BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who has made cash-for-query allegations against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, on Thursday accused her of trying “to present a misleading narrative to the public” and said wrong remarks had been made about the Chairman of Ethics Committee Vinod Sonkar by opposition members of the panel.
Talking to the media at his residence after Mahua Moitra and opposition members of the ethics panel “walked out” of the meeting on Thursday afternoon objecting to some of the questions raised, Dubey said it is “the darkest day of parliamentary history”.
“No power in the world can save Mahua Moitra. As a parliamentarian, we are sad that we are part of a Parliament where people take money to ask questions,” he alleged.
Dubey had written a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla last month titled “Re-emergence of nasty ‘Cash for Query’ in Parliament”, seeking a probe into his allegations. He also claimed that Advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai had provided him with proof of alleged bribes.
Both Dubey and Jai Dehadrai have appeared before the Ethics Committee.
“…I and Dehadrai went there as witnesses and Mahua Moitra went as an accused. However, she gave interviews and quoted what happened inside the committee of ethics. She tried to present a misleading narrative in the public. What happened today is the darkest day of parliamentary history,” Dubey said.
#WATCH | Delhi: "…I and Dehadrai went there as witnesses and Mahua Moitra went as an accused. However, she gave interviews and quoted what happened inside the committee of ethics. She tried to set a wrong narrative in the public. What happened today is the darkest day of… pic.twitter.com/mzwnXUMVZX
Referring to opposition members’ allegations about the line of questioning, Dubey said they had made “wrong remarks” about the chairperson.
“They are unable to digest that a person from Scheduled Caste, Vinod Sonkar, has become the Chairman of the Ethics Committee and they are making unnecessary statements against him,” he said.
He said the Ethics Committee functions by rules and procedures and expressed hope that it will take “a good decision”.
He also targeted the Congress and said its member in the panel had supported Moitra over the walkout.
Moitra appeared before the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee over cash-for-query allegations against her. She and opposition members of the panel “walked out” of the meeting on Thursday afternoon. Opposition members raised questions over the line of questioning and alleged that “personal questions” were posed to the Trinamool Congress MP.
Among those who walked out were BSP MP Danish Ali, Janata Dal (United) MP Giridhari Yadav and Congress MP Uttam Kumar Reddy.
“They asked personal questions to the woman (Mahua Moitra). They do not have the right to ask personal questions, so we walked out,” Giridhari Yadav later said.
Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged that there was no reply to their queries about the BJP MP, who made the complaint, “having some information” which is supposed to come to the panel.
“The whole line of questions it seems that he’s (Parliament Ethics Committee Chairman) acting on somebody’s behest. It is very, very bad. For two days we have been asking him some things. They are asking her (Mahua Moitra) where are you travelling? Where are you meeting? Can you give us your phone records? There is no evidence of any cash transfer,” he said.
Moitra appeared before the Ethics Committee in connection with the alleged ‘Cash for Query’ charge against her on Thursday morning.
Sources said Moitra gave her statement and she was to be cross-examined by the members on the basis of complaint made by Dubey and Advocate Jai Dehadrai.
Moitra had earlier in a letter to the ethics panel requested for a summons date after November 5 citing pre-scheduled Vijaya Dashmi programmes. The panel, however, asked her to appear on November 2.
Moitra is facing ‘Cash for Query’ charges made by Dubey, who alleged that the Trinamool MP had taken bribes from Dubai-based businessman Hiranandani to raise questions in Parliament to target the Adani Group.
On Wednesday, Moitra made public her letter to the Ethics Committee chairman.
Posting a two-page letter on her X handle, Moitra said, “Since the Ethics Committee deemed it fit to release my summons to the media I think it is important I too release my letter to the Committee before my hearing.
In her letter, Moitra alleged that advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai “had provided no documentary evidence to back his allegations in either his written complaint and neither could he provide any evidence in his oral hearing.”
“In keeping with the principles of natural justice I wish to exercise my right to cross-examine Dehadrai,” she wrote in her letter to the Committee.”
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
In central Mumbai’s Wadala region, a man is said to have brutally murdered an elderly woman before throwing her body out of the house. According to the official, the 27-year-old accused, identified as Mohd Faiz Rafique Sayyad, was arrested on Wednesday (2nd November). He is a resident of BPT Gate No 5 area in Wadala East.
The accused murdered the 75-year-old woman by hitting her on her head with a steel rod. The woman identified as Sugrabi Hussain Mulla is said to have died on the spot. According to the reports, the accused stuffed the woman’s body in a gunny bag and threw her body out the window of the house after killing her.
The accused also tried to destroy the evidence by setting the body of the woman on fire.
This is not the first time that such a brutal crime has been reported from the Mumbai district of Maharashtra. Earlier on 18th October, a case of honour killing of an interfaith couple came to light in Mumbai, where a young couple’s interfaith marriage turned into a tragic tale of violence and despair.
A 20-year-old woman named Gulnaz Khan and her 22-year-old husband, Karan Ramesh Chandra, were brutally murdered on Saturday (14th October) by the woman’s father Gora Raeesuddin Khan (50), her brother Salman Khan (22), and their accomplice Mohammad Kaif.
The Mumbai Police arrested these three accused and three other minors in connection with the case on Tuesday (17th October). According to reports, the incident unfolded as the family members of Gulnaz Khan, originally hailing from Banda, Uttar Pradesh, were vehemently opposed to her marriage to Karan Ramesh Chandra, which took place in 2022.
In August this year, Mumbai-based Shafiq Ahmed Shaikh reportedly killed his brother-in-law with a crowbar and then chopped his body into several pieces. Shafiq murdered the 17-year-old Ishwar for allegedly passing comments against his wife and her sister. As per the police, Ishwar was raised by Shafiq’s father-in-law.
Ishwar’s dead body was chopped into five pieces and later hidden in the kitchen. The murder took place in Mumbai’s Chembur area. The victim’s body was recovered from Shafiq’s kitchen in his two-room flat in the MHADA locality locality in the RCF area of Chembur.
As per the police, Shafiq asked Ishwar to stop commenting on his wife for a long time. However, when Ishwar didn’t listen to him, an infuriated Shafiq proceeded to murder him and later butchered his dead body.
Also, in June this year, the Maharashtra police arrested a 56-year-old man for murdering his live-in partner and dismembering her body before disposing it. The police revealed that the man chopped his partner’s body with a tree cutter and boiled her body parts in a pressure cooker. He later filled them into plastic bags to dispose of them.
Some media reports quoted residents as alleging that the accused boiled body parts of the victim and flushed them in the toilet. At the same time, some people claimed that after boiling, the pieces were fed to the dogs.
A detailed report regarding this crime can be read here.
On 2nd November Lok Sabha Secretariat lifted the disqualification of Nationalist Congress Party leader and Lakshadweep MP Mohammad Faizal Padippura from the Lower House of Parliament weeks after the Supreme Court suspended his conviction in an attempt to murder case. According to a notification issued by Lok Sabha Secretary General Utpal Kumar Singh, his removal from Lok Sabha is no longer in effect, however, it is dependent on future decisions made by the judiciary.
The press release read, “In view of the order dated 09.10.2023 of the Supreme Court of India, the disqualification of Shri Mohammed Faizal P. P., notified vide Gazette Notification no. 21/4(10)/2023/TO(B) dated the 4th October 2023 in terms of the provisions of Article 102(1)(e) of the Constitution of India read with Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, has ceased to operate subject to further judicial pronouncements.”
On 4 October, Mohammad Faizal was removed from the Lok Sabha for the second time this year after the Kerala High Court turned down a request to revoke his conviction in the 2009 attempt-murder case. On 11 January, he was initially disqualified as a parliamentarian after a sessions court in Kavaratti sentenced four people including him to 10 years in prison and a fine of Rs 1 lakh.
The accused repeatedly attacked Padanath Salih, son-in-law of former Union Minister and Congress leader late P M Sayeed when they had reached their neighbourhood for intervening in a political issue during the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
Notably, he along with his nephew and other individuals were the subject of a complaint filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in July of last year citing corruption and irregularities. The charges include a plot involving the delivery of tuna seafood to a company in Sri Lanka. The national agency searched six premises in Delhi, Calicut and Lakshadweep that were connected to the lawmaker.
He had also declared that beef-eating was a constitutional right of the Lakshadweep people. Similar to the laws that are already in place in the majority of Indian states, the draft Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation (LDAR) 2021 also suggested a fresh regulation that would outlaw the killing of cows and the consumption of beef.
Importantly, he had opposed the same and argued that eating beef was a fundamental right of the inhabitants of the region and that the new ideas were intended to undermine the island’s ‘Islamic character’ where 96% of the population is Muslim. He was elected as a member of parliament from Lakshadweep in 2014 and 2019.
The Supreme Court, on Thursday, directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to furnish updated data on the funds received by all political parties through electoral bonds within two weeks.
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, along with Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, directed the ECI to submit the data in a sealed packet within two weeks.
It also reserved its verdict after three days of hearing on a batch of pleas challenging the central government’s electoral bond scheme, which allows for anonymous funding to political parties.
“We would like the Election Commission of India (ECI) to get the data up to September 30, 2023. We have heard arguments. judgment reserved. In April 2019, there was an interim direction to ECI… and as per that a sealed cover document was produced and the order of the court was not restricted to that date and clarification could have been sought. Now, ECI is to submit updated data till September 30, 2023, in a sealed packet to the Registrar General of this court within two weeks,” said the bench in its order.
During the hearing, the bench also expressed displeasure with the ECI for not having the data on the Electoral Bonds donation to date. It pointed out that, as per the interim order passed on April 12, 2019, the ECI was obliged to maintain the data of electoral bond fundings to date.
Advocate Amit Sharma, representing the poll panel, told the apex court that the ECI was under the impression that the April 2019 order was pertaining to only the Electoral Bonds issued in relation to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
ECI then agreed to collate the data by September 30 and submit it before the top court.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for one of the petitioners, argued against the Electoral Bonda scheme, saying, “This is the most unconstitutional, undemocratic, unfair scheme which destroys basic structure of the constitution.”
The bench suggested that an alternative system could be devised for political donations to remove the “flaws” that plague the current electoral bond system.
CJI Chandrachud said that the court would not suggest going back to a cash-only system, but serious deficiencies in the existing system should be addressed.
“We do not want to go back to a cash-only system. We are saying do it in a proportionate, tailor-made system which overcomes the serious deficiencies of this electoral bond system,” said the bench, adding that only the legislature or the executive can undertake such an exercise and the court will not step into that arena.
An electoral bond is an instrument in the nature of a promissory note or bearer bond that can be purchased by any individual, company, firm or association of persons, provided the person or body is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India. The bonds are issued specifically for the purpose of contributing funds to political parties.
The Centre, in an affidavit, said that the methodology of the Electoral Bonds scheme is a “completely transparent” mode of political funding and that it is impossible to get black money or unaccounted money.
Various petitions are pending before the top court challenging amendments made to different statutes through the Finance Act 2017 and Finance Act 2016 on the ground that they have opened doors to unlimited, unchecked funding of political parties.
The NGOs Association of Democratic Reforms and Common Cause have said that the Finance Bill, 2017, which paved the way for the introduction of the Electoral Bond scheme, was passed as a money bill even though it wasn’t.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
Delhi CM and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, who skipped questioning by the Enforcement Directorate in the Delhi Liquors scam case today (Thursday, November 2) morning, went campaigning in Madhya Pradesh where he was seen resorting to his usual theatrics. At a rally in Singrauli, the AAP supremo was heard dramatically announcing that the Enforcement Directorate could arrest his body but not his thoughts.
Dramatically stating that Kejriwal is inherent in every common person, he added that while they could detain him, they would not be able to detain thousands, lakhs, or crores of Kejriwals.
इस एक केजरीवाल को तो गिरफ्तार कर लोगे… हजारों लाखों करोड़ों केजरीवाल को कैसे गिरफ्तार करोगे?
– ये हमें गिरफ्तार कर ले कोई फर्क नहीं पड़ता… केजरीवाल जेल जाने से नहीं डरता
Kejriwal said, “Standing in Delhi, they are threatening every day that they will arrest Kejriwal…. It doesn’t matter if he arrests us, Kejriwal is not afraid of going to jail. You will arrest Kejriwal’s body… how will you arrest Kejriwal’s thoughts? You will arrest this one Kejriwal… how will you arrest thousands, lakhs and crores of Kejriwals?” he said.
“The day the election results come, I don’t know whether I will be in jail or out… But wherever I am, I should hear that people are saying that Kejriwal had come to Singrauli and the people of Singrauli sent him back after giving a historic victory,” he added.
#WATCH | Madhya Pradesh: AAP national convenor and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal says, "…Just like the people of Delhi and Punjab did charisma, the people of Madhya Pradesh will do charisma in the coming days… I don't know whether I will be in jail or somewhere else on the day of… pic.twitter.com/k5Hbg3DZCn
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.
As reported earlier, ED conducted raids at Delhi Minister Raaj Kumar Anand’s home on Thursday morning, just before the agency planned to question Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The probe agency is also raiding nine locations connected to Anand for a money laundering investigation.
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.
Bollywood actors Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol appeared in the second episode of the ongoing session of the controversial chat show Koffee With Karan. In his conversation with host Karan Johar, Sunny Deol shared his honest opinions about his contemporary actors including Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar.
In the Rapid Fire round, Deol was asked what he likes and dislikes about certain actors. When asked about Shah Rukh Khan, Sunny Deol lauded SRK as “hardworking” and then said that he dislikes how Shah Rukh Khan has made “actors a commodity.” Upon hearing the Gadar 2 actor’s response, Karan exclaimed “Oh God!”
Although Sunny Deol did not get into the detail about what he exactly meant by making “actors a commodity”, however, it is speculated that Sunny Deol said this in the context of signing too many brand endorsement deals.
It is worth recalling that Sunny Deol and Shah Rukh had a turbulent relationship for many years after they co-starred in Yash Chopra’s Darr. Sunny had felt deceived, as Shah Rukh went away with the meatier part in the film despite having landed the hero’s role. Darr was one of the movies that started the trend of anti-hero movies at that time, where the main hero was in a negative role.
Sunny Deol and Shah Rukh Khan appeared to have moved on from their previous feud when Sunny organised a party to celebrate the success of Gadar 2.
On Salman Khan, Sunny Deol said he is a good human being, and on the negative, he said that Salman is “making everyone into a bodybuilder.” When asked about Akshay Kumar, Deol praised his punctuality and said he does not like that Akshay is doing too many films.
Sunny Deol on his equation with Hema Malini
Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol opened up about their equations with Hema Malini’s daughters, Ahana and Esha Deol. When Karan asked about Sunny’s relationship with Ahana and Esha, he said, “They are my sisters.” That is what it is. Nothing can change that. They were very happy. The film’s (Gadar 2) success was the most beautiful thing about it all. I was going here, there and everywhere. Then I wanted to have a success party. But I was like, ‘Will everybody come or not?’ I had my friend Kareem with me, who knows everyone in the industry. He did everything. I had no idea who would show up until the evening. But the way everybody came and the kind of love everybody gave, I was so happy seeing everyone coming home.”
INDI Alliance formed intending to oust the BJP government from power in the 2024 general elections has not yet fully evolved into an alliance. The alliance members like Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have time and again attacked each other even while claiming to be together in the fight against the NDA. This was seen in a recent drama that unfolded after the Enforcement Directorate summoned Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal for questioning in connection with the liquor scam case.
On Tuesday (1st November), Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi claimed that every party in the INDI bloc would be targeted by central agencies with ‘cooked-up’ cases. “Every important force within the #INDIAAlliance would be subjected to cooked-up cases by central agencies. However, we are here to stay and emerge victorious. Yaad Rakho…Samar Shesh Hai…” Singhvi posted on X on October 31st, adding the hashtag #ArvindKejriwal.
Every important force within the #INDIAAlliance would be subjected to cooked-up cases by central agencies. However, we are here to stay and emerge victorious.
The Congress leader’s comments came a day after Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to question him over the Delhi excise policy case. ED asked the AAP chief to appear on 2nd November, prompting AAP and other opposition parties to repeat the allegations of misuse of central agencies against opposition politicians.
However, today the Delhi CM decided to skip the appearance before the ED and instead attended an election rally in Madhya Pradesh. He termed the summons ‘illegal’, and asked the ED to withdraw them.
After Arvind Kejriwal refused to appear before the ED for questioning, I.N.D.I. Alliance partner Congress party attacked him. Congress National Secretary Abhishek Dutt took a dig at Arvind Kejriwal for not appearing before the ED and he advised the AAP supremo to have the courage to face the BJP. He said that senior Congress leaders like Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had appeared for questioning by agencies when they were summoned, and Kejriwal also should do the same.
“If the ED has summoned you, and you know you are right, then join the investigation. Rahul and Sonia Gandhi have done it in the past. Have the courage to fight BJP,” the Congress National Secretary said.
VIDEO | "If the ED has summoned you, and you know you are right, then join the investigation. Rahul and Sonia Gandhi have done it in the past. Have the courage to fight BJP," says Congress national secretary Abhishek Dutt on reports of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal not appearing… pic.twitter.com/kSLYmuAQbE
Earlier, Arvind Kejriwal had 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”.
As reported earlier, ED conducted raids at Delhi Minister Raaj Kumar Anand’s home on Thursday morning, just before the agency planned to question Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The probe agency is also raiding nine locations connected to Anand for a money laundering investigation.
Meanwhile, Arvind Kejriwal has responded to the summons by ED claiming in a letter 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.
Delhi Liquor Scam
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. The investigating authorities assert that under the new plan of action, for financial reasons. According to the agencies, the new regulation led to monopolisation and gave economic advantages to people who weren’t eligible for liquor licenses.
On the other hand, Manish Sisodia and the Delhi administration have denied any wrongdoing and claimed that the new policy would have increased the state’s excise revenue.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday (2nd November) summoned two sons of Rajasthan Congress Chief Govind Singh Dotasara, Abhilash, and Avinash for their alleged involvement in the paper leak case. This comes a week after the ED conducted raids on the homes of Rajasthan PCC Chief Govind Singh Dotasara and another MLA Omprakash Hudla in connection with an exam paper leak case. The previous raids were conducted on 26 October.
Dotasara, the Congress party’s candidate for Sikar’s Lacchmangarh seat, is contesting against BJP candidate Subhash Maharia. The leader is the incumbent MLA for this constituency. Meanwhile, Rajasthan minister and Congress leader Pratap Khachariyawas commented on the issue and said that the entire Congress party stands with Dotasara.
#WATCH | Rajasthan minister and Congress leader Pratap Khachariyawas says, "Congress party stands with Govind Singh Dotasara." pic.twitter.com/2Tv9zKVkJE
After the raids that happened on 26th October, Dotasara claimed that ED officials did not question him or take his statement. He went on to say that they didn’t even take Re 1 or find any illegal documents. All they took were his and his sons’ phones, as well as the emails on a pen drive.
He claimed that the ED came to his house to search it in connection with the paper leak case, but “the search warrant was in the name of my son Avinash Dotasra, who is an Accounts Officer.” Apart from Dotasra’s homes in Jaipur and Sikar, as well as his political office, he claims the ED also searched the apartments of his two sons, who live on the same property.
The Congress chief added that people keep connecting him and his family to Kalam Academy, a coaching institute searched by the ED earlier in connection with the paper leaks case, but he, his sons, and any of his family members and relatives have no connection with the institute. He also stated that the ED was unable to locate any documentation or evidence for the same.
In August, the ED raided Kalam Academy’s Sikar branch. The Dotasra family’s hometown is Sikar, and his Assembly constituency of Laxmangarh is also in Sikar district.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had also previously arrested former RPSC member Babulal Katara and another person identified as Anil Kumar Meena for their involvement with this case. As part of its ongoing investigation, the ED conducted initial raids in various locations throughout Rajasthan in June.
Notably, the Enforcement Directorate has been actively investigating money laundering aspects related to the leak of Grade II teacher competitive examination question papers in December of the previous year. A total of 55 people were apprehended in connection with the paper leak case, including 37 candidates. According to the ED’s investigations, at least 180 candidates received the leaked question papers in exchange for amounts ranging from Rs 8 lakh to Rs 10 lakh each.
In addition to Babulal Katara and Anil Kumar Meena, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) imprisoned another individual named Bhupendra Saran, who was involved in the paper leak racket. Saran was charged with money laundering as part of the investigation.
ED official arrested for demanding bribe
In another shocking case emerging from the state of Rajasthan, the Rajasthan anti-corruption unit (ACB) arrested an ED official identified as Naval Kishore Meena for demanding a bribe of Rs 15 lakh, along with his associate Babulal Meena.
Naval Kishore Meena and Babulal Meena are accused of accepting a bribe in a Manipur chit fund case. According to an official statement issued by the Rajasthan ACB, the ED officers accepted the bribe in exchange for dismissing the case, not arresting the suspects, and seizing the property.
The initial demand was for a bribe of Rs 17 lakh, according to the statement. The arrest came after the Rajasthan ACB raided several locations in Rajasthan in connection with the investigation.
Naval Kishore Meena was apprehended by the Rajasthan ACB after being caught in a case of income disparity against a known source of earnings.
The national nodal agency for handling computer security instances, the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), has begun looking into the Apple threat notification issue brought up by opposition members of parliaments and some other persons. Furthermore, Electronics and Information Technology Secretary S Krishnan informed on 2nd November that a notice had been sent to the American technology giant in this regard.
At least seven opposition leaders claimed that Apple had warned them via email about “state-sponsored” attackers who might be attempting to remotely breach the iPhones linked to their identities. Following this, Union Electronics and Information Technology Minster said that Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the govt will probe the matter. The minister confirmed, “CERT-In, the national nodal agency for responding to computer security incidents, has started its probe. They (Apple) will cooperate in the inquiry.”
Ashwini Vaishnaw declared that the government is going to “get to the bottom” of the threat alerts given by the company to various leaders over iPhones and asked its assistance for the same. He posted a series of tweets in which he expressed concern on behalf of the government and wrote, “The notification received by them as per media reports mentions about ‘state-sponsored attacks’ on their devices.”
We are concerned by the statements we have seen in media from some MPs as well as others about a notification received by them from Apple. The notification received by them as per media reports mentions about ‘state-sponsored attacks’ on their devices. However much of (1/5)
The minister asserted that the details offered by Apple “seems vague and non-specific in nature.” He pointed out, “Apple states these notifications may be based on information which is ‘incomplete or imperfect’.” He noted that it further added that “some Apple threat notifications may be false alarms or some attacks are not detected.”
information by Apple on this issue seems vague and non-specific in nature. Apple states these notifications maybe based on information which is ‘incomplete or imperfect’. It also states that some Apple threat notifications maybe false alarms or some attacks are not detected.(2/5)
The former IAS officer highlighted that Apple alleged that their IDs are safely encrypted which makes it very difficult to access or recognise them without the user’s express consent. “This encryption safeguards the user’s Apple ID and ensures that it remains private and protected.”
Apple has also claimed that Apple IDs are securely encrypted on devices, making it extremely difficult to access or identify them without the user's explicit permission. This encryption safeguards the user's Apple ID and ensures that it remains private and protected.(3/5)
The IT Minister assured that the Indian government is committed to safeguarding the security and privacy of its citizens and it intends to look into these alerts thoroughly.
The Government of Bharat takes its role of protecting the privacy and security of all citizens very seriously and will investigate to get to the bottom of these notifications. (4/5)
Ashwini Vaishnaw proclaimed that the government requested that Apple participate in the investigation by providing genuine and accurate details on the purported state-sponsored assaults, given the available information and the general conjecture.
In light of such information and widespread speculation, we have also asked Apple to join the investigation with real, accurate information on the alleged state sponsored attacks. (5/5)
The entire issue began after several opposition leaders claimed that they received an alert from Apple warning them of ‘state-sponsored attackers trying to remotely compromise’ their iPhones and alleged hacking by the government.
The ‘threat alerts’ have sparked a political firestorm and the Congress sought that the Lok Sabha’s Standing Committee on Information and Technology look into the scandal. Karthi Chidambaram, a Congress leader and the son of former home minister P Chidambaram, announced that he had written to the panel’s chairperson, Prataprao Jadhav and requested summons to Apple on its alerts to politicians cautioning them against “state-sponsored attack.”
On the other hand, Bharatiya Janata Party Godda MP Nishikant Dubey argued that the panel was operating in compliance with Lok Sabha rules and regulations rather than under the direction of Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi or Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor.
Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab Raghav Chadha, Shashi Tharoor, Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Pawan Khera, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader and Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra Priyanka Chaturvedi and Trinamool Congress Krishnanagar MP Mahua Moitra were among the nearly two dozen opposition politicians who accused that they had gotten an alert on their Apple iPhones warning them against “state-sponsored attackers trying to remotely compromise” their devices.
While the opposition tried to claim that the Modi government was behind the alleged “state-sponsored” cyber attacks, soon it was revealed that Apple users in at least 150 countries received the same message. Apple further said that the message was ‘unreliable’, adding that they can be false alarms, and some threats may not be detected.
Apple released a statement regarding the situation in which it declared that it does not link the threat notifications to any particular state-sponsored attacker. It read, “Apple does not attribute the threat notifications to any specific state-sponsored attacker. State-sponsored attackers are very well-funded and sophisticated, and their attacks evolve over time. Detecting such attacks relies on threat intelligence signals that are often imperfect and incomplete.”
It further added, “It’s possible that some Apple threat notifications may be false alarms, or that some attacks are not detected. We are unable to provide information about what causes us to issue threat notifications, as that may help state-sponsored attackers adapt their behaviour to evade detection in the future.”
The alerts from Apple have surfaced a year after a committee of experts appointed by the Supreme Court found that 29 phones it examined contained Pegasus spyware.
Following the deadly 7th October terror attacks by Hamas, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in its response have eliminated several Hamas terrorists, struck terrorist targets and infrastructure, and hit approximately 300 targets including anti-tank missiles posts, rocket launch posts, and terrorist compounds inside underground tunnels.
Over the last day, during ground operations:
?Numerous Hamas terrorists have been eliminated.
?The IAF struck terrorist targets and infrastructure.
?IDF combat forces struck approximately 300 targets, including:
Israel’s all-out war on the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas is a resolute retaliation to the 7th October attacks. More than 1,400 people, mostly Israelis, lost their lives and at least 220 were taken hostage by Hamas in Gaza after the brutal terrorist attack. The terrorist group had also launched 5,000 rockets on Israel and its terror attempts continue to this day.
Hamas continues to hoard resources to feed itself and its offensive on Israel while left-liberals and Islamists further the terrorist group’s narrative across the world by misusing images and videos of civilian casualties in Gaza to demonise Israel. Amidst all this, innocent civilians, who have historically been used as human shields by Hamas, are paying the price of Hamas’ terrors with their lives.
On 24th October, Hamas released two of the 220 Israeli hostages. The two women were identified as Nurit Cooper, 79, and Yochaved Lifshitz, 85. While narrating her ordeal, Lifshitz said that she was beaten, laid on a motorcycle, and carried through the fields towards Gaza. “They brought me to the tunnels; we walked kilometres underground. They beat me in the ribs, even with sticks,” she said.
The surprising part of the revelation was when she mentioned that the terrorists seemed prepared for the situation (hostage situation) as they had everything in the tunnels that men and women needed including shampoo. And yet, the two hostages were provided with only meal a day which barely included a cucumber and some cheese. Lifshitz said that she was also provided with medicines.
It is shocking, to say the least, that a Palestinian terrorist group – existing with the sole aim of eradicating Jews from the face of the earth – is living and operating in abundance when the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank barely have toilet water to survive. Demanding the release of its hostages, when Israel shut water, electricity and fuel supply to Gaza, the global Islamist ecosystem used the suffering of civilians to demonise Israel instead of holding Hamas accountable.
The “Gaza Metro”
The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Under the rubble on Gaza’s surface exists a web of terrorist tunnels safeguarding Hamas. Referred to as the “Gaza Metro” by the Israeli Defense Forces, the terror tunnels form the biggest part of Hamas’ infrastructure.
“Imagine we are looking at the Gaza Strip and really think of the Gaza Strip as one layer for the civilians and another layer for Hamas. We are trying to get to that second layer that Hamas has built,” the IDF spokesperson said.
Listen in as an IDF Spokesperson @jconricus provides a situational update on all fronts, as the war against Hamas continues. https://t.co/jSkwACh3iN
These tunnels are used by Hamas to launch rockets in Israel and ensure the safe movement of terrorists across the city. This terror infrastructure right under the civilian infrastructure prompted the Israeli forces to ask civilians to evacuate areas where it was scheduled to conduct strikes.
A compilation of videos published by IDF on YouTube shows how the terrorists use the tunnels to smuggle, transport, and store ammunition. According to the IDF, some of these tunnels span under the border of Israel.
In fact, Hamas has openly admitted that the tunnels built inside Gaza are for the protection of its terrorists and not for civilians. This proud admission by the terrorist group was in response to a question that why Hamas wasn’t building bomb shelters within Gaza to save the residents from Israeli bombings.
Hamas terrorist Mousa Abu Marzouk said that it was the responsibility of the UN and Israel to protect civilians living in Gaza. “We have built the tunnels because we have no other way of protecting ourselves from being targeted and killed. These tunnels are meant to protect us from aeroplanes. We are fighting from inside the tunnels,” the terrorist said.
Amid the ground operations, Israel is now targeting the roughly 300-mile (500 km) tunnel network under Gaza believed to run deeper than 200 feet.
Hamas headquarter under Gaza’s largest hospital
The Israeli forces are specifically targeting areas where a cluster of Hamas infrastructure is centred. Under Gaza’s largest hospital Al Shifa, lies the headquarter of Hamas. A video released by the IDF shows a compound that Hamas has built under the Al Shifa hospital which includes storage facilities for weapons, command and control facilities, offices and places for terrorists to hide in.
“This puts the people that are being treated in the hospital at risk. It should be condemned, it should be stopped,” Conricus said. The hospital’s neonatal unit sustained damages following the initial strikes by Israel targeting “Jihadi” infrastructure which surrounds the very hospital.
The Shifa Hospital is not only the largest hospital in Gaza but it also acts as the main headquarters for Hamas’ terrorist activity.
Terrorism does not belong in a hospital and the IDF will operate to uncover any terrorist infrastructure. pic.twitter.com/Ybpln5xQb2
Yahya Sinwar, the Palestinian leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, has taken refuge under the Al-Shifa Hospital and is using the patients at the hospital as a shield to protect himself. The Hamas terrorist had once mercilessly killed a person with a sink while he was in prison on the suspicion of collaborating with Israel.
The Washington Post in 2014 reported that Al Shifa Hopital had become the “de facto headquarters for Hamas leaders who can be seen in the hallways and offices”.
In 2014, when Israel and Palestine agreed to a ceasefire proposal brokered by Egypt, a protester from a mosque opposite to the Al Shifa hospital blared on a loudspeaker calling the then-Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his administration “traitors” and “collaborators”.
Crowds had gathered at the hospital in July 2014 throwing shoes and eggs at the health minister who was turned away before he reached the hospital. The Al Shifa hospital is just one among the several civilian structures that have regularly been used by Hamas to launch attacks at Israel.
According to a report by Tablet dated 2014, one of Hamas’ main command bunkers was located beneath Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The bunker was equipped with sophisticated communications equipment and housed a part of the Hamas leadership.
The report claimed that in 2006, PBS aired a documentary showing how gunmen roamed the halls of the Al Shifa Hospital, intimidated the staff, and denied them access to protected locations within the building where the camera crew was prohibited from filming.
Hamas uses civilians and civilian infrastructure as cover for its rocket launch sites
Mosques and UN facilities in close proximity to civilian infrastructure are also being used by Hamas to launch attacks. “Hamas terrorists operate inside and under civilian buildings, precisely because they know the IDF distinguishes between terrorists and civilians,” RAdm. Daniel Hagari of the IDF said on 29th October.
Beneath the hospitals, schools, mosques, and homes in Gaza lies a horrific underworld of Hamas terrorism. In order to dismantle Hamas, we must dismantle their underground tunnels. pic.twitter.com/pHBUPUqzQR
A bunch of images shared by the Israel Defense Forces on X, formerly Twitter, on 22nd October, showed that a Hamas rocket launch site is located right opposite the UN building in Gaza, another such terror launchpad is located exactly opposite a mosque.
Image shared by IDF on X showing a Hamas rocket launch site opposite the UN building
Image shared by IDF on X shows Hamas rocket launch site near a mosque
A third image shows a Hamas rocket launchpad dangerously close to neighbouring schools in the area.
Image shared by IDF on X shows a Hamas rocket launch site right in a civilian neighbourhood next to schools
It is with the help of such launchpads that Hamas is still being able to launch rockets at Israel, 24 days after the deadly 7th October terrorist attacks.
In a video shared by the Israel War Room on X, a Hamas terrorist can be seen dressed in civilian clothes and launching a rocket at Israel. “He disguises himself as a civilian, while engaged in military activity, so that later they can claim that Israel is harming civilians,” a tweet by Israel War Room reads.
The military wing of Hamas publishes documentation of large mortars being fired at Israel.
Pay attention to an interesting detail: the operative of the military wing of Hamas is dressed in civilian clothes. He disguises himself as a civilian, while engaged in military activity,… pic.twitter.com/5qRMePlhls
In a video recently shared by Hamas, terrorists can be seen dressed in civilian clothes emerging out of a terror tunnel armed with rockets to attack an Israeli tank.
Two Hamas terrorists seen in a video shared by Hamas showing how they use terror tunnels to launch rockets at Israel and Israeli forces who are currently conducting ground invasions across Gaza (Source: @JoeTruzman/X)
Another video published by Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a terrorist group committed to the eradication of Israel and Jews, shows terrorists in civilian clothes launching rockets and chanting “Allah Hu Akbar”. “Just because mainstream media reports civilian deaths in Gaza doesn’t mean they are all really civilians,” the Israel War Room tweeted on X.
In this video published today by Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), rocket-launching terrorists are dressed in civilian clothing. Just because mainstream media reports civilian deaths in Gaza doesn't mean they're all really civilians. pic.twitter.com/wSjFBKsv1W
Coinciding with this, there was the recent incident wherein during a live broadcast on CNN, a supposed corpse of a civilian in Gaza was seen moving its head. The viral video on X was shared by Israel War Room with the caption, “Pallywood is racist and based on absolutely NO facts or truth, except for the occasional dead body moving its head while a Palestinian woman wails and screams for the camera.”
“Pallywood is racist and based on absolutely NO facts or truth,” except for the occasional dead body moving its head while a Palestinian woman wails and screams for the camera. https://t.co/HMIcU6N0nXpic.twitter.com/xdaEzrbWoM
Hamas is equipped with fuel reserves but deprives Gaza civilians of the same
Global media is rife with news reports of fuel and electricity shortages in hospitals in Gaza. However, according to IDF, Hamas has stored 500,000 litres of fuel that they refuse to provide to the people of Gaza. In a testimony, a Hamas terrorist captured by Israeli forces can be heard saying that the Hamas fill tanks full of fuel for themselves.
The IDF has also alleged that Hamas is also stealing fuel including 50,000 litres from a private vendor in northern Gaza and 24,000 litres of fuel from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
When you hear that people in Gaza don't have fuel, it's because Hamas took all of it. pic.twitter.com/i2MOjesZxw
A call between an IDF officer and a senior Gazan Energy official has revealed that Hamas has at least a million litres of fuel, and gas stations are full of fuel. “Underground, I am sure they have at least half a million litres. As you know, they need oxygen in the tunnels, and they need phones, and they need showers and lighting there,” the Gazan Energy official said.
Hamas’ terrorist headquarters under the Shifa hospital is draining the necessities—fuel, oxygen, water and electricity—from the Gazans and staff and using them for terrorism. pic.twitter.com/LKCu0WILvd
In a tweet on 24th October, the UNRWA said that if it does not get fuel urgently, it will be forced to halt operations in the Gaza Strip. In response to the same, the IDF shared an image of huge fuel reserves with Hamas and captioned it, “These fuel tanks are inside Gaza. They contain more than 500,000 litres of fuel. Ask Hamas if you can have some.”
Image shared bby Israel Defense Forces on X showing large fuel reserves controlled by Hamas
The IDF has released another recording of a conversation between a Hamas terrorist and a Gazan citizen exposing how Hamas takes fuel from hospitals in the region. In the conversation, a Gazan citizen can be heard pleading for fuel in the course of the talk which reveals how Hamas has been stealing fuel from hospitals.
A report by NBC claims that the terrorist group is maintaining a stockpile of more than 200,000 gallons of fuel for the rockets it fires into Israel and generators that provide clean air and electricity to its terror tunnels. Safe to say that Hamas is denying the ample amount of fuel it has in store to the Gaza civilians in order to be able to sponsor its terrorist ativities against Israel.
Hamas, Hezbollah, and an attempt to create more geographical fronts against Israel
In the 7th October attacks, Hamas was equipped with a barrage of rockets, paragliding equipment, machine guns, convoys, RPGs, and anti-tank missiles to name a few. According to the Alma Research and Education Centre, one of Israel’s weak points exploited by Hamas was the reluctance to deploy ground manoeuvring forces. What the world witnessed in the 7th October attacks was Hamas launching an attack on Israel from all fronts and “precise armament for the manoeuvring move into the invaded territory”.
“Such assistance can be in the form of a preliminary fire for the maneuver or through the activation of fire at the same time as the maneuver. Such activation requires a high level of coordination in the intelligence-attack combination due to the high dynamism of the maneuvering move. It seems that Hamas, in the current attack operation, has implemented this new concept,” the report says.
Notably, many of Hamas’ operations are inspired by Hezbollah, a Lebanese terrorist group also infamous for its anti-Israel activities.
Hamas’s main headquarter in Lebanon, “Aref Centre” (Source: Alma Research and Education Centre)
Both Hamas and Hezbollah established dedicated forces (the Radwan force in Hezbollah and the Nukhba force in Hamas) to launch rockets into Israeli territory on a large scale. Like within Gaza, terror tunnels were dug on the border with Lebanon and on the border with the Gaza Strip, which, as established before, are used for infiltration of terrorists into Israeli territory.
Founded by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982, the Hezbollah have historically backed Hamas in its war against Israel. Shortly after the 7th October attacks by Hamas, Israel’s northern front came under firing and attack from Hezbollah although the situation was relatively contained. The IDF has said that Hezbollah is continuing its attack across the northern border.
“They have fired rockets, they have tried to infiltrate, they have fired dozens of anti-tank missiles at our civilians and at our military positions. They have fired rockets at our positions in Mount Dov and at our communities,” IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus said. In retaliation, Israel has targeted Hezbollah infrastructure including weapons, posts and sites in Lebanon.
Moreover, a research report from 2021 exposed the scope of Hamas’ military activities in Lebanon with the objective to create an additional front against Israel. As per Alma Research and Education Centre, the terrorist group has a “Construction Bureau” based in Lebanon and Turkey, which shapes Hamas’s forces in all areas that it operates in including Gaza, West Bank, and Lebanon.
This Bureau of Hamas comprises “specialised departments, each responsible for different sets of activities, such as weapons manufacturing, military intelligence, combat training, communications, funding, planning, logistics, security, and foreign relations”. Moreover, Hamas’ two operational units in Lebanon – El Shimali and Khaled Ali develop and produce their own weapons including rockets, offensive drones, and small unmanned underwater vehicles. They also set up operational cells while preparing attack plans against Israel.
Toophan missile supplied by Iran being used by Hezbollah-guided missile teams to attack Israel’s northern border (Source: Alma Research and Education Centre)
Between May and August 2021, there were five incidents of Grad rockets from Lebanon against Israel, reports suspect that Hamas was behind the attacks. According to a report by Alma Research and Education Centre, Iran’s terror capital is in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is armed with over 200,000 warheads including 70,000 rockets, 145,000 mortars, and precision-guided missiles, and thousands of terrorists trained to invade into Israel and execute a similar attack like Hamas’ attack on 7th October.
The scale of the terrorist attacks earlier this month and the specialised arms, logistics, and communication operations to back such attacks prove that unabated terrorism can legitimise its existence which is direct threat to Israel.
