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Man applies for a week’s leave to eat a lot of chicken before Shravan starts

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Man applies for a week’s leave to eat a lot of chicken before Shravan starts

In a bizarre development from Chhattisgarh, a Railway Employee named Pankaj Raj Gound posted at Deepka in Bilaspur District decided to request his station master for a week long leave so that he could sit at home and eat as much chicken as he could before the holy month of Shravan started.

Following is the alleged application letter:

Chicken eating application

In the letter, Pankaj, a TA-II employee who works as a porter at Deepka railway station, requests the station master with folded hands that as Shravan was starting from the month of July, no chicken would be cooked at his home during the entire month. He argues that his body will get weak due to lack of chicken in his diet, which would ultimately render him unable to do his job with efficiency.

He thereby requested his station master to grant him a leave from 20th June to 27th June so that during that period he may eat so much chicken that he would cover the quota for a full month, in order to stay strong enough to work 24 hrs a day.

The letter incredibly has an acknowledgement signature and a stamp of the Deepka Station Master, giving it credence. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the authorities had approved the leave request of Pankaj, as it was laced with kilos of tandoori logic.

The month of Sharavan is considered the holiest by Hindus and many refrain from eating non-veg food during that period. Incidentally some Maharashtrians celebrate a mini-version of Pankaj’s request in the form of a Gatari Amavasya where they eat and drink to their heart’s content on an Amavasya before the Shravan starts so as to make the one month abstinence bearable.

(Reporter’s diary: I thought I would write this news report with some funny commentary, but I could not think anything funnier.)

Bangalore police arrest 4 illegally residing Bangladeshis accused of Murder

OpIndia Staff
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Bangalore police arrest 4 illegally residing Bangladeshis accused of Murder

The Bangalore police on Thursday arrested 4 Bangladeshis who were living illegally in the city and have been subsequently accused of murder and running a prostitution racket. All the four people had valid Indian Identity cards like PAN card, Aadhar card, and even Voter ID card.

Even though them having Aadhar cards could be a blessing in disguise as now the authorities can use their and their suspected accomplices’ stored bio-metrics like fingerprints for crime investigation, them having voter cards is a very serious issue. It has been made clear that Aadhar card is not a proof of either Indian citizenship of a domicile but Voter Card is considered as an explicit proof of citizenship.

The Bangalore police are now trying to ascertain as to how they managed to procure the cards. The men named Obimulla (26), Moin Khan (26), Rakimulla (33), and Mohammed Kislu (35) reportedly hail from Parambishnupura Narail in Bangladesh. It is believed that they used a local contact named Janardhana Reddy, who is now absconding, to obtain the cards.

The four men were confronted by the police on late Wednesday night after they found their behaviour suspicious. When the men failed to provide proper explanation, they were taken to the Hennur police station.

Initially they submitted their ID proofs and claimed to be labourers from West Bengal, but the police inspector noticed their accent to be different from that spoken by Bengalis. After thorough questioning, they acknowledged that they were from Bangladesh and had come to Bangalore a few years ago by illegally crossing the border. They apparently used to bring women from Bangladesh to run a prostitution racket and had also allegedly murdered one of their associates named Imrul Choudary.

Currently various reports suggest that there are about 2 crore illegal Bangladeshis living in India.

This isn’t the only time Bangladeshis have come under scrutiny for perpetrating crime in India. Criminal gangs comprising of Bangladeshis had managed to sneak into India with the help of professional touts, who also help them in procuring weapons. These gangs took part in high profile robberies and then fled back to Bangladesh to wait for things to cool down. They were also known to sometimes team up with local gangs. In April 2013, one such criminal gang headed by a man called Badshah had conducted a robbery in a retired government officer’s home, which resulted in a death of the officer’s son.

How NDTV tried to whitewash lynching of Kashmiri policeman outside Mosque

OpIndia Staff
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How NDTV tried to whitewash lynching of Kashmiri policeman outside Mosque

On Thursday night, Mohammed Ayub Pandith, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) posted in the security wing of the Jammu & Kashmir Police, was lynched by a mob outside Jamia Masjid in Srinagar. The mob suspected him to be a non-Muslim who belonged to security agencies, and caught him while he was reportedly making a video of demonstrations in the area.

According to The Hindu, Ayub was spotted by a group of youngsters while he was making the video, who then dragged him around and beat him to death. Ayub fired from his pistol in self-defence, but the mob overpowered him. The mob raised pro-Pakistan and pro-militant slogans after stripping him naked and stoning him to death.

A gruesome incident of mob lynching was however given a ‘context’ by NDTV, which reported it with a headline that read ‘Man Opens Fire Outside Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid, Killed By Mob’.

There was no mention of the man being a cop in the headline and it suggested some ‘action-reaction’ as the reason why a person died. The snippets given alongside the headline too suggested as if the death was because an angry mob beat up a person who opened fire at them:

NDTV whitewashing crime
How NDTV descried death of a cop killed by Islamist mob

This was posted around a time when the details of the incident were already available. For example, the following tweet sent out by the Jammu & Kashmir police had clarified that a policeman on duty was killed by the mob:


The headline and description by NDTV perplexed and angered many, who argued that it was a narrative that attempted to whitewash a grave crime. Around an hour later, NDTV finally changed the headline to ‘Police Officer Beaten To Death By Mob Outside Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid’.

Now the snippets finally suggested that the cop, who was just an unknown man earlier for the NDTV, “may have opened fire in self-defence”:


This is not for the first time that the NDTV has been caught spinning information to create a counter narrative. Last month, Youth Congress workers had butchered a young cow in broad daylight in Kerala’s Kannur district. But while reporting the incident, NDTV changed the Cow to Buffalo, and finally to an Ox in its news reports, thus guaranteeing that Congress was not accused of cow-slaughter.

Tribes in Indonesia are accepting Islam to get govt facilities, and they are not the only one

OpIndia Staff
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Tribes in Indonesia are accepting Islam to get govt facilities, and they are not the only one

According to a recent report from Indonesia, tribes in the country are slowly converting to Islam so that they would be able to get the required attention from the government. Few people of the Orang Rimba tribe featured in the report decided to convert to Islam in Jaunary this year by giving up their animist culture and lifestyle, which had already been destroyed thanks to rampant expansion of Palm oil plantations and coal mining in their native forests.

They were aided in the conversion process by an Islamic NGO, which was further assisted by the Social Welfare ministry of the Muslim majority country. One tribesman claimed that after converting, they would be able to get national identity cards which would mean they would be eligible for public services like education and health care – something that was elusive for them all thee years.

One of the new converts named Muhammad Yusuf claimed that his conversion from animism to Islam has meant that the government which earlier didn’t care about them have now started to pay attention.

A similar incident had also come to light from Malaysia, another Muslim majority country considered to be moderate one along with Indonesia. Here too the indigenous groups have alleged that the government had offered them infrastructure, provided they abandon their animistic ways and embrace Islam.

The government of Malaysia had reportedly built modern settlements equipped with electronic gadgets in their region. But according to a Indigenous rights campaigner, the facilities came with strings attached as the government officials had set a condition that in order to avail them , one has to be a Muslim. The government though denied the allegations.

Such religious conditions for facilities have also been imposed in Pakistan. According to a report, hospitals in Sindh lacked the funds that could help out the indigenous non-Muslims of the country. The report claimed that a Scheduled Caste Hindu named Sahib Bheel was running from pillar to post in order to seek monetary help for his son admitted in the hospital. He received no response from the government and had to sit on a dharna and even attempted self-immolation.

According to him, the officer of the Zakat funds (the amount earmarked in Islam for charity) had refused him a single penny as the funds were apparently in their entirety only for Muslims. Sahib isn’t the only victim of this discrimination, there are apparently a thousand others who are refused such help in Sindh.

This Zakat fund is reportedly also been used as an incentive for conversion in the United Arab Emirates. The report claimed that a hundred people who had embraced Islam in the UAE were the beneficiary of the aid which amounted to Dh1 million. The majority of the converts were Indians or Filipino.

Dhingra Commission recommends probe against former Haryana Chief Minister Hooda

OpIndia Staff
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Dhingra Commission recommends probe against former Haryana Chief Minister Hooda

Trouble is mounting for the Congress and senior party leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Justice (retd) SN Dhingra Commission of Inquiry has reportedly flagged several violations in granting licences for development of colonies in Haryana during the previous Bhupinder Singh Hooda government.

Emphasising that Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s conduct of giving “pecuniary advantage” to close associates comes under the purview of Prevention of Corruption Act, the Commission has called for a probe against the the then Haryana chief minister. The Dhingra Commission has recommended an audit by an independent agency and cancellation of those licences granted illegally.

Citing examples of how approvals for development of colonies were granted or denied in clear violation of law and laid-down procedures, Justice Dhingra Commission has indicted Hooda government for abuse of power and illegal gratification.

Hooda government in 2008 had granted licences to Robert Vadra’s Skylight Hospitality for building a colony in Gurgaon simply on the ground that the director of the firm was a VIP and the son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Earlier the Dhingra Commission had discovered a land transaction undertaken by Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s daughter and Robert Vadra’s wife Priyanka Gandhi. Priyanka had bought 5 acres of agricultural land in Amipur village in Faridabad district of Haryana for Rs 15 lakh on April 28, 2006. That piece of land was resold to the original owner around four years later on February 17, 2010 at over five times the original price.

Justice (retd) SN Dhingra Commission of Inquiry was set up in May 2015 by the BJP government led by Manohar Lal Khattar. The Commission had submitted its report to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in August last year.

Even as the contents of the probe panel is still under wraps, Justice Dhingra has reportedly said that he has done his job and it is up to the courts to decide whether the report should be made public.

The Congress chose to challenge the constitutional validity of the Dhingra Commission and alleged that the BJP government had set up the Commission in “pursuit of a political vendetta”. “There are various irregularities with this Commission,” Hooda was quoted as saying.

Kashmiri woman leader faces obscene comments for performing Yoga ‘despite being a Muslim’

Ashish Tickoo
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Kashmiri woman leader faces obscene comments for performing Yoga ‘despite being a Muslim’

We have recently seen how trolls viciously trolled targeted Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra and Fatima Sana Shaikh among other women celebrities for not conforming to what they thought was ideal and “moral”. Not only entertainment professionals, even woman leaders like Union Minister Smriti Irani has been on the receiving end of the trolls. And now it has happened with a woman leader from Kashmir.

Dr. Hina Shafi Bhat, who is a dental surgeon and a BJP leader from Kashmir, was abused and subjected to humiliating comments just because she participated in an International Day of Yoga event in Jammu & Kashir on Wednesday.

It all began when a leading Newspaper of J&K, Daily Excelsior posted the image of Dr. Hina Bhat on their Facebook page. Hordes of trolls decided to attack her for this act, targeting her affiliation with the BJP and accusing her of being against Islam and the ‘Kashmiri struggle’.


Nearly all of the abusive comments were made by Kashmiri men, some of whom sent ‘laanat’ (curse) and ‘shame’ to Hina, while others stooped to accusing her of ‘sleeping with ministers’ and other such obscene and sexist comments. Many of these comments are still there on the Facebook page and not deleted despite it being pointed out on the social media.

It was clear from the comments that these trolls were upset by the fact that Dr. Hina was doing Yoga while being a Muslim. One comment wrote “Nimaz traweth Yoga karakh” in local language, which loosely means “she is doing yoga, leaving our faith”.

Dr. Hina had to face similar comments on another Facebook page that shares news from J&K. One user asked her to ‘drink cow urine too’ after doing yoga, while another accused her of trying to ‘shape’ her body through yoga (as if that is some vile thing to do). Another comment read “Nimaz to padti nahi yoga karti hai yeh jahnam mein jalay gi” (she doesn’t offer namaaz but does yoga, she will burn in hell fire). More than 200 comments were left on her picture with most being sexist attacks and religious sermons.

Muslim woman abused for performing yoga
A sample of vitriolic hate that Dr. Hina Bhat was subjected to for performing yoga.

Dr. Hina Bhat, whose father was an MP from J&K on National Conference ticket, had contested the assembly elections on BJP ticket from Kashmir’s AmiraKadal constituency in 2014. She was participating in a function organised on the International Day of Yoga along with Deputy Chief Minister of the state Dr Nirmal Singh and others in Srinagar.

It should be noted that many Islamic and Muslim majority countries have been participating in International Yoga Day events since 2015 when it was first organised. However, back in India, it has faced protests from ‘secular’ and some Muslim quarters for being ‘Hindutva’ agenda.

Did UPA govt let off Pakistani suspects in Samjhauta blast to further ‘Saffron Terror’ theory?

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Did UPA govt let off Pakistani suspects in Samjhauta blast to further ‘Saffron Terror’ theory?

On 18th February 2007, two bombs exploded in the Samjhauta Express, a train that connects New Delhi and Lahore, while the train was passing through the Diwana station near Panipat in Haryana. The blasts resulted in the death of 68 passengers including 3 Railway Policemen. Most of the civilian victims were Pakistani nationals.

Initial reports had suggested the involvement of Pakistan based terror group Laskhar-e-Taiba. In 2009 Asif Qasmani was named as the main accused by the United States treasury and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) which resulted in him getting a travel ban and also got his asset frozen.

But surprisingly the Indian investigative agencies drew a completely different conclusion and blamed “Saffron Terrorists” for the blast. According to reports in 2010, the NIA was apparently ‘convinced’ that Swami Aseemanand, a Right Wing Leader was the main mastermind behind the blasts. According to the report he had roped in Sandeep Dange, an engineering graduate, and Ramji Kalsangra, an electrician in order to build the explosives used. Aseemanand was released on bail in 2016.

Now a Times Now expose has made some very serious claims, which if true can put the UPA government and the investigative officers of the blast under serious scrutiny. According to the report, the Pakistani suspects who had allegedly planted the bomb were let off without any proper investigation under the UPA government. According to the report the Pakistanis named Ajmat Ali and Usman were initially arrested by the Indian authorities but were discharged within a fortnight.

One suspect named Ajmat Ali was reportedly arrested by the Punjab Police from the Attari Railway Station as he did not have valid papers. He was apparently using an alias named Rajesh Khanna but had a resemblance to the sketches of the bomb planter which were published by the GRP in connection with the Samjhauta blast.

But according to Gurdeep Singh, who was the Investigative Officer assigned to the Samjhauta Blast case, Ajmat was let off the hook after preliminary interrogation due to “directions from seniors”.

This expose has drawn a reaction from Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad who has hinted that the whole “Saffron Terror” angle to the blast case was also planted and raised questions as to on whose orders were the Pakistani suspects released.

This does raise the question that were the Pakistani suspects let off so that the “Hindu Terror” theory could be propagated or whether that angle came up independently under different circumstances.

It should also be noted that the same “Hindu outfit” was blamed for Malegaon blasts too, and Sadhvi Pragya was arrested in that case. Earlier this year, Sadhvi got bail and her lawyer, speaking exclusively to OpIndia.com, had revealed how the case against her was very weak and there could be an element of conspiracy too to prove “Hindu terror”.

90% petrol pumps in Maharashtra might be tampered to dispense less fuel, police suspects

OpIndia Staff
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90% petrol pumps in Maharashtra might be tampered to dispense less fuel, police suspects

After several petrol pumps in Uttar Pradesh were found guilty of tampering with fuel calibration, Thane crime branch has now busted a state-wide petrol pump racket where customers are being duped by petrol pump owners by manipulating fuel dispensing machines through remote-controlled electronic chips.

Thane crime branch has sealed seven of the nine petrol pumps it raided in the last few days. The crime branch has arrested seven people, most of them petrol pump owners or managers. The petrol pumps are situated along the prominent roads and highways. Police estimate that each petrol pump must have pocketed Rs 5.5 lakh a month by dispensing around 5-7 per cent less fuel for every litre bought. These petrol pumps must have collectively pocketed around to Rs 15 crore, they say.

Reports suggest that technicians of six major companies that supply fuel dispensers to petrol pumps across the country have allegedly been colluded with the owners of these petrol pumps.

“Prima facie, technicians involved in fitting these petrol vending machines are suspected to be involved. There are six major companies, also known as Original Equipment Suppliers (OES) that supply these vending machines across the country. We are taking the help of these companies to zero in on the technicians involved in the scam,” Thane Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh told The Indian Express.

“We suspect 90 per cent of the roughly 6,000 petrol pumps in the state to be fudged. Seven teams led by Deputy Commissioner of Police Abhishek Trimukhe have been sent across the state to raid petrol pumps. We suspect the scam has been on for at least a year,” he added.

Officials linked to the investigation reveal that the petrol pump owners embed electronic chip into the pulsar of the vending machine so that that less petrol than the quantity displayed on the machine could be dispensed. In addition, technocrats are said to be deployed to make changes into the software of vending machines. The system used by the accused is so sophisticated that even it eludes the Weights and Measures Department during tests.

Apart from Thane, there are reports of manipulation in dispensing machines in some petrol pumps in nearby Dombivali and Khopoli. Another 20 pumps in the tri-city region are being inspected over the past two weeks. Maharashtra Police suspects that the scam, which runs much wider, is a nation-wide syndicate.

In April, a similar ring was unearthed by Uttar Pradesh Police. So far, UP Special Task Force has carried out raids at various locations and arrested 27 petrol pump owners. UP Police is also in touch with its Maharashtra counterpart.

Thane crime branch had arrested one Vinay Shetye from Dombivali for being part of the petrol pump fraud in Uttar Pradesh. It was during the questioning that he revealed the names of some of these erring petrol pumps in Thane.

“Shetye’s gang manufactured the small pre-programmed chips that can infect metres at a petrol pump to show that the machine has disbursed more than it actually has,” Abhishek Trimukhe, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime), Pune said.

Security forces eliminate 3 more terrorists in South Kashmir

OpIndia Staff
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Security forces eliminate 3 more terrorists in South Kashmir

In May, Indian Army had decided to launch the biggest operation since the 1990s to weed out the terrorists from South Kashmir. Named “Operation clean-up”, it involved more than 4000 troops of Army, CRPF and J&K police participating in the combing operation.

Now it seems that the continued efforts of the security forces are bearing fruits with regular news of terrorists being eliminated from the infested area. Latest is killing of three Lashkak-e-Taiba terrorists in the Pulwama district of South Kashmir on Thursday. This encounter between the security forces and the terrorists lasted for about 6 hours.

This is yet another blow to the terrorists operating from South Kashmir after top Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Junaid Mattoo and his accomplice were killed in Anantnag District on 16th June. Apart from the successful encounter, the security forces had managed to nab another terrorist from the site. Mattoo was reportedly trapped in the Arwani village for more than 8 hours as a joint team of the Army, J&K police and CRPF cordoned off the area. During the operation, the security forces also had to fend off threats from the stone pelters active in the area.

South Kashmir isn’t the only area where the security agencies are tasting success. Just yesterday two Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists were killed by the forces in Sopore of North Kashmir. This encounter was a result of a combing operation of the security forces comprising of the 22 Rashtriya Rifles, Special Operations Group and the CRPF.

Hizbul Mujahideen had also suffered another blow recently after Hizbul Commander Sabzar Bhat, who was a successor to Burhan Wani, was gunned down along with another terrorist in Pulwama District.

The army is also managing to foil the cross border infiltration attempts by the terrorists. According to reports, 13 terrorists have been killed recently while they were trying to cross the LOC into India. This has taken this year’s tally of foiled infiltration and terrorists subsequently killed to 22 and 40 respectively in recent weeks.

India joins UN convention to position itself as a trading and transit hub

OpIndia Staff
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India joins UN convention to position itself as a trading and transit hub

In a significant development, India has joined the United Nations Transports Internationaux Routiers (TIR) Convention that will help the country to boost trade through smoother movement of goods across territories and position itself as a regional trading and transit hub like China.

TIR Convention will come into force in India in the next six months. India is the 71st country to join the global customs convention. It could be noted that China had joined the TIR in 2016.

The TIR Convention will enable India to move cargo along the International North-South Transport Corridor via Chabahar port in Iran, to access land-locked Afghanistan and the energy-rich Eurasian region. Further, it will help India to integrate with Myanmar and Thailand as well as Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.

The global customs convention will help India in implementing the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement. In addition, it will breathe life into the International North-South Transport Corridor and the Chabahar project.

India’s ratification into ITR is a part of the country’s multi-modal transport strategy that aims to integrate the economy with global and regional production networks through better connectivity. India’s accession into this global convention will link the country to maritime transport routes across the entire Asia-Pacific region. It will certainly boost trade and regional integration across South Asia and beyond apart from fast-tracking India’s potential to become a strategic trade hub.

According to a study done by UNESCAP region, implementing TIR could generate economic benefits ranging from 0.14 to 1.31 per cent of national GDP.

The Union Cabinet, in March, had approved India’s accession into United Nations Transports Internationaux Routiers (TIR) Convention.

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