In a shocking incident, a neighbour of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has reportedly committed suicide in Baramati and has named NCP leaders in the suicide note as the reason for his death, as per a report by Aajtak.
According to the reports, a Baramati based businessman named Pritam Shah committed suicide due to harassment by some NCP leaders over interest money. Baramati police inspector Namdev Shinde said that the son of the businessman Pritam Shah has lodged a complaint against some NCP leaders who have been harassing his father.
This incident has now caused a huge row in the Baramati city. Reportedly, the accused had lent money to Pritam Shah at the high-interest rate of 30%. Pritam Shah had already repaid the loan, however, the NCP leaders wanted to extract more money from Shah and were allegedly harassing him for it. Reports say that the accused wanted to get a bungalow in their name.
According to the complaint filed by Pritam Shah’s son Prateek Shah, NCP leaders Jaisingh Ashok Deshmukh, Kunal Chandrakant Kale, Sanjay Kondiba Kate, Vikas Nagnath Dhanke, Praveen Dattatreya Galinde, Hanumant Sarjerao Gawli, Sunny alias Sunil Avale, Sanghar Gawale, Mangesh Amas have been named as accused.
One of the accused is also the former chairman of Baramati Bazar Samiti and others were active members of the NCP. Among the accused persons is a current corporator of Baramati municipality, and the director of Baramati Cooperative Bank.
The Baramati police have now registered a case against nine people, including the current NCP municipal leaders of the city, on charges of abetting a businessman to suicide through harassment. Six of the accused have been arrested while three of them have been absconding.
A shocking case of Grooming Jihad has emerged from Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh where a Muslim doctor allegedly raped a nurse, made her pregnant and then forced her to convert to Islam. As per a report by Navbharat Times, the Muslim married doctor working in a private clinic got into a romantic relationship with the nurse in the hospital and raped her for seven months after promising marriage. He then put up condition of religious conversion for getting married to her. The nurse is six months pregnant.
He had allegedly hidden his religious identity as well as the fact that he was married and already has two sons. As per report she has said she was also kept confined forcefully for months.
Baghpat Grooming Jihad case
As per the report, the woman worked as a nurse in private clinic. The doctor hid his religious identity and befriended the woman. He claimed that he was a divorcee and proposed to marry her. He had been in a physical relationship with her for past seven months. He allegedly even made an intimate video with the woman. Whenever she would bring up the topic of marriage, he would show her the video and shut her up, she alleged. After she got pregnant, the doctor tried to force her to abort the child. When she refused, he allegedly beat her up and forced her to convert to Islam.
She further alleged that when she met the doctor’s wife on Tuesday, she kicked her pregnant belly and also tried to induce abortion. This worsened her health. Somehow, she managed to escape the clutches and reached the police station to file a complaint.
The woman has further alleged that the Muslim doctor had made all preparations to get her to convert to Islam. He had allegedly even prepared a fake Nikahnama (marriage certificate as per Sharia, the Islamic law).
As per the report, the woman was initially married in 2012. However, due to some issues, she got divorced. Since then she had been working in the hospital. There she came in touch with the Muslim doctor who claimed to be a divorcee himself. He had said he had a son. However, the truth came out only when she became pregnant.
Main accused absconding
The police have arrested two people in the matter.
उक्त प्रकरण में अभियोग पंजीकृत कर दो आरोपियों को गिरफ्तार कर लिया गया है। शेष की गिरफ्तारी हेतु विशेष टीम गठित कर दी गई है। अपर पुलिस अधीक्षक बागपत द्वारा दी गई बाइट। pic.twitter.com/QdKD3TLAGJ
As per a statement released by the police, two people have been arrested in the case. The accused’s wife and his brother are arrested while the main culprit is still absconding. A case has been registered under relevant sections.
A Dalit woman auto driver named Chithra Lekha from Kannur, Kerala has announced that she would be converting to Islam after allegedly facing caste discrimination at the hands of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the state. Chitra Lekha made the announcement through a Facebook post on November 16.
Chithra Lekha reportedly wrote in her Facebook post that she was constantly targeted because of her caste by the ruling CPM party. She said that she had lost all the hopes of getting justice from the government or the courts. Therefore, she was planning to get rid of her Dalit identity by converting to Islam. She wrote that she struggled alone against the CPM’s caste discrimination for 20 years and she could not continue any longer. She added that she did not want to live under the fear of the CPM whom she called a hypocrite secular party.
CPM government cancelled land allotted to her by previous government
Reportedly, Chithra Lekha had earlier alleged that CPM workers did not allow her to work due to caste discrimination. He autorickshaw was allegedly burnt down. Chithra Lekha was reportedly allotted some land and money for a house by the previous UDF government in the state in Kattampally, Kannur two years ago. However, the CPM government cancelled the land allotted to her and refused to provide her with the allotted money. She had protested in front of the Collectorate office but the government did not change its decision.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted raids at several places in connection with Bengaluru riots, including four offices of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). SDPI is the political wing of the Muslim extremist organisation Political Front of India (PFI). According to a statement issued by NIA, the raids were conducted on a total of 43 locations in Bengaluru, Karanataka in relation to the horrific riots that had shaken the city of Bengaluru in August this year.
The NIA officials seized incriminating material relating to the SDPI/PFI along with weapons like sword, knife and iron rods during the raids. The agency has informed that 293 persons have been arrested in connections with the riots so far. In this, 124 arrests were made in relation to the riots in HJ Halli Police Station case and the rest 169 arrests were in relation to the riots in KG Halli Police Station case
Absconding Congress leader arrested in Bengaluru riots case
Congress leader and former Bengaluru Mayor R Sampath Raj, who was absconding for several weeks, was arrested by the Karnataka police on November 17 in connection with Bengaluru riots. He had escaped from private hospital where he was admitted for the treatment of Covid-19. Raj had field anticipatory bail application during his treatment which were rejected by court. Police had also arrested one of Raj’s associates named Riyazuddin on November 16 and another Congress corporator named Abdul Rakeeb Zakir for helping him escape.
An 850-page preliminary charge sheet was filed by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) of Karnataka police in October this year in connection with the riots. In the charge sheet, the CCB named 52 persons as accused and recorded the statements of over 30 eyewitnesses. Raj and another Congress party member Zakir Hussain have been named as accused in the charge sheet.
SDPI’s involvement in the riots
A violent Islamist mob had burnt down the city of Bengaluru in violent riots on August 11 this year over an alleged Facebook post of nephew of Congress MLA R Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy about Prophet Mohammad. The riots unleashed by violent Muslim left four people dead and 60 police personnel injured. Two police stations and the house of Srinivas Murthy was torched down. After taking over the investigation of the riots, the NIA had named SDPI leader Muzamil Pasha for “instigating the mob” to unleash violence on the streets of east Bengaluru.
Reportedly, 124 accused in connection with violence at DJ Halli police station and 169 accused in connection with violence at KG Halli police station have been arrested so far.
In a major embarrassment for the TMC leadership, senior legislators of the party have openly voiced their grievances against Prashant Kishor who was roped in by Mamata Banerjee following BJP’s impressive performance on the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal.
The BJP’s victory on 18 of the 42 seats had sent alarm bells ringing for the TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, who decided to avail the services of poll strategist Prashant Kishor for the West Bengal state assembly elections. However, it appears that Banerjee’s decision had boomeranged as TMC leaders have taken to openly criticising Kishor. Interestingly, the rebels, who are displeased with Kishor advised unpopular reshuffle in July this year, have said that Mamata Banerjee is losing control of her party.
TMC is no longer Mamata Banerjee’s party: rebel MLAs
Senior TMC legislator Mihir Goswami from the Cooch Behar South constituency, who had renounced all his organisational responsibilities in October this year, said that he was ready to tender his resignation from the party. Writing a long post on social media, he said that he had tolerated adverse situations since 1989 but did not leave the party because of Didi (Mamata Banerjee).
Expressing his distress over not receiving a phone call from Banerjee in the last six weeks, Goswami lamented, “This is no longer Didi’s party. She is aloof. My party is no longer in the hands of my leader. That is why Didi’s men are no longer required. If you have to stay, you have to be a ‘yes man’ or else, leave.”
Speculations of Goswami joining the BJP started gaining momentum after his meeting with the BJP’s Cooch Behar Lok Sabha MP, Nisith Pramanik. “I am giving everything a deep thought,” Goswami said on Tuesday, when asked whether he would leave the TMC.
Goswami is not alone in voicing his grievances against the party. He has found support from another senior TMC leader, Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia, the legislator from Sitai constituency in Cooch Behar. Basunia backed Goswami and questioned internal changes being made at the recommendation of Kishor and his team.
Prashant Kishor is root cause of all trouble: TMC legislator from Hariharpara
Another TMC legislator from Hariharpara, Niamot Sheikh openly questioned Kishor’s authority at a rally on Sunday. “Prashant Kishor is the root cause of all trouble. Suvendu Adhikari resurrected the party in Murshidabad. And now leaders who talk to him are facing action,” Sheikh said at the rally.
Earlier last month heavyweight TMC legislator and Transport Minister Suvendu Adhikari had openly revolted against the party leadership. Considered as the second-in-command of the TMC leadership, Adhikari has been pulling no punches in carrying out veiled attacks against the party in the election rallies that he is addressing.
There were rumours doing the rounds that Adhikari was dissatisfied with his sidelining as the profile of Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee steadily rose. However, one of the TMC MP rubbished the speculations, saying it is a false rhetoric put up by the opposition parties to sow discord within the party.
West Bengal BJP President Dilip Ghosh urges rebel MLAs to join the saffron party and breathe oxygen
On the other hand, West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh has claimed that the saffron party will win more than 200 seats of the total 294 in the state assembly elections.
In an exclusive interview to India Today, Ghosh said, “The BJP has been toiling hard in West Bengal for the last 3-4 years, the results of which were seen first in the panchayat elections and then in the Lok Sabha polls when the party won 18 seats. The central leadership is assessing the ground situation and telling the party where it can do better.”
However, the internecine conflict within the TMC wasn’t lost on the BJP state chief. Taking cognisance of the imminent implosion of TMC, Ghosh remarked that their legislators are feeling suffocated and are deprived of oxygen. He has urged them to join the BJP and abandon living under “corona-like” situation.
“We are roaming around with oxygen cylinders. We’ve told everyone, come join us. Breathe in the open. Why are you living in a Corona-like environment?” Dilip Ghosh said, making an open offer to the TMC leaders to join BJP.
Recently, social media websites were awash with a picture of a news report published in a newspaper stating that one Congress leader had eloped away with the wife of another Congress leader.
The intriguing nature of the story led many netizens to wonder if the news about a Congress leader running away with another Congress leader’s wife is true and several of them shared the picture to question the authenticity of the report published in a Hindi newspaper.
— वोक श्री सनीचर (चायिना एक्स्पर्ट) (टाइटविंगर) ? (@Ruchhan) November 18, 2020
The truth about the report about Congress leader eloping away with another Congress leader’s wife
At first blush, the amusing nature of the story makes one believe that the picture shared on the social media websites would be an act of mischievous image editing. However, on closer inspection, it emerges that the report published about the Congress leader eloping away with another Congress leader’s wife is true.
The incident pertains to Madhya Pradesh and is from February this year. The case is from the Bhawar Kuan police station area of Indore. Earlier this year, a Congress leader’s wife had gone missing along with her two children. The politician desperately searched for his wife, scoured through the CCTV footage, when he came to know that his wife was on a bike with another Congress leader.
Instead of approaching the police for his missing wife, the Congress leader approached the state Congress office in Bhopal with a complaint against his party member. The aggrieved Congress leader was then sent back to Indore and asked to contact DIG Ruchi Vardhan Sharma. He had demanded that his wife be brought back to him. It was alleged that the Congress leader, who was accused of eloping another leader’s wife, was an office-bearer of the Seva Dal and associated with a woman Congress leader.
Thousands of labourers organised protests against China in Karachi, Pakistan today regarding the disparity between the wages received by them and their Chinese compatriots in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. The protests were held after reports had emerged Chinese staff hired by the Punjab Mass Transit Authority for Orange Line Metro Train (OMLT) project are getting more salaries in comparison to their Pakistani counterparts. The Pakistani employees have demanded a salary hike from the government in accordance with the salaries of their Chinese counterparts.
Wage disparity affecting the morale of Pakistani staff
According to reports, the huge disparity in the salaries of Pakistani staff and Chinese staff is affecting the morale of the former badly. The Pakistani staff also has a grading system different from the Chinese. Moreover, the Chinese are being paid in Yuan while the Pakistanis are being paid in Pakistani rupees (PKR).
As of today, the value of 1 Chinese Yuan was more than 24 Pakistani Rupees. There are reportedly huge gaps in the salaries of Pakistani and Chinese officials occupying an equivalent position in the OLMT project. As reported by the News International, a Chinese-origin deputy chief executive officer with grade L 2 is paid 136,000 CNY monthly which amounts to Rs. 3.26 million. All such top positions, which are three in number, have been filled by the Chinese with no Pakistani being hired at the position. The discrimination is not limited to these three positions. There are huge differences in the salaries paid to the Chinese staff and the Pakistani staff working on the slot of train dispatcher/train crew. China has halted the work on its major projects as its investments in Pakistan have slowed down due to a number of factors including Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic, ongoing political unrest and foreign debt limits.
General Manager (Operations) Uzair Shah of Punjab Mass Transit Authority denied that the wage disparity was affecting the morale of Pakistani employees. He said that no comparison could be draw between the salaries of the employees and justified the wage gap saying that the Chinese employees were there to train their Pakistani counterparts.
Pakistan’s National Assembly passes CPEC Authority Bill
The National Assembly of Pakistan passed the CPEC authority Bill 2020 yesterday amidst heavy opposition. Ahsan Iqbal, former minister of planning gave a note of dissent against the Bill. He called the creation of CPEC Authority under the bill as “superfluous and unnecessary” adding that the role entrusted on the CPEC authority was being diligently and effectively discharged by the ministry of planning. He called for the strengthening of the CPEC secretariat instead of creating a new authority.
Barack Obama recently unveiled volume 1 of his memoir: ‘A Promised Land’. The book has already generated ripples across the world on account of its explosive content. From revealing US stereotypes on several issues to personal accounts of various political leaders, to highlighting watershed events that shaped the contemporary world, the book has been a window into the mind of the former US president.
Among other things, the most important event that Barack Obama described in vivid detail is the US operation that eliminated the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Osama Bin Laden, and the doubts harboured by the former US President in informing Pakistan about the covert operation.
In his book, Obama has provided a blow-by-blow account of the assassination of the Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in 2011. However, what’s perhaps more intriguing, from an Indian perspective, is the Obama’s and by extension the United States’ suspicions on Pakistan’s commitment to its fight against terrorism.
Obama reveals American misgivings on Pakistan’s fight against terrorism
Obama’s memoir provides a glimpse into the fading American trust on Pakistan. The former US President sharply notes that though they had allied with Pakistan on a range of counterterrorism operations and the country had acted as a crucial gateway for the American forces in Afghanistan, it can no longer be treated as a trustworthy partner in America’s battle against terrorism.
Obama recounts in his memoir that he had straight away perished the thought of involving Pakistan in the raid on Osama’s hideout, as it was known that elements in the Pakistani military had close ties with al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Obama writes that the elements in the military, and intelligence services, used the terror groups as strategic assets against Afghanistan and India.
“The fact that the Abbottabad compound was just a few miles from the Pakistan military’s equivalent of West Point only heightened the possibility that anything we told the Pakistanis could end up tipping off our target,” Obama wrote, expressing the fear that if Pakistan was informed about the mission, it would be leaked.
The former president also revealed that the then defence secretary Robert Gates and his vice president Joe Biden had opposed the secret operation inside Pakistan. Both of them were worried about possible consequences if the mission fails. Obama was aware of such a risk, and he remarked that he was likely to end up a one-term president if he got it wrong.
Pakistani military leveraged terrorists as a countervailing force against India
“We had one other constraint: Whatever option we chose could not involve the Pakistanis. Although Pakistan’s government cooperated with us on a host of counterterrorism operations and provided a vital supply path for our forces in Afghanistan, it was an open secret that certain elements inside the country’s military, and especially its intelligence services, maintained links to the Taliban and perhaps even al-Qaeda, sometimes using them as strategic assets to ensure that the Afghan government remained weak and unable to align itself with Pakistan’s number one rival, India,” Obama said in his book.
As per the reports, Twitter has officially apologized for the geo-tagging mistake committed by the social media giant by showing Ladakh as part of China. As per a PTI report, the Parliamentary panel’s chairperson and BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi said that the committee had received a written apology from Twitter and the company has promised to rectify the geo-tagging issue by November 30. The deposition from Twitter has come in the form of an affidavit signed by Twitter Inc’s Chief Privacy Officer, Damien Karein.
Twitter has apologised in writing for showing Ladakh in China: Parliamentary panel’s chairperson Meenakshi Lekhi tells PTI
In October, the Joint Committee of Parliament on Data Protection Bill had sent a notice to Twitter for showing Ladakh as part of China. It mentioned in the notice that the act amounted to treason and had sought an explanation in the form of an affidavit.
Twitter India’s representatives had met Lekhi and begged apology. However, their request was denied as the act was a criminal offence that “questioned the sovereignty of the country”. The committee asked Twitter India to inform Twitter Inc, the parent company, to submit an affidavit explaining their stand as an answer from its ‘marketing arm’, Twitter India, was not acceptable.
Lekhi said, “Twitter has now given us a written apology on an affidavit for Ladakh being shown in China.” She further added that they have apologised for hurting the sentiments of the Indians and promised to correct the error by November 30.
Twitter had shown Ladakh as “Jammu & Kashmir, the People”s Republic of China”
In October, while doing a Twitter Live session, security expert Nitin A Gokhale had noticed that his location was geo-tagged as ‘Jammu & Kashmir, the People”s Republic of China’. He was standing at Leh’s Hall of Fame, a war memorial for fallen soldiers in the Union Territory of Ladakh at that time. Taking cognizance of the issue, the Indian government issued a notice to Twitter on October 22 warning them to rectify the wrong geo-tagging.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had sent a letter and asked Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to respect the country’s sensitivities. Twitter had called it a ‘technical issue’ that had been resolved. In the affidavit submitted to the committee, Twitter said that the error was caused due to a software error combined with imperfect data resulting in an incorrect geo-tag.
“In the last few weeks, we have worked towards resolving the geo-tag issue in a manner wherein Leh as well as other cities in the Union Territory of Ladakh will now accurately show with their respective city name, state and country. In addition to this, we are also reviewing the geo-tag for various other cities in Jammu and Kashmir. This work is already in progress, and we are targeting November 30, 2020, completing this exercise,” it further added.
Twitter said that its team in India would continue to engage with the government for follow-up discussions. “We would also like to apologise for any sentiments that were hurt because of this error, “it said.
Twitter India’s representatives were questioned for two hours
On October 28, Twitter India’s representatives were questioned by the Parliamentary panel members over several issues with Ladakh geo-tagging as the priority. After the meeting, Lekhi said, “The committee was of the unanimous opinion that Twitter’s explanation on showing Ladakh as part of China was inadequate.”
On Wednesday, the BJP launched a blistering attack on Sonia Gandhi-led Congress party over its involvement in the high-profile AgustaWestland scam to allege that the Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi and senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel was expected to receive Rs 700 crore if the deal had gone through.
Addressing a press conference, senior BJP leader and national spokesperson Rajyavardhan Rathore stated that an investigation started into the AgustaWestland by the Italy court in November 2012 had highlighted the irregularities in the VVIP chopper deal. Citing Christian Michel’s revelation, Rathore said the notes of Agusta scam accused named senior Congress leaders and Sonia Gandhi’s involvement in the multi-crore scam.
Attacking the Congress over its involvement in the corruption cases, Rathore said, “Whenever the scams in defence deals surfaces, the name of Congress also comes up. Jeep scam, Tatra truck scam, Bofors scam and now AgustaWestland scam, all of these scams have happened under Congress rule. Senior party members ie Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi should give clarification and respond on why the name of senior party leaders have appeared in this scam.”
Referring to the deposition by key-accused Christian Michel in which he had mentioned about a meeting with an ‘Italian lady’s son who is next in line to become the Prime Minister’, Rathore alleged that the first family of the Congress party had the direct role in the scam.
“In the charge sheet, it has been mentioned conclusively that kickbacks were paid to defence officials, bureaucrats, politicians and all this is based on the documents seized by the Swiss Police. The deposition by Christian Michelle and in the interrogation of another accused – Rajiv Saxena – when all this is connected a lot of things are revealed,” Rathore added.
“In communication by Christian Michelle in 2009, he wrote, ‘We have pressurized by the Prime Minister through the party elite. We had a meeting with an Italian lady’s son who is next in line to become the PM’,” Rajyavardhan Rathore said in a press conference on Wednesday
Taking a dig at Gandhi-scion Rahul Gandhi for his tweets, Rathore demanded that the Rahul Gandhi should also address the nation about his party’s involvement in the AgustaWestland scam.
The press statement by Col Rajyavardhan Rathore came out after one of the main accused Rajiv Saxena had revealed about the involvement of senior Congress leaders like Salman Khurshid, Kamal Nath’s son Bakul Nath and Sonia Gandhi’s close aide Ahmed Patel had appeared in the scam.
Rajiv Saxena names several Congress leaders in the Agustawestland scam
One of the prime accused turned approver in the AgustaWestland scam, Rajiv Saxena, has named key Congress leaders and their relatives over alleged involvement in the Rs 3,600-crore VVIP chopper scam. In his interrogation in connection with the scam, Saxena named senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid, Kamal Nath’s son Bakul Nath and Sonia Gandhi’s close aide Ahmed Patel.
Saxena, who was picked up by UAE government security agencies in Dubai and later extradited to India on January 30, 2019, and who later turned approver, was interrogated by the Enforcement Directorate, which attached his assets worth Rs 385 crore. The ED has now approached the apex court to revoke the approver status of Rajiv Saxena for not revealing the complete disclosure of facts in the case.
As per Saxena’s confession to Enforcement Directorate, the kickbacks also entailed the benefits for the political leaders and bureaucrats at the time who played a crucial role in influencing the decision in favour of the Agusta Westland. Some of the payoffs, through direct and indirect means, were routed to India with the help of structures built by him, Saxena has admitted, as per the Indian Express report.
In addition to this, Saxena also cites a critical link with a company named Pristine River Investments. “We(Gupta and myself) received bridge funding through Pristine River Investments, a company managed by John Docherty for Bakul Nath, son of Kamal Nath. Therefore, indirectly funds from Interstellar Technologies and Global Services were used to pay off the loans from Pristine River Investments,” Saxena said.
The AgustaWestland Scam
India had signed a deal in 2010 under the UPA regime to buy 12 AgustaWestland AW101 helicopters for the service of the Prime Minister, the President and other VVIPs. It is alleged that some politicians and public servants had abused their official positions to reduce the service ceiling of the VVIPs helicopter from 6000 metres to 4500 metres to make AgustaWestland eligible for the contract and had awarded the contract for an amount of Euro 556.262 million in 2010. The deal was cancelled in 2013 after the scam was revealed.
