Delhi Police on Friday booked a local Congress leader, for not disclosing the fact that he had traveled to the Markaz Nizamuddin of Tablighi Jamaat, which has emerged as the country’s biggest Wuhan Coronavirus vector. The police have alleged that because of the Congress leader’s gross negligence, his village Deenpur in south-west Delhi has now been declared a containment zone, meaning it has been sealed off and movement of residents in and out of the place has been restricted.
Along with the former civic councillor, his wife, who is currently the area councillor and their daughter, the three have tested positive for the deadly contagion. The police have claimed that the Delhi Congress leader had deliberately hidden his travel details to the event organised by Tablighi Jamaat in Markaz Nizamuddin. When he was asked if he had visited any large religious gathering last month, he did not disclose his visit to Markaz, the police said. As per police, he was home quarantined at his residence in Deenpur village in Najafgarh. However, he was later found missing during physical verification of home quarantined persons.
An FIR had been lodged against him at Chhawla police station under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other relevant sections of the Epidemic Diseases Act.
A police official said that when the Congress leader was probed further to ascertain the source of his contagion and the number of contacts he might have transmitted the disease to, it was revealed that he had hidden the details about his visit to Markaz Nizamuddin. “When we were investigating initially, he was not showing any symptoms. But later when we did technical investigations, his link was clearly established, that he had visited the Tablighi Jamaat gathering,” a police official said.
The police officials have alleged that he has not only imperiled the health of his family members, two of whom have tested positive for the infection, but his conduct has also posed a threat of the spread of the disease to the local community members.
The role of the Tablighi Jamaat in the spreading of the Wuhan Coronavirus in India came to light when thousands of Jamaatis were found holed up in the Markaz Nizamuddin in violation of all lockdown guidelines and orders. Subsequently, numerous people across several states of India who had attended the Islamic event at the Markaz Nizamuddin tested positive for the virus.
A 65-year old man who was infected by Wuhan coronavirus has reportedly succumbed to the disease in Silchar’s Medical college and hospital(SMCH) in southern Assam’s Barak Valley on Friday.
As per reports, The deceased has travel history from Saudi Arabia and he also had participated in the Nizamuddin Markaz event of South Delhi last month. The infection was detected on April 7 and he was admitted to Silchar Medical College and Hospital.
Regarding the incident Assam’s Health Minister Himanta Biswas Sarma tweeted, “With utmost Grief and sorrow, I would like to inform that Sri Faijul Haque Barbhyan, (65) Hailakandi District has expired a few minutes back in SMCH due to complication of COVID19 infection. My deep condolences and prayers for the bereaved family.”
With utmost Grief and sorrow,I would like to inform that Sri Faijul Haque Barbhyan,(65)Hailakandi District has expired few minutes back in SMCH due to complication of COVID19 https://t.co/MoRWPP4Bml deep condolences and prayers for the bereaved family
He was among the 29 people who were tested positive for the Wuhan coronavirus in the state of Assam. Apart from the cases in Assam, Manipur has reported 2 cases, while Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura and Mizoram have reported 1 case each.
The Nizamuddin Markaz event has turned into an epicentre for most of the Wuhan coronavirus cases across the country. The role of the Tablighi Jamaat in the spreading of the Wuhan Coronavirus in India came to light when thousands of Jamaatis were found holed up in the Markaz Nizamuddin in violation of all guidelines and orders. Subsequently, numerous people across numerous states of India who had attended the Islamic event at the Markaz Nizamuddin tested positive for the virus.
Maharashtra has so far clocked the highest number of positive Coronavirus cases including the number of deaths in the state. Amidst allegations of mismanagement by an inexperienced first-time Chief Minister, a marketing campaign was launched to show how CM Uddhav Thackeray was the best Chief Minister and was handling the pandemic rather effectively. While the suspicions about the PR campaign for Uddhav Thackeray were just about gaining wind, a tweet by actress and model Urvashi Rautela has given fuel to those speculations.
Hindustan Times in a recent fluff piece wrote how Urvashi Rautela was a habitual plagiarist when it came to tweeting on the micro-blogging website. The article said that she regularly ‘steals tweets’ from actor Sidharth Malhotra.
The article said: Actor Urvashi Rautela has definitely not learnt her lesson. After being called out by a US writer for copy-pasting his tweet about Parasite movie, she has once again plagiarised someone’s tweet. This time, Urvashi stole actor Sidharth Malhotra’s appreciation tweet for the Mumbai Police for implementing the coronavirus lockdown. “This is the time to heartily thank our Mumbai police, who are leaving their families at home & working with their high spirit and untiring efforts for our security and safety.. You guys are the real heroes #ThankYouMumbaiPolice,” Sidharth had written in his tweet.
The tweets being referred to by the Hindustan Times article were contributing to a hashtag on Twitter, #ThankYouMumbaiPolice. A hashtag under which several Bollywood celebrities had tweeted.
In the “original tweet” by Siddharth Malhotra which was posted on the 9th of April, Siddharth wrote, “This is the time to heartily thank our Mumbai police, who are leaving their families at home & working with their high spirit and untiring efforts for our security and safety.. You guys are the real heroes”.
Tweet by Siddharth Malhotra which might be a part of PR campaign by Mumbai Police
The “copied tweet” by Urvashi Rautela was on the same lines, contributing to the hashtag #ThankYouMumbaiPolice.
She wrote, “This is the time to heartily thank our @MumbaiPolice & Maharastra police, who leaving their families at homes are working with their high spirit and untiring efforts for our security and safety”.
Tweet by Urvashi Rautela which might be a part of PR campaign by Mumbai Police
The Hindustan Times reported that “Urvashi omitted just one line from the tweet and copied the rest of it, even the hashtags. “This is the time to heartily thank our @MumbaiPolice & Maharastra police, who leaving their families at homes are working with their high spirit and untiring efforts for our security and safety..#ThankYouMumbaiPolice#ThankYouMaharasthraPolice,” she wrote. A Twitter user called her out saying, “Please don’t copy paste Twitter messages , be original.””
This report did not go down well with Urvashi and she tweeted her passionate rebuttal to it. However, in an almost Freudian slip, she may have ended up revealing the coordinated campaign that was launched in Maharashtra.
Urvashi tweeted, “Oh really @htTweets we think its high time ! You guys should better focus on better content rather than focusing on her. Also it was a same tweet provided by @MumbaiPolice to @UrvashiRautela & @SidMalhotra which they had to post. No one copied anyone !!!!! Peace”
Tweet by Urvashi Rautela that revealed the PR campaign by Mumbai Police
The tweet read that it was the “same tweet” which was “provided” to “her and Siddharth Malhotra” to tweet and hence, “nobody copied anyone”. She also said that the tweet which was “provided” was by Mumbai Police.
Judging from her tweet, it would appear that the Mumbai Police has launched a PR campaign roping in Bollywood actors and actresses to play up their image and Maharashtra becomes the state with the most Coronavirus positive cases and the allegations of mismanagement against the Uddhav Thackeray government have been mounting.
Earlier, Bollywood celebrities were accused to be doing paid tweets for Uddhav Thackeray too, though that cannot be confirmed by OpIndia independently. Urvashi’s latest tweet, while it confirms that it’s a coordinated campaign, doesn’t clarify if it’s paid or not.
There were several people who raised questions on this coordinated campaign by the Mumbai Police as the Coronavirus pandemic gripped the state. One said that at this time, Mumbai Police should be focussing all their resources on fighting the pandemic, not going PR for themselves.
Another Twitter user called @UttamPatel also tweeted that the PR tweets were provided not just to Urvashi and Siddharth but many other Bollywood celebrities too.
The Coronavirus pandemic has turned everyone’s world upside-down. Other than being a pandemic and the obvious ramifications that come with the world grappling with millions affected and thousands dead, what the pandemic has revealed, however, are the hits and misses of our system of governance. Essentially, in a country of 1.3 Billion people, controlling a pandemic like this can be a near impossibility at worst, a nightmare at best. Amidst the chaos, the central government showed remarkable alacrity in its quest to control the virus. The sheer resilience of the medical workers, essential services personnel and the police force, that India often likes to criticise, rose to the occasion. In fact, until the Tablighi Jamaat case blew up, it almost seemed like India was fighting the pandemic with far more ease than the other countries. Even after the Tablighi Jamaat cases exploded, the decisiveness with which the central government and the state governments have acted in tracking, quarantining and testing, gives one immense hope.
However, in such dark times, while the collective mettle of a nation is tested, it is the gravity of leaders that is tested the most.
Earlier, a PR campaign was launched to show how “well” Uddhav Thackeray was handling the pandemic despite several missteps and mistakes that made Maharashtra the state with high Coronavirus cases in India.
The police in Ramgarh, Jharkhand had received information that some Tablighi Jamaatis were hiding in a camp deep inside the forest in Kuju. As per a report in Jagran, the police raided the location and found a hideout in Orla, Telenia forest in Kuju under the Mundu police station of Ramgarh District.
Kuju OP in-charge of Bharat Paswan led a team for the search operation. They spotted a tent made up of bamboo in the dense forest with the help of villagers. No one was found inside the tent instead there were few blankets for sleeping. The police set ablaze the tent and destroyed it on the spot.
As per reports, the police had received information from the locals that several people from Tablighi jamaat have been hiding in the forest of Orla Telenia. There were also reports that food and other provisions are being sent to them from Kuju every day. The Jamaatis had allegedly fled the place before the arrival of the police.
Last month, several foreign Tablighi Jamaat members were found hiding in a Mosque in Ranchi. It is notable here that all Tablighi Jamaatis who had attended the Nizamuddin Markaz have been ordered to reveal themselves to the authorities for quarantine. The Markaz event has been a coronavirus super-spreader.
Positive Cases of Wuhan coronavirus related to Tablighi Jamaat began erupted across the country after their event of Nizamuddin Markaz last month. The Tablighi Jamaat members are leaving no stone unturned in disrespecting the order of self-quarantine by the government authorities.
The Siwan district in Bihar has been sealed off after 23 members of a single-family were found coronavirus positive. As per reports, a person who had returned from Oman and did not follow home quarantine rules eventually ended up infecting 22 others.
The Bihar government has also deployed Bihar Military police to enforce strict lockdown and quarantine those who are affected.
As per a report in Deccan Herald, one person had a travel history from Oman who was residing with the family. He belongs to the Raghunathpur block returned to Siwan from Oman on 16 March, detected carrying the infection on 4 April till then he had travelled to several places in the district and ended up infecting 22 people of his own family including women and children.
Siwan is a muslim dominated area with 25 lakh population out of which alomost 50000 people are living abroad for livelihood.
A government official claimed that “Till April 10, out of 60 positive cases in Bihar, 23 belong to one particular family in Siwan. Eight others from the same district have reported being coronavirus patients, which effectively means half of the Bihar patients, who tested positive, belong to Siwan.”
Other than Siwan, Begusarai and Nawada have also been sealed. Bihar DGP Gupteshwar Pandey said, “It will be a curfew-type situation in the sealed areas where no one will be allowed to move out even to purchase milk or vegetables. All essential commodities will be provided to the needy by the government agencies.”
Apart from these districts, the roads leading to Gopalganj and East Champaran districts have been sealed too.
After a sudden rise in Wuhan coronavirus cases in India due to the Tablighi Jamaat super-spread, many places in India have now been sealed off. UP has sealed 15 districts, Madhya Pradesh has sealed 14 districts while Delhi has sealed off 20 worst hotspots.
The Telangana police arrested two youths on Wednesday for launching an attack on police constable at Chandrayangutta after an argument. According to reports, on Sunday evening, constable P Praveen Kumar was present at the State Bank of India customer service point on his duty, where he was reportedly attacked by the two youths with a lathi. The suspects had attacked the constable and fled from the spot.
The suspects identified as Shaik Mohammed Ameeruddin (21), a mechanic, and Shaik Saif Mohiuddin (24), an electrician, are residents of Gulshan Iqbal Colony in Chandrayangutta.
Both of them have been arrested now, said Rudra Bhaskar, Station House Officer Chandrayangutta.
According to the reports, the issue started around 3 pm when Ameeruddin went to SBI customer service point along with his grandmother to withdraw pension of Rs 500. While Ameeruddin was standing on the road after parking his vehicle, Praveen came to the spot on his motorcycle and they got into an altercation.
Later, Ameeruddin returned to the place along with his friend and hit the policeman with a lathi resulting in bleeding injuries. The constable was shifted to a private hospital at Kanchanbagh where he is undergoing treatment.
At a time when the policemen are risking their lives to limit the spread of the Chinese epidemic, several mobs have launched attacks on them ever since lockdown was announced across the country.
Just yesterday, a video had now gone viral in which it was seen a group of 5 men, including one minor assaulting police officers at Annabhau Sathe junction near the District Collector’s office in the city of Aurangabad in Maharashtra.
Police personnel were deployed in the area to check on people who were deliberately violating lockdown guidelines or out on a joy ride in their private vehicles. When the cops stopped a two-wheeler for persons going triple-seat, the trio began arguing with the police. The Muslim mob then snatched the stick and resorted to brutally assaulting the cop.
Earlier, two men identified as Tajuddin and Kutubuddin who had brutally thrashed two policemen for stopping them for breaching a check post during the nationwide lockdown were arrested by the Bengaluru police on March 26. Reportedly, the accused were over-speeding and performing stunts on bikes during the lockdown.
In a shocking revelation, Bihar Police have unravelled a nefarious Pakistani ploy of spreading the deadly coronavirus in India by sending coronavirus infected men via Nepal. According to the reports, the Sashatra Seema Bal (SSB) manning the Indo-Nepal border has written a letter to the Champaran SP and District Magistrate, apprising them of a racket that is being operated from Nepal to spread the coronavirus in India.
As per the letter sent by SSB, a resident in Nepal is trying to send positive coronavirus Indian Muslims to India through Bihar border with the ulterior motive of disseminating the virus in India. The letter also states that Pakistani men already infected by COVID-19 may also be infiltrated to India via the Indo-Nepal border.
The Patna DGP Gupteshwar Pandey informed that after the letter from SSB was received by the DM and Champaran SP, all the other SPs of the districts bordering Nepal have been alerted of possible infiltration attempts made by intruders from Nepal.
“I had talked to the Inspector General of the SSB. All the SPs of the districts bordering Nepal have been alerted about the possibility of infiltration attempts being carried out by intruders based out of Nepal. The SSB is deployed at the border. We have our police personnel also deputed at the border. Till date, there is no information that anybody has infiltrated from the Nepal border,” he said.
Pandey assured that infiltration from Nepal is very difficult as the entire border between the two country is completely sealed in the view of the coronavirus outbreak.
Regarding the 14 Indian Muslims who had escaped a quarantine centre to Nepal, DGP Pandey said that they might try to return but nobody will be allowed to enter India as lockdown is underway. “In the wake of coronavirus pandemic, nationwide lockdown has been imposed. Not just international borders are sealed, state borders and district borders are sealed as well. Nobody from Nepal can enter India, no one from Uttar Pradesh can enter Bihar and nobody can enter Patna from outside. Anyone who is trying to breach the lockdown, we will immediately arrest them,” DGP Pandey said.
An Indian man Rakesh B. Kitturmath, who worked as a team leader at Emrill Services, an integrated facilities management (FM) headquartered in Dubai, was terminated from his job on Thursday after he made a critical comment on a Facebook post against some delusional Muslim TikTok users who claim that offering 5 times namaz a day is enough to stave off the threat of novel coronavirus.
Comment by Kitturmath that sparked outrage on social media
Social media platforms are rife with videos of delusional Muslims claiming that exercising social isolation is all conspiracy and it doesn’t help in protecting oneself from the virus. They also claim that offering 5-times namaz is the only way that one can keep the virus at bay. As the threat of coronavirus continues to rage, Kitturmath’s remarks sought to highlight the lunacy of the argument made by the misleading TikTok users.
However, Kitturmath’s comment against the deluded Muslim TikTok users endorsing 5-times namaz as a panacea to safeguard oneself from coronavirus did not sit well with Islamists and Hinduphobes who used the opportunity to unleash their hatred against Hindus. His comment’s screenshot was made viral by rabid Islamists, asserting that Kitturmath had insulted Islam. He was subsequently fired from his job and his organisation UAE based Emrill Services reported him to the Dubai police. He is currently facing the prospect of doing jail time in Dubai for allegedly insulting Islam.
“Kitturmath’s employment stands terminated with immediate effect. He will be handed over to Dubai Police. We have a zero-tolerance policy towards such hate crimes,” said Stuart Harrison, CEO of Emrill Services.
“We have over 8,500 employees so this may take a while. That said, we have fired him. If he”s still in the country, he will be handed over to Dubai Police,” he said.
The punitive action initiated against Kitturmath was welcomed by a host of Congress supporters. One Congress supporter, Selvin Thomas, who not only was one of those who tried to viral Kitturmath’s comment and sought action against him from Dubai Police, he also gloated upon the plight of the man stranded in an Islamic country who had to make a desperate appeal to the Indian diplomats in Dubai to repatriate him back to India.
Dubai based RSS guy thought his Indian Anti Muslim leader (Jumla Man and Tapidar) will save him in UAE…even after mocking islam
Islamists and Hinduphobes are constantly prowling and scouring accounts of Hindu social media users based in the Gulf countries to exact revenge on them for voicing their opinions which did not particularly conform to the Islamist worldview.
Spitting in India & reporting abroad. These jihadis who claim to be for free speech, have been reporting Hindus in the gulf for “Islamophobic comments”. pic.twitter.com/bXivIo3Cng
Former ‘journalist’ Irena Akbar, who is often found spewing venom against Hindus and Dalits in India, had posted a tweet asking people to report “Islamophobic” posts on Facebook/Twitter by UAE-based Hindus to one Mazhar Farooqui of the Gulf News, so a retaliatory action can be taken against such individuals. Irena claims Mazhar to be a “big asset to the Indian Muslim community”.
Of late, there has been a growing list of Hindu Indian ex-pats based in the middle-east countries, who have come under the attack of Islamists and Hinduphobes for raising contrarian viewpoints. Earlier this week, Abu Dhabi resident Mitesh Udeshi was fired for uploading a benign cartoon which many claimed to have allegedly mocked Islam.
It is notable here that Islamist nations have strict laws against ‘blasphemy’ which are often misused to target non-Muslims for expressing their opinions. These laws are arbitrary and usually end up becoming a tool to target and harass non-Muslims over trivial issues.
For some time, it has been suspected that the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government was fudging its data on the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic. We had reported on the 6th of April that at least eleven people who had tested positive for the virus had died in the state and yet, the official records of the state claimed that the figure was only three. Now, a report on The Statesmen claims that the Kolkata Municipal Corporation recorded ten deaths due to the virus while the West Bengal Health Ministry led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee continued to claim that only five people had succumbed to the disease.
Source: EPaper of The Statesman, 9th April 2020 Edition
The report by Subhendu Maiti on The Statesman says that the list of deaths due to the Wuhan Coronavirus compiled by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation says that ten patients died of the disease across government and private hospitals such as the NRS Hospital, R.G.Kar Medical College, M.R.Bangur Super Speciality Hospital, AMRI Hospitals at Salt Lake, Peerless Hospital and Zenith Super Specialty Hospital. The deceased were buried or cremated as per their religious beliefs between the 23rd of March and 6th of April, the report mentioned.
The deceased were residents of Dum Dum, Ultadanga, Shibpur, New Garia, Belghoria, Maheshtala in South 24 Paraganas, Baidyabati in Hooghly, Thakurpukur, and Cossipore in Kolkata. The authorities in KMC, when questioned about the matter, were hesitant to support their own list and risk the wrath of Mamata Banerjee should they disagree. The discrepancy between the numbers is due to the fact that the West Bengal government has decided not to attribute the cause of death to the Wuhan Coronavirus in case the patient was suffering from comorbid issues.
Unlike other states which are attributing the cause of death to the Wuhan Coronavirus in case the deceased has tested positive for the virus, the West Bengal government has set up an ‘expert committee’ to determine the cause of death after going through the test results, medical history and other documents of the deceased. “We have formed a committee of five doctors who will decide the actual cause of death. They are the experts, I am not. We do not want to create panic among people. Please trust the doctors,” chief minister Mamata Banerjee said.
In a significant incident on the 2nd of April, after an expert committee announced that seven people had died due to the Chinese Coronavirus in Bengal, Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha quickly issued an “explanation” to claim that the number of deaths was in, fact, three. Subsequently, the expert committee was formed to determine the official cause of death. All of this is a matter of significant concern as there appears to be a dedicated attempt underway to fudge data regarding the pandemic in the state. Given the seriousness of the question, it remains to be seen whether Mamata Banerjee and her government decide to course correct now that the cat is out of the bag.
An assistant police inspector (API) posted at Dongri police station was seriously injured after being hit and dragged by a speeding motorbike during the nationwide lockdown on Thursday.
According to the reports, the incident occurred at a police checkpoint on the P.D’Mello Road stretch of the Eastern Freeway in Dongri when a team of six cops directed a speeding biker identified as Khajabi Sheikh Naeem to stop.
Despite the police team’s order, Naeem suddenly increased his speed further and tried to ride away. Assistant Inspector Vijendra Dhurat managed to grab a hold of the bike’s rear handle and was dragged for over 25 feet. Ultimately Naeem lost his balance and fell from the bike along with Dhurat as the bike skidded away.
Dhurat suffered injuries to his hands, legs and shoulders, and was rushed to a nearby hospital. Naeem was arrested by the other personnel on duty at the time.
“Mr. Naeem has been charged with causing injury to a public servant on duty with an intent to prevent him from discharging his duty under the Indian Penal Code. He was produced in court later in the day, and has been remanded in police custody till Friday,” police sub-inspector Arafat Siddiqui, Dongri police station, said.
At a time when the policemen are risking their lives to limit the spread of the Chinese epidemic, constant reports of attacks and assault on police and healthcare personnel are also being reported.
Just yesterday, a video had gone viral in which it was seen a group of 5 men, including one minor assaulting police officers at Annabhau Sathe junction near the District Collector’s office in the city of Aurangabad in Maharashtra.
Earlier, two men identified as Tajuddin and Kutubuddin who had brutally thrashed two policemen for stopping them for breaching a check post during the nationwide lockdown were arrested by the Bengaluru police on March 26. Reportedly, the accused were over-speeding and performing stunts on bikes during the lockdown.
Reports of attacks on policemen have also surfaced from Bihar, UP, Madhya Pradesh and many other parts.
