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French tabloid hitjob on Rafale backfired and proved corruption against Congress, serial petitioner ML Sharma runs to Court: Read details

OpIndia Staff
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French tabloid hitjob on Rafale backfired and proved corruption against Congress, serial petitioner ML Sharma runs to Court: Read details

Advocate Manohar Lal Sharma, the original petitioner who filed PIL to sought an independent investigation into the 2015 Rafale deal, has submitted a fresh plea in the Supreme Court to seek an independent investigation in the deal. In his plea, the serial petitioner has cited the recent report by French tabloid Mediapart that had stated that the aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation had paid 1 million Euros to a controversial middleman identified as Sushen Gupta. It has to be noted that Sharma’s first PIL was dismissed by SC in December 2018, and its review petition was rejected by the apex court in November 2019.

In the new PIL, Sharma has made Prime Minister Narendra Modi Respondent No 1, Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited the respondent no 2. Union of India the respondent No 3 and CBI the respondent No 4. The PIL is based exclusively on the revelations made by Mediapart and has urged Supreme Court to take cognizance of the tabloid’s report.

Screengrab from Supreme Court website

It is interesting that ML Sharma has named Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited as one of the respondents, even though the company is not named in the fresh allegations made by the French tabloid. Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited is joint venture between Dassault and Anil Ambani led Reliance Infrastructure, which was set to fulfil the offset obligations of Dassault as per India’s defence procurement laws. The company manufactures parts of the Falcon jet, the business jet of Dassault Aviation, and not involved in manufacturing of the Rafale jet.

A tweet by India Legal informing about the petition says that Dassault Aviation had paid Sushen Mohan Gupta a bribe of one million euros i.e., about eight thousand crore rupees. But that is a completely wrong conversion of currency, as €1 Euro is equal to around ₹8.9 crores, not ₹8000 crore. However, it is known whether this amount in Rupees was mentioned in the petition by ML Sharma or it was mentioned by India Legal on their own.

Dassault Aviation has denied the allegations

After Mediapart’s report, On April 8, Dassault Aviation has released a statement in which it denied all the allegations and said there was no corruption or irregularities in the deal. Mediapart, in its report, alleged that the company had paid a bribe of € 1.1 million to an Indian company. Dassault has said that no violations were reported in the sale of 36 Rafale jet to India in the government-to-government deal. The company didn’t deny the payment to the Indian company, but said it was a legitimate business deal. Dassault said that Defsys was paid the money to make 50 scale models of the Rafale jet. The French company also said that they have shown documents of the deal to the French regulators.

The company said, “Numerous controls are carried out by official organizations, including the French Anti-Corruption Agency. No violations were reported, notably in the frame of the contract with India for the acquisition of 36 Rafales,” the company said. The company also said that it “wishes to reiterate that it acts in strict compliance with the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention and national laws, in particular the law of December 9, 2016, known as Sapin 2”.

The company said that the contract with India for 36 Rafale jets, along with the corresponding offset contracts, meet the criteria established by these regulations and are being executed in full transparency between the various government and industrial partners.

What Mediapart said?

In its report, the dubious tabloid said that the French anti-corruption agency Agence Française Anticorruption (AFA) had discovered that Dassault had paid one million euros to a middleman who is now under investigation in India in connection with another defence deal.

It added that Dassault had clarified the payment, saying that it paid the Indian company to manufacture 50 large replica models of Rafale jets. The expenditure was reportedly shown under “Gifts to Clients” in Dassault accounts, implying that the models were ordered to give away as gifts to its clients. The report claimed that Dassault was unable to show any invoices to the AFA. However, in reality, Dassault had provided AFA invoices raised by Defsys Solutions.

At first glance, what Mediapart reported, and in the way it reported said ‘expose’, they give the impression that Sushen, Rafale, Dassault, Modi, Amit Shah, Ambani are all connected. However, on a deeper look, it was clear the first point that Mediapart made in which it said that Sushen was deep in the Rafale negotiations in 2012 with the government peddling some sort of bribery racket. The government at that time was Congress-led UPA and not NDA.

Mediapart also made a point that Dassault allegedly had a deep source within the government. However, if that was to be believed, Dassault would have got workable intel that it could use for its own benefit. On the contrary, as per Mediapart’s own admission, the price remained pegged at 7.8 billion euros that pointed out the loss of business to Dassault.

Reply by Defsys Solutions

Defsys Solutions is owned by the family of Sushen Mohan Gupta, who was arrested by ED in 2019 for his involvement in kickbacks paid in the AgustaWestland helicopter deal. In its statement, to company denied the allegations and said, “This is in response to wholly unsubstantiated, baseless and misleading claims appearing in certain sections of the media, insinuating that Defsys never supplied 50 replica models of Rafale aircraft.” It further added that Delivery challans, E-way bills, and GST returns related to such delivery had been duly filed with the relevant authorities.

What Supreme Court had said while dismissing the pleas

In 2018, Supreme Court had dismissed a batch of pleas filed by ML Sharma, Prashant Bhushan, Arun Shourie, Yashwant Singh and Vineet Dhanda. All PILs had sought an independent probe into the 2015 Rafale deal. The SC found no irregularities in matters of decision-making, pricing procurement and selection of offset partners. 

The court had said that the perception of individuals could not become the base of a fishing and roving enquiry in the matters of defence procurements. The bench headed by the CJI said that the country could not afford to be lacking in any manner when it comes to defence. The court added, “Our country cannot afford to be unprepared/under-prepared in a situation where our adversaries are stated to have acquired not only 4th generation but even 5th generation aircraft, of which we have none. It will not be correct for the court to sit as an appellate authority to scrutinize each aspect of the process of acquisition.” In 2019, the court dismissed review petitions against the dismissal of the original 2018 PILs.

Rahul Gandhi decides to campaign in West Bengal, but in one constituency, only hours before ‘silence period’ kicks in: How it might impact Congress

OpIndia Staff
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Rahul Gandhi decides to campaign in West Bengal, but in one constituency, only hours before ‘silence period’ kicks in: How it might impact Congress

Congress scion Rahul Gandhi had been absent from the campaign trail in West Bengal during the four phases of the State Legislative polls. While the Trinamool Congress and BJP had been fighting a fierce battle in West Bengal, the Congress campaign in the State has been feeble. After Congress State-in-charge Jitin Prasada was diagnosed with Coronavirus, the party had been struggling to find a leader to campaign in the State.

Although the likes of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Salman Khurshid and Jaiveer Shergill had addressed gatherings ahead of the polls, Rahul Gandhi had been missing so far from the election arena in West Bengal. In a new development, the Congress scion has reportedly announced that he will address election rallies in Goalpokar and Matigara-Naxalbari Vidhan Sabha constituencies on April 14.

The party is contesting in 92 constituencies in has allied with the Left and Islamist Indian Secular Front (ISF). Reportedly, a lack of positive outcome in the State has so far deterred top-notch Congress leaders from campaigning in West Bengal. While the Congress ground workers might have been exhilarated with the visit of Rahul Gandhi, the violence witnessed during the 4th phase of polls have made his plans rather futile from the perspective of actually garnering any votes.

How the ‘silence period’ will affect the campaigning of Rahul Gandhi

Keeping in mind the law and order situation in the State, the Election Commission has announced that the usual silence period of 48 hours (2 days) will be increased to 72 hours ahead of the 5th phase of the polls. The silence period refers to a temporary ban on political campaigning during which no political parties are allowed to hold election rallies or convince electorates to vote for them.

While the Goalpokhar constituency will be up for votes during the 6th phase on April 22, the voting in the Matigara-Naxalbari Vidhan Sabha constituency will take place during the 5th phase of elections on April 17. As stated earlier, Congress Scion Rahul Gandhi will be visiting West Bengal on April 14 in the hopes to turn around his party’s political fortunes in the two said constituencies.

It is pertinent to note that after the unbridled violence in Cooch Behar, the Election Commission had said that politicians would be barred from entering the Cooch Behar district for 72 hours. They had also said that the silence period would be increased to 72 hours in the run-up to the 5th phase of polling in West Bengal. Therefore, no politician would be able to campaign in any constituency for 72 hours before the polling day in the 5th poll.

So where does this leave Rahul Gandhi?

It put things into perspective, Section 126 of theRepresentation of the People Act, 1951prohibits displaying any election matter by means, inter alia, of television or similar apparatus, during the period of 48 hours before the hour fixed for conclusion of poll in a constituency. It is after the violence in Cooch Behar, that the Election Commission has increased this window of 48 hours to 72 hours.

Therefore, if the polling day is the 17th, political parties will have to stop campaigning by the 14th evening. Generally, political parties start wrapping up their campaigning work by 5 PM before the silence period kicks in. Thus, it stands to reason that Rahul Gandhi, after finally deciding to campaign in West Bengal after 4 phases, he will have to complete his rally in a hurry and get out of the constituency by 14th evening.

Given that the Goalpokhar constituency will vote on April 22, the silence period will not be applicable during the time of his visit to the State on April 14. The Congress’ plans to pitch Gandhi, ahead of the polls, had been soured by the violence witnessed in Sitalkuchi in Cooch Behar.

Will his campaigning in Matigara-Naxalbari yield results?

The West Bengal polls have largely been a battle between TMC and BJP, being fought fiercely. Congress, which is in alliance with Abbas Siddiqui and the Left has been largely absent from the campaigning trail after the alliance with Abbas Siddiqui. The decision to stay away from West Bengal can largely be attributed to two aspects.

For one, Abbas Siddiqui is an Islamist who is actively alienating the few Hindus who might vote for Congress and the Left.

The West Bengal unit of the BJP had earlier put out a video drawing analogies between the slogans of the separatist leaders of the Muslim League in 1946 to that of the recent speech by Peerzada-turned-politician Abbas Siddiqui. The BJP tweeted, “Ladke lenga Pakistan (We will fight until we get Pakistan) – Muslim League leaders, 1946. Matribhumi ke saadhin korbo (We will gain independence for our homeland) – Abbas Siddiqui 2021.”

While addressing a large gathering of supporters at the Bridage Parade Ground in Kolkata, Abbas Siddiqui remarked, “I want to say this to all Bengalis, and my beloved folks to vote for the CPIM wherever they field their candidates. In the next election, we will free our homeland even if it requires shedding our blood for it.” As can be seen in the video, Abbas Siddiqui’s vicious election rhetoric of separatism and violence was cheered on by a large number of supporters.

Therefore, Congress has kept a arm’s length from Siddiqui. Further, Congress is in an alliance with CPIM in Bengal, while it is fighting against the Communists in the state of Kerala. The decision to campaign in Bengal only comes after Kerala has finished polling on the 6th of April.

While Congress has kept away from West Bengal, it has now decided to campaign in Bengal before the 5th phase, however, with the silence phase kicking in, it does not really leave Rahul Gandhi much time to campaign in one of the two constituencies.

Mob attacks CISF in Sitalkuchi, sours plans of Congress scion

A mob attacked the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) soldiers during the fourth phase of elections in West Bengal after TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee asked her followers to gherao the central forces. Four TMC workers were killed after the CISF fired on the violent mob. As per reports, the incident took place at the Jorpatki area of the Mathabhanga block in the Sitalkuchi Legislative Assembly of Cooch Behar district.

Cooch Behar SP defended the CISF action against the lumpen elements, saying that the action was an act of ‘self-defence. He said that a mob of 300-350 men had attacked the CISF team and tried to snatch their arms that forced the team to open fire on the miscreants. The deceased have been identified as Monirujjaman (28), Hamidul Miyan (30), Nur Alma Miyan (21) and Samiul Haque (20).

As per multiple reports, four people died after central forces open-fired in a polling booth in self-defence, while at another place one person died after miscreants opened fire. Sitalkuchi was on the boil since early morning. According to reports, bombs were hurled outside the booth. Some groups had also opened fire while the police managed to recover bombs from the area, India Today reported.

Farmer Protest supporters demand release of multiple-murder accused Jagtar Singh Johal, use a special ‘Toolkit’ to ‘#FreeJaggiNow’

Anurag
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Farmer Protest supporters demand release of multiple-murder accused Jagtar Singh Johal, use a special ‘Toolkit’ to ‘#FreeJaggiNow’

In February 2021, ‘environment activist’ Greta Thunberg accidentally published a Toolkit showing how anti-India forces are using farmers’ protest for their own agendas. Since then, a lot has been exposed leading to the arrest of so-called activists including Disha Ravi, Nikita Jacob and Shantanu Muluk. The trio allegedly worked hands-in-hands with Khalistani supporter Mo Dhaliwal and created toolkits to incite violence and spread propaganda against the Indian government. There are several propagandas and conspiracies that are well hidden while being right in front of everyone’s eyes. One such propaganda is the demand for the release of murder accused Jagtar Singh Johal alias Jaggi. The so-called farmers’ protest supporters are pushing their propaganda in the pretext of farmers’ protest to pressure the Indian government to release Johal.

What OpIndia found so far

During our initial investigation into the trend, we found that the hashtag was not only promoted on Twitter but other platforms as well. They are painting Johal as a “good man who was ‘illegally’ detained by the Punjab Police in 2017”. Interestingly, the hashtags #FreeJaggiNow and #FreeJaggi have been making rounds for months without raising any red flags.

The subtle mix of hashtags

Since farmers protests start to make noise in media, the propaganda to use the protests to raise voice for the murder accused Jaggi started to play in the field. Here are some tweets from the last five months that use #FreeJaggi or #FreeJaggiNow along with #FarmersProtest.

A twitter user condemning Sikh Federation UK for not speaking on Farmer Protests and Jaggi

On April 9, protesting farmer unions had announced that they will block expressway on April 10 which had put #FarmersProtest in trending topics. The supporters of Jaggi used the hashtag for their own propaganda wisely on the same day.

Use of Farmers Protest hashtag with Free Jaggi Now hashtag

During a support event for protesting farmers in Canada, the supporters of Jaggi raised banners that said “Jagtar Singh Johal is all of us #FreeJaggiNow”.

Free Jaggi Now slogans were raised during pro-farmer protests rally

Who is Jagtar Singh Johal?

Jagtar Singh Johal alias Jaggi is a British resident from Glasgow, Scotland. In 2017, he was visiting India to attend a wedding. During his stay, Punjab Police arrested him as a suspect in several cases. He was arrested based on the statement of one Taljit Singh Jimmy. He had confessed to his involvement in several crimes during interrogation. However, his supporters claim that the investigation agencies ‘forced’ a confession out of him using third-degree torture during interrogation. Johal was behind the outfit ‘Never Forget 84’.

As per the police reports, he is a staunch Khalistani supporter. He is facing several murder and attempts to murder cases. According to National Investigation Agency’s charge sheets, he has been named in the murder cases of Hindu Takht leader Amit Sharma, RSS leader Brig. (Retd.) Jagdish Kumar Gagneja, RSS leader Ravinder Gosain, Shiv Sena leader Durga Dass Gupta, Pastor Sultan Masih, and Dera Sacha Sauda followers Satpal Sharma and his son Ramesh Sharma.

Jaggi was also accused of paying Rs.27 lakh to the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) chief Harminder Singh Mintoo (deceased) in France in 2013 to assassinate RSS leader Ravinder Gosain. His name also appeared in the attempt to murder Shiv Sena activist Amit Arora and firing at RSS Shakha in Kidwai Nagar in Ludhiana in 2016.

Jaggi’s association with Gursharanbir Singh Wahiwala

It has been reported that Jaggi is a close relative of Gursharanbir Singh Wahiwala, who is a pro-Khalistani accused in several cases. As per reports, Wahiwala was arrested by UK police in December 2020 in connection to the murder of RSS leader Rudla Singh in 2009. Reports suggest that he came to India in 2009 to kill Rudla Singh, who was shot dead outside his shop in Patiala. In February 2015, Wahiwala was declared a proclaimed offender by a Patiala court. In 2019, NIA filed a charge sheet in the murder case of Punjab unit RSS vice-president Brigadier Jagdish Gagneja (retired) in which 11 accused persons with Khalistan terror links were named, including Wahiwala and Johal.

Johal was granted regular bail in November 2020

Jagtar Singh Johal was granted bail by the Punjab and Haryana High court in one of the cases against him in November 2020. The bail was granted in an FIR registered in 2016 against him under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120B of the IPC, Section 25 of the Arms Act and Sections 17, 18, 19 and 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. While granting him bail, the judge had emphasised that the co-accused in the case had already been granted bail while made Johal’s case ‘deemed fit’ for the regular bail. 

A history of ‘Free Jaggi’ and ‘Free Jaggi Now’ campaigns

Free Jaggi and Free Jaggi Now hashtags have been making rounds since 2018 on social media networks. Interestingly, his supporters try to overtake every possible campaign or news that can be linked to his case. There are also petitions on Change.org in which he has been painted as a nobleman who was detained illegally under a conspiracy by the Indian government. These petitions are directly or indirectly linked to Johal and can be seen here, here, here and here. Here are few tweets over time that show how his supporters have been trying to pressure the British government and Indian government to release him.

Since January 2021, an NGO named Reprieve has been posting information about Johal while painting him as a good man who has small kids and family in Scotland.

Year-wise tweets in support of Jaggi

In 2017, when the tweets favouring Jaggi started to appear on social media, Jagmeet Singh, New Democratic Party, Canada, was tagged in several posts. Later, on the same day, Jagmeet had questioned his arrests in a tweet. It has to be noted that Jagmeet is a known Khalistani supporter. His relative was recently arrested for attacking a pro-India rally in Canada.

One of the very first tweets in favour of Jaggi
Tweet by Jagmeet Singh
United Kingdom MP Tanmanjeet Singh had posted in support of Jaggi

Few days later, Punjabi singer and actor Diljit Dosanjh also posted a tweet in his support. Dosanjh was heavily criticized for the tweet. Nowadays, Dosanjh regularly post tweets in favour of Farmers Protests.

Tweet by Diljit Dosanjh

On January 26, 2019, several tweets appeared on social media network in which #FreeJaggi was used by Khalistani supporters. An event was organized by Khalitani terrorist group Sikhs For Justice in Washington DC to support Jaggi. While raising slogans of “Free Jaggi”, “Khalistani Zindabad” was also shouted while displaying Khalistani flags.

#FreeJaggi and #FreeKhalistan were used together in same tweet
Tweet by Change.org UK’s official account

In February 2021, tweets in favour of Jaggi and Farmer Protests appeared in which he was compared to Nodeep Kaur. The comparison and mixing two totally different cases must have raised red flags but unfortunately, it did not.

Image from the above tweet by Arshdeep where comparison table was formed between Johal and Nodeep Kaur

Interestingly, Jaggi got support from Pakistan as well.

Post in support of Jaggi from 2018 by a Pakistani handle
Post in support of Jaggi from 2020 by a Pakistani handle

Senior doctor in-charge of COVID-19 ward in Bhopal resigns after Congress leader and sidekick misbehave with him, hospital staff: Full details

OpIndia Staff
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Senior doctor in-charge of COVID-19 ward in Bhopal resigns after Congress leader and sidekick misbehave with him, hospital staff: Full details

In a video that has gone viral on social media, Congress leader P C Sharma along with a local corporator Guddu, can be seen misbehaving with a senior doctor Yogendra Shrivastav, a nodal officer in charge of the COVID-19 ward at JP Hospital, Bhopal. The doctor issued his resignation soon after being humiliated by the party leader and workers.

The Congress leader along with his party workers barged into the hospital after the death of a COVID-19 positive patient who was brought to the hospital in a critical condition with an SPO2 level below 30%. The hospital immediately provided primary treatment, however, could not admit the patient due to a shortage of ICU beds. The relatives of the patient were apprised of his condition and were also informed about a shortage of beds in the facility.

Soon after the patient’s demise, the Congress leader created a ruckus at the hospital and blamed the senior doctor for the death of the patient. The video went viral where a local corporator of the Congress party identified as Guddu can be heard yelling at the doctors alleging that they have made a joke of the severity of the situation. 

Dr Rakesh Shrivastava a surgeon at JP Hospital informed PTI, “Our senior doctor Yogendra Shrivastava has resigned after some politicians misbehaved with him. A patient in a critical condition was admitted to the trauma ward this morning. Dr Yogendra told his family his condition was too critical. During treatment, he died, following which some politicians misbehaved with the doctor.”

The state’s Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also tweeted condemning the shameful act. He said in a tweet, “Today, the way some people treated the doctors and the staff …is very shameful. No person has any right to mistreat our doctors.”

“Our #CoronaWarriors have been constantly putting their lives at stake. I have appealed multiple times that all of us should unite, rise above politics and cooperate and boost their morale so that they serve the society better,” he added.

The Chief Minister himself informed about the resignation of senior doctor Yongendra Shrivastav and criticized the unfortunate episode. 

New Indian Express when contacted Congress leader PC Sharma for his statement, he claimed, “A supporter of mine spoke loudly to the doctor following which I apologized to him. A patient of my constituency died this afternoon. In such circumstances won’t a sensitive person get angry? A poor patient is being asked to go to a private hospital, nobody is talking about this.”

A social media user shared the doctor’s video where he can be seen narrating the incident and informing that he no longer wishes to serve after being humiliated by the politicians. Fearing the repercussions, the doctor said that tomorrow the doctors and the staff can be attacked physically for incidences that are not in their control. 

Here’ the video to the incident

The entire incident was recorded and uploaded on social media by a user which they went viral. Here’s what transpired.

The senior doctor tendered his resignation immediately after the incident.

Madhya Pradesh under 60-hour lockdown

Madhya Pradesh has recorded 4,882 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. After the state witnessed a shortage of medical oxygen and crucial drug Remdesivir, used to treat corona patients, the state government has imposed a 60-hour lockdown since Friday 6 pm till Monday 6 am.

Addressing a virtual meeting of the Cabinet on the pandemic, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan assured that the oxygen supply in the state had been tripled and informed that one lakh Remdesivir injections will be made available every month.

Allegations of extortion by Parambir Singh: CBI summons two personal assistants of former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh

OpIndia Staff
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Allegations of extortion by Parambir Singh: CBI summons two personal assistants of former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh

In a massive development, CBI has reportedly summoned two personal assistants of former Home Minister of Maharashtra, Anil Deshmukh. The summons has been issued to record their statement in the extortion case, where allegations were levelled against former Mumbai Police Commissioner Parambir Singh against Anil Deshmukh.

The important move in the case comes after the CBI had registered a preliminary inquiry to probe corruption allegations against Maharashtra’s ex-home minister Anil Deshmukh levelled by former Commission of Police, Mumbai, Parambir Singh. CBI spokesperson RC Joshi had said, “CBI has registered a PE in the respect of the Bombay High Court order dated April 5, 2021.”

Parambir Singh’s corruption allegations against Anil Deshmukh

Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Parambir Singh had written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray alleging that the state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had asked controversial cop Sachin Vaze to collect Rs. 100 crore every month from bars, restaurants and other establishments.

The letter by Parambir Singh had raised several questions regarding the Antilia bomb scare case and the death of Mansukh Hiren. Sachin Vaze is currently under arrest for his involvement in the matter. The Ministry of Home Affairs had earlier transferred the Mansukh Hiren death case to the NIA. Parambir Singh was then transferred and posted as DG Home Guard after the explosive revelations.

Will Anil Deshmukh be summoned next?

The Bombay High Court had ordered a CBI inquiry basis a PIL filed by Dr Jaishri Patil. Terming the case as ‘extraordinary and unprecedented, the Bombay High Court had also said that after the preliminary inquiry ordered by it, the CBI would be free to decide further course of action. Therefore, if the CBI does find evidence against Anil Deshmukh in the allegations levelled against him by Parambir Singh, an FIR would be registered in the case subsequently. However, only a day after the inquiry was ordered by the Bombay High Court, the Maharashtra government and Anil Deskhmukh had separately moved the Supreme Court against the order by High Court.

Dismissing the case filed by the Maharashtra government and Anil Deshmukh against the CBI inquiry, the Supreme Court had refused to stay the preliminary inquiry ordered by the High Court and said that given the serious nature of the allegations, an independent inquiry is a must.

“Given the serious nature of allegations, and the personas involved, the matter do require an independent agency to investigate the matter. It is a matter of public confidence”, the court had said.

Give the seriousness of the allegations levelled and the fact that the CBI has already summoned the two personal assistants to Anil Deshmukh, it is only perhaps time before the CBI summons Anil Deshmukh himself to record his statement.

Forced to read Namaz, change name to Alna after conversion to Islam: Years after marriage, Hindu woman finds out her husband ‘Ashok’ is ‘Afzal’, files case

OpIndia Staff
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Forced to read Namaz, change name to Alna after conversion to Islam: Years after marriage, Hindu woman finds out her husband ‘Ashok’ is ‘Afzal’, files case

In yet another case of Grooming Jihad, Aligarh police on Friday registered a complaint filed by a woman against her 25-year old husband for hiding his real identity for two years since marriage and pretending to be Arman Kohli when he was actually Afzal. The woman alleged that her husband revealed his real identity only after their daughter was born. 

The complainant identified as Puja Soni met a man in Delhi a few years ago. She fell in love with the man who introduced himself as Ashok Rajput, a plumber by profession and tied the knot in a temple in March 2019. The complainant informed the police that for almost two years, she was unaware that her husband was faking his identity as a Hindu and was actually a Muslim man. 

A report by The Times of India quoted the complainant alleging, “On February 7 this year, we had a daughter. On March 22, he took me to his home at Rait village in Aligarh. There, I found out his name was Afzal Khan. I was forced to read namaaz and stopped from offering prayers. On April 8, they took my daughter away from me, then they converted me forcefully and renamed me ‘Alna’.”

The woman said that the husband and his sisters drove her out of the house and dropped her off at Mathura. She said she had not met the in-laws in two years of marriage.

The woman was then compelled to lodge a complaint against Afzal and his sisters at Aligarh’s Lodha police station.

A case has been registered against Ashok Rajput alias Afzal Khan and his sisters under Section 323 for voluntarily causing hurt as per the Indian Penal Code. The accused have also been booked under the relevant sections of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance. So far, no arrests have been made in the case, and the complainant is under the watch of the police.

Another case of Grooming Jihad: Afzal pretends to be Hindu

A 25-year-old Afzal who pretended to be Arman Kohli eloped with a minor girl aged 16 in Uttar Pradesh. According to the girl’s family, the minor girl had disappeared after she left home for some work but did not return. The family immediately registered a missing complaint with the police.

Upon being found, the girl revealed during questioning that she was in contact with the 25-year old carpenter named Arman alias Afzal from Delhi’s Usmanpur area for the last few months. She said that the man “lured” her by saying that his name was Arman Kohli and that he was a Hindu. She also said that Afzal tried to convert her. Afzal is now languishing in jail.

Recourse to open fire by CISF personnel became absolutely necessary in order to save lives of voters: What EC said on Bengal violence

OpIndia Staff
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Recourse to open fire by CISF personnel became absolutely necessary in order to save lives of voters: What EC said on Bengal violence

The Election Commission on Saturday released a statement clarifying, “Recourse to open fire by CISF personnel became absolutely necessary in order to save lives of voters lined up at the polling booth, those of other polling personnel & their own lives as the mob had attempted snatching their weapons”.

The statement comes after the violence and unrest gripped the Cooch Behar area during the fourth phase of polling in West Bengal which shook the nation. 

Shedding light on what transpired in the region, a police official said that the locals attacked CISF personnel outside a polling booth when they were tending to a voter who fell sick. Rumours of voters being heckled by CISF personnel spread like wildfire and within no time the locals attacked the security officials on duty. 

“A scuffle took place, and locals ‘gheraoed’ them and attempted to snatch their rifles, following which the central forces opened fire. According to preliminary reports, four persons were killed as CISF personnel opened fire after coming under attack in a village,” informed the police official.

The Election Commission has ordered the Union Home Ministry to deploy 71 additional companies of Central Armed Police forces (CAPFs) in the state for the remaining four phases of polls amid rising tension.

It is imperative to note the attack took place just a day after the incumbent CM Mamata Banerjee addressed a public rally instructing, “If the Central forces, say CRPF or even the Bengal forces ask you not to cast your votes, tell them I will not listen to you. Lodge an FIR or diary against them. If the CRPF creates trouble, you, the women, gherao them totally. While one group will keep the forces gheraoed, another will go to cast your votes. Do not waste your votes anyway.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticized Banerjee for instigating voters and blamed her party for perpetrating violence, he also requested the Election Commission to take stern action against those responsible for this unfortunate incident.

On the other hand, Mamata Banerjee released another scathing remark on the incident and yet again put the blame on as she calls ‘BJP’s CRPF jawans’. “After killing so many people, they (Election Commission) are saying the firing was in self-defence. They should feel ashamed.” “This is a lie…The central forces opened fire on people standing in the line for voting, killing 4 in Sitalkuchi. I had been apprehending the forces would act in such a manner for long. As the BJP knows it has lost the people’s mandate, they are conspiring to kill people,” Banerjee remarked at a rally in the North 24 Parganas district.

The Election Commission has sought a detailed report on the incident and has banned the entry of political leaders in Cooch Behar for 72 hours following the violence.

Fourth phase of polling marred with violence

The 4th phase of the West Bengal Vidhan Sabha polls was marred with unprecedented violence which resulted in casualties. The body of a BJP worker named Nanda Nashkar was found hanging at his residence in Sham Shandar Chowk in the Uluberia Purba district. The BJP has informed that the deceased was earlier attacked and given death threats by TMC goons.

In another fatal attack in Cooch Behar, an 18-year-old BJP supporter named Ananda Burman was gunned down by Trinamool Congress workers when he went to cast his vote at the polling station.

BJP leader Locket Chatterjee also came under attack on Saturday morning by an unruly mob that attacked her vehicle in the Hooghly district of West Bengal.

In another inhumane attack, a woman lost her toddler after a frenzied mob ambushed the polling booth in the Jorpatki area in Sitalkuchi Vidhan Sabha constituency of West Bengal, reported TV9 Bangla. 

As per reports, the woman had entered the polling booth to cast her vote. Soon, a violent mob ambushed the polling booth leading to bombing, and gunfire. The police officials were highly outnumbered by the incoming mob. “When I was about to press the button, a fight broke out. There was bloodshed everywhere. I could not come out of the polling booth with my child,” the victim said. She recounted how miscreants had pulled her by the hair and snatched her child away.

“Where will I find my child now?” she asked. The woman, in tears, informed, “I don’t want any government. Here, several Muslim women had come with Dao (machete) to slice people. They threatened to kill my child if I don’t hand it over to them,” said the helpless mother.

Asked BARC to pay if they wanted to avoid torture: Sachin Vaze, money laundering and the Rs 30 lakh bribe in TRP case

OpIndia Staff
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Asked BARC to pay if they wanted to avoid torture: Sachin Vaze, money laundering and the Rs 30 lakh bribe in TRP case

Two days after Sachin Vaze was sent to judicial custody, it has now surfaced that the tainted cop had extorted Rs 30 lakh from TRP-measuring authority BARC, reported The Times of India. It is pertinent to note that there was while the FIR in the TRP manipulation case had mentioned India Today, the Mumbai police headed by Parambir Singh at the time had publicly named Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami in the case during a press conference without any apparent evidence.

While probing the money laundering charges against Sachin Vaze in the fake TRP scam case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) found that the suspended cop extorted Rs 30 lakhs from the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) through a Mumbai Crime Branch inspector. The bribe was paid by BARC executives to “protect themselves from harassment at the hands of the Mumbai police”.

Citing sources, TOI reported that BARC officials had admitted to the ED about making such a payment. The nodal TRP measuring body transferred the bribe to the bank account of a dummy company while maintaining that the amount was spent on construction work in its record books. After the bribe was credited to a dummy account, it was then transferred to four additional shell companies. The extortion money was then credited to the account of a Hawala operator.

Modus operandi of the Hawala scam by Sachin Vaze

The amount was returned to accused BARC officials in cash by the Hawala operator and handed over to the Mumbai Crime Branch inspector, who worked for Sachin Vaze. The Enforcement Directorate is yet to interrogate Sachin Vaze and Mumbai Crime Branch Inspector. Citing a source, TOI reported “Vaze used to tell BARC executives to wait outside his office for hours, even late in the evening, and then telling them to come the next day. Vaze also created an impression that he beats up suspects during questioning and asked BARC to pay a Rs 30 lakh bribe if they want to avoid torture.”

ED attaches ₹32 crores worth of properties of Box Cinema, Maha Movies and Fakt Marathi

Reportedly, the Enforcement Directorate will soon file the first chargesheet in the TRP money laundering case. The central agency will enclose evidence, unearthing the money trail and the bribe details. ED has clarified that the Television Rating Points is measured on the basis of the total time that a user watches a channel. During the probe, the Enforcement Directorate found that Box Cinema and Maha Movies generated 25% of their TRP fraudulently with the help of 5 households, where Hansa Group had installed its barometers.

Similarly, Fakt Marathi increased their TRP in a similar manner by 12%. The central agency has now attached properties worth ₹32 crore belonging to the three companies.

TRP scam and targeting of Republic TV

The Mumbai Police had targeted Republic TV over the TRP scam with very little evidence. It became clear that it was part of the Mumbai Police’s agenda against Arnab Goswami for his staunch criticism of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra over the channel’s coverage of the Sushant Singh Rajput death case investigation and the Palghar mob lynching of Sadhus.

On Saturday, Republic TV had announced that all chapter proceedings against the media house initiated by the Mumbai Police have bow been terminated. Chapter proceedings are preventive in nature and taken when the police suspect that an individual or entity is likely to incite trouble and create a nuisance.

Sachin Vaze sent to judicial custody

In a big development in the Antilia bomb scare case on Saturday (April 9), the accused cop Sachin Vaze was sent to judicial custody for 14 days by a special NIA court on Friday after the anti-terror agency didn’t press for his further custody. He will be housed in Taloja jail until April 23, reported Republic TV.

Vaze, arrested on March 13, was produced before the special court after the end of his NIA remand. Besides the Antilia bomb scare case, Vaze is also being probed in the Mansukh Hiren’s death case by the NIA.vMeanwhile, in another major development, the CBI has also been allowed to access the diaries of Sachin Vaze and suspended constable Vinayak Shinde that were recovered by the NIA earlier. With this, the CBI will also start delving deeper into the involvement of the accused cop’s alleged role in the death of businessman Mansukh Hiren.

Bihar police officer mob-lynched in West Bengal where he was chasing criminals, Firoze Alam, Abuzar Alam and Sahinur Khan arrested

OpIndia Staff
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Bihar police officer mob-lynched in West Bengal where he was chasing criminals, Firoze Alam, Abuzar Alam and Sahinur Khan arrested

A 50-year-old police officer from Bihar was lynched by a mob during a raid in West Bengal’s Uttar Dinajpur district in the wee hours of Saturday. Three accused— Firoze Alam, Abuzar Alam and Sahinur Khan— have been arrested in connection with the death of the Bihar cop.

Ashwini Kumar, station in charge of the Kishanganj police station, was known for his no-nonsense attitude and strict crackdown against the liquor crackdown. Kumar was leading a raid in connection with a bike theft case in a neighbouring area under Panjipoda police station of West Bengal.

However, while conducting the raids, Kumar was surrounded by a mob and allegedly thrashed.

Subsequently, Kumar was rescued by a team of police personnel from the Panjipura outpost and rushed to the Islampur Sadar Hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. Later, the West Bengal police apprehended the accused in connection with the case.

Uttar Dinajpur in West Bengal shares border with Kishanganj in Bihar. Often, the miscreants after committing crimes fled across the border to elude the police. In this case, Kumar had crossed the border to carry out a raid in West Bengal and bring the culprits to book.

However, he was attacked by a mob and beaten to death. The body of the police officer was taken to the Kishanganj police station during the day, following a post-mortem in Islampur.

But, Kumar’s family refused to accept his body after he was granted a gun salute at the police lines, alleging a conspiracy. They raised questions over the role of other police personnel in the team when Kumar was being thrashed by the mob. The family also questioned why was the West Bengal Police was not kept in the loop about the raid.

The imbroglio over the body went for an hour, following which Kishnaganj District Magistrate Aditya Prakash, Inspector General of Purnea Range Suresh Kumar Chowdhury along with other top officials held a meeting with Kumar’s family and assured them of commissioning an SIT probe into the matter. After that The body was taken to Kumar’s native place in Janki Nagar in Purnea.

According to the sources, West Bengal DGP P Nirajanayan spoke to Bihar DGP SK Singhal and assured him full cooperation on the matter. The Bihar Police later released a statement stating that it is looking into providing a job to Kumar’s kin. Officials claimed Kumar had joined the Bihar Police in 1994 and was transferred to Kishanganj a year ago.

US efforts to promote human rights in China enjoy major bipartisan support among Americans, Pew Research finds

OpIndia Staff
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US efforts to promote human rights in China enjoy major bipartisan support among Americans, Pew Research finds

A significant population of the United States, irrespective of their political inclinations, believe that the USA should hold China accountable for its human rights violations even if it leads to deteriorating economic relations between the two countries, a Pew Research Center survey conducted in February found.

Americans, Republicans and Democrats alike, share the view that the United States should promote human rights in China. Out of every 10 people surveyed, 7 feel that human rights should gain primacy over strengthening the country’s economic relations with China.

Only 26 per cent of the respondents felt that the US should focus on improving its trade ties with China, even if Beijing continues to commit human rights violations.

The findings were released at a time when the current US President Joe President is firming up a strategy to deal with the human rights violations carried out by the Communist regime in China. In his first call with Chinese Premier Xi Jinping, Biden expressed “fundamental concerns” about China’s insidious crackdown in Hong Kong and the brutal repression of its Uyghur population in the restive province of Xinjiang.

Unlike on other issues, where bipartisan support is hard to muster, there is hardly any variance in the opinions of Republicans and Democrats when it comes to human rights violations by China. About 72 per cent of Republicans and independents favouring the Republican Party want the US government to focus on human rights when dealing with China. It is, perhaps, one of the few issues when thoughts of Democrats and Republicans have converged. Around 75 per cent of each group thinks the US should promote human rights.

Besides, 84 per cent of the respondents think China’s human rights policies are a problem for the United States, including 50 per cent of them who think it is a “very serious” problem. Those terming the issue a “very serious” problem is up by 7 percentage point since last March and has risen among both Republicans and Democrats.

The survey claims that Republicans and Democrats are equally likely to characterise China’s gross human rights violations as a very serious concern for the United States.

Around 76 per cent of Americans surveyed by the Pew Research Center believe tensions between mainland China and Hong Kong are a problem for the US, and 31 per cent think it is a “very serious” problem. 38 per cent of conservative Republicans are particularly apt to term the issue a “very serious” problem as compared to moderate and liberal Republicans, conservative and moderate Democrats, and liberal Democrats (29% of whom say the same, respectively).

When respondents were asked an open-ended question about the first things that come to their mind when they think of China, one in five said human rights, including 3 per cent who specifically mentioned the Xinjiang region and the atrocities carried out on its Uyghur population. Here too, Democrats and Republicans were equally likely to mention human rights in their responses.

Partisan differences become pronounced when asked about overall importance of promoting human rights as US foreign policy priority

But, there is little political concurrence about the importance of promoting and defending human rights in countries other than China. A third of Americans believe the US should foreground human rights as a top US foreign policy aim, and the issue ranked 15th in a list of 20 issues tested—markedly lower than the 48 per cent who think restricting China’s power and influence should be a top foreign policy goal.

Partisan divergence becomes starker when enquired about the overall importance of promoting human rights as a broad policy priority as compared to China in particular. Democrats and those leaning towards Democrats are likely to list promoting and defending human rights in other countries as a top US foreign policy priority (42 per cent) as compared to Republicans and Republican-leaning independents(23 per cent).

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