Home Blog Page 1538

Dawood Ibrahim aide Chhota Shakeel confirms the gangster is ‘alive and healthy, met him multiple times yesterday’: Report

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Dawood Ibrahim aide Chhota Shakeel confirms the gangster is ‘alive and healthy, met him multiple times yesterday’: Report

Another report has put to rest the rumours about Dawood Ibrahim’s death. After two days of speculation and hear-say, News18 has confirmed that the gangster is a alive and well after an exclusive conversation with his close aide Chhota Shakeel.

“Dawood is alive and healthy. Even I was shocked to see this fake news. I met him multiple times yesterday,” the gangster told News18. On Monday (19th December), a relative of Dawood confirmed to Republic TV that he was not dead.

Responding to the report that were claiming that Dawood was poisoned, the relative while speaking to Republic TV claimed that it was not true. “The news of poisoning is incorrect. Also, we are unaware of his whereabout,” the relative said.

How did the rumours spread?

Rumours began to spread on Sunday (17th December) claiming that Dawood Ibrahim was poisoned by an unknown person and was rushed to hospital. Some reports claimed that he was dead. This was after Pakistan witnessed a nationwide internet shutdown.

Amid the rumours, an alleged screenshot of caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan, Anwaar Ul Haq Kakar, went viral on social media with claims that the said post confirmed the death of Ibrahim.

The post read, “The Messiah of humanity, dear to every Pakistani heart, our beloved His Excellency Dawood Ibrahim passed away due to poisoned by unknown. He breathed his last in a hospital in Karachi. May Allah grant him the highest position in Jannat. Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un.”

However, when OpIndia investigated the screenshot and the official handle of the Pakistani PM, we found that there was no such tweet. Furthermore, the handle used in the screenshot was anwaar_kakkar, while the real ID of the Pakistani PM is anwaar_kakar.

Pakistani media and journalists also fuelled the rumours.

Dawood Ibrahim is one of the most notorious and dreaded gangsters/terrorists wanted by India. A criminal mobster and drug dealer from Mumbai’s Ratnagiri, it is believed that Dawood Ibrahim now resides in Karachi, Pakistan. 

He was designated as a global terrorist in 2003 by India and the United States, with a reward of US$25 million for his capture for his role in the 1993 Bombay bombings. 

In 2011, the FBI and Forbes named him number three on The World’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives. While Dawood’s death rumours are all over social media, it has to be noted that such rumours find their place on social media platforms once or twice every year. 

It is a fact that Dawood Ibrahim is hiding in Pakistan, and the hostile neighbour categorically refuses to accept his presence in the country.

Similar rumours in the past

In 2020, there were reports that Dawood Ibrahim and his wife contracted Coronavirus. It was one of the “silver lining” reports during the COVID-19 pandemic. Later, it was reported that he died of the infection. However, the reports were proven wrong, and Dawood lived.

In 2017, there were reports that Dawood died of a heart attack. Some reports suggested he had a brain tumour that led to his worsening health. However, the reports later proved to be fake.

In 2016, there was another rumour on social media and mainstream media that Dawood got gangrene on his legs, and doctors might have had to amputate them. The same was contested by Chota Shakeel, who said, “Your agencies have the wrong information. Dawood is perfectly fit.”

China: Death toll from earthquake rises to 111, ‘all-out’ operation launched

ANI
-
0
China: Death toll from earthquake rises to 111, ‘all-out’ operation launched

At least 111 people have been killed in China’s Gansu and neighbouring Qinghai provinces after the strong 6.2-magnitude earthquake, state media Xinhua reported, citing local earthquake relief headquarters.

This comes after a 6.2-magnitude earthquake jolted an ethnic county in northwest China’s Gansu Province at midnight Monday.

In addition to the death toll, around 200 people are injured, the New York Times reported citing Chinese state media.

Regarding the situation, Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged ‘all-out’ search and rescue efforts and proper arrangements for affected people to ensure the safety of people’s lives and property.

According to Global Times, Xi has issued important instructions, demanding full-scale search and rescue efforts, proper resettlement of affected people, and maximum efforts to ensure the safety of people’s lives and property.

In another development, the State Council’s earthquake relief headquarters and the Ministry of Emergency Management have upgraded the national earthquake emergency response to Level II.

Xinhua reported, citing the China Earthquake Networks Center, that the quake jolted at 11:59 p.m. (local time) on Monday and had a focal depth of 10 km.

The epicenter Liugou Township is about 8 km from the county seat of Jishishan Bao’an, Dongxiang, Sala Autonomous County in Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu.

The witnesses said that the earthquake caused damage to houses, roads and other infrastructure. Several villages have suffered power failures and disruptions to water.

Xinhua reported, citing local meteorological authorities, that the daily low temperature in Jishishan is reported to reach minus 10 degrees Celsius on Tuesday.

The provincial fire and rescue department has sent 580 rescuers, aided by 88 fire engines, 12 search and rescue dogs, and more than 10,000 sets of equipment, to the disaster area.

Hu Changsheng, Party chief of Gansu, and Ren Zhenhe, governor of Gansu, have rushed to the disaster area to command rescue and relief.

The railway authority has also suspended passenger and cargo trains passing through the quake zone and ordered a safety check of railway tracks, Xinhua reported. (ANI)

(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)

“Rape is rape even if committed by a husband against wife”: Gujarat HC on marital rape

OpIndia Staff
-
0
“Rape is rape even if committed by a husband against wife”: Gujarat HC on marital rape

Amid a series of pleas arguing for the criminalisation of marital rape pending before the Supreme Court, the Gujarat High Court in its recent order observed that rape is rape even if it is committed by a husband against his wife. The court expressed its disagreement with the marital rape exception as provided under Section 375 of IPC (Exception 2). 

In its 8th December order, a single-judge bench of Justice Divyesh Joshi highlighted that marital rape is illegal in fifty American States, three Australian States, New Zealand, Canada, Israel, France, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and several other nations, Bar and Bench reported on 18th December (Monday).

The court order stated that a man sexually assaulting or raping a woman is amenable to punishment under Section 376 of the IPC.

Justice Joshi noted, “In most of the cases of such a nature, the usual practice is that if the man is the husband, performing the very same acts that of another man, he is exempted. In my considered view, the same cannot be countenanced. A man is a man; an act is an act; rape is rape, be it performed by a man the ‘husband’ on the woman the ‘wife’.”

The court order noted that the United Kingdom, from which Indian criminal laws have been predominantly drawn, has abolished the exemptions previously allowed for ‘husbands’. 

The order stated, “In the United Kingdom, which the Indian Penal Code (IPC) largely draws from, has also removed the exception (to section 376 which exempts husband from rape charge) pursuant to a judgment in 1991. Therefore, the IPC that was made by the rulers then, has itself abolished the exception given to husbands.” 

Further, the Court emphasised the need to address the social attitude of ‘boys will be boys’ noting that it trivialises or normalises offences of eve teasing and stalking. It asserted that sexual violence encompasses a spectrum of severity, ranging from the most egregious form, which is rape with or without accompanying violence, to a significant number of incidents falling under the category of sexual violence and constituting offences under various legal statutes.

Justice Joshi noted, “The outlaw behaviours such as stalking, eve-teasing, shades of verbal and physical assault and harassment. Social attitudes typically characterise this latter category of crimes as ‘minor offences.’ Such crimes are regrettably not only trivialised or normalised rather they are even romanticised and therefore, invigorated in popular lore such as cinema. These attitudes, which indulgently view the crime through prisms such as ‘boys will be boys’ and condone them, nevertheless have a lasting and pernicious effect on the survivors.” 

The court further asserted that there is a need to break the ‘silence’ surrounding gender violence. The court added that in India, the culprits are often known to the women but the social and economic ‘costs’ of reporting such crimes are high, as reported by Bar and Bench.

Notably, the court made these observations while dismissing a bail application filed by a woman. She has been made accused along with her husband and son under charges of rape, outraging modesty, cruelty, and criminal intimidation. 

According to the prosecution, the woman’s daughter-in-law accused her husband and her parents of taking her nude videos/photos and uploading them on a porn website. 

According to the complainant, her father-in-law instigated her husband to capture intimate moments on a phone and upload them to a porn website for financial gain. She protested against this and reported the matter to both her father-in-law and the accused mother-in-law. 

Allegedly, they conspired with her husband, forcing her to be recorded on camera. She claimed that her husband engaged in “unnatural” acts under the influence of his parents. The complainant asserted that the motive behind these actions was financial, aiming to prevent the sale of their hotel due to an ongoing financial crisis.

‘Christian community’s service to state in education, health commendable’: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah

ANI
-
0
‘Christian community’s service to state in education, health commendable’: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday appreciated the contribution of the Christian community to health and education in the state and said that their service in both fields was commendable.

Speaking after the inauguration of the Linear Accelerator Radiation Therapy Service at Baptist Hospital in Bengaluru, Siddaramaiah said, ” Christian community’s service towards the fields of education and health in the era of social inequality is commendable.”

“The Christian community has done excellent work in the field of education and health. This community has laid a good foundation for quality education in Udupi and Mangalore. The majority of people in Indian society were deprived of literacy,” he said.

“If cancer is detected in the early stages, the patient can be cured. However, if cancer is detected at a later stage, the advanced linear oscillator radiation therapy service treatment will help prevent the disease from progressing,” he added.

He further said that since more rural people come to this hospital, it will be more convenient for the patients if the doctors here speak in Kannada.

Adding ahead, he said that rich people visit good and expensive private hospitals, but the Baptist Hospital will provide health services at low rates to poor people who struggle for daily life and believe in public service.”

“Baptist Hospital has been providing treatment to poor people at affordable rates. The Baptist Hospital provides quality treatment to poor patients just like a government hospital. The government will provide all kinds of cooperation to this hospital,” the CM said.

The linear oscillator radiation therapy service, a state-of-the-art treatment method for cancer treatment was inaugurated by the Chief Minister at Baptist Hospital in Bengaluru.

Earlier on December 16, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that farmers and workers build the nation as they create wealth in the country.

He was speaking in a program organized by the Labour Department at the Karnataka College ground in Dharwad.

Putin listening to everything going on in Ukraine during the war? Ukraine military chief’s office bugged, devices found

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Putin listening to everything going on in Ukraine during the war? Ukraine military chief’s office bugged, devices found

On 18th December (Monday), Ukraine’s military chief claimed that a covert listening device was found in one of the offices where he works. He also alluded that more such devices were also found in other places as well without going into the details. 

Ukrainian Army Chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said, “I have several offices where I work. This happened in one of them. We checked (the room) and found (the device).” He added that listening devices were not only found in the office where he worked but he didn’t provide further details. However, he did not clarify whether more than one device was discovered within the premises of the Ukraine General Staff.

As per Ukrainian local media, the bugs were found on Saturday (16th December) before the beginning of the working day. 

According to Ukraine’s security service, the bugs were found during a routine sweep of the room that the official was using. However, it added that the device wasn’t working. 

Following the revelation, Ukrainian media reported that suspicions immediately pointed toward Russia amid the continuing war between the two nations, which could drag into another year. 

According to Reuters, Ukraine’s security service said on Sunday (17th December) that it had launched a criminal probe under a law on information gathering after a “technical device” was found in an office that could have been used in the future by Commander in Chief Valery Zaluzhnyi.

On the Telegram messaging app, the agency said that an investigation had been opened under an article in Ukraine’s criminal code on “unlawful acquisition, sale, or use of special technical means for obtaining information”.

The statement further indicated that the device, initially identified as a bug by local media, was preliminarily assessed to be “non-operational,” and no methods of storing information or remotely transmitting audio recordings were detected.

It said, “We emphasise that the device was found not directly in Valery Zaluzhnyi’s office but in one of the premises that could have been used by him in the future for work.”

Meanwhile, several Ukrainian and Western media reports claim that there has been friction between Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and Army Commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny. 

In an article for The Economist, Zaluzhny conceded that the conflict in Ukraine has come to a standstill. In a subsequent interview with the same magazine, he expressed that Ukrainian troops would not be able to make advancements along the engagement line.

Following his observations, the Ukrainian presidential office expressed disagreement with Zaluzhny’s statements.  Strana media outlet reported that Zaluzhny’s comments might indicate his presidential ambitions. Ukrainian media also speculate about the potential resignation of Zaluzhny.

The Russia-Ukraine war

Ukraine and Russia have been at war for more than a year now. In 2014, Russia captured Crimea from Ukraine and has been controlling it ever since. The war started after Russia felt provoked by Ukraine’s inclination to join NATO which is largely an anti-Russia coalition of Western nations. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and the battle is being fought on Ukrainian soil. Ukraine has received immense support from the West but the support is gradually fading. Ukraine has seen massive losses in men and territory.

Congress kickstarts ‘Donate for Desh’ campaign, forgets to register the domains for the campaign 

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Congress kickstarts ‘Donate for Desh’ campaign, forgets to register the domains for the campaign 

Congress recently announced its crowdfunding campaign ‘Donate for Desh’ to raise funds from the general public following reports of massive seizures of unaccounted cash from Congress leaders. Days after the announcement, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on 18th December launched the campaign in New Delhi. 

Incidentally, the links for the Congress crowdfunding campaign land the donors on BJP’s donation page. It has come to light that the funds and donations through the Congress party’s campaign are adding to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s coffers. As per reports, the grand old party kicked off the crowdfunding campaign without registering the related domain names. Reports add that the BJP secured the website domains after Congress failed to register the relevant domains for the donation websites promoted in its fundraising campaign.

The links redirected the donors to BJP and OPIndia’s donation pages. Simply put, when a person opens the Donatefordesh.org website, the user is redirected to BJP’s donation page which seeks details like donors’ name, mobile number, and email ID.

Similarly Donatefordesh.com and Donatefordesh.in take the user to the OpIndia Support pages. 

Following the goof-up in crowdfunding, netizens have been taking a jibe at the Congress party calling it the grand old party’s moye-moye moment. Netizens have slammed Congress asking the grand old party if it didn’t have any domain for these websites why it kicked off the campaign prematurely. 

Several users called it a major failure of the IT department of Congress party. According to several Twitter users, the failure alludes to the callous or non-serious approach of the party for its own crowdfunding campaign as otherwise, it had enough time and resources to run basic errands.

However, it’s not that Congress hasn’t received donations in the last few years. In 2021-22, the party received donations totaling ₹95 crore through electoral bonds. Additionally, in September 2023, the Congress announced that it possesses assets worth about ₹700 crores.

Nonetheless, the Congress party will be collecting donations both online and offline. On December 28, 2023, the party is celebrating its 138th anniversary. In alignment with that, it has issued an appeal to its supporters to contribute in multiples of ₹138, while urging its district and state-level workers to donate ₹1380.

The campaign has been initiated by its president, Mallikarjun Kharge, who has donated ₹1.38 lakh to the party. Congress will conduct this campaign online until December 28, 2023, following which its workers will go door-to-door to collect donations. However, the crowdfunding campaign has been marred with a major setback and failure for the party’s IT department as it lost the race for website domains to BJP and OpIndia. 

Rise in tourist footfall, international airport, Vande Bharat Express: How Ram Mandir is becoming the development centre for Ayodhya

Pragya Bakshi Sharma
-
0
Rise in tourist footfall, international airport, Vande Bharat Express: How Ram Mandir is becoming the development centre for Ayodhya

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a 2-day tour to his Lok Sabha constituency of Varanasi. Among other programmes, the Prime Minister inaugurated the Swarved Mahamandir in the holy city. The temple is dedicated to Swarved, a Hindu Spritual Scripture authored by Sadguru Shri Sadafal Deoji Maharaj, the founder of Vihangam Yoga.

Speaking about the confluence of divinity and development, PM Modi said that it is around India’s spiritual structure that India’s craft and art touched unimaginable heights.

“New pathways of knowledge and research emerged from here; unlimited possibilities related to enterprises and industries took birth here and it is from here that constant flow of humanitarian values emerged for the world,” PM Modi said.

PM Modi highlighted that the tyrants who ruled over India first targeted our symbols. “The revival of these cultural symbols post-Independence was important. Had we respected our cultural identity, then the feeling of unity and self-respect would have been strong in the country. But this is not what happened. The restoration of Somnath Temple post-Independence was opposed,” he said.

This premise of the Modi government’s policy of development in the holy cities of Kashi linked with spirituality has given a much-needed impetus to the people-led campaign of revival of the lost symbols of Hindu civilisation.

The upcoming inauguration of the Ayodhya Ram Mandir and Pran Pratishtha of Ram Lalla on 22nd January 2024 is a fine example of the same. The unquestionable devotion of billions of Hindus towards Shri Ram is not lost on anyone. Ayodhya is expected to be thronged with tourists after the Ram Mandir inauguration.

The temple itself is built on a 2.7 acres area with 12 gates and 3 floors. As per reports, the tourist footfall expected in Ayodhya by 2051 is a staggering three lakh people per day. In 2021, 1.57 crore tourists had visited the holy city.

This number rose to more than 2.39 crore domestic tourists in 2022 and 1,465 foreign tourists. This brings numbers of visitors to nearly 4 crore in 2021-22. Reports said this figure is estimated to touch 8 to 10 crores after the temple opens in January 2024.

Clearly, such devotion merits development for the convenient travel of devotees and pilgrims to the holy city. The Ayodhya International Airport is soon to be open to travelers.

Maryada Purshottam Shri Ram International Airport will witness its inaugural flight reportedly on 30th December from the national capital to Ayodhya whereas regular flights will begin from 6th January.

Vande Bharat trains will now also connect Ayodhya to the national capital, Varanasi and to Sitamarhi in Bihar. This circuit connecting through the Vande Bharat makes journey for pilgrims to the revered cities easier in terms of time and money too.

Another key highlight is the Ramayana Circuit (or Ram Circuit) which aims to connect major pilgrim sites in India and Nepal linked to the Ramayana. This thematic circuit is identified under the Swadesh Darshan scheme of Ministry of Tourism.

The city has seen whopping investments in real estate too. A Mumbai-based real estate company The House of Abhinandan Lodha has invested nearly ₹300 crore in acquiring a 25-acre land parcel in Ayodhya and has laid out a plan to launch a plotted development project in January 2024.

The project is situated approximately 12 to 15 minutes from the Shri Ram Temple. According to Samujjwal Ghosh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), HOABL, the company expects to invest roughly 1200 crore over three to four years that is by December 2026.

CP Kukreja Architects and L&T submitted their master blueprint plan for Ayodhya in January 2022. The firms have identified more than 40 tourism spots and development of the same is being done in phases.

The project includes development of public amenities, street furniture, broadening and “pedestrianisation” of roads along with redevelopment of Saryu riverfront.

“A tourism facilitation centre with 115 keys and six Dharamshalas that can accommodate 7200 beds have been proposed along with international museums that highlight the city’s rich cultural heritage,” ET quoted Dikshu C Kukreja, managing principal, at CP Kukreja Architects.

Add to that a solar city near the Saryu River, ferries, luxury river cruise, houseboats are only some of the many tourism-boosters to attract visitors and pilgrims alike. All this made possible with one grand temple.

Varanasi, a city of lights and temples, is witnessing the same gush of development. “The work that began with Somnath (restoration of Somnath Temple) has become a movement today,” PM said in his address on Monday (18th December).

Since the inauguration of the Kashi Vishwanath Dham, a record 12.0 crore devotees have visited in just two years of the development of the temple corridor. This number is expected to cross 13 crore soon.

Subsequently, facilities for tourists and devotees have increased. Notably, earlier, the temple premises had an area of only 3000 square feet. It was enlarged in 2021 to about 5 lakh square feet. This has allowed a capacity of 50,000 – 75,000 devotees in the temple premises.

The temple drew 7.35 million devotees within a year of the development of the corridor. Varanasi’s tourist footfall was eight times that of Goa in 2022.

In fact, after Kashi, other holy cities in U.P. including Mathura, Ayodhya, and Prayagraj had more tourists than Goa in 2022, indicating a massive increase in spiritual tourism of India’s ancient holy cities.

In this backdrop, PM Modi on Monday laid the foundation stone of development projects worth over Rs 19,150 crores in Baba Kashinath’s city. Being a representative of the Kashi constituency, PM Modi has used his position of power to keep his constituency in the headlines too.

This was his second visit to Varanasi in four months, the last one being in September. The fast-paced development in the holy cities of Ayodhya and Kashi and beyond aim to make the pilgrimage sites as the centre for growth and development across the country.

The confluence of divinity and development is sure to boost both, the cultural and economical strength of India and also bring back India’s lost heritage to life.

Arvind Kejriwal summoned by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Delhi liquor policy scam case

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Arvind Kejriwal summoned by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Delhi liquor policy scam case

Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate to be questioned regarding the money laundering case related to the Delhi excise policy that was scrapped. On Thursday, December 21, he has been asked to appear before the agency. Arvind Kejriwal has received two summons from the Enforcement Directorate over the same case.

Arvind Kejriwal was summoned by the financial watchdog to appear before it on 2nd November as well. The head of the Aam Aadmi Party, however, had ignored the summons, claiming it was unlawful and intended for political purposes.

Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, two of Arvind Kejriwal’s party leaders, were both taken into custody by the central investigative agencies concerning the same case. In April of this year, the CBI also questioned Arvind Kejriwal regarding the purported liquor scam.

After being questioned for more than nine hours at the CBI headquarters in Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal spoke to the media and said the investigation team had asked him 56 questions. “CBI questioning was conducted for 9.5 hours. I answered all the questions. The entire alleged liquor scam is false and bad politics. AAP is ‘kattar imaandaar party’. They want to finish AAP but the country’s people are with us,” Kejriwal had said.

It may be noted that Kejriwal was summoned by the federal agency to appear before it on November 2. However, the CM skipped the summons and left for Madhya Pradesh later in the day to hold a roadshow in Singrauli.

Terming the summons ‘illegal’, Kejriwal responded to the summons by ED by saying that he would not be appearing for the questioning as he had other events scheduled. He had claimed that he is a star campaigner with state elections coming up and therefore, he has other commitments which would not allow him to attend the summons.

Arvind Kejriwal also added that the summons was “motivated and issued for extraneous considerations” and asked ED to withdraw it.

The case against the Aam Aadmi Party in the Delhi Liquor scam became stronger after the Supreme Court denied bail to AAP leader and former deputy CM of Delhi Manish Sisodia. While denying bail, the apex court noted that a money trail of Rs 338 crore has been tentatively established in the case.

The liquor policy for 2021-22 was put into effect by the Delhi administration on 17th November 2021, however, it was cancelled at the end of September 2022 due to accusations of corruption. According to the agencies, the new regulation led to monopolisation and gave economic advantages to people who weren’t eligible for liquor licenses.

ISIS Ballari module’s plan to trigger IED blasts foiled: NIA arrests 8 terrorists, explosives, weapons, and documents exposing terror plan seized

ANI
-
0
ISIS Ballari module’s plan to trigger IED blasts foiled: NIA arrests 8 terrorists, explosives, weapons, and documents exposing terror plan seized

In an early morning crackdown on ISIS, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday raided 19 locations across four states and arrested eight operatives of the banned terror outfit’s Ballari module, including its leader Minaz, thus foiling plans by the accused to carry out terror acts, especially IED blasts.

NIA teams swooped down on the 19 locations spread across Ballari and Bengaluru in Karnataka; Amaravati, Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra; Jamshedpur and Bokaro in Jharkhand; and Delhi.

The eight ISIS agents arrested during the raids were involved in actively promoting terror and terror-related acts and activities of ISIS, the proscribed organisation.

They were operating under the leadership of Minaz @ Md. Sulaiman.

The raids also led to the seizure of explosive raw materials, such as Sulphur, Potassium Nitrate, Charcoal, Gunpowder, Sugar and Ethanol, sharp-edged weapons, unaccounted cash and incriminating documents, along with smartphones and other digital devices.

According to initial investigations, the accused had planned to use the explosive raw materials for the fabrication of IEDs, which were to be used for carrying out terror acts.

Investigations have further revealed that the accused, in pursuance of the path of violent Jihad, Khilafat, ISIS etc., were continuously in touch with one another via encrypted apps. They were specifically aiming at College students for “recruitment” and were also circulating documents relating to the recruitment of Mujahideen for “Jihad”.

The raids conducted today were part of NIA’s efforts to destroy the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) anti-terror terror conspiracy against India. The searches were carried out through close coordination and the operational assistance of Karnataka Police, Maharashtra Police, Jharkhand Police and the Delhi Police.

NIA had registered a case against the ISIS-inspired Ballari module on December 14, 2023. It has, since then, been working closely with the State Police and central agencies to track and apprehend members of this module.

The anti-terror agency has been conducting large-scale crackdowns and has busted various ISIS modules in recent months. Several terror operatives have been arrested in these raids by the NIA.

Today Minaj @ Md. Sulaiman and Syed Sameer were arrested from Ballari, Anas Iqbal Shaikh from Mumbai, Mohammad Muniruddin, Syid Samiullah @ Sami, Md Muzammil from Bengaluru, Shayan Rahman @Hussain from Delhi and Md. Shahbaz @ Zulfikar @ Guddu from Jamshedpur.

(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)

Gyanvapi survey: ASI files sealed report in Varanasi court regarding the survey of the controversial site

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Gyanvapi survey: ASI files sealed report in Varanasi court regarding the survey of the controversial site

On Monday (18th December), the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) submitted its report on a scientific survey it had undertaken at the controversial Gyanvapi complex. The report was submitted after the Varanasi court had ordered ASI to ascertain whether the disputed mosque was constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple.

“We submitted the report in a sealed cover in the court today. The court has fixed December 21 as the next date to look into the report,” said advocate Amit Srivastava, representing the ASI, in Varanasi. The report will be shared with the petitioners on December 21.

During the 12th December hearing, the ASI had requested an extra week to submit the report, citing Superintending Archaeologist Avinash Mohanty’s risein blood pressure. The court had then given the ASI an extension to submit its survey report for the eighth time.

A scientific examination of the controversial complex was mandated by the Varanasi court on July 21 to determine whether the mosque was “constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple.”

The ASI was instructed to undertake scientific investigation at the property in question, i.e. settlement plot number 9130 (Gyanvapi site), by District and Sessions Judge AK Vishvesha. The survey was to exclude the ‘Wazukhana’ area, which was sealed on the Supreme Court’s order. 

The mosque committee, however, sought a stay on the survey from the Allahabad High Court and then the Supreme Court. The survey was resumed on 4th August under security arrangements after both courts cleared the way.

The ASI asked the court for more time to finish the survey after the allotted time had passed. “In compliance with the said order, the ASI is conducting a scientific investigation/survey at the site,” the ASI stated in its request asking for an extension of time.

Additionally, the ASI stated that a team of experts from the Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, is also conducting a GPR (ground-penetrating radar) survey and that acquired data is being analysed and studied.

The application stated that a large amount of debris has been discovered covering the original features of the structure in the mosque’s cellars. “Cleaning of this trash/debris etc above the working floor level is in progress to examine the structures scientifically. As the court has directed (the ASI) to conduct a survey beneath the grounds of all the cellars, it is necessary that soil/debris dumped or accumulated there is removed without causing any damage to the standing structure,” read the application.

“The debris is being removed very carefully and systematically, which is a slow process and going to take some more time before the ground of all the cellars is cleared for the survey,” the application added.

The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, which had previously requested that the survey of the controversial mosque complex be halted, objected to giving the ASI more time.

In its response, the ASI stated that it was following the orders of the high court and the Supreme Court and that all precautions were being taken during the survey to ensure that the structure was not damaged.

The court also directed the ASI that the orders of the high court and the Supreme Court be complied with during the survey.

In August, the Varanasi High Court ordered the ASI and other stakeholders not to share information about the Gyanvapi site complex survey with anyone, especially the media. Apart from the ASI, the other parties involved in the case are the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee and the Hindu petitioners, as well as their representatives and the government counsel.

Last month, the ASI informed the court that it had completed a scientific survey at the site but that the ground-penetrating radar survey report was still being prepared, and that it would need more time to submit the survey report.

1...1,5371,5381,539...7,653Page 1,538 of 7,653