Home Blog Page 4096

Aspiring model-actor Nandita Dutta and her associate arrested in Kolkata in connection with porn racket

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Aspiring model-actor Nandita Dutta and her associate arrested in Kolkata in connection with porn racket

Nandita Dutta, a model-cum-actor from adult OTT content, and her associate Mainak Ghosh have been arrested in Kolkata for allegedly forcing young models into pornography either by luring them with a ‘break’ in OTT platforms or by threatening them.

The 30-year-old actress known as ‘Nancy Bhabhi’ in her semi-porn content was arrested from her home in Dum Dum. Her associate, Mainak Ghosh, was nabbed from his residence in Naktala. The duo was arrested after a complaint was filed against them by two young models at New Town police on July 26.

One of the complainants alleged that she was hustled into shooting a nude scene at Ballygunge studio and her friend was coerced into shooting in an adult video at a New Town hotel by the same group.

The arrest came on the heels of a porn racket busted by the Bidhannagar police in the New Town and Salt Lake area. The police arrested a photographer and a make-up artist in a separate but similar complaint last week.

As per the preliminary investigation by the police, the groups entrap women from lower-middle-class families struggling for work with quick money or threatening them with dire consequences and making false promises of providing a break.

The police is also investigating whether these porn rackets have a link to the Raj Kundra pornography case. They were produced before a Barasat court and were sent to police custody for a week.

“We are going to interrogate them for their accomplices and also to know other places where they conducted the shoots. We will also question them whether they used to sell videos and if they were a part of a larger porn racket,” said a senior officer of the Bidhannagar Commissionerate.

According to TOI, Nandita Dutta and Ghosh have been charged under IPC sections 354B (assaults or uses criminal force to any woman or abets such act with the intention of disrobing or compelling her to be naked), 354C (voyeurism), 500 (defamation), 509 (molestation), 370 (buying or disposing of any person as a slave), 417 (cheating) and 469 (forgery).

Arrest of Raj Kundra in pornography case

On July 19, actor Shilpa Shetty’s husband, Raj Kundra, was arrested by Mumbai Police for his alleged role in creating and publishing pornographic films on mobile application HotShot.

Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale had said, “Businessman Raj Kundra has been arrested by the Crime Branch in a case relating to the creation of pornographic films and publishing them through some apps. We have arrested Raj Kundra in this case on July 19, 2021, as he appears to be the key conspirator of this. We have sufficient evidence regarding this. The investigation is in progress.”

‘Won’t allow entry in India for cricket related work’: Herschelle Gibbs claims BCCI trying to prevent him from playing in Kashmir Premier League

OpIndia Staff
-
0
‘Won’t allow entry in India for cricket related work’: Herschelle Gibbs claims BCCI trying to prevent him from playing in Kashmir Premier League

Herschelle Gibbs, former cricketer of the South Africa cricket team, has claimed that the BCCI is trying to prevent him from participating in the Kashmir Premier League. According to him, the BCCI has threatened him that he will not be permitted to enter India for any cricket related work in the future should he decide to participate in the cricket league in Pakistan.

Source: Twitter

The Kashmir Premier League was conceived by Pakistani politician Shehryar Khan Afridi. It will have six teams, Overseas Warriors, Muzaffarabad Tigers, Rawalakot Hawks, Bagh Stallions, Mirpur Royals and Kotli Lions. The teams will have five players from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir each. The matches are to be played in Muzaffarabad Cricket Stadium.

Earlier, Rashid Latif, former Pakistani cricketer, had made similar allegations. He said on Friday that the BCCI had warned that if former cricketers participate in the cricket league in Pakistan, then they will not be permitted to work in India in any capacity.

Source: Twitter

The allegations of Herschelle Gibbs, however, has drawn praise for the BCCI from unexpected quarters. Priyanka Chaturvedi of the Shiv Sena thanked BCCI for its decision.

Others have also praised the board for its decision.

It remains to be seen how the situation evolves. The BCCI is yet to comment on the matter.

Thailand bans distribution of ‘fake news’ undermining its handling of Covid-19 pandemic, Thai media protests, says it curbs ‘media freedom’

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Thailand bans distribution of ‘fake news’ undermining its handling of Covid-19 pandemic, Thai media protests, says it curbs ‘media freedom’

The government of Thailand has ordered a blanket ban on the distribution of “fake news” or information causing public fear across all media platforms. The announcement, signed by the Prime Minister of Thailand and published in the Royal Gazette on July 30 (Friday). It was issued in compliance with Section 9 of the emergency decree.

PM Prayut Chan-o-cha, while announcing the “emergency” decree, said the measure is intended to make sure false content spread online doesn’t undermine the government’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Under the order, which was made official in the Royal Gazette, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission (NBTC) is required to instruct Internet service providers (ISPs) to check IP addresses and immediately suspend services of any such media houses that spread “false or distorted” news causing panic, misunderstanding or confusion “affecting state security, abusing the rights of others, and order or good morality of the people”.

The ISPs must report the details of their findings to the NBTC. The ISPs who fail to comply with the order will be considered to have failed to follow the requirements of their operating licenses, leading to their operating licences being revoked, read the order.

According to local media outlet Thaiger, the government has extended the decree until the end of September. This was the 13th time the decree has been extended since its introduction in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic, reports Thaiger.

Media outlets in Thailand protest against government’s ban on those spreading ‘fake news’

Meanwhile, six Thai media outlets have come out against the orders calling it an infringement on freedom of expression. These media outlets had released a joint statement on July 15, in which they voiced concern about the restrictions.

According to Thai PBS World, the media outlets have acknowledged that news reports by some organisations have been erroneous, but they insist that this was not done on purpose and that no news was produced deliberately, as the government believes. They said they will continue to battle for freedom of expression until the administration realises that restricting such freedoms could lead to its ultimate downfall.

The PM, meanwhile, has responded to the media statement by ordering authorities to enforce the restrictions against all media outlets, websites, and media personalities who continue to spread “fake news”. 

Thailand govt faces criticism for the handling of the Covid pandemic, PM says all is well

Meanwhile, with 17,669 new cases and 165 deaths, Thailand reportedly recorded its highest number of cases and Covid -19 related deaths since the pandemic began in early 2020 on July 29 (Thursday). In all, Thailand has recorded a total of 561,030 cases and 4,562 deaths.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s government is facing harsh criticism over its handling of the virus surge and slow vaccination program, amid reports of people dying in the streets or in their homes while waiting for treatment.

The Prime Minister, has, however, claimed that his country is doing well as compared to other nations that are dealing with higher caseloads. In a special interview held at the Government House on July 29 (Thursday), he said: “If we contemplate the transmission in our country, it may seem shocking, given the daily fatalities. I want you to try paying attention to these numbers in our neighbouring countries and others for a change.”

Maintaining that his government is handling the pandemic well, PM Prayuth Chan-o-cha added: “At present, every country in the world has more or less felt the impact. There are many top-ranking countries, as you can see, whose numbers are many times higher than ours.”

The health ministry of Thailand on July 11, 2021 (Sunday) informed that as many as 618 healthcare workers have contracted Covid despite receiving two doses of the China-made Sinovac vaccine. It is being reported that a nurse has died and another medical worker is in critical condition. The nation’s health ministry is weighing using a third booster dose to the 677,348 medical personnel, who received the Chinese vaccine. 

Punjab: Congress government-appointed committee recommends free legal aid and compensation for Republic Day riots accused

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Punjab: Congress government-appointed committee recommends free legal aid and compensation for Republic Day riots accused

Nearly six months after protestors ran amok on the streets of the national capital culminating in the Republic Day riots, the Congress-led house panel of the Punjab legislative assembly has asked the Punjab government to provide free legal aid and compensation to the accused rioters.

According to reports, the Punjab state government led by Amarinder Singh has set up a Vidhan Sabha committee to look into the issue of providing legal aid and compensation to the Republic Day riots accused. The committee has issued a series of recommendations to the Punjab government, asking them to provide free legal assistance to the rioters and also compensation for facing alleged torture at the hands of Delhi and Haryana Police.

The Delhi and Haryana police have registered cases against these alleged farmers after they unleashed mayhem on the streets of the national capital on Republic Day and desecrated the national flag by storming onto Mughal monument Red Fort.

The Congress party-led committee has also claimed that the protesting “farmers” were falsely implicated, tortured, and hence the government needs to provide free legal aid and compensation. The Vidhan Sabha committee led by Congress MLA Kuldip Singh Vaid met protestors and alleged farmers across the state in the last few weeks.

Speaking to the media, Congress MLA Vaid said that the committee has come to a conclusion that protestors were arrested when they were heading to the Tikri border to participate in a tractor rally. The committee consists of four other members — Congress MLAs Kulbir Singh Zira, Fateh Jung Singh Bajwa, AAP MLA Sarvjit Kaur Manuke, SAD MLA Harinderpal Singh Chandumajra.

“Someone was supplying milk to the agitating farmers, and the other was supplying ration. They told us that the police asked them if they were headed to the Tikri border, and when they responded affirmatively, they were picked up. They were tortured badly with sticks. Their stories are very moving. They have gone through a lot,” claimed the Congress MLA.

The Congress MLA added that they would submit the report to the Amarinder Singh government in the next week and recommend that these farmers be given free legal aid and compensation. The government should decide on the compensation, he said.

The protestors have been booked in several cases and are now being tried. “They do not know which lawyer to go to. We will now recommend to the government that we should provide them legal aid,” Congress leader said.

The Punjab government had set up the Vidhan Sabha committee after a few MLAs had demanded the government to intervene and help the Punjabi farmers who were part of the protest.

According to a report by Jagran, the Congress party government in Punjab is keen on implementing the recommendations and provide free legal aid and compensation to the Republic Day riots accused.

Republic Day Riots

On January 26, groups of alleged farmers forcefully entered Delhi on the pretext of a Tractor Rally. They created a riot-like situation in which over 300 police personnel were injured, and properties worth crores were damaged. The rally was supposed to be a protest rally against the Agriculture laws named Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 passed in September 2020.

Visuals that emerged from the riots showed how the alleged farmers tried to mow down the police personnel with tractors, attacked them with swords, batons and other weapons and mercilessly attacked police personnel at Red Fort for security purposes. A group of rioters including Deep Sidhu, Gurjot Singh, Jugraj Singh and others reached the Red Fort and hoisted two flags with the Sikh Holy symbol.

Interestingly, the hoisting of the flag was in sync with the provocations of terrorist organisation Sikhs For Justice, whose founder had announced a cash prize for hoisting the flag on Red Fort. A total of 43 cases has been registered in connection to the riots.

Makers of ‘Operation Yemen’ accuse Kartik Aaryan starrer ‘Captain India’ of plagiarism, hope to get a stay on the movie

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Makers of ‘Operation Yemen’ accuse Kartik Aaryan starrer ‘Captain India’ of plagiarism, hope to get a stay on the movie

Producer Subhash Kale has accused the makers of Captain India of plagiarism, Bollywood Hungama has reported. According to Kale, the plot of Captain India is similar to that of their proposed project, Operation Yemen. The former will be directed by Hansal Mehta while the latter will be directed by Sanjay Sankla.

Operation Yemen is based on Operation Raahat, led by General V K Singh in 2015 to evacuate Indians and foreign nationals from the war torn country during the Yemeni crisis.

Subhash Kale told Bollywood Hungama, “We have been working since 2016 on this project. The cousin of our director Sanjay Sankla was the pilot on this mission. Sanjay Sankla has been a reputed editor and has worked on nearly 95 films. He researched extensively and when he narrated the idea to me, I said that we should work on it as it’s an interesting subject. We took 9 months to pen the script. We even got Mission Mangal (2019) writer Nidhi Singh Dharma on board. Our pre-production was nearly done. I wonder where the idea got leaked from. This episode is in the public domain but we were the first ones to register at the Screenwriters Association (SWA).”

He further claimed, “Captain India waalon ne toh script likhna shuru bhi nahi kiya. They had dates of Kartik Aaryan. The idea has not leaked from our side because we have signed a confidentiality agreement with everyone associated.”

The makers of Captain India had recently signed Kartik Aaryan as the lead in the movie. When asked about the fact that the press release of the movie does not mention that it is based on Operation Raahat, Subhash Kale responded, “Yes but the city of Sana’a, the capital of Yemen is visible on their poster, just like how it’s depicted in our poster as well. And that city’s architecture and landscape are such that it doesn’t match with any other city in the world. Also, the poster shows carpet-bombing happening over the city, an aeroplane going over Sana’a and the title Captain India are clear giveaways that their film is based on the same incident.”

According to Kale, the IMPAA (Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association) has said that there will be a stay on the movie. He has also said that the Screenwriters Association said that they will take action after the plot of the movie is revealed. Kale expressed his wish to get a stay on the movie.

“Even if the scripts of both films are different, the storyline would be the same and hence both films would also be similar. Do same picture toh nahi ban sakti. It’ll then become a repeat of Scam 1992 (2020) and The Big Bull (2021) episode,” Subhash Kale said.

He further revealed that they have approached Akshay Kumar for the movie and Paresh Rawal has consented to be part of it as well. Kale says that they will begin shooting Operation Yemen from November or December this year while the Captain India is scheduled for a shoot in 2022.

China makes it mandatory for every Tibetan family to send one member to Chinese forces, to fight India after swearing allegiance to CCP

OpIndia Staff
-
0
China makes it mandatory for every Tibetan family to send one member to Chinese forces, to fight India after swearing allegiance to CCP

China has made it compulsory for every Tibetan family to send one family member to the People’s Liberation Army, an attempt to strengthen its deployment along the Line of Actual Control with India and as a mark of ‘loyalty’ test for the Tibetan youths, a report published by India Today said.

China is doing all it can to strengthen its presence along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), particularly in extreme weather circumstances in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.

According to the government sources cited by India Today, one member each from the loan families of Tibetans will be deployed permanently at the LAC with India. They further added that China has already started recruiting Tibetan youths in its territory and training them for operations along the LAC with India.

Before they are officially inducted into the Chinese forces, they are made to go through rigorous loyalty tests, which includes learning the mainland Chinese language and swearing allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the sources said.

The recruitment of Tibetans within the Chinese armed forces began in earnest in January-February this year after China saw how Tibetans-in-exile have performed while serving in the Indian Armed Forces.

With the recruitment of Tibetan youth within the army, China eyes not only using their natural skill of acclimatising to harsh weather conditions but also seeks greater acceptance of Chinese authority among the local population in the Tibet Autonomous Region(TAR). By inducting Tibetans, China also aims to ease the pressure off the mainland Chinese soldiers deployed along the LAC.

The mandate of sending one family member of Tibetans to the Chinese forces comes in the midst of a standoff between the PLA and the Indian Armed Forces along the LAC in eastern Ladakh. Since April-May last year, India and China have been embroiled in a tense military impasse along the LAC and tensions have prevailed in friction points since then, including Hot Springs-Gogra Heights.

The two sides have had multiple rounds of talks to defuse tensions but without much success as the situation along the LAC remains precarious. The talks have so far yielded limited mutual withdrawal of soldiers by the two sides on both northern and southern banks of the Pangong Tso.

FIR filed against Sudarshan TV’s Suresh Chavhanke after he raises voice over desecration of saffron flag at Amargarh Fort

OpIndia Staff
-
0
FIR filed against Sudarshan TV’s Suresh Chavhanke after he raises voice over desecration of saffron flag at Amargarh Fort

Based on a complaint lodged by Girraj Meena, a member of the Rajasthan Adivasi Meena Seva Sangh, Jaipur police have registered an FIR against Sudarshan TV’s editor-in-chief, Suresh Chavhanke. In the FIR, Chavhanke has been accused of allegedly making derogatory remarks against the Meena community. The FIR was registered at Transport Nagar police station in Jaipur on July 30 (Friday).

Suresh Chavhanke accused of spreading communal dishormony

Girraj Meena, in his complaint, accused the Sudarshan TV chief of hurting the sentiments of tribals and Meena communities by making incendiary remarks through his channel ever since the Amargarh Fort incident.

“On the evening of July 23, Suresh Chavhanke of Sudarshan TV used insulting slurs against me and our entire tribal community according to his own will and it went on for several days,” says the FIR lodged by Meena.

Girraj Meena, in the FIR, further accused Chavhanke of conspiring to spread communal discord thereby provoking chaos and riots.

Suresh Chavhanke says will visit Amargarh Fort on Aug 1, Meena-Muslim community call it ‘provocative’

“An FIR has been registered in the matter and Chavhanke is an accused,” said ACP Adarsh Nagar Neel Kama. The FIR has been filed under Sections 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the IPC along with Section 67 of the IT Act and relevant sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

It is pertinent to note that, after an independent MLA, Ramkesh Meena tore a saffron flag with ‘Jai Shri Ram’ inscribed on it at the Aamagarh Fort in Jaipur, the Sudarshan TV head had taken strong objection to the incident and had vowed to go to Jaipur and visit the Amargarh fort on August 1. The Meena-Muslim community had strongly reacted to this statement of Chavhanke, terming it ‘provocative’.

Suresh Chavhanke reacts to the FIR

Meanwhile, the Sudarshan TV chief Suresh Chavhanke has taken to Twitter to share the news of the FIR filed against him. “The Rajasthan Police has registered an FIR against me under the SC-ST Act, that too for what I did not say”, Tweeted Chavhanke.

Referring to Rajasthan Adivasi Meena Seva Sangh, as “Tipu Sultan’s Party”, Chavhanke added that the Rajasthan police, working at the behest of the Congress government in Rajasthan, has filed the FIR against him merely based on the rumours spread by them against him and his channel.

“The entire country is raising demands of #Arrest_Ramkesh_Meena but the Rajasthan government is taking reverse action on me. However, the struggle will continue”, wrote the Sudarshan TV head on Twitter.

Amargarh Fort incident

For the uninitiated, on July 22, social media was rife with videos of the incident in which a mob along with independent MLA Ramkesh Meena first brought down the flag hoisted atop Aamagarh Fort in Jaipur and then tore it further.

The Hindu organizations have taken strong objection to Congress-confidante Ramkesh Meena’s actions.

Launching an attack on the Congress sibling duo, UP CM’s media advisor Shalabh Mani Tripathi sharing this video said that such actions will not be forgotten. 

Sudarshan TV chief Suresh Chavhanke had also strongly opposed this despicable act and had been condemning the same, since the incident happened on July 22nd, 2020.

Police, meanwhile, have cordoned off the entire area leading to the Amargarh Fort in Rajasthan, after videos of the incident went viral on social media. Police informed that so far, three separate FIRs have been registered related to the Amargarh row, investigations into which are underway.

OpIndia also tried to get in touch with the Transport Nagar police station to get more information about the entire incident but got no response.

TMC MLA Humayun Kabir issued show-cause notice after threatening another TMC leader Rabiul Alam Chowdhury: Read full details

OpIndia Staff
-
0
TMC MLA Humayun Kabir issued show-cause notice after threatening another TMC leader Rabiul Alam Chowdhury: Read full details

On Thursday (July 29), Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Humayun Kabir sparked a controversy after he threatened fellow party legislator Rabiul Alam Chowdhury with physical harm. He had issued the threats during a party meeting at Shaktipur in the Rezinagar Vidhan Sabha constituency of West Bengal.

While addressing the party workers, Kabir warned, “Akhankar jini nirbachito vidhyak, amar songe panga nite ela, tomar hadgor sob ek jaigai kore debo (If the elected representative of the area tries to pick up a fight with me, then, I will break his bones).” He further instructed Chowdhury to treat the TMC workers with respect, else he would permanently stop his entry to Shaktipur.

Responding to the threats, Chowdhury said that he did not want to encourage the confrontation further by commenting on the matter. However, he added, “A dog might bite a man but he wouldn’t bite the dog (referring to Humayun Kabir). I only work according to the instructions given to me by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.” ABP Ananda reported that the feud between the two dates back to 2012 when Chowdhury defeated Kabir in by-elections. Again in 2016, Kabir lost out to Chowdhury as an independent candidate during elections.

(Video Courtesy: Youtube/ ABP Ananda)

Humayun Kabir issued show-cause notice by TMC disciplinary committee

Even after Humayun Kabir was made the TMC candidate of the Bharatpur Vidhan Sabha constituency, his conflict with the Rezinagar MLA Rabiul Alam Chowdhury did not stop. Abu Tahir, TMC President (Murshidabad district), said, “The comments made by Humayun were not appropriate. If he had issues, he should have discussed within the party and not in public.” However, the strongest response to Kabir’s threats came from the high echelons of the party.

While speaking about the matter, TMC General Secretary Partha Chatterjee informed that a show-cause notice has been issued to the Bharatpur MLA. He has been asked to explain why disciplinary action should not be initiated against him. “The behaviour and language he used about other MLAs in the party are not justifiable. He personally targetted Rezinagar MLA Rabiul Alam Chowdhury… The party does not approve of this,” he emphasised.

Rahul Gandhi quotes Munshi Premchand to cryptically target PM Modi, Netizens remind him of his own arrogance

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Rahul Gandhi quotes Munshi Premchand to cryptically target PM Modi, Netizens remind him of his own arrogance

Rahul Gandhi made an appearance on Twitter on an early Saturday morning to post a cryptic message. Taking to Twitter, Rahul Gandhi posted a thought penned by one of India’s prolific writers Munshi Premchand.

The tweet posted in Hindi read, “Man’s greatest enemy is his arrogance”.

Though it looked like a simple tweet, without any political overtones to it, it was apparent that Rahul Gandhi was directing this tweet to Prime Minister Modi, since Rahul Gandhi seldom writes anything that is not directed at the Prime Minister.

This tweet is one of the several tweets Rahul Gandhi has posted in the last few weeks targeting the Modi government over several issues. Rather than directly attacking the ruling dispensation, this time, Rahul Gandhi chose to depict as an ‘intellectual’ and posted Munshi Premchand’s lines.

However, sadly, Rahul Gandhi’s ‘intellectual” tweets did not go down well with Netizens as they started to crack hilarious jokes on Rahul Gandhi attempting to sound like a well-read individual.

Soon, Netizens came up with hilarious memes to call out Rahul Gandhi. As a response to Rahul Gandhi’s “Guroor” reference, one user tweeted saying, “And, Himesh Reshammiya’s greatest hit is “Tera Tera Tera Suroor”.”

Twitter user Ravi Bhadoria altered Rahul Gandhi’s tweet a bit to take a dig at him, saying, “The greatest enemy of a man is his low IQ”.

Then there were others who attempted to become Munshi Premchand themselves by adding their own poetic lines to the couplet.

Some others had serious things to say. As Rahul Gandhi indirectly launched a political tirade against Prime Minister Modi through his tweet, accusing him of being arrogant, one social media user posted an image of senior Congress leader V Narayanasamy holding Rahul Gandhi’s footwear during his trip to Puducherry.

The social media user reminded Rahul Gandhi what arrogance or “Guroor” really meant.

Filmmaker Ashoke Pandit too had a few things to say to Rahul Gandhi. The filmmaker said that this thought, of arrogance being a man’s downfall, is exactly what the country has been trying to explain to Rahul Gandhi for the longest time. He said that it is because of this arrogance that the Congress party has Presidents only from the Gandhi family and nobody else is allowed to shine. He further said that it is because of this arrogance that the Congress party is in the doldrums and wished that he had borrowed Munshi Premchand books from Jawaharlal Nehru and truly read them.

Krishna Bihari reminded him that this was the kind of “Guroor” or arrogance was displayed by his great grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru, resulting in the partition of India.

It is indeed telling that Rahul Gandhi fails to see the arrogance of his own party. In fact, he seems to not be able to see the arrogance that he displays himself, hoping the country would take him seriously as a leader even though he seems to participate in national politics as a hobby rather than his full-time job. From his trips to Bangkok to lying blatantly to fool the nation, Rahul Gandhi sure seems to live in a little bubble of his own that is far divorced from reality.

Licenses of ‘Khan Chacha’ restaurant cancelled, was run by ‘Delhi ke Nirmata’ Navneet Kalra, accused of black-marketing oxygen: Details

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Licenses of ‘Khan Chacha’ restaurant cancelled, was run by ‘Delhi ke Nirmata’ Navneet Kalra, accused of black-marketing oxygen: Details

On Friday (July 30), the Delhi High Court was informed that the Delhi police had cancelled the registration certificate of two of the restaurants owned by tainted businessman Navneet Kalra. He used to run two eateries in the Khan Market area, namely, Khan Chacha and Town Hall, and a restaurant-cum-bar in south Delhi’s Lodhi Colony area.

As per reports, Kalra had filed a petition before the Delhi High Court challenging the show-cause notice and order suspending the registration certificates of his restaurants, for his involvement in black marketing of oxygen concentrators. The police contended that the decision to cancel the registration certificate was taken by the licensing wing after giving an opportunity to Kalra to present his case.

On May 11, the Joint Commissioner of Police (licensing) issued a order-cum-show-cause-notice to explain why the eateries were used to store oxygen concentrators. In his defense, Kalra had claimed that the restaurants were his source of livelihood and that they were lying vacant. He alleged to have used the vacant space for storing oxygen concentrators in ‘good faith’ and ‘society’s service.’ The cops, however, found his explanation ‘unsatisfactory’ and accordingly cancelled his license on July 23.

In his petition, Kalra alleged, “The order of suspension is also bad as recovery of oxygen concentrators made from the restaurant premises is no ground nor is it given as a ground for suspension of licence. The order of suspension adversely affects the business, reputation, and livelihood of all employees working in the restaurant.” He further claimed that the cancelling of registration certificates was in contradiction to the provisions laid down by Delhi Eating Houses Registration Regulations. He said that the authorities cannot exercise the power of suspension at the stage of show-cause notice issuance.

Navneet Kalra and Oxygen black marketing case

Earlier on May 7, the Delhi Police had recovered 524 oxygen concentrators from Navneet Kalra from three of his restaurants and the office of Matrix Cellular. Following the raids at his eateries, Kalra switched off his mobile phone and fled the city. It is important to note that Navneet Kalra was felicitated by the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government in 2020. He was among the 48 personalities honoured as ‘Delhi ke Nirmata’ by the AAP government after returning to power.

He was eventually arrested on May 16 by the Delhi Police for black marketing and hoarding of oxygen concentrators. He was produced before a local court on May 20 and sent to judicial custody for two weeks. The Delhi police had also arrested four men, Gaurav Khanna, Satish Sethi, Vikrant, and Hitesh for hoarding and black-marketing the equipment. Khanna is the CEO of Matrix Cellular Services Ltd which is one of the companies involved in importing the equipment.

According to the Enforcement Directorate, Matrix MD Gagan Duggal worked alongside Navneet Kalra in importing oxygen concentrators and then selling them at high prices. The concentrators were bought from China and were imported to India via Hong Kong. ED informed that the duo had imported more than 7000 such oxygen concentrators in the past one month. While the import price of the life-saving equipment was around ₹15000, they sold them for ₹69,999 per piece.

Citing sources, Hindustan Times reported that the forensic examination of the oxygen concentrators has revealed that they are of substandard quality. Despite being aware of this, Navneet Kalra and his aide Gagan Duggal sold the oxygen concentrators to needy people at exorbitant prices by falsely claiming that they are made of German technology. An anonymous ED officer informed, “The duo took advantage of a raging pandemic and made huge profit by cheating the public.”

1...4,0954,0964,097...7,680Page 4,096 of 7,680