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Zomato shares nosedive to all-time low: Here are the possible reasons why the stock prices are falling and may continue to plunge

Jinit Jain
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Zomato shares nosedive to all-time low: Here are the possible reasons why the stock prices are falling and may continue to plunge

Zomato stock prices Tuesday plunged by approximately 13 per cent to Rs 41.20 apiece intraday, a new all-time low, as the one-year lock-in period for the pre-IPO investors ended.

On July 26, the Zomato stock price ended at Rs 41.60 from its opening levels of Rs 46.60, a sharp 12.61 per cent intraday decline. The stock has tanked 75 per cent from its all-time high of Rs 169.10 per stock, touched last year in November.

Source: NSE

Although the stock was in free fall for the last few months, the nosedive was stark in the past few days as the one-year lock-in period for pre-IPO investors drew to an end on 23 July 2022, exactly a year after Zomato Limited was listed on BSE and NSE.

The food aggregator’s paid-up capital of the one-year overhang is around 78 per cent, which means it had roughly 78 per cent of total equity. It is a company with zero promoter holdings, which as per the rules, makes it obligatory for it to lock the equity share capital it holds for a period of one year from the date of allotment of shares. During this period, these shareholders are barred from selling any equity.

The latest fall in the Zomato stock prices could, therefore, be attributed to the selling pressures spurred by the end of one-year lock-in period as sellers fell over themselves to dispose of their stock holdings in anticipation that the stock prices will plummet further more.

Back in July 2021, the listing of Zomato on stock markets was greeted with great euphoria among the investors. Ahead of its launch, the IPO was subscribed 38.25 times, with 7.45 times in the retail category, 51.79 times in QIB, and 32.96 times in the NII category, signaling the enthusiasm it had generated among the prospective buyers.

As expected, the Zomato IPO opened at  at Rs 116, a premium of 53 per cent compared to the issue price of Rs 76. Over months, it rose to its all-time peak of Rs 169.10 as investors rallied behind the food aggregator service with the hope that it will provide them with windfall gains.

Causes behind the steady decline in the share prices of Zomato

However, in the intervening months, the enthusiasm among investors has evaporated, partly because of its weak finances, especially in the wake of its deal with Blinkit, formerly known as Grofers, and which analysts claim have elongated its path to profitability and achieving break-even.

Earlier last month, Zomato announced its acquisition of loss-incurring firm Blinkit for Rs 4,447 crore. The payment will be settled through issue of around 629 million Zomato shares (around 6.88 per cent equity dilution on fully diluted basis) at the prescribed preferential allotment price of Rs 70.76, and cash acquisition of Hands on Trades Pvt Ltd for Rs 60.7 crore.

However, the stock market and analysts alike felt the Blinkit deal was overvalued that reflected in the stock movement of Zomato after the announcement of the acquisition, tumbling more than 14 per cent in two days since then. Researchers believe acquiring Blinkit will add to the woes of Zomato which is already marred with high operating losses.

Following its deal with Blinkit, Punit Patni, Equity Research Analyst at Swastika Investmart, sounded alarm for Zomato, adding that the deal may bear down heavily on the company’s finances and it may take a long time for the organisation to figure out the unit economics and turn profitable. He also said that the current markets are not conducive for businesses that are witnessing profitless growth.

According to research agencies, several factors are responsible for Zomato stock’s current free fall. An increase in competition from new entrants, competition from existing competitors such as Swiggy, and the restaurants offering direct delivery are among the primary factors that have adversely impacted Zomato’s business.

Amidst dire finances, Zomato is facing stiff pushback from its existing partners as restaurants have started resisting the huge discounts imposed on them and severing their ties with the food aggregator service. So far, the company’s strategy entailed forcing restaurants to offer jaw-dropping discounts to tether customers permanently to its services.

But the strategy seems to have backfired as restaurants are resisting the huge discounts imposed on them, snapping their ties with Zomato and either going solo or platforming themselves on rival companies that have relatively less stringent requirements.

Slower than expected market growth has forced a reassessment among investors about Zomato’s overall potential. While most food delivery companies across the world witnessed a slump in the last two months, Zomato has underperformed its peers, said Ms Madhu Sharma, an independent market analyst based out of Mumbai. Most global food aggregators bottomed in May-June, Zomato continued its decline in July.

Strict regulations on platform businesses and challenges in expanding its business outside its core area are other headwinds facing Zomato, adding to its extant miseries and throwing questions at the company which it clearly does not seem to have answers to, at least for now. Taken together, these factors have contributed greatly to the current bout of decline in the Zomato share prices.

Zomato has a hard row to hoe as investor confidence wanes and company registers profitless growth

However, market observers and research companies believe that Zomato can turn the tide in its favour, given that it is the fastest-growing food aggregator company among its peers. In terms of order volumes and gross revenues, Zomato has outpaced all its global competitors, namely Just Eat Takeaway, Delivery Hero, DoorDash and others.

Restaurant food accounts for less than 10 per cent of overall food spending in India, as compared to close to 50 and ~45 per cent of food spending in the US and China, respectively. Those pinning their hopes on Zomato to stage a comeback are banking their hopes on the food aggregator’s ability to benefit from India’s expected growth in online food spending and turn profitable with it.

But for now, Zomato has a hard row to hoe, reflected in deflating investor confidence and declining stock prices. Until it pulls its act together, its share price may continue with the free fall.

1811 FCRA licenses cancelled, 783 denied renewal between 2019 and 2021, MHA informs Lok Sabha

OpIndia Staff
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1811 FCRA licenses cancelled, 783 denied renewal between 2019 and 2021, MHA informs Lok Sabha

On July 26, the Ministry of Home Affairs shared in Lok Sabha during Question Hour that between 2019 and 2021, 1811 FCRA licenses were cancelled while 783 NGOs were denied renewal for the same.

Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs Nityanand Rai was answering the questions asked by Indian Union Muslim League’s leader ET Mohammed Basheer regarding the cancellation and denial of FCRA licenses from 2019 to 2021. Basheer had asked about the total number of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Act (FCRA) registrations cancelled and denied renewal, and had also asked for state-wise data. He also asked the ministry if a show cause notice was issued by the government to the concerned institution to explain their stand or not.

Source: Lok Sabha

Replying to Basheer, Rai said that during the three years that were 2019, 2020, and 2021, registration certificates of 1811 associations were cancelled under the provisions of the Foreign contribution Regulation Act, 2010 (FCRA 2010). He further added that all the associations were provided with the reasonable opportunity of being heard as per the terms of Section 14(2) of FCRA 2010. Furthermore, 783 applications for the renewal of the FCRA licenses were rejected during the same period.

Source: Lok Sabha

As per the data provided by MHA, the maximum number of NGOs that lost their FCRA licenses were from Tamil Nadu. 218 licenses were cancelled in three years in the state. In Madhya Pradesh, 206 licenses were cancelled, followed by 193 in West Bengal, 168 in Andhra Pradesh, 122 in Bihar, 115 in Uttar Pradesh, and 109 in Odisha.

Source: Lok Sabha

Speaking about denial of renewal, MHA informed that the maximum number of NGOs that were denied renewal were from Maharashtra, and the number stood at 110.

Source: Lok Sabha

84 associations in Andhra Pradesh, 66 in Tamil Nadu, 65 in West Bengal, 59 in Uttar Pradesh, and 57 associations in Karnataka were denied renewal.

ED files supplementary persecution complaint against Farooq Abdullah in money laundering case related to Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association

OpIndia Staff
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ED files supplementary persecution complaint against Farooq Abdullah in money laundering case related to Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association

A supplementary persecution complaint (equivalent to a charge sheet) has been filed against the former Chief Minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah, Mir Manzoor Gazanffer, and others by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with its money laundering investigation into the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) case.

A special court in Srinagar took cognizance of the charge sheet on Tuesday after it had been presented on June 4. The defendants have received court summons, and they must show up on August 27. The chargesheet was preceded by three provisional attachment orders dated 28.02.2020, 18.12.2020, and 25.02.2022, which attached Dr Farooq Abdullah, M/s Mirza Sons, Mir Manzoor Gazanffer, and Ahsan Ahmad Mirza’s moveable and immovable assets totalling Rs. 21.55 crore.

The case involves the misappropriation of funds from the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association through transfers to several personal bank accounts of unrelated individuals, including those of JKCA office holders, and by mysterious cash withdrawals from JKCA bank accounts. It is alleged that money to the tune of  Rs 50 crore was misappropriated from the JKCA coffers between 2002 and 2011. 

Although JKCA already had a bank account, the agency stated that six more bank accounts were formed in order to allegedly park and syphon off funds from that account. ED alleges that Farooq Abdullah abused his power as president of the organisation by making appointments in the sports body to launder funds.

The ED launched the money laundering investigation in response to a chargesheet presented by the Central Bureau of Investigation against the association’s officers in 2018. The CBI filed an FIR in this respect in 2015.

Farooq Abdullah had previously been questioned several times in the matter, the most recent occasion being in May of this year. The ED has attached properties worth Rs 14.32 crore belonging to Mirza, Gazanffer, and Abdullah in the case by 2020. The agency had temporarily attached assets worth Rs 7.25 crore belonging to another accused in the case in March of this year.

Greece: 22-year-old British tourist dies after being hit by helicopter rotors while attempting to take a selfie

OpIndia Staff
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Greece: 22-year-old British tourist dies after being hit by helicopter rotors while attempting to take a selfie

A 22-year-old rich British tourist named Jack Fenton died in Greece after being hit by helicopter blades while attempting to take a photo as he alighted from the aircraft. Jack was struck when he walked behind the Bell 407 helicopter while its engines were still running. Rescue services were dispatched to the private heliport, but the person reportedly died in the spot.

The pilot then made a call to his colleague on another chopper, which was carrying the man’s parents, to raise the alarm. To avoid the man’s parents from watching the fatal accident, the pilot of the second helicopter decided to divert from the private airstrip in Spata and instead made an unplanned landing at Athens International Airport.

According to some media reports, Jack was snapping a selfie when he was knocked in the head by the high-speed rotor. The details of the accident are being investigated, but the pilot might face criminal charges if it is found that he advised the passengers to vacate the helicopter before the engine and rotors had shut.

The Oxford Brookes university student, who went to the £36,000-a-year Sutton Valence boarding school in Maidstone, Kent, reportedly walked behind the Bell 407 helicopter while its engines were still engaged
John Fenton with his mother. (Image: Dailymail UK)

“He was the first to disembark the Bell 407 helicopter in Athens and as he moved to the back, he was hit in the head by the aircraft’s small rear rotor,” a senior police officer told The Times. “There was no chance of him surviving. His death was instantaneous,” he continued.

The pilot of the chopper and two members of the ground crew have reportedly been detained while authorities conduct their investigation. The trio reportedly provided testimony regarding the incident to a judge. Friends of John testified as well.

The family was supposed to arrive at the Superior Air helipad and then be taken to Eleftherios Venizelos airport to board the family’s private aircraft for the flight back to the United Kingdom. Miguel Fenton, Jack Fenton’s father, is the head of marketing, sales, and public relations at The Hop Farm, a 400-acre country park in the UK.

2399 illegal Bangladeshi migrants using fake Indian documents found, centre urges states to promptly identify and initiate their deportation proceedings

OpIndia Staff
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2399 illegal Bangladeshi migrants using fake Indian documents found, centre urges states to promptly identify and initiate their deportation proceedings

The central government on Tuesday informed that in the last 5 years, as many as 2399 Bangladeshi nationals have been intercepted and found to be using fraudulently obtained Indian documents. Having said so, the government said it has written to all states and Union territories to take prompt steps to identify illegal Bangladeshi migrants staying in India and initiate a process to deport them as per the provisions of law.

Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai, in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, said, “The central government has issued instructions to state governments and Union Territories for taking appropriate prompt steps for identification of illegal migrants, their restriction to specified areas as per provisions of legislation, capturing their biographical and biometric particulars, cancellation of pretend Indian paperwork, and authorized proceedings together with initiation of deportation proceedings as per provisions of legislation.”

Furthermore, the states/UTs have additionally been suggested to share the particulars of these unlawful migrants who’ve wrongfully obtained Aadhaar cards with the UIDAI for appropriate legal action. State governments have additional been suggested to cancel any identification paperwork obtained fraudulently by unlawful migrants, like voter cards, driving licenses, ration cards and so forth, he added.

It may be recalled that last month, OpIndia reported how authorities in Uttar Pradesh have been on high alert because of the rise in Rohingya Muslim infiltration from Myanmar, the majority of whom have affiliations to pro-Pakistan terror organisations.

The authorities have tightened the noose to nab these intruders, who have reportedly established a large network in the western districts of the state including Meerut, Aligarh, Bulandshahr and Deoband.

The Uttar Pradesh ATS, based on the interrogation of arrested Rohingya Muslims, revealed that hundreds of Rohingyas have crossed over illegally into the country and are working in slaughterhouses in the state.

Moreover, in states like Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala, etc, where there is a heavy demand for labourers, these Rohingya Muslims take up these jobs and start living like any other local Muslim. They also bring others from Myanmar and Bangladesh and help them get similar low-wage jobs. They manage to get forged identity documents as well which makes it difficult to identify them.

Magnificent Hindu temple inaugurated in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar

OpIndia Staff
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Magnificent Hindu temple inaugurated in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar

On Tuesday, a magnificent Hindu temple was inaugurated in Antananarivo, the capital city of Madagascar, a vast island in the Indian Ocean with a population of over 26 million people. The occasion was attended by Abhay Kumar, the Indian ambassador to Madagascar and Comoros.

Devotees flocked to the temple’s inaugural event, which included the unveiling of sculptures of several Hindu deities, aarti, and the singing of devotional songs. Sanjeev Hematlal, president of the Hindu Samaj, spoke on the occasion, saying that the opening of the majestic temple is a source of great pride for the Hindu community in Madagascar.

The freshly constructed temple is Antananarivo’s first Hindu temple. The long-awaited temple by Madagascar’s Hindu diaspora was under construction for a long time. Earlier, in Antananarivo, a magnificent Hindu temple hall was also opened on the occasion of Navratri in 2020. Over 20,000 individuals of Indian origin, primarily from Gujarat, are settled in Madagascar.

The Gujarati diaspora in Madagascar is widely dispersed. Many of them practise Hinduism, and the Hindu Samaj has constructed a beautiful Hindu temple in Antananarivo for the first time. Small Hindu temples may be found in Madagascar’s other main cities, including Mahajunga and Antsiranana.

Indians, particularly those from Gujarat, arrived in Madagascar in small boats in the late 18th century to partake in Indian Ocean region commerce. Since then, they have significantly aided the expansion of trade and business both inside Madagascar and between India and Madagascar.

India is Madagascar’s major trading partner, with two-way commerce expected to reach 400 million USD in 2020–21. The two Indian Ocean neighbours’ partnerships are expanding in many areas. The two nations have healthy and strong connections that are deepening, and multiple MoUs in crucial sectors such as health, education, culture, information, and travel have been inked.

From befriending jail inmates to mysteriously deleted tweets: A glimpse into Alt News’ Mohd Zubair’s post-bail life

Amit Kelkar
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From befriending jail inmates to mysteriously deleted tweets: A glimpse into Alt News’ Mohd Zubair’s post-bail life

It has been almost a week since Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair was granted bail from the Supreme Court. For a few days, Zubair remained silent, but now he has started to emerge via interviews and background Twitter activity. It is fair to assume he is now controlling his account himself, unlike the time when he was in jail, but yet tweets went missing from his Twitter profile.

First, let’s check his Twitter activity. If we look at his profile, there are no new tweets or likes, so basically zero activity as such. However, using Social Blade’s services, it is quite evident that a number of tweets have been going missing from his account. Social Blade’s analysis of his account shows that since his release, there have been four instances where a number of tweets went missing.

Last one-month activity on Zubair’s Twitter account. Source: Social Blade

On July 21, a day after his release, 12 tweets were removed from his profile. On June 22, the number went up to 23. For the next couple of days, the activity was minimal, but on July 25, 25 tweets were removed, and the following day on July 26, the number went up to 64.

There is another interesting aspect of his profile’s activity that needs consideration. Zubair has a stagnant rise in the number of followers per day that stays between 100 to 500 per day on average. However, on July 21, the next day of his release, there were 9,226 new followers on his account. Since then, the number went back to 100 to 500 new followers per day. In the last 30 days, he has gained 44,011 followers.

Left-leaning portals and media houses glorify Zubair in their interviews with the Alt News co-founder

The left-leaning media houses and portals have a habit of whitewashing the crimes committed by people that they support and draw ideological convergence with, and they have a well-documented history of doing so. In the case of Mohammed Zubair, similar attempts have been made by multiple portals, including News Laundry, Scroll, The News Minute and more.

In an interview published on July 23 in The Hindu, Zubair presented himself as the victim and said after his post that contained the clip of former Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Nupur Sharma went viral, he knew his arrest was inevitable. Interestingly, Zubair and The Hindu conveniently skipped mentioning that his edited and out-of-context video sent a storm of death and rape threats toward Sharma that still continue.

He claimed that the government wanted to make an example out of him and wanted to silence all voices that were against them. What is notable here is that his voice was not choked at any point, but it was he who ran a campaign against Nupur Sharma and silenced her for good. Not only Sharma, because of what he had propagated using the edited clip of the debate and not showing what provoked Sharma in the first place, Zubair possibly opened doors for the Islamists to act on the infamous slogan “Gustakh-e-Nabi ki Ek saza, sar tan se Juda”. He further claimed to be back at work within a week.

Speaking to the Quint, Zubair claimed if he had Twitter in jail, he would have “taught a lesson” to everyone who allegedly spread false propaganda against him in his absence. He said he was furious when he came to know Razorpay shared information with the authorities. He said, “When I learnt that Razorpay has shared the information of all the donors of AltNews with the police, I was furious. Because a lot of times before donating, acquaintances and friends would ask me, ‘Zubair bhai, our personal information won’t be shared anywhere right?’ And I would always assure them that their data is safe. I felt like I betrayed their trust.”

Zubair revealed he has three children, and he missed them and his parents and wife while he was in prison. Clarifying his position on being a journalist or not, he claimed he was not a journalist by degree, but the work he was doing was ‘very much of a journalist’.

In most of the interviews, he claimed that he was on good terms with the other inmates. He was kept in a good cell where only four to five other inmates were present. One of them was from Shiv Sena, who allegedly got on good terms with him. Zubair claimed when he came to know about his bail, he hugged him and said, “Zubair Bhai aapki bail ho gai”. Zubair continued to claim that there were “tears of joy” in Shiv Sainik’s eyes.

In the Scroll interview, he said during his conversations with the cops, he found that people were “aware” of what was happening in the country, but it might not have reflected in their votes. “Most of them were Ravish Kumar’s fans”, he added. During this interview, he claimed to have stayed with former Chairman of Ranbaxy, Malvinder Mohan Singh and other inmates who were accused of multi-crore scams. He said, “Everyone there had done some multi-crore scam – and there I was among all of them for my tweets.”

It is noteworthy that to tone down the speculations about why his photographs were not in the public domain, most of the media houses that published interviews in his support had “exclusive” photographs different from each other for the cover photo.

Arvind Kejriwal begins temple run ahead of Gujarat elections: Here is a list of his anti-Hindu stances over the years

Dibakar Dutta
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Arvind Kejriwal begins temple run ahead of Gujarat elections: Here is a list of his anti-Hindu stances over the years

With an eye to turning around his political fortunes in the state of Gujarat, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal has begun his temple run to woo the state’s Hindu residents and get them to vote for the “Jhaadu” this time. 

On Tuesday (July 26), he visited the famous Somnath temple in Prabhas Patan near Veraval town of Gujarat. The Delhi Chief Minister offered prayers at the Hindu temple and later used the opportunity for media interaction and a photo session.

While playing on the ‘soft Hindutva’ card, the official Twitter handle of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) posted an image of Arvind Kejriwal wearing a ‘rudraksha’ garland. The party supremo was also seen with a vermillion paste on his forehead.

Screengrab of the Twitter post

In a bid to sway Hindu voters, AAP also uploaded a video of the Somnath temple on its official Twitter channel.

Interestingly, Arvind Kejriwal has been the frontrunner in downplaying atrocities committed against the Hindu community and mocking their religious beliefs.

From downplaying atrocities against Hindus to insulting Hindu symbols: A brief overview of Kejriwal’s chequered history

In March this year, Arvind Kejriwal mocked the genocide of Hindus during his address in the Delhi assembly under the pretext of criticising Vivek Agnihotri’s movie ‘The Kashmir Files.’

He had insinuated that the plot is not grounded in reality and that it is a “jhoothi” (fake) film.

The AAP supremo had earlier tried to rebrand himself as a ‘Hanuman bhakt’. At that time, netizens pointed out how he derided Hindu sentiments to make a political statement.

When leftists had attacked ABVP students over semester form at Jawaharlal Nehru University in January 2020, Kejriwal shared an objectionable cartoon. The graphic showed a belligerent Lord Hanuman setting the university campus on fire.

Ahead of the 2019 general elections, Kejriwal shared an image where a man with a broom was seen hitting the Swastika symbol. The seasoned politician shares the derogatory image, despite being well-aware of the sanctity of the symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

Screengrab of the tweet by Arvind Kejriwal

In August 2020, the official Twitter handle of AAP shared pictures of Kanchenjunga in Sikkim, Kamet Peak, and Nanda Devi hills in Uttarakhand and drew analogies with a humongous landfill at Ghazipur in Delhi.

The contentious tweet was accompanied by the caption, “Highest Mountains of India.”

Screengrab of the tweet

In 2018, the AAP supremo deliberately drew false equivalences between building universities and temples to suggest that the construction of the latter would undermine development in the country.

“I was thinking what would have happened if Jawaharlal Nehru built temples instead of the Steel Authority of India? Would India have developed after Independence?” he said during a public address, mocking the construction of Ram Mandir.

Even in 2014, he tried to trick Hindus into guilty for supposedly demanding the construction of Ram Mandir atop the debris of a mosque.

Despite being at the helm of mocking Hindu sentiments, Arvind Kejriwal harps on ‘soft Hindutva’ prior to elections in Hindu majority States. His latest visit to the Somnath temple is part of the same ploy to win the hearts of Hindu voters, ahead of the Gujarat Vidhan Sabha polls.

Haryana: Tabbir, Arshad, and Abbas arrested in the brutal DSP murder case, 9 out of 12 accused arrested so far

OpIndia Staff
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Haryana: Tabbir, Arshad, and Abbas arrested in the brutal DSP murder case, 9 out of 12 accused arrested so far

The Nuh police have detained three additional people in connection with the recent murder of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Surender Singh in Haryana. The accused have been identified as Tabbir (alias Baira), Arshad, and Abbas.

Varun Singhla, Superintendent of the Police, while talking to the media persons said that Baira was arrested on July 24 while Arshad and Abbas were arrested on July 25. Arshad is the son of the owner of the dumper truck which mowed the DSP to death whereas Abbas is a labourer by profession.

According to the reports, the police had earlier arrested three accused named Bhuru (alias Taufiq) and Asru (alias Assaruddin) of Pachgaon village, and Lambu (alias Isuf) of Gandwa village of Rajasthan’s Alwar district. The three were arrested by the Police last week and were held in police detention for two days. Later they were brought before a Nuh court on Saturday.

So far, the police have detained nine people in connection with the case. “There are a total of 12 accused in the case and so far 9 have been detained. The other three will be arrested soon and the case will proceed further as per the Court’s direction”, Singhla added.

Haryana DSP Surendra Singh Bishnoi was run over by the mining mafia and killed in Panchaon near Nuh in the Mewat region of Haryana on July 19. After the murder, 8 police teams were constituted to nab the culprits, including the CIA teams from the neighbouring districts. During their search operation, they ran into one of the accused Iqrar, and it led to an encounter with him.

As per the police, several rounds were fired during the encounter with Iqrar and he was eventually arrested after having been injured during the encounter. A senior police officer said Iqrar had bipolar disorder and that he was involved in some other criminal activities as well.

On July 19, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar announced that one of the family members of the deceased would be provided with a job and compensation of Rs 1 crore. He also said that strict action will be taken against all the accused. So far, nine people including Iqrar, Tabbir, Arshad, Abbas, Baira, Assaruddin, Isuf, Shabbir, and Taufiq have been arrested by the Police and charged under different sections of the IPC. Investigations are underway to nab three more accused out of a total of 12.

On the 2nd day of ED’s questioning in National Herald case, Sonia Gandhi’s Congress workers set things on fire, again

OpIndia Staff
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On the 2nd day of ED’s questioning in National Herald case, Sonia Gandhi’s Congress workers set things on fire, again

On July 26, Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi was called by Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning for the second time in the ongoing investigation in the National Herald case. Congress workers and leaders across the country held protests against the central government, claiming they were using central investigation agencies to scare the opposition leaders.

Just like the first hearing that took place on July 21, the Congress workers protested against the central government and set things on fire. In Nagpur, Congress workers set a car on fire. News Agency ANI published photographs of a burnt car and said, “Congress party workers, in Nagpur, protest against the questioning of the party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi by the ED.”

In Odisha, members of the Pradesh Mahila Congress burnt an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and “proudly” published the video on its official Twitter handle. They wrote, “Odisha Pradesh Mahila Congress members burn the effigy of PM Modi against BJP’s misuse of Central Agencies against Congress President, Smt. Sonia Gandhi Ji and the subsequent arrest of Shri Rahul Gandhi Ji.” Rahul Gandhi hasn’t been arrested in this case yet, but maybe Odisha Congress had a premonition.

Similar visuals surfaced from Haryana, where Pradesh Mahila Congress members burnt an effigy. They wrote, “As per the instructions of State President Udai Bhan and National President Netta D’Souza, HPMC President Sudha Bharadwaj along with women Congress members protested against undemocratic behaviour of BJP and burnt an effigy.” They did not mention whose effigy they burnt.

Congress workers burnt vehicles during the last questioning session of Sonia Gandhi

On July 21, it was reported that Congress workers had indulged in similar behaviour when Congress leader Sonia Gandhi was at the ED office. According to the reports, the Congress workers in Telangana torched a two-wheeler while the youth Congress workers set two cars on fire in front of the ED office at Shantinagar in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The police issued a notice and increased patrol after two parked vehicles were set ablaze in separate instances. One car was torched in front of the ED office, and the other one was set on fire in Seshadripuram.

When Rahul Gandhi was called by Enforcement Directorate, Congress workers had similarly turned violent and sparked mayhem throughout Delhi. They burnt tyres outside ED’s office as well.

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