On Saturday, TV actor Vaishali Takkar passed away. The 30-year-old actor was discovered dead at her home in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
According to multiple reports, the actor was found hanging at her home, where she had been living since last year. A case was registered at Tejaji Nagar police station soon after the actor was discovered dead.
Initial reports suggest that Vaishali’s love affair could have been the cause behind her suicide. However, no official confirmation has been made yet by the police about the reason behind the suicide. According to reports, police recovered an alleged suicide note from the scene. Reportedly, Vaishali was stressed for quite some time now. She also allegedly wrote that she was being harassed by her former boyfriend. The actor’s mortal remains have been sent for a postmortem.
Vaishali Takkar shot to fame with her portrayal of Anjali Bharadwaj in the Colors TV serial Sasural Simar Ka. She also played Shivani Sharma in Super Sisters, Netra Singh Rathore in the show Vish Ya Amrit: Sitara, and many other shows. The actress was last seen in the TV show Rakshabandhan where she played the role of Kanak Singhal Singh Thakur. The actress made her TV debut with the Starplus serial Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai.
Vaishali got engaged with a Kenya-based dental surgeon Abhinandan Singh in April this year. She had then told the media that she found her fiancé through a matrimonial site. The couple was supposed to tie the know in June, however, in a month Vaishali announced that their wedding has been called off. Notably, Vaishali Takkar was a close friend of Sushant Singh Rajput.
Jairam Ramesh, a seasoned Congress leader, raced to defend convicted communist professor GN Saibaba while attempting to provide cover fire to urban naxals. In a tweet made on October 14, after the Bombay High Court acquitted Saibaba, Ramesh took to Twitter and attempted to defend him.
He wrote, “Wheelchair-bound Prof GN Saibaba’s acquittal after 5 years in jail proves that ‘urban naxal’ tag invented by PM’s brigade is completely bogus. Many others are still in wholly unjustifiable custody. Such smear tactics must be resisted. I wouldn’t be surprised if PM calls me one too!”
Wheelchair-bound Prof GN Saibaba’s acquittal after 5 years in jail proves that ‘urban naxal’ tag invented by PM’s brigade is completely bogus. Many others are still in wholly unjustifiable custody. Such smear tactics must be resisted.I wouldnt be surprised if PM calls me one too!
Jairam Ramesh raced to defend Saibaba, claiming that the Urban Naxal label is baseless. Notably, on Saturday the Supreme Court halted the Bombay High Court’s ruling and stayed the release of Saibaba and five others the day after these remarks by Jairam Ramesh. According to the Supreme Court, GN Saibaba was not acquitted on the merits by the high court and therefore the high court sentence was suspended till further hearing in the case.
The bench hearing the case stated that they believe the case is eligible to suspend the HC’s challenged judgement and order. The bench said in its reasons for the ruling that the defendants were convicted following a thorough examination of the evidence. Furthermore, the offences are quite serious, and if the state prevails on the merits, the offences are extremely serious against the interests of society, sovereignty, and the integrity of the country.
The Congress leader attempted to portray Saibaba and the Urban Naxals as innocent, and that the investigation conducted by the police and other authorities was flawed. The Supreme Court specifically said that the High Court did not review the merits, and the court freed the accused solely on the grounds that the UAPA sanction was invalid for the other five, and the same was not obtained for Saibaba.
Journalist Abhijit Majumdar quoted the tweet by Ramesh and mentioned how Saibaba was arrested when the Congress government was in power and not the current dispensation. Majumdar mentioned that Saibaba was raided in September 2013 and was arrested in May 2014, both when the Congress party was in the Centre and Dr Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister.
Hahaha!
Search in GN Saibaba’s house: Sept 9, 2013 HM: Sushil Shinde PM: Manmohan Singh Govt: Congress/UPA
Arrest of #GNSaibaba: May 9, 2014 HM: Sushil Shinde PM: Manmohan Singh Govt: Congress/UPA
Saibaba and other alleged suspects were taken into custody between 2013 and 2014. Numerous papers, a hard drive, and pen drives were reportedly taken from Saibaba’s house by the police. The academic, who had been suspended by the university, was imprisoned until the Bombay High Court granted him bail in May 2015 on the basis of his health. Before the Supreme Court granted him bail in September 2016, he was imprisoned once again.
In March 2017, they were found guilty of participating in suspected Maoist activities. Vijay Tirki received harsh imprisonment since he was a first-time offender; the other five prisoners, including Saibaba, received life sentences.
On 16th October 2022, the email account of the ‘tech expert’ of the leftist propaganda website ‘The Wire’ was allegedly hacked. The information was shared by Siddharth Varadarajan through a tweet. Siddharth Varadarajan is the founding editor of ‘The Wire’.
Siddharth Varadarajan tweeted, “ALERT One of The Wire’s principal researchers on Meta lost access to his Gmail+Twitter accounts and some others at noon today. Whoever hacked him is sending suspicious phishing-type messages, like the one below. Please don’t respond to messages from [email protected] or DMs.”
ALERT
One of The Wire’s principal researchers on Meta lost access to his Gmail+Twitter accounts and some others at noon today. Whoever hacked him is sending suspicious phishing-type messages, like the one below. Please don’t respond to messages from [email protected] or DMs. pic.twitter.com/ZtIAmqtb6Z
In the next tweet, he wrote, “Needless to say, the Andy Stone email is safe and sound and will not fall into the hands of those keen to identify The Wire’s whistleblower in Meta in this manner.”
Needless to say, the Andy Stone email is safe and sound and will not fall into the hands of those keen to identify The Wire’s whistleblower in Meta in this manner.
As soon as Siddharth Varadarajan shared this news, netizens started mocking ‘The Wire’ for having a ‘tech expert’ who could not prevent his own email account from hacking.
A Twitter user Arjun wrote in his reply to Siddharth Varadarajan, “Tech Expert could do all the tech mumbo jumbo peddled since yesterday but didn’t have 2FA for both Gmail and Twitter.”
Tech Expert could do all the tech mumbo jumbo peddled since yesterday but didn’t have 2FA for both Gmail and Twitter pic.twitter.com/ZmPWPL1IyO
Another Twitter handle @OntiJeevi posted, “Your fake story is already exposed. Give up now. After seeing this kind of forgery I am finding it hard to believe your tekfog story also. Shame!”
Your fake story is already exposed. Give up now. After seeing this kind of forgery I am finding it hard to believe your tekfog story also. Shame!
Venu Ananda tweeted, “That’s what happens when people watch porn on official mobile/laptop. Data gets sold. He must have used the same mail id to login to his porn account. LoL”
That’s what happens when people watch porn on official mobile / laptop. Data gets sold. He must have used the same mail id to login to his porn account. LoL
Rupesh Kumar replied, “No. No. No. You can’t backtrack now. Don’t make silly excuses. You and your dirty tricks are likely being exposed. I guess it’s time for Meta to take legal action against you and The Wire.”
No. No. No. You can’t backtrack now. Don’t make silly excuses. You and your dirty tricks are likely being exposed. I guess it’s time for @Meta to take legal action against you and @thewire_in.
It is notable that on October 15, the Meta vs Wire saga took another twist after The Wire published a “rebuttal” to Meta’s assertation that the alleged expose by the leftist portal was based on fabricated evidence. In its rebuttal, The Wire made several claims to justify its expose. However, most of their claims raised even more questions over the authenticity of the evidence presented by them.
The Wire has claimed that the NDA-led Central government of India has been provided by Meta (Facebook and Instagram’s parent company) with extensive power to remove any content from the platform(s). To prove their point, The Wire provided “evidence” of a post removed within minutes of getting published as it was flagged by Bharatiya Janata Party IT Cell Chief Amit Malviya.
On Sunday (October 16), the 19-year-old Indian grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi defeated the reigning five-time World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen during the prelims of the Aimchess Rapid online chess tournament.
This is the first victory of Erigaisi over Carlsen. Erigaisi had earlier lost to Carlsen in the Julius Baer Generation Cup final in September. The Indian grandmaster defeated the world champion in Round 7 of the preliminaries of the Aimchess Rapid online chess tournament.
After 8 rounds in the tournament, the Indian grandmaster has been able to secure the 4th position. It must be mentioned that the Aimchess Rapid tournament features a total of 16 players, including five from India.
Arjun Erigaisi is now two points behind Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan. He had earlier lost out to Magnus Carlsen during the final of the Julius Baer Generation Cup online tournament.
According to Chess Base, the Indian grandmaster had an Elo rating of 2559 in March 2020. However, he has witnessed a meteoric rise in the past 2.5 years to become the 21st highest-rated player in the world. Arjun Erigasi currently has a 2728 Elo rating.
Earlier in August, a 17-year-old Indian Grandmaster Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu defeated world champion, Magnus Carlsen, at the FTX Crypto Cup, the American finale of the Champions Chess Tour, in Miami.
This was the third time this year that Praggnanandhaa defeated Carlsen. The Indian prodigy won the game in the blitz tiebreaker after the score was tied at 2-2.
According to reports, Ahmad Abu Murkhiyeh, a 25-year-old Palestinian, was abducted and brutally beheaded in Hebron, a city in the West Bank. Ahmad Abu had fled the West Bank into Israel because his sexual orientation was made public. Ahmad Abu had been living in Israel as an asylum seeker for the previous two years after authorities determined that returning to the Palestinian Territories would put his life at risk. Abu’s journey to Hebron is still a mystery.
Before being apprehended by Palestinian Authority police near the location of the incident, the suspect captured the act in a video that he shared on social media. Ahmad Abu was looking to seek asylum in Canada for the past 2 years but was beheaded before his documents could be processed.
Ahmad Abu Marhia, who at the time of his death was living as an asylum seeker in Israel and hoping to flee the country to Canada, was found decapitated in the West Bank city of Hebron. It is believed to be because he was gay. https://t.co/yPIH9QZnaq
According to Israeli authorities, PA police, and the Abu Murkhiyeh family, the victim and his attacker had never met before. No motive has been identified as a consequence of the Palestinian Authority police investigation, although the suspect is now being examined thoroughly.
In order to prepare Abu Murkhiyeh’s asylum papers for his eventual resettlement in Canada, Rita Petrenko, the founder of Al-Bayt Al-Mukhtalif, a non-profit organisation devoted to the empowerment of the Arabian LGBT community, claimed to have helped. She also claimed that he actively participated in LGBT discussion groups. Petrenko expressed regret that Abu had not been evacuated to safety in Canada before his life was brutally taken, calling him “hard-working and intelligent.”
According to Petrenko, Abu Murkhiyeh had not visited the West Bank since taking refuge in Israel out of concern for what his estranged family and fellow villagers would do to him. She said that there are records of his trips to many LGBT shelters in Israel. He had not told any of his friends about his intention to travel to the West Bank.
Although homosexual people are allowed to live their lives freely in Israel, homosexuality is frowned upon in the strictest social and religious circles in both Palestinian and Israeli societies. Approximately 90 Palestinians who identify as LGBT people are now seeking refuge in Israel. Before emigrating, they faced prejudice and, in some cases, violence in their communities.
In the horrific Kerala human sacrifice case, police discovered various shreds of evidence, including weapons, during an eight-hour evidence collection drive at the Elanthoor house. This was the place where the three accused, Mohammad Shafi, Bhagaval Singh, and his wife Laila carried out the horrific murder of two women as a human sacrifice ritual for financial gains.
The three accused were present alongside the police at the house as one after another, several horrifying details of the crime emerged with the evidence.
Mohammad Shafi, the main accused reportedly told the investigation team during the search that 10Kg of human meat was stored in the freezer. On the fridge, Shafi’s fingerprints were also found. Shafi cooked the human meat in a pressure cooker and burnt the remains behind a massage centre run by accused Bhagaval Singh.
Koci DCP S Sasidharan has stated that only after further investigation it will be determined whether the charred remains were human. A bone was also discovered on the premises. The forensic team has collected the samples from the charred remains. In the coming days, forensic examination of the crime scene will continue, DCP Sasidharan further informed.
Notably, blood stains were visible on the walls of the house suggesting that the bodies of the victims were dragged on the floor. Billhooks used to cut the victims, were also recovered from the premises.
The investigation teams also made the accused reenact the crime and a dummy was placed on a bed for the same. Reportedly, the accused cooperated in the process.
On Kerala Police’s request, the Ernakulam Judicial First-Class Magistrate Court has granted the police custody of all three accused until October 24.
The main accused Mohammad Shafi is reported to have a weird taste for cruelty as he inflicted brutal injuries on his victims.
The sight of blood rushing out of the wounds of victims, according to the police, would excite Shafi. “He (Shafi) has now been proven to be a psychopath and a sexual pervert. He derives sexual pleasure from his actions and will go to any length, even killing, for it,” C Nagaraju, the Police Commissioner said, adding that he is a sadist with a desire to injure, harm, and kill.
Laila, the accused who earlier had confessed to cooking the flesh of the victims has expressed remorse over her horrific deeds. However, Mohammad Shafi, who is the main conspirator, has expressed no regret.
Kerala Police’s special team investigating the Elanthoor human sacrifice case is scrutinizing Mohammed Shafi’s financial dealings to see if more people are involved in the horrific murders.
As winter is approaching, the annual stubble-burning session in Punjab has returned as per schedule. In the state, more than 700 farm fires have been reported so far, despite the state government claiming to have chalked out an extensive month-long program to curb the practice of stubble burning in the state.
On Monday, the state saw four farm fire incidents, two in Amritsar and one each in Ludhiana and Kapurthala, according to data from the Ludhiana-based Punjab Remote Sensing Centre.
According to the data, 718 farm fire incidents occurred between September 15 and October 10. As per the data, the state recorded 244 and 150 farm fires on the same day in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
Despite the state government assuring more crop residue management machines and launching massive awareness campaigns against stubble burning, farm fires continued.
It is worth noting that merely one-third of crop residue management machines deployed by the Punjab government has been used by farmers to curb stubble burning. Punjab Pollution Control Board member secretary Karunesh Garg in conversation withEconomic Timespointed out that there are 90,000 crop residue management machines available for farmers to use, however, due to a lack of awareness the usage of these machines is very low. He also informed that awareness campaigns are being run to increase the usage of crop residue management machines, which can make a significant difference in stubble burning incidents.
The number of stubble-burning incidents, however, is expected to increase in the coming days, as paddy harvesting has been delayed by at least 10 days due to rains last month.
In September, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar urged the state governments of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and the National Capital Territory of Delhi to work toward zero stubble burning in the near future. He promised all centre’s assistance to accomplish this mission.
According to Tomar, Rs 600 crore has already been provided to the states this fiscal year, and they have an unspent amount of Rs 300 crore that should be used properly. Furthermore, approximately 2 lakh machines have been made available to the states. According to the Minister, the Centre and the concerned States must collaborate on long-term planning and engage in multi-pronged activities to meet the target of Zero Stubble Burning within a specified time frame.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) issued a warning on Friday that Delhi’s air quality is likely to deteriorate to the poor category in the coming days.
Over several years, stubble burning has been one of the main causes of air pollution over the national capital region (NCR) and other parts of the Indo-Gangetic plains prior to the onset of the winter season.
Notably, the Punjab government issued guidelines on October 12 for residents to use firecrackers during Diwali and other festivals over the next three months. Residents will be permitted to set off firecrackers only for two hours on Diwali, from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., according to the guidelines.
Firecrackers will be allowed only for two hours on Diwali night from 8 to 10 pm. Apart from Diwali,crackers will be permitted for one hour from 4 am to 5 am & one hour from 9 to 10 pm on November 8, Prakash Purab day of Sri Guru Nanak Dev: Punjab Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer
It is worth noting that the Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav held a virtual meeting with his state counterparts from Delhi, NCR, and Punjab on controlling vehicular, industrial, and dust pollution, as well as stubble burning, just a day before the Punjab government, issued guidelines. During the meeting, one of the most important topics of discussion was stubble burning.
“The issue of vehicular pollution was also deliberated upon in the meeting, and the states were informed about strict action being taken to ensure that all vehicles have the pollution under control (PUC) certificate,” the ministry said in an official statement. System of road traffic management was also discussed.”
Central government to provide one-time financial aid to set up torrefaction and pelletisation plants
The central government has announced that individuals and companies will receive one-time financial assistance to set up torrefaction and pelletisation plants to ensure a steady supply of paddy straw for co-firing in thermal power plants and industries.
The establishment of these plants will help to solve the problem of stubble burning while also generating income for farmers, said Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Thursday at a workshop on “Guidelines for grant of one-time monetary assistance for setting-up of pelletisation and torrefaction plants to promote utilization of paddy straw.”
According to the guidelines, financial assistance of Rs 14 lakh per tonne per hour plant production capacity (up to a maximum of Rs 70 lakh per proposal) will be provided for the establishment of new pelletisation units.
Notably, Torrefaction plants will receive Rs 28 lakh per tonne per hour plant production capacity, subject to the total financial support of Rs 1.4 crore per proposal.
The government has set aside Rs 50 crore for use in accordance with the guidelines. Individuals and businesses setting up new plants and units using only paddy straw generated in Delhi, Punjab, and Haryana, as well as NCR districts of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, can apply for financial aid.
Notably, Paddy straw burning in Punjab and Haryana is one of the causes of the national capital’s alarming increase in air pollution levels in October and November. Farmers set fire to their fields to clear crop residue since the window for rabi crop wheat is very short after paddy harvest.
Punjab produces approximately 180 lakh tonnes of paddy straw each year. The state recorded 71,304 such fire incidents in 2021, 76,590 in 2020, 55,210 in 2019, and 50,590 in 2018, with many districts witnessing a high number of stubble-burning incidents, including Sangrur, Mansa, Bathinda, and Amritsar.
Arvind Kejriwal, the leader of the AAP, had previously blamed the Punjab government for failing to control farm fires in the state. “If you look closely, there are only a few Haryana locations in it.” “Stubble is being burned throughout Punjab, particularly in Bathinda and Amritsar,” he said at the time.
However, under the AAP regime, the same Amritsar district is a major hotspot of farm fires. Amidst all this, the Punjab government issuing guidelines for bursting firecrackers on Diwali seems to be a deliberate attempt to divert attention from pollution caused by stubble burning and the AAP government’s failure to contain it.
On October 15, the Meta vs Wire saga took more turns and twists after The Wire published a “rebuttal” to Meta’s assertations that the alleged expose by the leftist portal was based on fabricated evidence. In its rebuttal, The Wire made several claims to justify its expose. However, most of their claims faced speculations and raised even more questions over the authenticity of the whole fiasco.
Meta’s Communication head Andy Stone said, “I know – and whoever is now going to increasing lengths to fabricate this story knows – this is completely false. I never sent, wrote, or even thought what’s expressed in that supposed email, as it’s been clear from the outset that @thewire_in’s stories are based on fabrications.”
4/x The specific mechanics of the medium just don’t allow for it.
Also, read the email and read like… Anything Andy ever wrote. Diction is completely off, obviously an ESL composer.
For those who are unaware of what has been happening, The Wire has claimed that the NDA-led Central government of India has been provided by Meta (Facebook and Instagram’s parent company) with extensive power to remove any content from the platform(s). To prove their point, The Wire provided “evidence” of a post removed within minutes of getting published as it was flagged by Bharatiya Janata Party IT Cell Chief Amit Malviya.
While Meta and The Wire have locked horns over the alleged expose, there has been no official statement from Malviya or the union government in the matter. Notably, The Wire had made such allegations before as well with the “Tek Fog” application, where they had claimed that BJP’s tech team had created an application to bombard the social media platforms with posts against those who speak “ill” of the government, its leaders and the party. However, there was not any evidence to price the allegations, and the matter got faded away.
The Wire’s “expose” on Tek Fog came at the time of the Uttar Pradesh state assembly elections, and now the Meta “expose” came at the time of the Gujarat elections. Both states are incredibly crucial for the BJP.
Former colleague of Andy raised red flags at The Wire’s report
Brent Kimmel of Squarespace who has worked with Andy as Tech expert, raised red flags over The Wire’s report. He pointed out that the ‘receipt’ confirmation made by the server only proves that the network request was made. He said, “It means nothing in terms of whether or not a person (let alone a specific person) received it, viewed it or interacted with it in any way. You simply can’t do “gotcha” journalism over email.”
3/x but all your “receipt” means is that some network request was made. It means nothing in terms of whether or not a person (let alone a specific person) received it, viewed it or interacted with it in any way. You simply can’t do “gotcha” journalism over email.
Furthermore, he pointed out that the language was not what Andy would have used. “Also, read the email and read like… Anything Andy ever wrote. Diction is completely off, obviously an ESL composer.”
4/x The specific mechanics of the medium just don’t allow for it.
Also, read the email and read like… Anything Andy ever wrote. Diction is completely off, obviously an ESL composer.
He added that he hadn’t talked to Andy in over a decade but worked with him in a high-pressure environment. he said, “I would have remembered if he spoke to his colleagues that way. He doesn’t.”
Also, I haven’t spoken to @andymstone in roughly a decade, but I worked with him in a pretty high-pressure environment and I would have remembered if he spoke to his colleagues that way. He doesn’t.
The first claim that The Wire made in their report was the emails they sent on the @fb.com extension were opened by the respective receivers. They used a technology called ‘superhuman’ that allows the sender to check if and how many times the receiver opened the email. This technology has been around for quite some time, and several email clients and extensions add the feature to your email clients.
The Wire used ‘Superhuman’ application to track if the email they sent was opened or not. Source: The Wire.
It adds a 1×1 pixel external image in the email. Whenever someone opens an email, it records the information. Most security experts see it as an invasion of privacy of the receivers, but the technology has thrived for years because of its use in business communication.
Though OpIndia cannot verify independently as of now if what they are saying is true or not, ethically, The Wire, a platform that talks in length about privacy, has done something extremely unethical. Superhuman faced extreme criticism in 2019 over the feature. They were tracking the location of the receivers and logging them. After much criticism, they made several changes, and the CEO had to say that they were making the changes publicly.
Superhuman made several changes in tracking mechanisms after criticism in 2019. Source: Superhuman’s Blog
Superhuman still has the feature and claims it is “for business purposes” to make it easier to close the “deals faster.” OpIndia has sent an email to Rahul Vohra, Founder, and CEO of Superhuman, to get his views on the use of the platform for “expose” and how he feels about the invasion of privacy for that matter. We are waiting for a reply from Rahul on the matter and will add or publish it as an additional report when and if we get a reply from him.
Superhuman says its tracking system helps businesses in cracking deals more effectively. Source: Superhuman.com
It is noteworthy that experts in the field have raised concerns over the matter. Martin Obiols, a cybersecurity expert, said, “Do not praise people using clients that provide read-statuses for email. This is a huge privacy violation regardless of its purpose of doing it. I seriously do not understand how these tools are allowed under data privacy laws.”
Do not praise people using clients that provide read-statuses for email. This is a huge privacy violation regardless of the purpose of doing it.
I seriously do not understand how these tools are allowed under data privacy laws https://t.co/dXhZB1RPXY
Not to forget, most email clients, including Gmail, stop external images from loading as a security feature. How Superhuman managed to get around such features in Meta’s email client is another matter of concern. If this claim is true, Meta is not using the required security features.
Superhuman or any app is NOT fool-proof evidence
Another important point is, as Superhuman has STOPPED tracking the location, there is another way to say that someone has read it. Say The Wire sent it to someone else in BCC or forwarded the email to someone else, and the other receiver opened the email. The tracking will be based on the same pixel image. In that case, it will show that the email was opened by the recipient.
Let’s take an example. Say I want to track if my boss Nupur J Sharma read the email I sent. I used Superhuman or another application to do so. She read I got the information, and it’s done. This was the first scenario. In the second scenario, I want to implicate my boss read the email but ignored to acknowledge it. In that case, I would BCC it to my personal email ID, or I will forward the email to someone else. When the email gets opened by me or someone else, I can show that my boss opened the email as there is no way to trace the location from where the email was opened. Now I am the devil at my office! This is why such tracking applications cannot be solid evidence in an expose like this.
The DKIM mumbo-jumbo!
Now, The Wire made its way to technical in the next step. The Wire claimed that they used a python-based open-source tool called dkimpy to verify if the email came from an authentic source or not. There is way too much technical jargon in the report that needs simplification. Basically, this tool allows the user to ensure of the email came from an authentic source or not. It checks the header (code-based technical information) of the email and matches it with the sender’s digital signature.
Ideally, this system not only traces the source but also provides information if anything was changed in the email during the transit. In case you are unaware, there are ways to modify the email while it travels from the source to the destination. Codes can be injected, information can be altered, and so on. This is why encryption of the data is essential.
Anyway, this is where The Wire made a blunder that was noticed by a Twitter user Technical Trading Guru that goes by the handle @techtradeguru on Twitter. We will not go into the DKIM claim authenticity but point out the alleged photoshop saga that raised questions over The Wire’s report.
At 12:01 AM, techtradeguru pointed out that the screenshot of the emails from Experts used in the report to verify their DKIM claim had the date wrong. The emails were received in 2021, as per the screenshot.
SEE HOW BEUTIFULLY THE WIRE STAFF SAYS THAT THEY VEIFIED DKIM OF MAIL
We checked and verified the claim using WayBackMachine by Archive.org. Here is the screenshot of that particular section in The Wire’s report with timestamp 12:51:59 on WayBackMachine. Please note that WayBackMachine uses GMT timestamps. IST timestamps are not available.
The Wire report had screenshot that showed date from last year. Source: Waybackmachine
After techtradeguru and others pointed it out, The Wire changed the screenshots, and it showed 2022 as the year. This screenshot was timestamped 14:32:41 on WayBackMachine.
The date in the screenshot was changed. Source: WayBackMachine.
The current version of the report contains the identity of one of the Microsoft employees who checked the authentication of the dkimpy used by The Wire and allegedly confirmed that DKIM signature test of the email has passed. It is notable that Facebook is using Microsoft’s email services.
The current version of the report. Screenshot was taken by OpIndia at 11:27 AM on October 16, 2022.
However, there was another set of blunders made by them. First, the new screenshot was evidently photoshopped. Techtradeguru pointed it out and said, “They have copied the first 2 of 2021 and pasted in place of 1. I have done the pixel analysis.”
ALSO THEY HAVE COPIED THE FIRST 2 OF 2021 AND PASTED IN PLACE OF 1. I HAVE DONE THE PIXEL ANALYSIS.
We made a GIF of the images he mentioned in his tweet to make it easier to understand. Ideally, when there should have been more space between “2022” and “at” in the screenshot which was missing. It shows that the screenshot was a photoshopped version of the older screenshot and not a new one.
The date was allegedly changed in photoshop without keeping the spacing in mind. Source: Techtradeguru.
Moreover, they changed the date but did not change the day. The 2021 and 2022 calendars are not identical in terms of Days. That means 12 October and 14 October in 2021 and 2022 fell on different days of the week. Multiple Twitter users pointed out this particular mistake made by The Wire. In both screenshots, the days remained Friday and Wednesday respectively. Trying to justify this discrepancy, Wire claimed that it was due to the fact that the dates were incorrectly set on TailOS, a Linux-based portable OS. But netizens pointed out that even if the date is wrongly set in the system, it will not result in a mismatch between the day and date, if it shows the wrong date, it will show the day corresponding to that wrong date only.
It was pointed out by tech expert Pranesh Prakash in a detailed Twitter thread on The Wire’s latest report. He wrote, “Now, @thewire in is saying the incorrect dates are due to TailsOS being used and being set to the wrong date. Except, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that even were that true, TailsOS would show: Thursday, October 14, 2021 and Tuesday, October 12, 2021 NOT Fri & Wed.”
Now, @thewire in is saying the incorrect dates are due to TailsOS being used and being set to the wrong date.
Except, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that even were that true, TailsOS would show:
Thursday, October 14, 2021 and Tuesday, October 12, 2021
We verified the days of all four dates and here is the screenshot compilation from Google.
The days were messed up in The Wire’s report. Source: Google.
The Wire’s report, the reporter who wrote the report, and the Founding editor have claimed that the date was messed up because the OS was recently re-installed on the reporter’s computer, and the OS (TailsOS) that they use has a history of messing up the dates after installation. They further claimed that the new screenshot was taken after setting the date right. However, they failed to provide any explanation of the wrong Days of the week in the screenshots. No matter how messed up the OS is after re-installation, it cannot take the Day of the week wrong.
Siddharth, Founding Editor of The Wire claimed it was a human error but not a photoshop. Source: Twitter.
Also, Pranesh pointed out that the difference in year would not have been possible. He said, “If TailsOS was used to receive an email, Tails must have connected to Tor. However, Tails “automatically synchronizes the system time at start”, Tor fails w/ wrong time, & apps use UTC. So if time can’t be off by *a year*, only few hours (to match Tor IP).” The TailsOS connects to the Internet through the anonymous network Tor.
If TailsOS was used to receive an email, Tails must have connected to Tor. However, Tails “automatically synchronizes the system time at start”, Tor fails w/ wrong time, & apps use UTC. So if time can’t be off by *a year*, only few hours (to match Tor IP)https://t.co/KeJQhDzEpmpic.twitter.com/64cnHN5Hdk
Moreover, most people who have used the Internet and web-based services must have seen that several of such services do not work if the date in the system is wrong. Nowadays most systems automatically synchronise the time with the web, and therefore we don’t face such issues. But for Wire to claim that an exclusively Internet-based OS didn’t synch the time and it was wrongly set manually raised suspicions.
There is a lot to the story that The Wire has presented. As experts have pointed out mistakes and some experts have offered to independently check the DKIM claims, it will be interesting to see how the story moves further.
An Imam named Maulana Abdul Qadir of a mosque in Amroha of Uttar Pradesh was arrested on 15th October 2022 for raping a minor girl in a mosque. The girl used to come to the mosque for religious studies. She studies in the eighth standard. The accused Imam has been taken into custody by the Didauli Kotwali police.
The incident took place in a village in the Didauli Kotwali area. The minor girl was part of a truck driver’s family that lives here. The driver had gone out of the station while his wife and children were at home. His 15-year-old elder daughter is a student of Class 8 in the school in the same village. Every day, she used to go to the village mosque with other children for religious training.
उत्तर प्रदेश के जिला अमरोहा की मस्जिद में दीनी तालीम लेने गई 15 वर्षीय बच्ची से रेप, आरोपी मौलाना अब्दुल कादिर गिरफ्तार !!#Amroha#Uppic.twitter.com/vSZaXg9ERO
Maulana Abdul Qadir Imam, a resident of village Racheta under the Police Station Asmauli of Sambhal district works as an Imam in this mosque. It is alleged that 15 days ago, Imam let other children go home and stopped the minor girl on the pretext of sweeping. He later took her to a room and raped her. He also threatened to kill her if she told anyone. After the incident, the victim went home and did not tell anyone about this incident out of fear.
On Friday, when her father returned home, the daughter informed him about the incident. Late on Friday evening, the truck driver reached Kotwali with his daughter and lodged a complaint against the Imam. Inspector-in-charge Parvez Chauhan said that an FIR had been registered and the accused Imam has been arrested and sent to jail. The medical examination of the victim is being conducted.
In Uttar Pradesh and other states, many such incidents have been reported earlier in which a Maulana is arrested for raping minor girls or boys. Now, a similar case has happened in Amroha and the accused Maulana Abdul Qadir has been arrested by the police.
The Wire has now claimed that a Microsoft employee, one Ujjwal Kumar, based in Singapore has verified their fabricated email exchange with Facebook’s parent company ‘Meta’. Founding Editor of The Wire Siddharth Varadarajan has claimed that one Ujjwal Kumar, currently employed at Microsoft in Singapore, has ‘passed the DKIM test’.
One of the experts has since given consent for us to reveal his full identity, which we have now done on social media. The story will also be updated to reflect that. pic.twitter.com/051OlaXcIW
Varadarajan shared a screenshot of an email sent by Ujjwal Kumar of Microsoft used the manual method and corroborated that the dkimpy, a library that implements DKIM (DomainKey Identified Mail) email signing and verification.
Here is the email shared by Siddharth Varadarajan.
Ujjwal Kumar of Microsoft Singapore
In another separate tweet, Varadarajan had claimed that he had consent from Ujjwal Kumar to share the email and his finding regarding the so-called mail from Meta and had shared the screenshot.
Original tweet by Siddharth Varadarajan
However, few hours later, Varadarajan deleted the tweet claiming that he had the consent of Ujjwal Kumar to share details, he has deleted the tweet.
The expert corroborated the DKIM verification The Wire ran on Andy Stone's email. We identified him with consent. He now wants his name off social media. It goes without saying: We have the header etc of the mail he sent & can have them independently verified if need arises 2/2
Facebook uses Microsoft’s email services. The Wire tried to use the service provider to ‘verify’ details about one of their clients, quite likely without their consent and it seems, Microsoft’s Ujjwal Kumar agreed. However, Varadarajan’s ‘expert’ who ‘verified’ Facebook/Meta email as ‘authentic’ suddenly went from okay with being named to being ‘anonymous expert’ here.
