US-based First Republic Bank was closed on Monday (local time) by the local regulators and entered into an agreement with JP Morgan Chase Bank to purchase and assume all deposits and assets of the troubled bank in a bid to protect depositors.
“To protect depositors, the FDIC is entering into a purchase and assumption agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association, Columbus, Ohio, to assume all of the deposits and substantially all of the assets of First Republic Bank,” US agency Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said in a statement. JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association submitted a bid for all of First Republic Bank’s deposits.
As part of the agreement, First Republic Bank’s 84 offices in eight states in the US will reopen as branches of JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association starting today. All depositors of First Republic Bank will become depositors of JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association, and will have full access to all of their deposits.
“Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, and customers do not need to change their banking relationship in order to retain their deposit insurance coverage up to applicable limits. Customers of First Republic Bank should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association, that it has completed systems changes to allow other JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association, branches to process their accounts as well,” FDIC said.
As of April 13, 2023, First Republic Bank had approximately USD 229.1 billion in total assets and USD 103.9 billion in total deposits. In addition to assuming all of the deposits, JPMorgan Chase Bank agreed to purchase “substantially” all of First Republic Bank’s assets.
One of the most prominent lenders in the world of technology startups, Silicon Valley Bank, which was struggling, first collapsed on March 10, after a run on the bank by the depositors. Its closure led to a contagion effect and the subsequent shutting down of other banks, including First Republic Bank.
The collapse of a few regional banks in the US, which started with Silicon Valley Bank, has sent ripples across the global banking industry and posed fears of a contagion effect across economies.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
On April 30, Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Mysore Pratap Simha transferred a sum of Rs 35,000 to one Sameer Hasan Saab, who suffered a loss at Home Minister Amit Shah’s public meeting in Lashmeshwar, district Gadag of Karnataka. The incident occurred on April 28, when HM Shah addressed a large public meeting regarding upcoming state assembly elections. Near the event ground, Sameer had parked his van containing cold drink bottles hoping to sell them.
During the event, suddenly, a large number of people emptied the bottles on the van while Sameer helplessly tried to stop them. He kept telling them that he brought the cold drink for sale and not for free distribution, but no one listened.
Someone recorded the video of the incident and published it on social media. The video went viral, and netizens tagged PMO, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and HM Shah in the tweets.
Soon after the video went viral and Bharatiya Janata Party leadership learned about the incident, MP Simha swung into action and sought Sameer’s number. At around 10 PM Simha published a tweet asking for his number, and within an hour, he updated that the payment of Rs 35,000 had been made to Sameer.
In a chilling reminder to the Khanjawala hit-and-drag incident in the national capital, a motorist was arrested dragging a person from Delhi’s Ashram Chowk to Nizamuddin Dargah on the bonnet of his car following an argument on Sunday night, police said.
The incident took place at 11pm on Sunday when the accused allegedly drove for about 2 kms with the person hanging on to the bonnet of his vehicle. Police said an FIR was registered in the matter at Sunlight Colony police station and the accused was arrested.
“Following an argument on the Ashram flyover, the man behind the wheel of the SUV drove for about 2kms. with the other person hanging to the bonnet of the vehicle,” an officer of Delhi Police said.
Police have registered an FIR under IPC sections of rash driving and endangering life by negligence.
“Around 11 pm last night, a person was seen hanging on the bonnet, after which Head Constable Natwar Singh and Constable Manish, who were on PCR duty at the time, rescued the person being dragged on the bonnet and handed over to the accused to the local police,” the officer added.
The victim, identified as Chetan, claimed he was dragged on the car’s bonnet after he stood in front of the accused’s car following an argument.
“I am driver and was on my way after dropping off a passenger. When I reached near Ashram, the SUV grazed my car three times. At this, I got off my vehicle and stood in front of his to protest. However, he kept on driving the SUV with me hanging onto the bonnet for dear life. He drove from Ashram Chowk to Nizamuddin with me hanging by the bonnet. I kept pleading with him to stop, but he did not,” the victim told ANI.
He claimed further that the accused (Ramchand Kumar) was driving under the infleunce of alcohol.
“He was drunk. On the way, I saw a PCR van. The officers on PCR duty spotted me and chased the SUV till the accused pulled over,” he added.
However, the accused has denied the allegations against him saying the victim “deliberately” jumped on his car’s bonnet.
“My car did not even touch his car. I was driving when he deliberately jumped on the bonnet of my car. I asked him to get down but he did not listen. I then stopped my car and asked him what he thought he was doing,” the accused said.
(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 response to the escalating conflict in Sudan, nations like India have been evacuating their stranded citizens for a few days now. Thousands in total have been rescued by several countries during this period. Meanwhile, the global superpower America is currently making its first attempt to evacuate hundreds of people from Khartoum.
The convoy sent by the US government, which includes US citizens, local employees, and individuals of partner and ally nations, landed in Port Sudan on Saturday, according to a statement from the US State Department.
“The US government has taken extensive efforts to contact US citizens in Sudan and enable the departure of those who wished to leave. We messaged every U.S. citizen in Sudan who communicated with us during the crisis and provided specific instructions about joining this convoy to those who were interested in departing via the land route,” the State Department said.
“Intensive negotiations by the United States with the support of our regional and international partners enabled the security conditions that have allowed the departure of thousands of foreign and U.S. citizens, including through today’s operation. We continue to call on the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces to end the fighting that is endangering civilians,” the state department said.
However, the action by the State Department was initiated after the Americans stuck in the situation expressed anger over the US government for leaving them to navigate the complicated and dangerous situation on their own. The Americans said that the government was ‘useless’ and provided no proper information or guidance to the people stuck in the conflict. They ultimately felt abandoned by the US government.
Speaking to CNN, one of the Americans Imad said, “To be honest with you, the State Department was useless, utterly useless throughout this entire period. We expected the Department to provide some kind of guidance, but the guidance was the template, just shelter in place, no critical information being provided.”
The US administration had insisted that the circumstances don’t support a civilian evacuation despite a number of countries evacuating their populations. This past weekend, a military operation resulted in the evacuation of the entire US government.
Additionally, the department reiterated its advice to its citizens not to visit Sudan. As a result of battles between the army and paramilitary forces, there has been chaos in Sudan. There have been claims of violence despite the 72-hour ceasefire. Soldiers loyal to Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the commander of the Sudanese army, and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Soldiers (RSF), have started fighting.
Reportedly, India launched Operation Kaveri on April 24 and has deployed its military aircraft and warships as part of its commitment to make sure that no Indian person is left behind in Sudan. Under Operation Kaveri, 365 Indians from the violently divided Sudan arrived in New Delhi on Saturday night.
As reported earlier, a C-17 Globemaster aircraft of the Indian Air Force carrying 392 passengers evacuated from Sudan landed in Delhi, while 362 Indians reached Bengaluru in another C-17 plane.
On Monday (May 1), billionaire businessman Bill Gates congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the competition of the 100th episode of his monthly radio programme ‘Mann ki Baat.’
While tweeting about the development, he said, “Mann ki Baat has catalyzed community-led action on sanitation, health, women’s economic empowerment and other issues linked to the Sustainable Development Goals.”
“Congratulations Narendra Modi on the 100th episode,” the ‘Microsoft’ founder emphasised while sharing a news link by Livemint.
Mann ki Baat has catalyzed community led action on sanitation, health, women’s economic empowerment and other issues linked to the Sustainable Development Goals. Congratulations @narendramodi on the 100th episode. https://t.co/yg1Di2srjE
On April 30, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation for the 100th time on Mann Ki Baat. The 100th episode was broadcasted globally, including at the United Nationals Headquarters in New York.
The first episode of Mann Ki Baat was streamed on October 3, 2014, the day Hindus celebrated Vijaydashmi. Mann Ki Baat has become a symbol of positivity among the people of India. We celebrate positivity and people’s participation.
Beti Bachao, Beti Padao, Khadi movement, Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Swatchch Bharat and other programs became people’s movements via Mann Ki Baat.
On April 28, the Supreme Court of India commuted the death penalty awarded to a 31-year-old man for murdering his sister Pooja and her lover Govind in 2017, and changed it to life imprisonment. At the time of the murders, the convict was 25 years old.
“Young boy of 25 years – well-behaved, helping, and a person with leadership qualities” Supreme Court Says As It Commutes Death Sentence Of Man Who Killed Sister And Her Lover @SukritiMishra12 reportshttps://t.co/r0ExnNrSX5
In the judgment, the court remarked he was “well-behaved” and without a criminal mindset. The verdict was given on the appeals filed by two convicts named Digambar (brother of the deceased) and Mohan (friend of Digambar). While Digambar, who was given the death penalty, got his sentence reduced to life imprisonment, Mohan, who was given life imprisonment, did not get any relief from the court.
A bench headed by Justice BR Gavai set aside the death penalty awarded by the Bombay High Court that was delivered in December 2021. Notably, the High Court had dismissed the appeals against the trial court verdict and upheld the death sentence awarded to Digambar. The three-judge bench comprised Justice BR Gavai, Justice Vikram Nath, and Justice Sanjay Karol.
While passing the judgment, the Supreme Court noted that the only question was whether the murder case fell in the category of “rarest of the rare” cases where the convicts get the death penalty. The bench observed the appellants do not have any criminal antecedents. The bench further observed the convict on death roll was a young man of around 25 years at the time of the crime.
Excerpt from SC judgment. Source: Supreme Court
The bench noted, “The medical evidence would further reveal that the appellants have not acted brutally, inasmuch as there is only a single injury inflicted on both the deceased. As such, we find that the present case cannot be considered to be the ‘rarest of rare’ cases.” Furthermore, the bench observed, “In any case, the report of the Probation Officer, Nanded, as well as the Superintendent, Nashik Road Central Prison would show that the appellant Digambar has been found to be well-behaved, helping and a person with leadership qualities. He is not a person with the criminal mindset and criminal records.”
Excerpt from SC Judgment. Source: Supreme Court
While the court partly allowed the appeal filed by Digambar and reduced the sentence to life imprisonment, it did not find any “reason to interfere” in the sentence awarded to Mohan.
Digambar murdered his sister and her lover
In June 2017, Digambar’s sister was married off to a man. However, she was having an affair with another person for five years. One month after the wedding, she left home in July 2017 without informing anyone. Her husband lodged a missing person report at the police station. Digambar, who was aware of the affair, got suspicious that his sister might have run away with her lover. He tracked them down and killed them. Following the murder, Digambar went to the police station and surrendered. The bench observed, “Though the conviction of the appellant Digambar under section 302 (murder) IPC is maintained, the sentence of capital punishment is commuted to life imprisonment.”
The Delhi Court on Monday extended the judicial custody of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal till May 4 in connection with the cattle smuggling case.
Meanwhile, the arguments on his application seeking his transfer from Delhi to Asansol Correctional Home (West Bengal) are underway. In March, the TMC’s Birbhum district president moved an application in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court seeking his transfer to Asansol Correctional Home (West Bengal).
Earlier, on Monday, the TMC leader was produced in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court at the expiry of his judicial custody.
Earlier, on April 27, the Rouse Avenue Court granted three days’ custody of Sukanya Mondal, Anubrata’s daughter, to Enforcement Directorate (ED) to interrogate her in the cattle smuggling case. She was arrested on the previous day by the ED.
Special judge Raghubeer Singh granted three days’ custody after hearing the submission of the special public prosecutor (SPP) Nitesh Rana and defence counsels.
The court, however, allowed the counsels to meet the accused during ED custody. It also directed the ED to get the accused medically examined in every 48 hours.
ED sought three days’ remand to trace the proceeds of the crime, trace the money trail and identify the modus operandi. She was also to be sat along her father and TMC strongman Anubarata and questioned in connection with the case. The SPP submitted that Sukanya Mondal was arrested on April 26 evening.
A close aide of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Anubrata was arrested by the CBI in connection with the cattle smuggling case in July last year.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
After facing severe online backlash, Amar Chitra Katha (ACK) Monday (May 1) issued a ‘clarification’ on Facebook, regarding its post about controversial ultra-left-wing propagandist Arundhati Roy.
The iconic comics publisher famed for its historical and cultural comics and graphic novels justified its eulogy of the inveterate anti-India propagandist Arundhati Roy by claiming that ACK does not support the political views of any individuals included in their works, blogs, or social media posts. ACK claimed that the post about Arundhati Roy was only one in a series about Indian writers and that it never planned to collaborate with Arundhati Roy in any way whatsoever.
Interestingly, the ‘clarification’ has come after ACK’s Facebook post did not sit well with the social media users, who expressed their outrage and promptly called them out for promoting and extolling an author with a history of peddling propaganda against India and also Hindus.
On Thursday, April 27, Amar Chitra Katha published a Facebook post about controversial ultra-left-wing propagandist Arundhati Roy. The Facebook post by The Amar Chitra Katha Studio talked about Roy’s life and career as an author and screenplay writer. After netizens expressed their disappointment over ACK eulogising Arundhati Roy who is known for her anti-Hindu comments and for peddling fake news, the Facebook post was deleted.
Screenshot of Amar Chitra Katha’s now-deleted Facebook Post on Arundhati Roy
Later, after OpIndia raised the issue, Arundhati Roy’s author profile page was removed from the ACK website.
Screengrab of the now-removed author profile of Arundhati Roy on ACK website
The now-removed author profile (archive) of Arundhati Roy on the website of Amar Chitra Katha described how Arundhati Roy is opposed to US foreign policy and India’s nuclear weapons policy, economic growth, and industrialization. It further mentions that Roy had campaigned alongside another ‘activist’ Medha Patkar during the Narmada Bachao Andolan.
Interestingly, ACK ended today’s post, wherein it offered an explanation and not an apology for its reckless act by asserting, “Our mission has always been to provide Indian children with a route to their roots.”
It’s no secret that children, over generations, have been reading Amar Chitra Katha (ACK) comics and Tinkle magazine. The publisher’s folktales, historical and religious tales have always left a lasting impression on young children’s fragile minds. Working with the utmost caution and being certain of what they are putting out on the public platform becomes even more crucial in a situation like this.
By praising someone like Arundhati Roy, who is notorious for her anti-Hindu remarks and for spreading false information, Amar Chitra Katha acted recklessly. Even worse, the publisher made no apologies but in a way justified what they wrote by issuing a ‘clarification’ that they don’t support anyone’s political viewpoints. They did, however, indirectly support the propagandist when they continued to glorify her, first through a section on their website and then through the social media post.
Arundhati Roy, a career propagandist for whom lying and being deceitful is second nature
Arundhati Roy is a controversial figure in Indian politics. For years now, Roy has been accused of advancing the anti-India narrative and purveying falsehoods and misinformation under the garb of “freedom of speech”. Just recently, Roy penned an article in The Guardian, using the cover of the pandemic to push her propaganda against the Modi government.
The extent of lies she peddled in The Guardian at a time when India was grappling with a ferocious second wave of COVID-19 is particularly egregious. Roy not only lied about the PM Cares Fund in her article but also spread misinformation about India’s vaccination drive and COVID-19 vaccines developed by SII and Bharat Biotech. If this did not suffice, she also peddled propaganda about the West Bengal elections in her article for the British Daily.
Earlier last year, career propagandist Arundhati Roy, in her bid to continue spreading lies about India, alleged that the Modi government was using the coronavirus outbreak to commit a Muslim genocide.
Not just the government, but Roy has vilified the Indian Armed Forces as well. She has been consistently referring to the anti-terror ops in Kashmir as “state-sponsored” terrorism. In an infamous speech that she made in 2002, Roy said, “In India, not hundreds, but millions of us would be ashamed and offended if we were in any way implicated with the present Indian government’s fascist policies which, apart from the perpetration of State terrorism in the valley of Kashmir (in the name of fighting terrorism), have also turned a blind eye to the recent state-supervised pogrom against Muslims in Gujarat. It would be absurd to think that those who criticize the Indian government are “anti-Indian”—although the government itself never hesitates to take that line.”
The debate around the upcoming film ‘The Kerala Story’ seems to have no end in sight. Now, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has jumped into the controversy labeling the movie as ‘communal polarisation.’ The Kerala CM also dragged Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) into the controversy and accused the film of propagating the organisation’s agenda in Kerala.
“The trailer of the Hindi film which appears to have been deliberately made with the aim of communal polarisation and to spread hate propaganda against Kerala was released last day. It is indicated from the trailer that this film is trying to spread the propaganda of Sangh Parivar, which has established itself as the centre of religious extremism in the land of secularism,” he was quoted slamming the film asserted to be based on true events.
The trailer of the Hindi film #TheKeralaStory, which appears to have been deliberately made with the aim of communal polarisation and to spread hate propaganda against Kerala was released last day. It is indicated from the trailer that this film is trying to spread the propaganda… pic.twitter.com/qXz9f8Z2WG
Nimisha Fatima along with three others converted to Islam and went to Afghanistan
The film Kerala Story deals with the story of a group of girls from the state who converted to Islam and joined the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Notably, several women from the southern state, including Nimisha Fathima did find themselves in the clutches of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) after embracing Islam and eloping with their Muslim partners.
Nimisha Fathima also known as Fathima Isa, a Hindu from Kerala whose real name was Nimisha Sampath married an alleged Islamic State operative. Both were reported missing, along with 19 others from Kerala in June 2016 before reaching an ISIS-ruled territory in Afghanistan.
Between 2016 and 2018, she, Merin Jacob P. alias Mariyam, Sonia Sebastian alias Ayesha and Rafala Ijas all from Kerala travelled to the Afghan province of Nangarhar with their husbands who were from Kasargod or Palakkad.
Nimisha Fathima, Sonia Sebastian, Rafala Ijas and Merin Jacob P. (Source: NIA)
In 2016, Nimisha Fathima married a man called Bexin Vincent from Palakkad an MBA graduate. They both had converted to Islam and changed their names to Fathima and Isa. Merin Jacob P. had married Bexin’s brother, Bestin Vincent alias Yahiya. Sonia Sebastian married Abdul Rashid Abdulla in 2011, a Kasargod native who is named by the NIA as the mastermind behind this whole migration. Rafala had married Ijas Kallukettiya Purayil, a doctor who was also from Kasargod.
In 2019, after their spouses were killed in combined Afghan-US assaults on the IS, all four women turned themselves in. They, along with their children, were lodged in a prison in Kabul.
When the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in 2021, they busted open several prisons in the capital and released the inmates, including the four women, who were reportedly among those who were set free. Now, all of them have expressed the desire to come back to India.
Nimisha Fathima’s mother, K Bindu, of Thiruvananthapuram, has also pleaded with the Indian authorities to allow her daughter and grandchild to return from Afghanistan.
Archbishop Joseph Pamplany’s pastoral letter on love jihad
While the Kerala CM has called this film based on love jihad and forced conversions communal and propaganda, it is interesting to note where the voices against love jihad in Kerala have usually come from.
In his pastoral letter to be read in local churches on Easter this year, Metropolitan Archbishop Mar Joseph Pamplany of Thalassery (formerly Tellicherry) Archdiocese, Syro-Malabar Church in Kerala, expressed his serious concerns over the matter, which he called love traps (love jihad).
He appealed for their prevention in light of the worrisome increase in incidents of girls being tricked by Muslim men who coerce them into love traps.
In 2022, the archbishop proclaimed that the love traps that target young women linked with the Christian community are real and that he is basing the assertions on credible evidence.
The Thalassery archdiocese specified in a pastoral letter in September of last year that terrorist organisations use these love traps to find and lure naive Christian women. A subject explored in The Kerala Story film. A prayer request was made in the letter on behalf of the helpless parents whose children had been kidnapped by religious extremists.
The twin issues of love jihad and narcotic jihad were covered by Pala Bishop Mar Joseph Kallarangatt in his sermon in the Kottayam area in September 2021. He stated that by claiming to be in love, jihadis entrap and then expose Christian females to exploitation, coerced conversion to another religion (Islam), and terrorist activities.
He also brought up the names of Nimisha Fathima and Sonia Sebastian who ultimately ended up in ISIS-controlled Afghanistan and joined the terrorist outfit.
The Bishop declared, in 2020, that those who argued that love jihad doesn’t exist in Kerala are blind to reality. “Such people, be they politicians or those from social and cultural spaces, media may have their own vested interests. But one thing is clear. We are losing our young women. It is not just about love marriages. It’s a war strategy to destroy their lives,” he pronounced.
Kerala’s Syro-Malabar Church’s statement on love jihad
During the previous three years, approximately 12 Christian women, according to Kerala’s Syro-Malabar Church, underwent conversions to Islam and were transported to Syria, where some of them may have even died.
In 2020, the church released a statement expressing alarm about the rising number of love jihad incidents in the state and contending they were a component of the Islamic State’s extensive plan to threaten the religious and social harmony of Kerala.
The synod (council of bishops) of the church, led by Cardinal George Alencherry, said that the 21 women who went to Syria after being recruited by the IS in 2016 included the 12 Christian women who converted to Islam. They decided to educate the Christian community against love jihad after criticising the Kerala Police for being ineffective in stopping forced conversions.
Father Antony Thalachelloor, a member of the church’s media commission, remarked, “The Islamic State has been luring Christian women as part of their international agenda of hunting down Jewish and Christian women. In the next few months, we will sensitise families and girls through our pious organisations so that they are educated enough not to fall into this trap.”
The rapid spike in love jihad instances, per the Syro-Malabar Church, was reported to the authorities, but they had not conducted a thorough investigation, causing them to approve a resolution on January 15. The resolution highlighted that love jihad is being used as justification for killing Christian women in Kerala.
Vice-Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities, George Kurian’s comments on love jihad
In 2019, Vice-Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities George Kurian said that he had addressed a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah requesting an investigation into incidents of love jihad committed by extremist Islamic groups in Kerala.
“The spate of organised religious conversions and using the victims for terror activities by trapping them through love jihad has shown the Christian community is a soft target for Islamic radicals,” he had written in the letter, seeking the intervention of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
“It was based on my letter that the NIA intervened in the Kozhikode case and the accused has been arrested. While the central government is doing enough to try and stop these love jihad cases, the allegation is that the Kerala government needs to pull their socks up,” he continued.
He brought forth another case involving a Christian girl from Delhi who disappeared the previous year. “She was traced to the UAE after I alerted the government about this. The girl was brought to the Indian embassy in UAE where she told her family that she was forced to convert,” he added.
He also used a report from the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council’s Commission for Social Harmony and Vigilance, which stated that there were 4,000 instances of love jihad between 2005 and 2012, to show that the menace of love jihad is in fact a bitter fact.
Christian Association and Alliance for Social Action warns about love jihad
Christian Association and Alliance for Social Action (CASA), a Kerala-based Christian body, which claims to be working to expose love jihad posted an awareness video, in 2021, warning against the same.
“The Left (CPM-led Left Democratic Front) and the Right (Congress-led United Democratic Front) are competing to appease jihadists by covertly and overtly justifying the form of terrorism known as love jihad. We should not allow the jihadists to grow in their (LDF’s and UDF’s) shadow. For that, we need to cut down the trees that provide them shelter. Think, act,” the caption with the video reads. Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) is the incumbent government in Kerala.
The Kerala Story
‘The Kerala Story’ is a dramatic portrayal of the sorrowful and gut-wrenching tales of Hindu and Christian women from Kerala who were radicalised and later joined the Islamic State. It recounts the story of Shalini Unnikrishnan, a Hindu woman who is manipulated into converting to Islam, married her Muslim boyfriend, and much to her horror found herself in ISIS-controlled territory.
While the left-driven ecosystem continues to question and show disbelief towards thousands of incidents of religious conversion, another dreadful old case has come to the fore in which Vishal, a student from Maharashtra’s Pune city was forced to convert his religion to Islam and was trapped in an espionage case, following which he had to serve seven crucial years of his life in jail.
The saga began in the year 2005 when a 25-year-old Pune student started conversing with a Pakistani girl he met online, and the two fell in love. Two years later, the romance that had started with online conversations, countless phone calls, two trips to Pakistan, and a vow to convert to Islam came to an end when Vishal was arrested in an espionage case and given a seven-year prison term.
Due to the case’s connections to an ISI agent and two Pakistan High Commission employees, the Pune police even is said to have requested assistance from the Ministry of External Affairs. It’s been 16 years and the 2007 espionage case records still list the suspected ISI spy Sallahudin Sha and his daughter Fatima Sha as being ‘wanted’.
Vishal, who came from a middle-class Jharkhand family, moved to Pune in 2004 to pursue his academics. When he was taken into custody, he was enrolled in a Hadapsar college. Vishal spoke with a girl over a Yahoo chat in 2005. She introduced herself as “Fatima Sallahudin Sha,” a local of Pakistan’s Karachi. He used to come across Fatima in an internet café where they would chat for hours on end, according to the police. Both parties disclosed information about their families, and Fatima claimed that Sallahudin was a former Pakistani Army officer, police documents reveal.
Vishal proposed marriage after falling in love, and Fatima supposedly consented. Afterwards, she gave him a Pakistani mobile phone number, according to the reports. The proprietor of the nearby STD booth told the police that Vishal contacted her on this number and ran up to charges of Rs 1.5 lakh. The cops said that he just paid Rs 40,000.
Additionally, Vishal telephoned Fatima’s parents in Pakistan. After first rejecting his marriage proposal, they ultimately consented, but only if he agreed to convert his religion to Islam. Vishal was then supposedly invited to Pakistan by Fatima and her father. He was enticed by her father by the promise of a permanent home and a company in London following their nuptials.
Vishal attempted to obtain a visa for Pakistan, but his application was turned down. This is when Sallahudin allegedly provided him Syed S Hussain Tirmizi’s phone number, an employee of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, according to the police. In this lawsuit, Tirmizi and Javed alias Abdul Latif, another employee of the Pakistan High Commission, were listed as defendants and conspirators.
Vishal reportedly got in touch with Tirmizi and handed over his papers. He received cash from Fatima and her father at this time while residing in a lodge in the Paharganj area of Delhi. Details of nine such financial transactions between August and December 2006 were presented in court by the Pune police.
According to the authorities, Tirmizi and Latif made arrangements for Vishal’s visa to Pakistan. Vishal visited Pakistan twice, the inquiry found, once for four days on October 14, 2006, and once for more than two weeks on January 23, 2007.
“We received information that Vishal had returned from Pakistan and was having some secret documents and CDs containing photographs of military establishments and religious places in and around Pune. We had information that he was planning to hand over the crucial information to someone in Pakistan so we started surveillance,” said Bhanupratap Barge, the then Crime Branch, Pune Police. Barge was an investigating officer in this case and he retired as an assistant commissioner of police.
On April 8, 2007, Vishal was arrested by the Pune City Police on suspicion of espionage. The National Defence Academy (NDA), Bombay Engineering Group (BEG), Southern Command, and other Army institutions in Pune are among the buildings that the police are said to have found on CDs from him during searches. The RSS headquarters in Pune’s Motibaug and other critical areas are also seen in the photos, according to the police.
In addition to other items, the police claimed to have found photocopies of Army officials’ phone numbers, pictures of Fatima, and an envelope with Sallahudin Sha’s address on it.
As an assistant police inspector at Crime Branch at the time, Ragunath Phuge (now retired) filed a first information report (FIR) against Vishal at the Deccan police station in Pune under Section 120b (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections of the Official Secrets Act (OSA).
Vishal recounted meeting Fatima and her family, his stay at their Karachi home, their shopping excursions, hotel and garden visits, etc. in his testimony to the police. According to the police investigation, based on a confession made by Vishal, Sallahudin is accused of taking him to a hidden place where he received military instruction for “terrorism activities” during his second trip to Pakistan.
He claims that Sallahudin requested him to research Army facilities and religious sites in Pune, as well as to become familiar with Islamic religious customs.
Vishal reportedly started gathering information after arriving in Pune. He communicated with Tirmizi and reportedly received a CD from a man named as Hafiji; the police were unable to learn more about him, but he was also listed as a wanted suspect.
According to the police investigation, Vishal visited NDA twice. The information taken from him, according to Indian Army officials, was of a “classified nature.” Vishal was arrested under the OSA on suspicion of preparing to convey this information to Pakistan, according to the police.
The police looked into other email accounts Vishal is said to have used to contact Fatima after his imprisonment. The investigation also showed that Vishal had made contact with Muslim preachers in Malegaon and Pune to become an Islamist. Even a Muslim cleric from Pune who was interviewed by the police and whose statement was recorded spoke to Sallahudin on the phone. Sallahudin reportedly informed the imam that Vishal had already embraced Islam and been given the name ‘Bilal’. The name ‘Bilal’ was mentioned in an email that the police turned over to the court.
In order to investigate the participation of Pakistan High Commission employees, the Pune city police also requested assistance from MEA officials, however according to Vienna Convention regulations, no action could be done against them, the police said.
A Pune court received a chargesheet against Vishal from the police in July 2007. He refuted the prosecution’s claims and said that the sole reason he visited Pakistan twice was for a love affair. However, the court noted that Vishal was in the “thick of conspiracy” according to the evidence.
On March 29, 2011, Vishal was found guilty of violating sections 120 b of the IPC and sections of the OSA by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Suchitra Ghodke, and he was sentenced to seven years in jail. He was reportedly freed after serving his time in Yerwada Central Prison.
“This was a high-profile case. During the investigation, we coordinated with central agencies and successfully exposed not only Pakistan’s ISI but also how officials in Pakistan High Commission, Delhi, were carrying out anti-India activities,” recalled Barge to the Indian Express.
