he was beaten up.

OpIndia called up Dahej Police station and confirmed that there was no communal angle in the incident. The police confirmed that it was a road rage incident and a complaint has been registered against unknown assailants. Faisal in his statement to the police has not mentioned that it was a hate crime.

The police is investigating the case. “Faisal was on his bike and some arguement happened with some other guys on a bike. He was beaten up. We are looking into the matter. Faisal did not know them and we have registered a complaint against unknown assailants. We can confirm there is no religious angle to this,” the Dahej Police confirmed with OpIndia.

It is shocking that the Indian Express tried to give a communal colour to a report on road rage. This is not the first time mainstream media has communalised incidents like these. Earlier in May, IndiaTimes, a Times of India group website, also gave a communal twist to a road rage incident in Gurugram. One Dr Narul in Gurugram was beaten up by a mob when he went to buy milk for Iftar. He had mentioned that when he was being beaten up, he heard someone say that he (Dr Narul) is a Muslim and hence they (the men allegedly beating him up) should leave because this incident could lead to communal riots. However, IndiaTimes reproduced the story giving it a communal twist. The headline of IndiaTimes read that the mob thrashed Dr Narul while shouting “Muslims should leave”, while in fact, they fled the scene when they realised the person they were beating up was a Muslim.

Similarly, Indian Express just communalised a road rage incident and turned it into hate crime.

‘I failed to create profitable business model’: Read Cafe Coffee Day founder, VG Siddhartha’s letter to Directors before he went missing

OpIndia Staff
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‘I failed to create profitable business model’: Read Cafe Coffee Day founder, VG Siddhartha’s letter to Directors before he went missing

VG Siddhartha, the son-in-law of former Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna and the founder-owner of the chain of Cafe Coffee Day (CCD), has gone missing from Mangaluru in Karnataka. As per the reports, a new letter written by VG Siddhartha to board directors has surfaced into public now.

In a letter written to the Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) board, founder VG Siddhartha has said that he failed to create the right profitable business model despite taking best efforts.

“After 37 years, with strong commitment to hard work, having directly created 30,000 jobs in our companies and their subsidiaries, as well as another 20,000 jobs in technology company where I have been a large shareholder since its founding, I have failed to create the right profitable business model despite my best efforts,” wrote CCD founder VG Siddhartha in his letter.

“I would like to say I gave it all, I am very sorry to let down all the people that put their trust in me. I fought for a long time but today I gave up as I could not take any more pressure from one of the private equity partners forcing me to buy back shares, a transaction I had partially completed six months ago by borrowing a large sum of money from a friend,” Siddhartha wrote in his letter to the board.

Siddhartha further added that he faced tremendous pressure from other lenders led to “me succumbing to the situation.”

“There was a lot of harassment from the previous DG income tax in the form of attaching our shares on two separate occasions to block our Mindtree deal and then taking the position of our Coffee Day shares, although the revised returns have been filed by us,” he said in the letter.

“I sincerely request each of you to be strong and to continue running these businesses with new management,” said VG Siddhartha in his letter to the Board of Directors and his Coffee Day family, adding that “every financial transaction” is his responsibility.

“My team, auditors and senior management are totally unaware of all my transactions. The law should hold me and only me accountable, as I have withheld this information from everybody including my family. My intention was never to cheat or mislead anybody, I have failed as an entrepreneur. This is my sincere submission. I hope someday you will understand, forgive and pardon me,” Siddhartha wrote in the letter.

VG Siddhartha went missing after he got off from his car near a bridge across the Nethravathi River near Mangalore, about 375km from Bengaluru, but did not return even after an hour.

The police officials have begun a search in the area after Siddhartha’s driver filed a complaint with the police on Tuesday morning raising suspicion if the person who jumped off the bridge was indeed the CCD founder.

RSS to open school where children will be trained to join the Defence Forces, to be called Rajju Bhaiya Sainik Vidya Mandir

OpIndia Staff
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RSS to open school where children will be trained to join the Defence Forces, to be called Rajju Bhaiya Sainik Vidya Mandir

In a first, the nationalist organisation Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) is set to open an Army school in Uttar Pradesh to train children to become officers in the armed forces.

According to the reports, the Army school will be run Vidhya Bharati, the education wing of the RSS which runs over 20,000 schools across the country. The school will come up at Shikarpur in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshar and would be named after former RSS Sarsanghchalak Rajendra Singh, also known as Rajju Bhaiya. The school will be called the Rajju Bhaiya Sainik Vidya Mandir.

Rajpal Singh, a former soldier and farmer of Bulandshar has donated 20,000 square metres of his land for the school. The land is now part of a newly created trust, Rajpal Singh Jankalyan Sewa Samiti. The school will have a three-storey building for academics, a three-storey hostel, a dispensary, residence for staff members and a large stadium. The total cost of the project will be Rs.40 crores.


The construction for the residential school for boys began in August last year. It will follow the syllabus of the Central Board of Secondary Education and will have students from Class VI to Class XII.

“This is an experiment we are doing for the first time in the country and the model can be replicated to other places in future,” Ajay Goyal, regional convener of West UP and Uttarakhand for the Vidya Bharti Uchha Shiksha Sansthan.

As per the report, the prospectus for the first batch of students is almost ready and the applications for admission in the school will be invited from next month. “We will take 160 students for Class VI for the first batch,” Goyal said. The children of martyrs will reportedly get 56 seats under a reservation scheme.

Retired Army officers are expected to meet and offer suggestions for improvements in September. “A number of Army officers across the country are in touch with RSS or affiliate organisations. The date of the meeting will be finalised within a week,” Goyal said.

“There is a lack of Army, Navy and Air Force officers in the country. The reason behind that is not many young people can match the eligibility criteria for the officers’ post. There is one Army School in each state which is not able to fulfil the demand of officers in the Indian forces,” reads the brochure.

Cafe Coffee Day founder and SM Krishna’s son-in-law VG Siddhartha goes missing near Mangalore, search operations on

OpIndia Staff
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Cafe Coffee Day founder and SM Krishna’s son-in-law VG Siddhartha goes missing near Mangalore, search operations on

VG Siddhartha, the founder of India’s largest coffee chain Cafe Coffee Day and also owns Asia’s single-largest coffee estate, is reportedly missing since Monday evening.

Siddhartha, the son-in-law of former Chief Minister of Karnataka SM Krishna, got off from his car near a bridge across the Nethravathi River in Mangalore. His driver raised an alarm when he did not return even after an hour. The driver then informed the family and the police that Siddhartha travelled to the Ullal bridge from Mangaluru in his car and asked him to stop the car the other end of the bridge. He then walked some distance before he disappeared. Siddhartha’s phone is also switched off since last night, according to the reports.

The police have launched a search based on the information provided by the driver. More than 200 personnel including 25 swimmers have been put into action to search Siddhartha. According to his driver, Siddhartha was talking to someone on his mobile phone when he got off from the car near Kotekar. The police is also looking at who all he talked to last to try and get clues in the case.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa and Congress strongman DK Shivkumar visited former CM SM Krishna’s residence in Sadashivanagar, Bengaluru in the view of the latter’s son-in-law going missing.

Samajwadi Party leader owns the truck that hit Unnao rape victim’s car, denies any conspiracy; UP govt recommends CBI probe

OpIndia Staff
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Samajwadi Party leader owns the truck that hit Unnao rape victim’s car, denies any conspiracy; UP govt recommends CBI probe

In a shocking revelation, reports have emerged that the truck which was involved in the Unnao rape victim accident on Sunday evening belongs to a Samajwadi Party leader, Nandkishor Pal aka Nandu Pal. Lal, is a Samajwadi Party leader from Fatehpur district and his wife Ramashree Pal is also a Samajwadi Party leader. Nandu Lal has reportedly denied any conspiracy angle to the incident and insists that it was nothing more than an accident.

As per Amar Ujala, Samajwadi Party leader has claimed that the number plate were blackened out to evade the financiers. Pal has three other brothers, Devendra Kishore Pal, Munna Pal and Dilip Pal, who own 27 trucks amongst themselves. Nandu Pal has reportedly informed that the truck which was involved in the accident was in the name of Devendra Kishore Pal. The truck was returning from Rae Bareli to Fatehpur.

The accident took place between Rae Bareli and Lalganj. The Police has picked up the truck driver and the truck. The truck was reportedly being driven by one Ashish of Oti village. His elder brothers do farming in the village.

Meanwhile, a suspicious man was reportedly found outside the trauma centre where the girl is undergoing treatment after the accident.


The man, Sumit Shrivastav, has been taken away by the police for questioning.

In the meantime, the Uttar Pradesh government has sent a formal request to the government of India to transfer the Unnao rape victim’s road accident case to the CBI.

An FIR has also been filed against BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar on the charges of murder and criminal conspiracy. Sengar is also the prime accused in the 2017 rape case. In April 2018, a case was registered against Sengar under section 363, 366, 376, 506 and POCSO Act of Indian Penal Code and was sent to jail. Sengar along with his brother Atul Singh have been in jail since then.

On Sunday evening when the rape victim, along with her aunts and lawyer was traveling to Rae Bareli, the car met with an accident. Her two aunts died whereas the girl and her lawyer were critically injured.

Kuldeep Sengar is a BJP MLA from Bangarmau. He had joined BJP in 2017 after a ten-year stint with Samajwadi Party. He had first become an MLA from Unnao Sadar on a BSP ticket. He had joined SP later and had won the Bangarmau seat in 2007 and Bhagwant Nagar seat in 2012. He had joined BJP in 2017 and won the Bangermau seat.

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