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Bitter baby empire: It’s time the UK minds its own business

Dhaval Patel
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Bitter baby empire: It’s time the UK minds its own business

#StatueOfUnity prevailed all over the news headlines for the last three days for reasons well known. Widely held to be PM Modi’s personal brainchild and pet project, the foundation for the project was laid down in 2013, its construction was formally completed in mid-October 2018 in a record time span of 33 months.

The inaugural ceremony was held on 31st October 2018, as the statue was opened to the world, presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself. In engineering circles around the globe, the gargantuan statue is being described and credited as a tribute to the under-rated Indian engineering skills.

The world is facing a paradoxical situation, being aroused and intrigued by the particular marvellous feat and at the same time is left feeling bothered about the #StatueOfUnity. After all, it’s the world’s tallest statue built by a third world country which is making strides in every field larger than what their petty minds can fathom.

With a height of 182 metres (597 ft) or about two times as tall as the Statue of Liberty. The international media has been ever since trying to downplay the feat achieved by India using entirely local Indi-generous technology and manpower.

Daily Mail UK came out with a distinctly offensive article titled “That’s rich! We gave £1 billion aid to India as they built £330million statue”. The title itself is not only misleading but is seen as an attempt to downplay the achievement of India, once Britain’s colony which it lived off, so pompously for over 200 years when it suited their moral conscience. The parasite, now a full-bloodied creature, cannot possibly come to terms with India’s rise, a country it left in shambles, built back so painstakingly by the Iron Man himself.

The article quotes Britain MP Peter Bone who has opined “To take £1.1billion in aid from us and then at the same time spend £330million on a statue is a total nonsense and it is the sort of thing that drives people mad. What it proves is that we should not be giving money to India. It is up to them how they spend their money but if they can afford this statue, then it is clearly a country we should not need to be giving aid to.”

Hours after the article was published Twitter users started to call out the hypocrisy of Britain MP Peter Bone. BJP Youth Wing leader SG Suryah from Tamil Nadu tweeted out saying “British who once ruled us are reduced to nothing while India is a Global Power. Obviously they can’t tolerate India scaling heights. He added that not a single pount from the British aid went in the making of the statue.


In the series of tweets, Suryah called out the lies and deplorable distortions of truths, made by the Britain MP Peter Bone and gave him facts & figures that could go out and embarrass the UK.

He first spelt out the figures on Indian money being pumped into the UK in terms of higher education contributing enormously to their growth story.

Then he went on to quote about the wealth plundered by the British Empire in India while it occupied it for over two centuries. Thereafter he referred to the events that transpired in 2012 when India rejected the funds while Britain kept on insisting to receive the funds to save their(Britain Govt.) face locally.


The fact is that not one pound from the British Aid that was given to India, went to the construction of this grand statue, the very headline of Daily Mail UK is misleading, notorious and banks fallacious comparisons, done with the sole intent of downplaying this monumental feat India has achieved a couple of days back.

And it is most certainly not the job of the likes a British MP “Peter Bone” to decide what is nonsense and what makes people mad, it’s time to call out this MP and leave him a memo about the immutable foreseeable change that India is going to bring to the World Order.

It is natural to be envious of the people who were once mere servants under your regime, but are now reclaiming their glory in spite of what you did to them but dear Mr Bone, why don’t you mind your own business and perhaps try to save your own economy?

Uttar Pradesh: Minor girl gang raped by hospital staff while undergoing treatment in ICU

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh: Minor girl gang raped by hospital staff while undergoing treatment in ICU

In a ghastly incident, a teenage girl in the intensive care unit (ICU) was allegedly gang-raped by a hospital worker and four other persons in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly city. She was admitted in the ICU of a private hospital after she was bitten by a snake while working in the family farm.

According to the police complaint lodged by her father, the incident occurred on Wednesday night, a day after the 17-year-old was admitted in the ICU. The police have arrested a staff member of the hospital and are on the lookout for four others. The CCTV footage of the ICU has been seized by the police.

The superintendent of police, city, Abhinandan Singh said, “The girl was not in a condition to speak or call for help at the time of the incident. But she informed her relative about it when she was transferred to the general ward on Friday. As per the complaint, the accused raped the girl on her bed inside the ICU. The bed has long curtains around it that apparently blocked the view of other staff.”

“The compounder at the hospital, Sunil Sharma and three others have been charged with gang rape in the FIR. Two police teams have been deployed to arrest them,” Singh said.

The accused have also been charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act as the girl is a minor.

The victim had told her grandmother that a man in uniform and four others walked into the ICU when she was alone at night. They tried to forcefully give her an injection and when she fought them, the men gagged her and tied her hands and raped her, the teenager said. Her grandmother raised an alarm and complained to the doctors about the incident and the hospital authorities called the police.

In a similar incident, a ward boy and a medical student were arrested on October 16 for raping a minor nursing student while she was admitted to a Bagpat hospital in Uttar Pradesh.

Another incident that transpired in 2016, which sent the country into a shock wave was when a 22-year-old woman was allegedly drugged and raped by an on-duty doctor at a reputed hospital in Gandhinagar. The alleged incident took place in the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) where the patient was undergoing treatment for dengue.

Would ‘liberals’ prefer to build a Rs 3356 crore ‘Statue of Corruption’?

Abhishek Banerjee
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Would ‘liberals’ prefer to build a Rs 3356 crore ‘Statue of Corruption’?

Of late the figure of Rs 3000 crore has come to be much celebrated in the liberal circuit of Indian media. It comes up in every possible context involving people, money and government expenditure. For example :

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The reason, of course, is the Statue of Unity inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Oct 31 as a tribute to Sardar Patel on his birth anniversary, a monument that cost somewhere around Rs 3000 crore.

For the liberal ecosystem, that must have stung. Especially because the liberal ecosystem is running numerous Break India projects at this moment. From spreading hatred against Bihari labourers in Gujarat to gorging on Tinsukia terror attack to create division between Bengalis and Assamese.

For the last few days, liberals have therefore been coming back to the figure of 3000 crores for everything. How many schools, hospitals, space programs, IITs, IIMs, etc… could have been made for that money? How many roads, railways, airports, etc?

Interestingly, to my knowledge, I am yet to see any liberal counting the cost of the Statue of Unity in terms of the number of social “science” PhD students that could have been funded at JNU to study Africology. It’s almost like liberals already know which forms of spending generate zero value for society at large.

And that is why I have a question for India’s liberals: would you prefer to build a 3356 crore Statue of Corruption?

Where did I get this number from? See here:

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Where else would he have gone?

Just to remind people, Madhu Koda was an independent MLA who managed to become Jharkhand CM with the support of the Congress Party. And he did exactly what you would expect an independent MLA who leads an unstable government to do. He made as much hay as he could while the sun was still shining.

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Of course, none of the blame for this attached to the “honest” government of “honest” Dr Manmohan Singh. I wonder whether Narendra Modi would have faced any questions today had piles of cash been recovered from one of the BJP’s sitting Chief Ministers. But then, you can’t compare Modi to the “honest” Manmohan Singh, can you?

So how much hay did Madhu Koda make?

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Ah, 3356 crores!

Just one of the many “small expenses” that the nation was forced to incur during the secular rule of the UPA.

I mentioned earlier that I want to ask my liberal friends a question. Tell me, what could have the nation done with this Rs 3356 crore?

This should be easy for you. Only recently you have done the math for Rs 3000 crore in terms of everything from roads, schools, electricity, hospitals to IITs and IIMs. Just find a calculator and reel off the numbers corresponding to 3356 crores, will you?

Or would you prefer to build a Rs 3356 crore Statue of Corruption? As you can see, the dirty money was already being invested in real estate. So why not invest it into one single spectacular Statue of Corruption that will attract lakhs of tourists from across the world?

Come on, liberal friends, the Statue of Corruption can be a national memorial to all our scams and the “honest” Prime Ministers who presided over them. What say?

AAP rebel MLA Kapil Mishra claims there has been no trial of Delhi’s Signature Bridge

OpIndia Staff
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AAP rebel MLA Kapil Mishra claims there has been no trial of Delhi’s Signature Bridge

Rebel AAP MLA, Kapil Mishra, spilt the beans, by disclosing that there have not been any trials of the Delhi’s Signature bridge, which, according to the party officials is due for inauguration by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.


Kapil Mishra, in his tweet, claimed that he was informed by an official, who has been overviewing the construction of the bridge, that neither the construction of the bridge has been completed nor the trial. While pointing out that it is mandatory to examine a cable-stayed bridge before opening it for the public as chances of mishaps are very high, he furthered that the installation of lifts and glass panels are yet to be completed.

Keeping the burgeoning traffic in mind, the Delhi government, in 2004 had proposed to build the country’s first asymmetrical bridge to rid north Delhi of its traffic woes.

In these 14 years, Delhi has had five state elections. A lot has changed but the construction of the 657mt long Signature Bridge over the Yamuna is still a work in progress, way past its deadline of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Conceptualised in 2004, the Signature Bridge project was approved by the Delhi cabinet in 2007. Construction was to have started that year itself, but it took off only by 2010, the original completion date. Officials explained the delay saying the project had failed to get an environmental clearance. That approval finally came in 2011 and the deadline was revised to December 2013. The completion date was later pushed to June 2016 and then to July 2017.

In July 2017, the Aam Aadmi government released Rs 100 crore for the project and set a new deadline of March 2018, which was further pushed to April 2018, June 2018, and now, to October 2018.

Amidst all this, Aam Aadmi party’s official Twitter handle was caught trying to pass off an image of the illuminated Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam as the yet-to-be inaugurated Signature Bridge in Delhi.

Trial court employee wanted to make a film on injustices by Judges in Court, Punjab and Haryana HC denies, orders inquiry

OpIndia Staff
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Trial court employee wanted to make a film on injustices by Judges in Court, Punjab and Haryana HC denies, orders inquiry

In a controversial order, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has reportedly issued a diktat directing a lower court in Mansa, Punjab to initiate action against a trial court staff member for requesting the High Court to produce a film on his job experience and injustices meted out in the courts.

The bizarre incident took place when Harmeet Singh Tinku, an official at the Sessions court of Mansa, Punjab had written to the Punjab and Haryana High Court on September 1, 2018 asking for permission to make a movie on his own experience regarding how judges break law, injustices and other tortures caused to him during his service.

In response to Singh’s letter, the Register General of the High Court has sent an order dated September 7, 2018, to the District and Sessions Judge of Mansa to conduct an enquiry regarding whether the above-said letter was sent by Harmeet Singh Tinku and has asked the court to initiate departmental action against Singh if it is found that he had indeed sent that letter. The High Court has said that the conduct of the official is “contumacious” and amounts to gross indiscipline or insubordination on his part.

Image Source: Utkarsh Anand
Punjab and Haryana High Court order to initiate punishment against Harmeet Singh Tinku. Source: Utkarsh Anand

“The above conduct of the official is contumacious, which amounts to gross indiscipline/insubordination on his part. Therefore, permission sought for is denied”, the Registrar General said in his letter. He further added, “The Incharge Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mansa is directed to verify and intimate as to whether said E-mail was sent by Shri Harmeet Singh Tinku and if found correct, initiate/recommend departmental action against him, in accordance with law”.

These incidents of High Court ordering lower courts to punish common people for seeking answers on alleged injustices and delays occurring at the judicial institutions is not uncommon in the country these days. The Delhi High Court after its pioneering discovery of the distinction between ‘Sandal’ and a ‘Chappal’ had also issued a contempt action against journalist S Gurumurthy for questioning the alleged ‘Conflict of interest’ in issuing orders on the release of activist Gautam Navlakha, who was arrested for allegedly involving in a plot to kill the country’s Prime Minister. A Twitter user has recently summed up some of the curious judgements and cases the Indian judiciary has been keeping itself busy with.


The Indian judiciary has lately been very serious about the criticism and the nature of dissent it receives regarding its functioning. The top courts of the country and its judges seem to be unrelenting and dogmatic in crushing any dissent when these judicial institutions come under public scrutiny.

Intelligence agency alerted after receiving inputs of suspected terrorist links of Kashmiri students studying in Dehradun

OpIndia Staff
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Intelligence agency alerted after receiving inputs of suspected terrorist links of Kashmiri students studying in Dehradun

As reported by Amar Ujala, intelligence agencies have received inputs about the links of Kashmiri students studying in Dehradun with terrorist groups. The intelligence agencies have become alert after receiving the information and have been keeping an eye on the Kashmiri students in the area.

The intelligence agencies are also tracking the Kashmiri youths visiting the area. The IB officials have sought the details of the Kashmiri people living in the State from the intelligence officials of the police. The local intelligence unit (LIU) has also written to the principals of different colleges to gather the details of Kashmiri students enrolled in their colleges. On the initiative of the Intelligence Bureau, the details of 42 Kashmiri students studying in the district have been sent by the local intelligence unit to the State headquarters.

MBPG College teacher HS Bhakuni has also confirmed that letters seeking the details of Kashmiri students were sent by LIU to different colleges. The IB is also tracking the phone calls and messages of the students.

Few days ago, Ehtesham Bilal, a Kashmiri student of Sharda University, Greater Noida had reportedly gone missing. His location was traced in the terrorist-affected Pulwama district in south Kashmir. Later, it was reported that he has joined the Islamic State. A message had appeared on social media, which included an image where he was seen with weapons and a flag of ISIS, and an audio clip where Bilal was heard pledging allegiance to ISJK.

Mannan Wani, the dreaded Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist, who was gunned down by security forces in Handwara, Jammu and Kashmir on October 11, was a ‘research scholar’ at Aligarh Muslim University. He was expelled from the university after the news of him joining the terrorist group surfaced in the media. Last month, three engineering students from Jammu and Kashmir studying in Punjab’s Jalandhar were arrested for having links with terror outfits, an AK-47 rifle and explosives were recovered from them.

Work on Ram Mandir will start in December, says VHP leader Ram Vilas Vedanti

OpIndia Staff
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Work on Ram Mandir will start in December, says VHP leader Ram Vilas Vedanti

As the demand for building the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya gathers momentum following Supreme Court’s refusal to start hearing the case immediately, Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader and Ram Mandir Nyas member Ram Vilas Vedanti made a sensational claim the work on the construction of the temple will start in December itself. While talking to media on November 3 during the two-day ‘Dharmadesh’ organised New Delhi, Vedanti said that the temple will be built with mutual consent.


He said that temple will build by neither a law nor an ordinance, but it will be built with the agreement of all the parties involved. Vedanti said that the work on the temple would start in December, while a mosque will be built in Lucknow. This remark is significant in the light of growing pressure on the central government to bring in an ordinance to facilitate construction of the Ram Mandi, instead of waiting for Supreme Court to decide on the title suite of the land.

In the same program, Sadhvi Prachi went ahead and even announced the date for laying the foundation stone for Ram Mandir. She said that the foundation will be laid on 6th December. On this date in 1992, the structure of Babri Masjid that stood on the disputed land was demolished by Kar Sevaks.

Vedanti’s comment came just a day after UP BJP president Mahendra Nath Pandey had asked to wait till Diwali for good news. He had said that UP CM Yogi Adityanath has made a plan for Ayodhya which will be unveiled during Diwali. It was interpreted as some announcement for Ram Mandir, or a Statue of Ram to be built in Ayodhya.

The UP chief himself gave a hint towards the same yesterday when he said that work will start soon. He asked people to light a diya for Lord Ram this time, and said that they have to take this after Diwali.


But like Pandey, the UP CM also kept it open-ended, which left people speculating whether he was talking about Ram Mandir or Ram statue.

Another BJP leader Uma Bharti also said that construction of Ram Mandir is her dream, and she is ready for any initiative that is required from her end for the same.


Significantly, union home minister Rajnath Singh also has said in Varanasi that if Ram Mandir is built, everyone will be happy.

PM Modi an ‘anaconda’ swallowing institutions like CBI, RBI: Andhra finance minister

OpIndia Staff
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PM Modi an ‘anaconda’ swallowing institutions like CBI, RBI: Andhra finance minister

Setting another low benchmark in already lower political discourse, Andhra Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu on Saturday referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an ‘Anaconda’ and claimed that PM Modi is swallowing the national institutions.

In a statement, TDP politburo member and state Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu asked if there was a “bigger anaconda” than Modi. ” Modi has been swallowing institutions like CBI, RBI and others. How could he be a saviour?,” said Ramakrishnudu.

According to the reports, the Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister slammed the opposition YSR Congress and Jana Sena, claiming that they are hungry for power and do not have any responsibility towards the nation. “Those two parties are, hence, supporting Modi who has been destroying national institutions and democracy,” he added.

“Every Tom, Dick and Harry is speaking of past politics. Past can’t be present or future. But present and future will become past. The critics of TDP (Telugu Desam Party) should understand this. TDP was not established against any single party. It was founded against the system,” he said in another comment.

BJP state president Kanna Lakshminarayana responding to the remark against the Prime Minister lashed out at TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and said he was the “king of corruption” and fears that his alleged corruption would be exposed now.

“N Chandrababu Naidu is the king of corruption and will stoop to any level. The man who passed a resolution in the NDA meeting in 2017, that Modi should become prime minister again is now trying to portray the latter as a culprit,” said Lakshminarayana.

The opposition leaders such as Mani Shankar Aiyar have frequently abused Prime Minister Narendra Modi by referring to him ‘Chaiwala’ and ‘Neech Insan’ as an attempt to lower the dignity of Narendra Modi. Congress leaders like Manish Tiwari and Digvijaya Singh have often resorted to using derogatory words against the Prime Minister.

Another abusive Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam has abused Prime Minister Modi several times and recently had used foul language to refer PM Modi as ‘illiterate and uncouth’.

Security beefed up as Sabarimala reopens its doors for a day

OpIndia Staff
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Security beefed up as Sabarimala reopens its doors for a day

The Sabarimala shrine which had recently witnessed a complete turmoil will reopen for devotees on November 5 and 6. Prohibitory orders have been placed from Saturday midnight till Tuesday midnight.

The Kerala Police has deployed nearly 2,300 police personnel in and around the hill shrine of Sabarimala as it reopens for devotees on Monday. Security has also been tightened in the nearby areas of Sannidhanam, Pamba, Nilakkal, and Elavunkal ahead of the Chithira Avittom Pooja.

The security arrangements are being monitored by ADGP Anil Kanth. IGP M R Ajith Kumar will be in-charge of Sannidhanam and Marakoottam and IGP Ashok Yadav in-charge of Pamba and Nilakkal.

In the wake of violent protests which eventuated last month, the state police decided to increase the deployment in and around the shrine, and twenty commando teams and over 100 women battalion have taken positions.

The Pathanamthitta district collector in Kerala has imposed Section 144 of the CrPC in Sabarimala and nearby areas ahead of the Chithira Avittom Pooja.

The Sabarimala Karma Samiti- a group leading the protests against the entry of women into the temple, has drafted an open letter, directed to the managing editor, chief editor or editor of the media house, requesting them not to depute women journalists to cover the protest. It argued that deploying women reporters, even if it is to do their jobs, would only “aggravate” the situation.

“The whole issue is about the adamant stand of the State Government in forcibly bringing in young women aged between 10 and 50 years which is against the age-old traditions and customs of the Sabarimala Temple. Even the entry of women journalists from media belonging to this age group as part of their job is also likely to aggravate the situation. Therefore, we humbly request you to take a sympathetic approach to the feelings and aspirations of crores of devotees and kindly refrain from deputing women journalists of the above-mentioned age group to Sabarimala,” the letter read.

Accusing the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government (which has supported the SC verdict) of using brute force to hastily enforce the judgement before the top court can hear review and writ petitions on November 13, the letter stated that the devotees are “left with no choice but to continue their peaceful agitations.”

Sabarimala Protests started after the Supreme Court delivered a verdict, lifting the age-old custom of Sabarimala, which barred women of menstruating age from entering the temple. The legend has it that the temple deity Ayyappa followed celibacy all through his life. After the verdict, temple opened from October 17 to October 22, and several activists tried to enter the sanctum sanctorum but were stopped by thousands of devotees, who were trying to safeguard the age-old sanctity of the temple.

The protest by the devotees was followed by vicious man-hunt by  Kerala government, who has made it clear that they will anyhow implement the Supreme Court’s verdict, no matter what means they have to employ. Kerala government, coming down heavily at the protestors has recorded 536 plus cases and arrested 3,719 suspects for engaging in violent protests at Pamba and Nilakkal.

The Sabarimala protest had taken an extremely crummy angle. Too many things had happened in a short period of time leaving a bitter taste in the mouth of the devotees. The communist party had faced wide criticism due to its highhandedness in dealing with the devotees of Lord Ayyappa. There was widespread resentment against the manner in which the state government conspired to desecrate the temple by awarding protection to activists.

The Lord Ayyappa temple’s three-month-long pilgrim season is commencing from November 17 and the state government, irrespective of all the resentment they faced, has reiterated that all devotees would be allowed to offer prayers at the shrine.

Missing Kashmiri student from Sharda University has joined IS, releases video holding AK-47

OpIndia Staff
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Missing Kashmiri student from Sharda University has joined IS, releases video holding AK-47

A 19-year-old Kashmiri student Ehtisham Bilal, pursuing engineering at Uttar Pradesh’s Sharda University, who had disappeared from the campus last month after a scuffle with a group of students, has reportedly joined the terror group Islamic State (IS).

According to the reports, a picture of Ehtisham Bilal carrying a gun with an ISIS flag in the background has surfaced on social media, causing concerns that he has joined the Islamic terrorist outfit. In a purported audio message that has gone viral on social media, the B Tech student identified as Ehtisham Bilal pledged his allegiance to the ‘Islamic State’ group led by Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.

“It is a great blessing for me that I have joined Jundul Khilafah led by Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. I have taken the pledge that I will not rest till Islamic rule is established in Kashmir,” Ehtisham reportedly said in the audio clip.

Ehtisham, a resident of Khanyar in downtown Srinagar was allegedly assaulted by some unknown students at the university campus on October 4 following which he has left the campus. The parents of Ehtisham claimed that he was in touch till October 28, the day he left the campus.

His father, Bilal Ahmad Sofi and mother have now released a video urging his son to return back. His mother appealed to him to return home and requested “any group” which may have “kept Ehtisham” to release him. The family of the Ehtisham is reportedly disturbed after hearing about the news of his son joining IS. Appealing him to return home, his father Bilal Ahmad, said that Islam doesn’t allow anyone to disobey one’s parents.

However, the police said that they are yet to find the clip and find its authenticity to say whether Ehtisham has joined ISIS. “We are verifying the authenticity of the audio clip and the photograph,” Munir Khan, additional DGP, Jammu and Kashmir Police, said.

“The security personnel had found his mobile phone working till Sunday after he boarded a flight to Srinagar from Delhi. The family of Ehtisham also lodged an FIR with Knowledge Park police station in Noida,” the police officer said.

We had earlier reported regarding a Muslim youth named Ashfaque Majeed who had allegedly joined the IS after he was brainwashed by Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation’s manager Arshi Qureshi. Ashfaque Majeed was alleged by the police to have fled the country along with his wife, one-year-old toddler daughter and other youngsters in 2016 to join the ISIS Terror ranks.

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