Karnataka man Harish Bangera is set to be released from Saudi Prison where he has been lamenting since December 2019 after being arrested over blasphemy charges. As per reports, Sathish Kumar Bajal, President of Mangaluru Association Saudi Arabia (MASA) said that he will soon be coming back home. His tickets have been paid for and he will hopefully return soon.
Two persons from Moodbidri have been arrested in October 2020 for impersonating a Mangaluru-based native, Harish Bangera and posting derogatory and blasphemous content on Facebook.
According to the reports, two brothers from Moodabidri – Abdul Huyez and Abdul Thuyez had created a fake account on Facebook in the name of Harish Bangera to posted derogatory comments on the Saudi Crown Prince and Mecca, the holy site of Muslims across the world. Bangera was arrested by Saudi Arabia police in December 2019 over the content.
Harish Bangera, who hails from Kundapur, worked as an AC technician in Damman, Saudi Arabia. On December 21, a series of Facebook posts were uploaded allegedly from his purported Facebook account abusing and mocking Islam and Saudi Arabia Crown Prince. One such post was a picture of Kaaba in Mecca with the caption, “Next Ram Temple in Mecca. Be ready for fight”.
Image S
Here is another image posted from Harish Bangera’s Facebook profile.
Image Source: Kuwait Local
Soon, the post went viral, eliciting a strong response, which also came to the notice of the Saudi authorities after a complaint was registered against Harish accusing him of blasphemy. The Saudi police arrested him within an hour of receiving the complaint. After Harish was arrested, his employers had also removed him from the job with immediate effect.
However, Harish’s wife had filed a complaint at an Udupi police station after Harish had pled innocence and alleged conspiracy against him.
Upon the investigation, the police found out that the two brothers Abdul Huyez and Abdul Thuyez, created a fake account on December 19, 2019, and two days later, they uploaded the blasphemous post in the name of Bangera, leading to his arrest. The police traced the phone that was used to create the fake Facebook account. The phone belonged to Abdul Thuyez, who was taken to custody along with his brother.
The police hadnow registered a case against the two accused of impersonating Harish Bangera. The police also translated and presented the charge sheet to the Saudi authorities through the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian embassy in Saudi to obtain a release order for Harish Bangera.
On Saturday (July 17) night, the Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav shared a disturbing image in which it appeared that an Uttar Pradesh police officer was assaulting a woman. He claimed that the police officer was misbehaving.
In a tweet, the SP leader claimed, “Some police officials, who are working on the behest of the BJP, are tarnishing the image of the Uttar Pradesh police. Under the rule of the BJP, there is no dearth of lawlessness. Highly condemnable.”
उप्र में भाजपा सरकार के कृपापात्र बने कुछ पुलिसकर्मियों के दुर्व्यवहार से प्रदेश की समस्त पुलिस की छवि धूमिल होती है.
Akhilesh Yadav’s tweet was accompanied by a picture, which gave the impression that a cop was sitting atop a woman and assaulting her. Yadav tried to portray the ruling BJP dispensation in poor light through his tweet, ahead of the 2022 UP State Legislative polls.
The archived version of his contentious tweet can be accessed here. Several videos have now surfaced online, which showcases the misleading nature of the caption and imagery used by Akhilesh Yadav. A Twitter user (@isinghDeepanshu) had tweeted an 8-second video of the incident, which shows the woman pulling the police officer by his neck and not the other way around. A similar video was also shared by the Official Twitter handle of Kanpur Dehat police.
In another video, the woman was seen trying to strip off her blouse in a bid to implicate the police official. A man was also seen provoking the cop, while he stood his ground in a non-aggressive manner. From the videos, it appeared that the police officer was the victim and not the aggressor as claimed by the Samajwadi party leader.
— माटी का लाल …काफिर #3ह ???? (@matikalal) July 17, 2021
In a statement released by the Kanpur Dehat police, it informed, “The Station-in-charge went to the village to capture an accused in a case. At that time, another man misbehaved with the police official, thereby leading to his arrest. Meanwhile, the relatives of the man including several women began to intervene and resist arrest. One of the women held the Station-in-charge by his collar and pulled him to the ground.”
Screengrab of the police statement
“Attempts are being made to impart a different colour to the incident by sharing screenshots of the viral video. The woman had alleged misdemeanour and assault by the Station-in-charge. To ensure a free and fair investigation, the Station-in-charge has been suspended with immediate effect and the matter is now probed by the District-in-charge,” the police added in its statement.
थाना भोगनीपुर-चौकी इंचार्ज पुखरायां से सम्बन्धित वायरल फोटो के सम्वन्ध में पुलिस अधीक्षक कानपुर देहात द्वारा दी गई बाइट। @Uppolicepic.twitter.com/QGV2HiEoNN
— Kanpur Dehat Police (@kanpurdehatpol) July 17, 2021
Furthermore, in a video statement, the Bhognipur police added, “The onlookers made several attempts to separate the woman from the Station-in-charge. As evident from the video, he immediately got up and moved away when he was able to free himself from her clutches.” It emphasised that the facts of the case will further determine the course of action in the case.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav casts aspersions about UP Police
This is not the first time that the Samajwadi Party leader had cast aspersions on the integrity of the Uttar Pradesh police. On Monday (July 12), he took up the cudgel for the two arrested Al-Qaeda terrorists, raised aspersions and fuelled misapprehensions about the Yogi government’s anti-terror crackdown. The terrorists were reportedly planning to execute explosions, including using “human bombs”, at several places in Uttar Pradesh. When asked about his reaction on the latest arrests, the SP supremo said, “I can’t trust the actions of the Uttar Pradesh police and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in the state.”
The Enforcement Directorate said that the investigation into the money laundering case against media portal ‘Newsclick’ has revealed that the promoters of the media outlet received nearly Rs 38 crores from entities which may be associated with the Communist Party of China, reports Times of India.
According to the reports, an officer probing the money laundering case revealed to the Times of India that Newsclick had financial dealings with a Sri Lankan-Cuban based businessman named Neville Roy Singham, who allegedly funnelled Rs 38 crore to PPK Newsclick Studio Pvt Ltd between 2018 and 2021 from abroad.
The officials, who have traced the money flow of the media outlet, said that Singham is associated with the propaganda arm of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
The ED officials also reportedly said that the investigation had established that part of the money Newsclick allegedly received from foreign sources, which was then routed to Gautam Navlakha, one of the accused in the Elgar Parishad case. The ED had recently interrogated Navlakha in jail for his links with Newsclick’s founder and editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha.
In February 2021, the Enforcement Directorate had raided premises and the residences of several officials and journalists associated with NewsClick, a news media portal is most famously known for peddling fake stories. The officials had also raided NewsClick founder and Editor-in-Chief Prabir Purkayastha in connection with a money laundering case pertaining to foreign funding.
Earlier, OpIndia had published a detailed report on foreign funding received by NewsClick and its links with Gautam Navlakha. It was revealed that both Purkayastha and Navlakha were directors of a company called Startacus Software Private Limited. The ED had alleged that funds Purkayastha received for opening a company with Navlakha. Gautam Navlakha was an ‘Independent Partner” of PPK Newsclick Studio LLP.
Most money received from China shows as “export of business”: ED
The anti-money laundering agency said their investigations had shown the media portal received funds from entities named “Justice and Education Fund Inc, US; GSPAN LLC, US; Tricontinental Ltd Inc, USA — all located at the same address — and Centro Popular Demidas, Brazil. The agency said that their search at the places linked to shareholders of PPK Newsclick in February this year had shed light on regular exchanges of emails in connection with the Communist Party of China (CPC).
Image Source: @Alok_Bhatt on Twitter
The ED had also established that Newsclick had received foreign funding of Rs 9.59 crore from a defunct company called Worldwide Media Holdings LLC, Delaware, in April 2018, and another of Rs 20.92 crore later, which has been shown as receipts for “export of services”.
In April 2018, the newly formed company issued shares of face value Rs 10/share at a premium of Rs 11,510/share to Worldwide Media Holidays LLC, registered in Delaware, USA. It is believed that the premium price on share was artificially enhanced to transfer as FDI.
Image Source: Alok Bhat
Purkayastha, however, defended the same by claiming that it was ‘fair assessment’ of the company and that the valuation was conducted professionally.
TOI further reports that as per the ED sources, the funds were paid to Newsclick to carry out “specific jobs” to spruce up China’s role in Africa, where it is being accused of high-handedness and predatory capitalism. The ED said they are also investigating payments of large sums to journalists for any irregularities.
The Enforcement Directorate also said that most of the money received by the far-left portal was shown as proceeds from “export of services”. However, Purkayastha has denied the allegations about Singham being a front for CPC and his outlet’s links with the Chinese regime. Instead, Purkayastha claimed that Singham is an American citizen who launched and ran a software company in the US before selling it for around $700-800 million.
“All our funds are from legitimate sources and well-known foundations in the US as per RBI guidelines,” Purkayastha said.
Over and above this, the agency is also probing huge amount of payment made to journalists for any irregularities. Purkayastha has also been asked about payment of money to Bappaditya Sinha, a CPM member who maintains and runs Twitter accounts of some party leaders. Purkayastha acknowledged links of Newsclick with Sinha but claimed that he was paid for usage of his software and that ‘there is nothing wrong in it’.
China financed money to Newsclick to create a media narrative in favour of Beijing’s interest in India
Besides ED, other investigative agencies are also probing the Chinese links in the case, specifically into the funding by the CPC to build a ‘media narrative’ in India that suits China’s interests. These agencies are looking to find Singham’s links with a senior politician.
During the interrogation, the ED had asked Purkayastha to provide details of services exported by his company, for which it had received about Rs 28.5 crore between 2018 and 2021. The ED had also asked him to explain how Newsclick received money running into crores from dubious foreign sources within a few months of the launch of the company.
The agency had come across one payment of Rs 1.55 crore made to a ninth-class pass electrician by Newclick, who was hired for maintenance at his office. Purkayastha has been asked to provide information on the “nature of work” the latter executed.
Meanwhile, Purkayastha has claimed that the government has sent income tax, the economic offences wing of the Delhi Police and the ED behind them because they are not pro-government. “All of them have the same set of questions regarding the source of our funds and people associated with us,” he claimed.
“If they have anything against us, let them file all these facts in the charge sheet before the court. We are ready to face trial and respond to all those charges,” said the Newsclick founder.
Fearing arrest, Newsclick’s editor-in-chief had approached the Delhi high court seeking anticipatory bail. The High Court has provided him protection till July 29, when the case is listed for hearing.
An FIR has been filed against an unknown person for impersonating film director Rajkumar Hirani’s son and approaching aspiring actors to cast them for an upcoming film.
According to the reports, the fraudster had apparently created an Instagram account in the name of Rajkumar Hirani’s son and advertised for an audition call for a forthcoming project. The fake post advertised that there was an urgent requirement for male and female actors between the age of 18 and 25. The advertisement was for lead roles and negative roles for an upcoming film, which said that even freshers can apply. The advertisement also promised Rs. 20 crore to the selected candidate. Reportedly, the fake casting director was asking for a fee from the aspirants.
A complaint was filed by the film director’s office after it received inquiries about the authenticity of the audition calls posted on Instagram. The complaint was registered with Andheri Police in Mumbai.
Earlier this month, Hirani’s office received an email asking them about casting calls made by his son Kabir for a movie titled ‘3 Teenage’. Hirani’s office was shocked at the email as they were not working on any such project and had not given any casting calls either.
The aspiring actor who wrote an email to Hirani’s office said that the imposter had used Kabir’s name to make casting calls for actors required for the project and had asked them to contact the production house. In the advertisement put out on Instagram, the fraudster had also tagged the filmmaker’s account. The production house approached the police after another aspiring actor contacted them making similar enquiries.
“A case has been registered under relevant sections of the Information Technology Act and investigation is underway. We are trying to ascertain if the accused fraudster has duped any aspiring actor using this modus operandi,” Vijay Belge, a senior police officer at Andheri Police station said.
The police are now investigating and trying to identify the identity of the accused, who had used the production house’s email ID, address and impersonated them to mislead people and cause a commotion in the filmmaker’s name
Earlier yesterday, Reuters photojournalist Danish Siddiqui, who shot to fame with his morbid images of burning funeral pyres in India, was killed while covering a clash between Afghan security forces and Taliban terrorists near a border crossing with Pakistan in Spin Boldak. He was embedded with the Afghan armed forces, which is rapidly losing ground to the Talibs.
His death sparked massive outrage online, with several notable personalities expressing shock and disbelief at the reports that said Danish had died during a Taliban attack in Afghanistan. Soon enough, condemnations flowed followed by obituaries and mourning for the slain journalist.
Subsequently, Danish’s collection of work was also shared extensively online. Besides pictures clicked by him, social media websites were also rife with a video of him from a TED talk where he spoke about documenting conflict beyond borders.
In the video, Danish narrates the various strife-torn regions he had visited and shares pictures from those places with the audience. One of the places that Danish mentioned he covered was Jammu and Kashmir, in the aftermath of the abrogation of Article 370, when the Indian government stripped the state of its separate status and paved the way for its greater unification with the union of India.
Listen this video of DanishSiddiqui- He was an apologist for stone pelters and violent protesters and terrorists. Many defence forces and civilian were killed and injured in terrorist attacks but he didnt show a single photo of those attacks. pic.twitter.com/LtghS6s4vu
However, while talking about the pictures he had clicked in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370, Siddiqui offered a lopsided view of the conflict, painting the Indian Armed Forces as an oppressive force and defending the violent protesters and terrorists as innocent residents, who he claimed were unwarrantedly targeted by the military troops.
Here’s the entire video of his TED Talk, which was uploaded on YouTube in June 2020:-
Source: YouTube
Speaking on the invalidation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, Siddiqui described the abrogation as some sort of cruel act against the people of the state. He shared pictures of injured people, who in all probability could be violent protesters and possibly rabble-rousers, to insinuate that the decision to hollow out Article 370 had touched off a grave humanitarian crisis in Jammu and Kashmir.
One of the pictures shared by Siddiqui was that of an X-ray of a boy’s skull. The Reuters journalist said the boy had suffered pellet injuries on his head from the attack by the Indian Armed Forces. He further added that the boy had received initial treatment in a hospital and was itching to leave the hospital for the fear of being arrested by the Indian Armed forces.
Danish Siddiqui dehumanises Indian Armed Forces and provides a lopsided view of Kashmir conflict
While Siddiqui talked about the military action faced by protesters in Kashmir, he did not elaborate on the challenges faced by the personnel of the Indian Armed Forces deployed in the state. A raft of Indian Armed Forces has sustained injuries from the stone pelting that the protesters in Kashmir habitually indulged in. They have also been subjected to fatal attacks, most notably the Pulwama attack, when a Kashmiri terrorist rammed a vehicle laden with explosives to a CRPF convoy, killing 40 soldiers. Besides, women and the elderly have also been at the receiving end of the violent protests that demonstrators routinely undertook in Kashmir, long before the annulment of Article 370.
Yet, Siddiqui conveniently glossed over the grim details of violence and hostility directed towards the Indian Armed Forces and peaceful residents by the violent protesters in Jammu and Kashmir. Instead, he reported only the one-sided view of the conflict, shielding the violent protesters and terrorists that plunged the state into chaos and posed a risk to the national security of the country. In his attempt to evoke sympathy for the violent protesters and Islamists, Siddiqui ended up dehumanising the Indian Armed Forces, as if the challenges and difficulties faced by them in Jammu and Kashmir were not serious enough to warrant a mention or be captured in his photographs.
By offering a prejudicial view of the conflict, Siddiqui acted as an apologist for Islamic terrorism, which eventually claimed his life as frenzied Taliban fighters, intoxicated by the Islamist supremacist belief, killed him when he was covering the conflict in Afghanistan.
Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, judge in the Supreme Court of India, today gave the example of ‘climate activist’ Greta Thunberg to say that age is no bar in bringing change. Claiming that the teen activist has brought change to the world, he said that nobody is too young to effectuate Big Change.
Justice DY Chandrachud said that Greta Thunberg had begun her journey as a lone 15 years old outside the Swedish parliament. Glorifying the activism of the far-left activist, the Supreme Court Justice said that just like nobody is too young to bring change, nobody is too old also bring change.
Justice Chandrachud: @GretaThunberg began her journey as a lone 15 years old outside the Swedish parliament. Her example shows us that no body is too young to effectuate Big Change. You are never too old to be the change either.
He also said that Constitutional provisions seek to protect individuals from hegemonic power structures, regardless of where they come from. Justice DY Chandrachud made the comments while delivering a speech at the 101st Birth Anniversary Celebration of Hon’ble Justice Y.V.Chandrachud, his father. Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud was the 16th Chief Justice of India, and had served the longest term as the CJI, from 1978 to 1985.
The comments by the Justice DY Chandrachud praising Greta Thunberg comes at a time when Indian ‘climate activist’ Disha Ravi is facing prosecution in the Greta Toolkit case. The toolkit refers to a set of documents containing details of planned protests supporting the ongoing farmer protests, which were inadvertently published by Greta.
The Greta Toolkit had revealed that international celebrities like Greta and Rihanna were behind the protests against the three new farm laws enacted by the Indian government. The toolkit had revealed that it was not an organic wave of support but well-planned propaganda against the Indian government.
The document shared by Greta Thunberg listed a series of actions that people across the world could take to support the ‘farmer protests’ and also listed actions that had been undertaken. The document also made it clear that the global attempts to incite unrest in India had begun prior to the Republic Day riots.
The documents also contained tweets that could be posted to build pressure against the Indian Government. And many of these tweets were posted by a large number of people, with the recommended hashtags. Greta had later deleted the tweet containing the toolkit, but it was too late as the anti-India propaganda was already revealed.
Even as states across the country are formulating and implementing laws to curb the menace of religious conversions, a raft of people belonging to the Mahadalit community have abandoned their faith and converted to Christianity in Gaya district’s Belwadih village under Naili Panchayat, Bihar. Reports claim the rampant conversions are being carried out under the pretext of curing maladies.
While the residents claim that the conversion is not being forced upon them and happening out of their free will, some locals allege superstitious beliefs are responsible for the conversion of people into Christianity.
Raju Manjhi, one of the villagers said the situation was absolutely normal until the people of his community started visiting the adjoining Wajidpur village for offering prayers. Manjhi says the people who went to Wajidpur have adopted the Christian religion.
“The conversion of Mahadalits (Hindu) to Christianity began from one Kewla Devi, whose son was ill for a long time and was unable to recover from his illness. Someone suggested that she take the help of Christian people for his treatment. Kewla Devi contacted them for her child’s treatment. Soon after, her son recovered from his illness,” Manjhi said while talking about the spate of conversions happening in the area.
Manjhi said soon after Kewla and her family converted to Christianity, there were others in the village who followed the suit and baptised themselves into Christianity.
Another villager said the conversions are happening because Casteism is still prevalent in the region. He said they are proscribed from visiting temples located in adjoining villages. However, the veracity of his claims cannot be independently verified.
“Segregation of society based on one’s caste does not exist in Christianity. A Church is a place where anyone can go and worship God,” the villager argued.
He further added that about 100 people in the village have embraced Christianity and soon, many others will do the same. “Adopting the Christian religion is our own decision. No one has forced or lured us for the same,” he said.
Some women say that before conversion, children used to disappear or fall off rooftops. But such incidents have stopped since they converted to Christianity.
‘Poet’ Munawwar Rana has said that he will leave Uttar Pradesh if Mahant Yogi Adityanath is reelected the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. However, terms and conditions apply. According to Munawwar Rana has said that he will leave the state if Yogi Adityanath is reelected Chief Minister with ‘help’ from AIMIM supremo Asaduddin Owaisi.
— UttarPradesh.ORG News (@WeUttarPradesh) July 17, 2021
Rana said that the AIMIM and the BJP engages in mock battles in public so that the electorate can be polarised, which benefits the BJP. According to him, if Muslims in Uttar Pradesh have even a little bit of wisdom, then they will not vote for AIMIM. He said that if Muslims vote for AIMIM, then BJP will win the elections and Yogi Adityanath will be reelected Chief Minister.
Munawwar Rana also questioned the ATS operation in the state where members of an Al Qaeda affiliated group were arrested. He claimed the accused were so poor and an ‘ordinary pressure cooker’ was being presented as a bomb. He said that he often visits Pakistan and someday, he will buy a pressure cooker and he may be consequently accused of being associated with the Taliban and arrested for being a terrorist.
Rana also claimed that Muslims have 8 babies because they are scared 2 of their children will be branded terrorists and executed. He had also said that 2 will be executed due to terrorism charges, one will due to Covid-19, so at least one kid should be there for burial. He made the comments while speaking about a possible population control law.
Earlier in the day, we had reported that Rana’s daughter Uroosa Rana accused Uttar Pradesh Congress party chief Ajay Kumar Lallu of misbehaving with her when she went to meet Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at Lucknow.
At a time when the Taliban has made significant gains in Afghanistan with the help of Pakistan, the daughter of the Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan was abducted yesterday. In a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan, the Afghan government informed that Silsila Alikhil, the daughter of Afghan ambassador in Pakistan Najibullah Alikhil, was abducted on 16th July in Islamabad, and she was released after several hours.
The Afghan statement said that Silsila Alikhil was tortured while in captivity. She was abducted by several unknown individuals on her way home on Friday.
The statement added, “The MoFA strongly condemns this heinous act and expresses its deep concern over the safety and security of diplomats, their families, and staff members of the Afghan political and consular missions in Pakistan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls on the Government of Pakistan to take immediate necessary actions to ensure full security of the Afghan Embassy and Consulates as well as the immunity of the country’s diplomats and their families in accordance with international treaties and conventions. While the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs is following the matter with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, we urge the Pakistani government to identify and prosecute the perpetrators at the soonest possible time.”
In the meantime, some media houses in Pakistan have released additional details about the significant incident. After her release, she was examined at a hospital, which confirmed that she was tortured while in captivity. The medical report says that Najibullah Alikhel’s daughter was abducted yesterday afternoon at around 1:45 PM and she was recovered at around 7 PM on the same day, five hours after she had gone missing.
Reportedly, she was abducted from Jinnah Super in Islamabad, and after the torture in some unknown location, she was released near Tehzeeb Bakery, Blue Area, Islamabad.
According to the medical examination report, Silsila Alikhil had pain and swelling at wrist joints and hands, there were mars of ropes on the wrist joints. She also had similar pain and rope marks on her legs and ankle joints. The woman also had swelling around her eyes, she was vomiting, and was bleeding from the ENT region.
The abduction of the top Afghan diplomate’s daughter in Pakistan marks another low in the rapidly deteriorating Pakistan-Afghanistan relationships. Following the Taliban’s capture of a crucial border crossing with Pakistan, Afghanistan’s vice president had said that Pakistan Air Force had warned Afghan forces not to retaliate against the Taliban. The PAF had said that if Afghan armed forces attempted to recover territories from the Taliban, they will have to face the Pakistan Air Force.
Yesterday, the Afghan president Ashraf Ghani and Pakistani PM Imran Khan had exchanged verbal barbs at the international conference on “Central and South Asia Regional Connectivity: Challenges and Opportunities” in Tashkent in Uzbekistan. Ghani had said that Pakistan is playing a negative role in the current situation in Afghanistan. He had slammed the Pakistani govt for not severing ties with terror groups, and had said that according to intelligence reports over 10,000 jihadi fighters had entered Afghanistan in the last month. He had also said that Imran Khan government had failed to convince the Taliban to negotiate seriously in the ongoing peace talks.
However, Imran Khan had refuted the allegations, saying that the last thing Pakistan wants is more conflict, as the country has suffered 70,000 casualties in the last 15 years. He added that Pakistan can no more convince the Taliban for talks, as they are no longer willing to compromise after the United States gave a date for the withdrawal of troops. He said that the Afghan govt should have asked the Taliban to come to talks when there were 150,000 NATO troops in the country. When the foreign troops are leaving, why Taliban will listen to Pakistan as they are sensing victory, Imran Khan had said.
Note: Earlier version of the report including an image of a woman wrongly identified as Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan’s daughter. The error is regretted.
Salman Khan starrer ‘Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai’ has failed to earn even Rs. 3 lakhs in a total of six weeks. At the end of six weeks since its release, Radhe fell well short of Rs. 3 lakhs. Bollywood Hungama reported that the movie had managed to earn only Rs. 2,68,691.
Bollywood Hungama was told by a trade expert, “Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai collected around Rs. 1,232 on Monday, Rs. 25,216 on Tuesday, Rs. 25,321 on Wednesday and Rs. 31,972 on Thursday. These are approximate figures.”
The movie’s earnings were boosted by its release in the iconic Raj Mandir single screen theater in Jaipur, Rajasthan. The media portal was told by an ‘industry insider’, “Raj Mandir is a one-of-its-kind theatre. Viewers love watching films here for the unique experience that it offers. It’s a massive cinema hall having a seating capacity of nearly 1100. If you compare the collections of Radhe – Your Most Wanted Bhai to pre-Covid era days, then it’s poor. But let’s not forget that Radhe – Your Most Wanted Bhai’s sixth week is going on. It has been trolled like anything and is easily available on the internet. Yet, to see 150 to 200 people spending around Rs. 110 or Rs 150 or even Rs. 300 per ticket in these Covid times at Raj Mandir to see the film speaks volumes. It also makes it clear that it needs to be released at the correct theatre and then it can do well.”
The film industry has been hit severely due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as a consequence of which multiplexes and theaters in most cities are still closed. Moreover, Radhe has released on the OTT platform Zee5 where it did not receive very good reviews.
Salman Khan sends defamation notice to self-styled critic KRK for criticising his movie Radhe—Your Most Wanted Bhai
On May 13, KRK had reviewed Salman Khan’s latest release, Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai, where he kept referring to Salman Khan as ‘Daadu’ (grandfather).
KRK had said that in action scenes it was quite evident that some of the scenes were done by Salman Khan’s ‘duplicate’ (body double). He said that people on set would have noticed the difference between the two but they must be too afraid (of Salman Khan) to point it out. “Because if they would have said, Daadu would’ve asked him not to come to sets anymore,” he said.
He further refers to the lead heroine and love interest, Disha Patani, as Salman Khan’s granddaughter. “Disha is a model and when Sallu Daadu meets her for the first time, he tells her that he also wants to become a model. That means, Sallu Daadu’s age is about 20-22 and Disha starts calling him ‘Bholu cute boy’. After this, in the rest of the movie, she keeps calling him ‘Bholu cute boy’. After this, Sallu Daadu also removes his shirt in one scene. And VFX team has done a great job. They have put up his 25-year-old on this face,” he says in the review.
