The Kingdom of Saudia Arabia has announced that Indian nationals will be made exempt from submitting a Police Clearance Certificate to obtain a visa. The kingdom has cited the strong strategic partnership between the two nations as the reason.
The Saudi Arabian embassy in Delhi shared the information in a tweet.
In view of the strong relations and strategic partnership between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of India, the Kingdom has decided to exempt the Indian nationals from submitting a Police Clearance Certificate (PCC). pic.twitter.com/LPvesqLlPR
“The PCC will no longer be a requirement for Indian citizens to obtain a visa for travelling to Saudi Arabia. This decision has been taken as a part of the efforts of the two countries to further strengthen their relations. The embassy appreciates the contribution of over two million Indian citizens living peacefully in the kingdom”, the embassy stated.
India under PM Narendra Modi has maintained a strong bilateral relationship with Saudi Arabia. PM Modi was also presented with Saudi Arabia’s highest civilian honour, King Abdulaziz Sash, in 2016 at the hands of Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz.
Indian courts see all kinds of strange petitions, and the Allahabad High Court saw another such case where the petitioner, Dr M Ismail Faruqui, tried to argue that Yogi Adityanath should be removed from the post of Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
Dr Farugui argued that Yogi Adityanath was not qualified to contest the election for the Legislative Assembly of UP due to a violation of provisions under Rule 4A of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961. However, the court dismissed his petition and imposed a fine of Rs 11,000 on him for wasting court’s valuable time.
The bench of Justice Attau Rahman Masoodi and Justice Om Prakash Shukla dismissed the plea while stating that the petitioner had filed a similar case previously as well.
Deliberating the merits of the petition, the bench said, “As per Section 80 of the Representation of People’s Act, 195, no election shall be called in question except by an Election Petition presented in accordance with the provisions of this part.”
The court also noted that by filing the petition, the petitioner was calling into question Yogi Adityanath’s election from the Gorakhpur seat, something which the law doesn’t permit him to do directly since he was neither an elector nor a candidate at the election on the seat.
Imposing the monetary fine, the court added, “The courts have also from time to time held that no litigant has a right to unlimited draught on the court time and public money in order to get his affairs settled in a manner as he wishes…. The court cannot be oblivious to the fact that today people rush to courts to file cases in profusion under this attractive name of public interest.”
Another shocking news of love jihad following a brutal murder of a Hindu has come out from Bangladesh. In the Gobarchaka area of Khulna city, one Abu Bakr first trapped a Hindu woman in love, then brutally killed her and chopped her into several pieces.
The matter came to light on Sunday, 6th November, when the accused Abu Bakr didn’t arrive for his work and his phone was switched off. When the owner of the transport company where he works sent someone to his rented house to know the matter, that person found the house locked, and informed the landlord. As the situation was suspicious, the landlord Raju informed the police. After arriving at the spot, police opened the door and found the headless body of the Hindu woman in a box in the house. On further search of the house, they found the head wrapped in polythene, but her hands were missing.
The landlord informed the police that he does not know the woman and that she is not the wife of Abu Bakr. Later police identified the victim as Kavita Rani, daughter of Kalipad Bachar.
Absconding Abu Bakr was the prime suspect in the case, and police arrested him on 7th November 2022, along with his live-in partner Sapna.
Abu Bakar Siddiqui cut the body of his Hindu lover Kavita Rani into three pieces and cut off her head and both hands wrapped in plastic polythene and threw it into the drain. The incident took place in Khulna, Bangladesh. pic.twitter.com/Y129SnB4dp
— Voice Of Bangladeshi Hindus ?? (@VoiceOfHindu71) November 16, 2022
Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested the killer Abu Bakr on the morning of November 7, 2022. RAB-6 spokesman Lt Col Mushtaq Ahmed briefed media persons about the massacre.
He said that the arrested Abu Bakr and his live-in partner Sapna were living as husband and wife in the house of landlord Raju in Gobarchaka Square Number 1 for 4 years. Sapna works as a nurse at Prince Hospital in the city. Abu trapped Kavita in an affair despite already being in these relationships.
Kavita and Abu Bakr had met a few days before the murder. The accused met the woman just five days before the incident. He had brought Kavita to his rented house in the evening on 5th November 2022, Saturday. At that time, Sapna had gone to work as she is working the night shift at the hospital.
At the house, they had sex. But after that, an argument broke out between the two for some reason. When Kavita started to shout and argue loudly, Abu Bakr got angry and strangled her to death. Later, to dispose of the body, he brought a sharp knife from the kitchen and severed Kavita’s head from the torso. Abu Bakr wrapped his severed head in a polythene bag. After that, he also cut the two hands and disposed of them in a drain. He put the rest of the corpse in a box at the house.
The RAB official also revealed that the same night (November 5, 2022), Abu Bakr crossed the Rupsa river with his live-in partner Sapna and left for Dhaka. But after the recovery of Kavita Rani’s body from his rented house the next day, the police launched a search operation.
Police as well as RAB Intelligence traced the whereabouts of accused Abu Bakr on the night of November 6, 2022. He and Sapna were then arrested from the Chaurasta area under the Basan police station area of Ghazipur district. Police handed over the arrested accused to the Sonadanga police station.
After the accused confessed to the crime, the RAB recovered Kavita’s severed hands wrapped in polythene from a narrow spot in the Gobarchaka area of the city, based on his information.
In a disturbing trend, children in South Korea are turning the tragic October 29 stampede that killed 158 people in the capital Seoul during the Halloween festival into a game. There has been a sharp increase in trending posts with the hashtags “Itaewon Game” or “Itaewon Crush Game” on social media platforms popular among teenagers, such as TikTok.
The game involves numerous school kids lying on top of each other to form a stack, and the one on the bottom wins based on how many people he or she can endure on top of their body.
The same game has been around for over a decade in South Korea under several names such as the Pass-out Challenge, Hamburger Game, and Sandwich Game. The Itaewon tragedy, in which 158 people were killed in one of Seoul’s greatest stampedes, has given it a new name and enhanced its popularity. Children in South Korean elementary, middle, and high schools have now renamed the game “The Itaewon Game,” and they are playing it with renewed enthusiasm by mimicking the disaster.
Talking about the game, one middle school student in Seoul said, “The video of the tragedy spread through social media, so this ‘Hamburger Game’ is now being played as if to mimic the Itaewon tragedy.” A high school student from Seoul shared the details of the game and said, “The kids move all the desks and chairs to the side, and they play the game of squishing one kid by having ten people on top of them. This is done every break time. I was really shocked to see that kids would play the ‘Hamburger Game’ and call it the Itaewon Crush Game.”
Other students posted on social media as well, saying, “When we are getting lunch, kids shout ‘Push, push’ and mimic the Itaewon tragedy. A group of kids picks on a student by crushing them with the ‘Hamburger Game’ as to bully them.”
Meanwhile, as the game that imitates the tragedy of the Itaewon stampede is gaining popularity in South Korea, parents have raised concerns that it may become yet another form of bullying that could lead to fatalities. Notably, in the year 2011, a middle school student was allegedly killed while playing this game after being crushed by a group of students who were intentionally playing the game to bully the student.
On November 8, the Korean Association of Teachers of Media Literacy (Katom) issued disaster media use recommendations for teachers and the general public.
“If children and teenagers play a game mimicking an incident, there is a high risk that it will lead to a big safety-related accident as they are not properly aware of the risk,” the association said.
Some experts opined that students need to be guided on how to react to public catastrophes. “Perverse actions like the Hamburger Game spread among teenagers via social media or other media outlets. We should educate students to grow critical thinking skills,” said Lee Chang Ho, a senior researcher at the National Youth Policy Institute.
Stampede during Halloween in Seoul, South Korea left 158 people dead
On Saturday night (October 29), one of the bloodiest stampedes in South Korean history occurred in Seoul. According to reports, over 100,000 people congregated in the Itaewon district’s narrow alleyways to celebrate Halloween. People sought to escape the suffocating mob trapped in the narrow, sloping road but ended up stacking on top of one another, leading to the disaster.
The accident killed 158 people and injured many more. By October 30, Seoul authorities had received 355 reports of missing people.
Multiple videos had surfaced on social media which showed bystanders providing Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) to the victims. Dead bodies of victims were seen placed side-by-side on the edge of the road.
Following the tragedy, national mourning was declared on Sunday (October 30) by President Yoon Suk Yeol who ordered South Korean flags to be raised at half-mast in public offices and government buildings.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday passed an order to try one of the accused, Shubham Sangra, in the Kathua case, who had claimed to be a juvenile, as an adult. The Supreme Court set aside the order of the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Kathua and the Jammu and Kashmir High Court that had held that one of the accused in the case was a juvenile. The order was passed by Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Ajay Rastogi.
“It is held that the respondent accused was not a juvenile at the time of the commission of the offence and should be tried the way other co-accused were tried in accordance with law”, Justice Pardiwala read out the operative portion of the order.
Pronouncing the verdict, Justice Pardiwala stated that a medical expert’s estimate regarding the age of the accused is not a statutory substitute for proof and is only an opinion.
In the order, however, the Supreme Court identified the perpetrators of the heinous crime as “Hindus” and the victim as a “Muslim girl”.
Part of the court order in the Kathua case
“This litigation originates from the most unfortunate Kathua rape case. The Kathua rape case involved the abduction, gang rape and murder of an eight year-old Muslim girl by name ‘X’ by six Hindu men and the respondent herein (claiming to be a juvenile) in January, 2018 in the Rasana village near Kathua in Jammu & Kashmir”, the court said in the second para of the order passed on 16th November 2022.
While the court has chosen to identify the victim of the brutal crime as a “Muslim girl” and the perpetrators as “Hindus”, in 2018, the prosecutors who were assigned to the case were Sikhs so that communal division can be checked.
The Indian Express had reported in 2018 that the J&K Police want the Crime Branch case to be represented by Bhupinder Singh and Harminder Singh. The newspaper further quoted its sources saying “the police want to have prosecuting officers from their own ranks but from a neutral faith to avoid further communal division”. Eventually, the two had formed a part of the prosecution team along with Santok Singh Basra and one Mr Chopra.
While the police had reportedly wanted the inclusion of the Sikh lawyers to ensure that the communal divide was not depended, the Hindu-Muslim angle was reintroduced in the case as the court branded the victim as a Muslim and the perpetrators as Hindus.
When the case had come to light, of the brutal rape and murder of a minor girl from Kathua, the case was given a communal twist by several individuals who had chosen to focus on the fact that the heinous crime took place inside a temple rather than the barbaric crime itself. When the case was being used to tarnish the Hindu community, a debate had come to the fore, with several people condemning the communal colour given to the case.
The prevalent objection to the communal colour was that this was a heinous crime and should be viewed as such instead of trying to use it to show the Hindu community as a whole down.
Many individuals have questioned the need to mention the religion of the victim and the perpetrator in a brutal case of rape and murder such as that of the Kathua case. “It is not often that the court mentions the religion of the accused and the victim unless there is a clear communal angle, like in the case of Delhi Riots, for example. In most cases, the court merely states the facts of the case”, said one lawyer.
“Even if the chargesheet says that there could be a possible motive of the crime could be community level discord, the order may mention the theories mentioned in the chargesheet, but there is no reason to identify the religion in this manner”, he added.
The Kathua case of gang rape and murder
The case relates to the brutal gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua village in 2019. In June 2019, a Special Court at Pathankot sentenced three men to life imprisonment in the case. The Court also sentenced three police officers to 5 years imprisonment for causing the destruction of evidence. The trial of Shubham Sangra was shifted to the Juvenile Justice Board. Shubham Sangra was the nephew of the main accused Sanji Ram.
On Wednesday, e-commerce giant Amazon began the process of laying-off its employees to implement cost-cutting after it reported profit drops in the last few quarters. The company gave no prior information to the employees and sent them emails seeking the termination of their services. The company plans to lay off around 10,000 employees globally this week across departments.
According to the reports, the company issued a notification confirming that it was cutting down employee numbers due to ‘unusual and uncertain macroeconomic environments.’ David Limp, Senior Vice President of Devices and Services at Amazon also assured in the notification that the company would continue to work closely with each individual to provide support, including assisting in finding new roles.
Amazon plans to lay off approximately 10,000 people in corporate & technology jobs as soon as this week, New York Times reported
Job cuts will focus on Amazon’s devices organisation, its retail division and human resources, reports NYT pic.twitter.com/1n6iPcmSJ0
“It pains me to have to deliver this news as we know we will lose talented Amazonians from the Devices & Services org as a result. While I know this news is tough to digest, I do want to emphasize that the Devices & Services organization remains an important area of investment for Amazon, and we will continue to invent on behalf of our customers,” Limp said.
He also mentioned the current economic situation as a justification for restructuring and streamlining some teams and initiatives. “One of the repercussions of these decisions is that some positions will no longer be necessary,” he continued.
While the layoffs will affect Amazon’s global workforce, they will have the greatest impact on its Devices & Services organization. The impacted staff has received official notification of their termination, and the firm has offered them two months to find another position within the company. If the employees are unable to find a new job, Amazon has promised to help them through the transition by providing a package that comprises a separation payment, transitional benefits, and external job placement assistance.
Notably, the company had more than 1.6 million full-time and part-time employees as of December 31 last year. Amazon has however said that the job cuts would be effective beginning on January 17. Employees working outside of the United States and Canada have been affected by Amazon’s this decision, most of them being Indians holding H1B visas. Many have taken to social media to inform others about the layoff and seek a new job position within a limited time period.
An H1B visa is granted to people abroad who get employment in the United States. If an H1B visa holder is sacked, he would only have 60 days to find another employment, or else will have to return to his native country. With the recent layoffs at Twitter, Meta, and now Amazon, many foreign workers, especially a huge number of Indians, are in distress since they only have 60 days to find new employment if they want to continue to stay in the United States.
Taking to LinkedIn, Raj Kansagra, former Software Development Engineer II at Amazon Alexa team said that he was actively looking for a job since he is the holder of an H1B visa. “Today, I found out that I’ve been laid off. I’m joining many others who are experiencing the feelings that come with losing your dream job. I was with Amazon for 6 years. We have seen Alexa grow from its early days and it’s been an incredible journey. I’m proud of what we built together. I’m on an H1-B visa so time is of the essence to find something new,” Kansagra wrote.
via LinkedIn
Another former Amazon employee named Shivani Parate who worked as Software Development Engineer at Amazon for nearly 2.5 years said that she was laid off and that was looking for an employment opportunity in the US. “Unfortunately, I was impacted by today’s layoff with 10,000 other Amazonians. It is super hard for all of us and I am still trying to navigate through this, while constrained by the timeline of being on a #visa. I am nothing but grateful for the time I have spent at Amazon, learning and collaborating with some of the brightest folks in the industry,” Parate’s LinkedIn post read.
via LinkedIn
In addition to the United States, numerous Indians working for Amazon in Canada have also been laid off. Robin Badsara, a Software Development Engineer at Amazon’s Canada headquarters said that he was also laid off. “Hello Network, Unfortunately, I was impacted by the Amazon layoff today. I was part of the Alexa development tech Team…. I am currently in Canada and available for work. If your organization has openings for sources or recruiters, please let me know or direct me to the right one. Thanks,” Badsara’s LinkedIn post read.
via LinkedIn
Amazon employs around 1.5 million people worldwide, the majority of whom are hourly employees. During the COVID-19 epidemic, the online retail business, like other digital and social media giants, made substantial profits as homebound buyers purchased more things online. However, sales growth slowed as the epidemic abated and customers relied less on e-commerce. As per the reports, the company reported two consecutive losses this year.
The company said that it had to lay off the employees to implement cost-cutting. It has previously axed some of its ventures to slash expenses, including subsidiary fabric.com, Amazon Care, and the cooler-sized home delivery robot Scout. It has also reduced its physical footprint by postponing or cancelling plans to occupy additional facilities around the country. “The company was preparing for what could be a slower growth period and will be careful about hiring shortly,” said Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky.
The decision to lay off by the e-commerce giant Amazon comes a week after Facebook parent Meta and Elon Musk’s Twitter fired thousands of employees globally. Last week, Facebook laid off over 11,000 employees, accounting for approximately 13% of its workforce. For the first time in the company’s history, it has reduced its employees on a massive scale. Meanwhile, Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter, sacked half of its worldwide workforce of 7,500 employees, stating that “the firm would need to find new sources of revenue or it would not survive the upcoming economic collapse.”
Pakistani entertainer Sehar Shinwari has been made popular on Indian Twitter space over past few weeks ever since she joked around how she would marry someone from that country if that country’s cricket team loses to Pakistan or defeats India in the recently concluded T20 World Cup.
I'll marry a Zimbabwean guy, if their team miraculously beats India in next match ?
Like how ahead of India vs Zimbabwe, she had tweeted she would marry a Zimbabwean if it defeats India. This tweet went viral with many from India mocking the proposition.
She has been off and on tweeting such marriage propositions.
If Sri Lanka wins today I’ll marry a Sri Lankan guy ?
For a country that perhaps only cricket to look forward to for any wins, Shinwari’s obsession bordering unknowingly on selfdeprecation is quite understandable.
Another obsession Pakistanis have is with India and India’s politics. This is quite evident from this tweet by Shinwari from last night.
I bet BJP is going to get a shameful defeat in Gujarat state elections. If it dint happen, call me anything you want then ?
Shinwari tweeted how she will bet that BJP will lose in Gujarat and if it does not happen, one can call her anything she wants. She clearly has earned herself a lot of following from India because Indians, too, like to mock Pakistanis who are defiant about posting their L’s. Obviously, her tweet got a lot of reactions and it got ratio’ed.
Soon after she tweeted how it will be Aam Aadmi Party that will win elections in Gujarat.
Aam Admi Party of Arvind Kejrival will make huge upset in Gujarat for BJP according to prediction ?
In internet slang, what Shinwari is doing is called ‘sh*tposting’ and baiting. Basically tweet something off topic or provocative just to get some kind of reaction usually to increase reach or popularity or number of followers. This is a common tactic used for going ‘viral’ on social media. Often, such popularity is leveraged by people or brands for monetary gains by taking money in exchange of advertising or marketing some product.
As one can see, Sehar Shinwari has a line in her Twitter bio which invites people to reach out to her for brand promotions via her Direct Message option.
Sehar Shinwari’s Twitter account
Shinwari’s tweets have been anti-Narendra Modi and pro-Rahul Gandhi.
Only Rahul Gandhi ji can save India from hatemongers BJP & RSS ?
Recently, Shinwari tweeted how only Rahul Gandhi can ‘save’ India from BJP and RSS.
Rahul Gandhi ji can rescue india from from becoming Hindutwa Nazi state. Every Indian who wants to see a progressive and pluralistic India should support congress ✋
I've no animosity towards India. Infact I love this country & its rich culture. But I shall not stop criticism on religious hatemongers everywhere whether they're in Pakistan in form of TLP or in India as RSS/BJP. We need leaders like Imran Khan & Rahul Gandhi.
Interestingly, this is also the language Congress supporters and leaders use to refer to the RSS by dehumanising the ones associated with them.
After watching results in Rajasthan Chattisgarh and Madhya Prdesh now its clearly Congress Party is coming back in Takht-e-Delhi and I must congratulate @RahulGandhi in advance for becoming Pradhan Mantry of India in 2019 ?
Muslims of India need to learn from Sikhs about how to remain incessant in struggle for their rights. Had they continued protest in Shaheen Bagh and other major cities, Modi would've already revoked citizenship laws by now.
CAA does not affect the Indian citizens in any way irrespective of their faith. CAA only fast-tracks the Indian citizenship for persecuted religious minorities from their neighbouring Islamic countries, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. It does not ban citizenship of Muslims from these countries either. They will be eligible under other laws prevalent in the country. CAA is specifically for the persecuted religious minorities from these three countries only. The propaganda against these laws has been mindboggling to say the least.
Modi was thrown out of Punjab by the people of Khalistan today. Sardars rocked Hindutwa Sarkar shocked ?
Shinwari’s account has also been trying to create a Hindus vs Sikh divide.
Heard most of the victims in Haryana blast belonged to Sikh community. Clearly looks like hindutwa group is trying to turn Khalistan into another war zone through terror activities. Silence of United States & West is going to cost this region an irreparable damage.
This was quite often used during the so-called farmer protests which had Khalistani elements supporting and financing the protests at Delhi border.
Indian Sikhs need someone like Bhagat Singh who can get them rid off this Hindutwa Rashtra and make a free country for them in the heart of Eastern Punjab.#Khalistan#FarmersProtest
Sehar Shinwari, who clearly seems very much clued in on Indian politics, has a verified Twitter account. However, very little of her is actually known. There is no media articles, no videos on YouTube which acknowledge her as an actress.
Sehar Shinwari’s profile on IMDb
However, on Avt Khyber, there is no match found for Sehar Shinwari.
Sehar Shinwari on Avt Khyber
In fact, there is no mention of Sehar Shinwari on the YouTube channel either.
No Sehar Shinwari on Avt Khyber
A little more digging led one to some ‘mini tv series’ by the name Khuboona Na Mri on Khyber News, but the episode uploaded in 2017 does not have English subtitles and one cannot clearly identify if the woman claiming to be Sehar Shinwari on Twitter is same as the actress who was part of the serial.
Pic 1: Sehar Shinwari picture shared by Twitter handle on their account. Pic 2: Still from YouTube video without the name. Pic 3: Profile picture on ‘Sehar Shinwari’ Twitter account
Their Instagram account, the one linked in their Twitter bio, is a private account with almost 35,000 followers. However, it is not a verified account.
Instagram account of ‘Sehar Shirwani’
In fact, her presence has been so little that the only media mentions she has has been two weeks back, that too in Indian media. None of the Pakistani media has ever written anything about her. Dawn, The Nation, other major Pakistani publications have not had a single article about her. No Pakistani media has talked about her. In a country where television dramas are a major escape from reality, it is interesting how she has not been part of anything till now and still has a verified badge on her profile.
Pakistan is known to deploy PsyOps to drive international narrative against India. Especially by talking about issues such as Kashmir and ‘plight of Muslims in Hindutva regime’. It is known how the ‘Khalistani’ jibe against Indian cricketer Arshdeep was a Pakistani fuelled propaganda happily spread further by ‘fact-checkers’ who hold Indian passports and citizenship.
In October 2021, India lost the match against Pakistan in T20 World Cup. At that time, Indian Cricketer Mohammed Shami became the target of a propagandist who claimed Indians abused and blamed Shami for the defeat because “he is a Muslim”. There was so much bourhaha over the fabricated mass abuse of Shami that veteran players like Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag also fell into their trap.
Interestingly, at that many Twitter users pointed out that they did not see any post abusing Shami before the propaganda started to mushroom on social media platforms. Many Indian cricket fans were obviously upset at the loss and expressed anger, but there were no messages abusing him for being a Muslim. India has had Muslim cricketers, from the Pataudis, to Mohammad Azharuddin to Zahir Khan to Mohammad Kaif. When India lost matches under leadership of Azharuddin as captain, he would be on receiving end of wrath because of his position as captain of Indian cricket team, but not because of his faith.
In fact, Mohammad Shami has been earlier abused by Islamists and called a ‘bad Muslim’ for celebrating his daughter’s birthday. But none of these celebrity cricketers and ‘fact-checkers’ had then pointed it out. Shah Rukh Khan was abused for five years in a row by Islamists for celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi this year. Sara Ali Khan gets cancelled as Muslim for visiting temple – none of this gets outrage from the ‘liberal secular’ lobby. None of this even gets mentioned.
At this point, one cannot say for sure whether ‘Sehar Shirwani’ is a real account of an actual female actress who did one off role in an obscure serial back in 2017 and is extremely well-versed in Indian politics or is just some honeytrap/propaganda account run by Pakistani intelligence agencies for some ulterior motives.
In yet another shocking revelation in the gruesome Shraddha Walkar murder case, it has been reported that the accused Aftab Amin Poonawala burnt his live-in partner Shraddha’s face after chopping her body into pieces, in order to hide her identity.
Aftab first chopped her body into 35 pieces, then burnt her face in such a manner that it becomes unidentifiable even if the body parts are found, ANI reported citing Delhi Police sources.
In another lead, the Southern District Police of Delhi has reached out to East Delhi Police in an attempt to match the DNA sample of chopped body parts which includes a human head that the East Delhi Police had recovered in June, a month after Shraddha was murdered by Aftab.
The East Delhi Police reportedly found a chopped head and hand in the Triokpuri locality of Pandav Nagar police station area in June.
Notably, the body parts found were in a tampered state making it difficult to ascertain their identity. The body parts were sent to a forensic lab for DNA testing and a report of the same will be out soon.
The bones found in Mehrauli were also sent for DNA testing, the DNA report of the body parts found at both locations will be matched, to determine if the body parts belonged to Shraddha.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police have found a pending water bill from Aftab Poonawala’s flat. Interestingly, the Delhi government provides 20,000 litres of water for free, in such a case, an outstanding water bill leads to suspicion.
Reportedly, Aftab had an outstanding water bill of Rs 300 while the water bill of all other houses was zero normally. Police suspect that Aftab may have used a large quantity of water to clean blood stains and that Shraddha’s body was chopped in the bathroom. Aftab would leave the shower on while carrying out his gruesome crime so that he could cut the body parts easily with the blood flowing into the sewer.
In order, to investigate further, Delhi Police will seek custody of the accused, Aftab, who will be presented in Delhi’s Saket court today.
Notably, Aftab confessed to the Delhi Police during interrogation that they had shifted from Mumbai to Delhi and had stayed in a hotel initially. Then the duo rented an apartment and soon got into a fight over shifting the household material from Mumbai to Delhi and also over the household expenses in Delhi. Aftab said that this was not the first time that they had engaged in a fight and that they had been fighting frequently over several other issues.
The Police also confirmed that the accused murdered Shraddha between 8 pm to 10 pm on May 18, and chopped her body into 35 pieces. He later stored the severed body parts in a refrigerator and disposed of the pieces in Delhi’s Mehrauli forest over the next 18 days.
In another step towards consolidating airline businesses, the Tata group has finalised the merger of Air India and Vistara. Reportedly, Tata group and Singapore Airlines (SIA), the joint owners of Vistara, have agreed to the merger. Tatas may own around 75% of the amalgamated company, with SIA holding the remaining 25% share. Currently, Tatas and SIA hold 51% and 49% stakes in Vistara, respectively. The proposed merger is expected to be announced soon and is intended to be completed within a year after receiving all necessary clearances.
The Tata Group hopes to develop Air India as an umbrella carrier through the merger. The Tata Group desires AI to serve as the umbrella provider, with a full-service arm formed by combining Vistara and the Maharaja and a low-cost arm formed by combining AirAsia India (AAIPL) and AI Express. This is part of the Tata group’s plan to bring all four airlines under it under a single entity, Air India.
Tata group currently operates four airlines, Air India, it’s subsidiary Air India Express, Vistara, and Air Asia India. Among them, Air India and Vistara are full-service operators, while AirAsia India and AI Express as low-cost carriers. The group has already started the merger of Air Asia India with Air India Express after the group purchased the 16.3% share of AirAsia Aviation Group in AirAsia India. After the Rs 155.6 crore deal was finalised earlier this month, Tata Sons became the 100% owner of AirAsia India, and now the company is in the process of merging it with AI Express, which is expected to be completed in 12 months.
The company has started working on the integration of information technology and passenger booking systems, with the systems of AI Express being moved to AirAsia India’s system. The Competition Commission of India has already approved the proposed acquisition of the entire shareholding of AirAsia India by Air India.
This move will make Air India the second-largest airline in India in terms of fleet and market share. Eventually, the merged entity of Air India-Vistara will be a full-service airline, and the merged entity of AirAsia India-Air India Express will become the low-cost arm of the group. According to people who know about the matter, Air India will be the only airline brand under the group, with Air India Express as its low-cost arm. Which will mean the Vistara and AirAsia India brands will be dropped.
As three related companies (AI, SIA, and Vistara) now have a significant presence on “overlapping passenger routes” (Delhi-Singapore and Mumbai-Singapore) in addition to “overlapping cargo routes” between India and town state, the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) expressed concern over Tata’s acquisition of AI in June.
According to reports, in early November, one of the executives stated that SIA has decided to become a part of the integrated firm since India is a major market for the airline. He said, “SIA has reaped benefits from Vistara and realizes that the cost of scaling up Vistara will be significantly higher as compared to Air India, which already has a significant size.”
Tata Group reclaimed control of Air India in January of this year after placing the highest bid for the airline, which was operating at a loss. It had submitted a proposal of Rs 18,000 crore, which included a Rs 2,700 crore cash payment and the assumption of Rs 15,300 crore of the carrier’s debt.
In the early hours of November 16, Wednesday, three cow smugglers were arrested from the Palwal area in Gurugram, Haryana after a 25km-long chase that began from Sector 37 in Gurugram. The accused were identified as Mohammad Salim, Mohammad Saad and Mohammad Mahboob, all residents of Nuh.
As per reports, the accused persons kept pushing cows off the moving vehicle to obstruct the vehicle of the cow vigilantes that were chasing them. They also opened fire and threw stones and glass pieces at the vehicles of the Gau Rakshaks, leaving two of them injured.
However, the cow vigilantes and police kept chasing the smugglers for almost 25 km until they finally intercepted the vehicle and nabbed the smugglers in Palwal. While three were arrested, three more accused managed to escape in the dark, the Gurugram police were quoted by media reports as saying.
The video of the chase has gone viral on social media.
According to reports, the cow smugglers had picked up four stray cows from Sector 37 and Sector 56 in Gurugram. They fled towards Mewat when a team of Gau Rakshaks in two SUVs and police officers started chasing them on Sohna Road. The cow vigilantes informed other members of their group who erected a barricade near Bhondsi on Sohna Road. However, the smugglers’ speeding vehicle slammed, broke the barricade and continued to accelerate.
The accused opened fire on the vehicles of the cow vigilantes. They had stones and glass balls in their van, which they threw at the Gau Rakshaks.
While the accused kept accelerating, one of their vehicle’s tyres got punctured. Seeing themselves cornered, three accused fled while the other three namely, Mohammad Salim, Mohammad Saad and Mohammad Mahboob were caught.
One of the Gau Rakshaks Monu Manesar said two of his colleagues, Ranveer Thakran (35) and Paramjeet Thakran (34), suffered head injuries from stones hurled by the accused.
