Home Blog Page 7207

Troubles mount for AAP as BJP accuses the party of Rs 139 crores labour scam, registers FIR

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Troubles mount for AAP as BJP accuses the party of Rs 139 crores labour scam, registers FIR

The AAP government in Delhi has found itself tangled in another major alleged scam. According to reports, the Bharatiya Janata Party had registered an FIR with the ACB (Anti Corruption Branch) and had alleged that the scam is almost to the tunes of Rs 139 crores.


The case was filed after claims surfaced that the Delhi government had registered AAP workers as labourers and has given them undue monetary benefits under various schemes. As many as 7000 fake workers are allegedly registered and as per reports, the BJP has claimed that most of the registrations have occurred during the AAP rule.

Prima facie, the ACB has reportedly already found a dozen of bogus workers and has registered a case under section 3 (1) (d), 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and relevant sections of IPC for cheating and forgery and criminal conspiracy against unknown individuals.

Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari has reportedly stated that AAP government in Delhi has misused the Labour Welfare fund for the expansion of the AAP cadre and for that CM Kejriwal, Deputy CM Manish Sisodiya and Labour Minister Gopal Rai are directly responsible. He also reportedly demanded that the state labour board be dissolved.

The government reportedly provides 17 different schemes for the workers registered with the Delhi Labour Board. Senior government officials of the board have reportedly stated that the ACB is the apex authority and they will provide all the information asked.

The Delhi BJP had first accused the AAP government of major irregularities in the Labour Board in September last year. They had also requested the L-G for a CBI probe into the matter. The AAP government had dismissed the claims as ‘wild allegations’.

Vijay Mallya loses lawsuit in UK filed by Indian banks seeking to collect more than $1.5 billion

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Vijay Mallya loses lawsuit in UK filed by Indian banks seeking to collect more than $1.5 billion

Vijay Mallya, who has been absconding from India since 2016 lost a UK lawsuit filed by Indian Banks seeking to collect more than $1.5 billion in connection with the alleged fraud committed by him.


Judge Andrew Henshaw in London stated on Tuesday that the lenders, one of them being IDBI bank Ltd., can enforce an Indian court ruling that relates to Mallya wilfully defaulting about $1.4 billion in debt for his Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. The Kingfisher Airlines was a premier airline founded in 2005 and shut down its operations seven years later.

Mallya was recently arrested in London on April 18 on a warrant issued by Indian authorities on charges of committing conspiracy to defraud IDBI Bank through a Rs 91 billion loan to Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. Judge Henshaw also refused to overturn a worldwide order freezing Mallya’s assets on Tuesday.

The 62-year-old Mallya is fighting numerous lawsuits in the UK as well as in India for allegations ranging from committing massive fraud to conspiracy. He was arrested in 2017 and has been fighting to block extradition in a different court just three blocks away.

Judge Hershaw also refused permission to appeal Tuesday’s ruling, which entails that his lawyers now will have to petition the Court of Appeal directly. No comment was made by the lawyers representing Mallya.

The attorneys from TLT law firm in London stated how the recent judgement will help them to enforce the underlying judgement by the Indian Debt recovery tribunal immediately. TLT is representing the lenders in this case. The freeze had forced Mallya to live on 5000 pounds per week but it was raised to around 20,000 pounds per week earlier.

With the walls closing in on Vijay Mallya and the Modi government coming up with the ‘Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance‘, it remains to be seen how long Mallya can evade the law and not answer for his fraud to the Indian authorities.

EC confirms seizure of 9,764 voter ID cards and over a lakh counterfoils for additional new names in electoral rolls

OpIndia Staff
-
0
EC confirms seizure of 9,764 voter ID cards and over a lakh counterfoils for additional new names in electoral rolls

The battleground Karnataka just got dirtier as political parties fight tooth and nail to win the big election during the run-up to the 2019 general elections. Last night, thousands of voter ID cards, neatly bundled, were found in an apartment in Bengaluru along with laptops, printers and about one lakh form six counterfoils used for new addition of names in the electoral rolls which were seized by the Election Commission.


As of now, FIR has been registered and further investigation is underway.


While the voter cards were found to be genuine, the significance of the counterfoil is under investigation. In a statement released by the EC, it states that the apartment where the voter IDs were discovered belongs to one Manjula Nanjamuri which is rented out to one Sri Rakesh.

This triggered allegations and counter allegations by both the political parties, each accusing the other of trying to rig the elections. While Congress spokesperson held a midnight press conference to accuse the owner of the flat is a BJP leader, BJP’s Prakash Javadekar denied Nanjamuri being part of BJP any longer.


The BJP on Tuesday night demanded countermanding of elections in RajRajeshwariNagar constituency of Karnataka in the light of latest revelations of the seizure of ‘fake’ voter ID. As of now, the Returning Officer along with other EC officers are present at the flat for further investigation.

We had reported yesterday how IT sleuths had raided a resort connected to Congress in the Badami, one of the two constituencies from which Siddaramaiah will be fighting these elections. With the elections heating up, authorties seem to be doing the best they can to ensure free and fair elections.

Karnataka goes for voting on 12th May across the state and results are to be announced on 15th May.

Note: This is a developing story and we shall update the same when fresh information pours in.

Is Congress trying to fix the bench to impeach CJI for alleged bench fixing?

Shantanu
-
0
Is Congress trying to fix the bench to impeach CJI for alleged bench fixing?

After Rajya Sabha Chairman and VP Venkaiah Naidu rejected the Congress led impeachment notice against the Chief Justice of India (CJI), Congress decided to further politicize the matter. On 7 May, two Congress MPs approached the SC through another Congress MP and lawyer Kapil Sibal challenging VP Naidu’s decision as politically motivated.

Sibal initially approached a bench headed by Justice Chelameswar requesting an urgent hearing of the matter. Justice Chelameswar initially asked Sibal to mention the matter before the CJI, however the bench later asked Sibal and Prashant Bhushan to “come back tomorrow”.

Later in the evening, the matter got listed for 8 May before a five judge bench headed by Justice Sikri. Other members of the bench were Justice Bobde, Justice Ramana, Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Goel. During the hearing on 8 May, Sibal requested a copy of the administrative order for constitution of the bench so that the petitioners could decide whether to challenge that order or not.

The bench rejected Sibal’s request and asked him to argue on merits of the matter. At this point, the petitioners decided to withdraw their petition. Thus, the court dismissed the petition as withdrawn.

This raises the question that by questioning the constitution of the five judge bench, are the petitioners and Sibal fishing for a favorable bench? It is possible that the petitioners and Sibal want the four ‘rebel’ judges to hear the matter, hoping to get a favorable verdict. The judges in their press conference had made allegations against the CJI related to abuse of power, which were included in the impeachment notice given by Congress led RS MPs. This effectively means that the five senior most judges including the CJI have a conflict of interest in this matter. Hence the decision to form a bench excluding all five of them is a sound one. Members of the five judge bench which heard Congress MPs’ petition are next in the seniority order, with Justice Sikri at #6.

Also, Sibal’s refusal to argue on the merits of the matter is an indicator that he knows that the petition challnging VP Naidu’s decision doesn’t have any merit, just like the impeachment notice. But it is unlikely that Congress’ theatrics, driven partly by the party’s attempt to pressurise the judiciary especially in the Ram Mandir matter and partly by Sibal’s deflated sense of entitlement will soon.

Muslim personal law board member supports hanging Jinnah’s portrait inside Aligarh Muslim University

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Muslim personal law board member supports hanging Jinnah’s portrait inside Aligarh Muslim University

A member of the All India Muslim personal law board (AIMPLB) has come in the support of hanging Jinnah’s portrait inside the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) campus, as per a Navbharat Times report.

Zafaryab Jilani who is a member of the AIMPLB as well as the convener of Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC), has been quoted as saying that Jinnah’s portrait cannot be removed owing to him being one of the founding members of the university. He contended that the portrait has been hanging on the University’s wall for the past 80 years, while further pushing for its retention.

A New Indian Express report quotes him as saying that, a political controversy has been created over this issue, owing to the upcoming Karnataka polls. This statement comes at a time when the University students are on an indefinite protest, which has resulted in the final exams getting deferred till 12 May. The University’s Vice Chancellor, all this while has been urging the students to restore normalcy in the campus.

As per a Patrika report, Jilani didn’t stop at supporting Jinnah’s portrait but even commented on the Triple Talaq issue. Jilani has been quoted as saying that if Rajya Sabha passes the Triple Talaq bill in its current form, then the AIMPLB would appeal against it in the Supreme Court.

Such a stance by Jilani might trigger a bit of a clash within the personal law board, as one of its other members named Maulana Khalid Rashid Phirangi Mahli asserted on Saturday that Jinnah’s portrait needed to be removed from the University. He also claimed that the Indian Muslims had nothing to do with Jinnah.

This opinion has been echoed by the senior mufti of the Dargah-e-Ala Hazrat in Bareilly, who has issued a Fatwa urging Indian Muslims not to support Jinnah while asking them to remove all the pictures and portraits of the Muslim League’s co-founder.

Congress admits its strength has dwindled in Bengal, blames TMC for weakening the party

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Congress admits its strength has dwindled in Bengal, blames TMC for weakening the party

As per reports, West Bengal Congress party president Adhir Chowdhury accused the state’s ruling party Trinamool Congress of conspiring to weaken his party’s strength in the state while simultaneously promoting the rise of BJP.

According to Chowdhury, Trinamool is resorting to different tactics like blackmailing, registering fake police cases to scare the Congress leaders and activists away from the party. He admitted while speaking to the media reporters that the strength of the Congress had gone down in Bengal since 1977. He further went on to say that winning 44 seats in the state assembly polls shows that Congress is still a formidable force here.

Chowdhury implicated that West Bengal chief minister Mamta Banerjee was conspiring with the BJP as they shared the same political DNA. He further went on to predict that the upcoming panchayat polls, which is supposed to be held on 14th may, will be mutilated with violence by the Trinamool-backed miscreants and urged the State Election Commission to take necessary steps to conduct the election in a proper way.

Adhir Chowdhury seems to be under constant threat of BJP coming to power in West Bengal as earlier he had advocated for a real electoral alliance with the Left Front, or else, he said, the road to BJP’s victory in West Bengal will be easier and widened further. He urged both the parties to put aside their petty differences and start a meaningful electoral alliance or else the BJP would emerge as a beneficiary.

He had, a few days earlier, demanded President’s rule in West Bengal, when violence erupted in West Bengal’s Birbhum district over the filing of fresh nominations for panchayat election that claimed one Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker’s life, saying that without imposing President’s rule, no one will be able to exercise their democratic right. This is the need of the hour,” Congress state president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury told ANI.

Mohammed Rafiq, man arrested for planning to assassinate PM Modi, suffers heart attack

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Mohammed Rafiq, man arrested for planning to assassinate PM Modi, suffers heart attack

Mohammed Rafiq, the man arrested in Coimbatore last month for masterminding a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has suffered from a heart attack and has been shifted to intensive care unit of Coimbatore Medical College Hospital.

He was arrested on April 23 near a house in Apple Garden, Saramedu, after his audio conversation about the assassination conspiracy with a Salem businessman went viral on a social media platform. His remand was ordered by Judicial Magistrate VII R Pandy and he was sent to Central Prison, Coimbatore. He was kept in judicial custody for 15 days till May 7. The police had told that the eight-minute long conversation was between someone who has completed a jail term in the February 1998 Coimbatore serial blast case, a resident of Kuniyamuthur in the city, and a transport contractor.

Rafiq, a member of the banned Al Ummah, was released in 2007 after serving his jail term in the Coimbatore blast case. He was named in another case of the blast at the RSS headquarters in which he was acquitted in 1993. Sub Inspector Damodaran had prepared the reports and sent to the Coimbatore city police commissioner K Periaiah who ordered the arrest.

After the investigation, the police commissioner had further informed that the threat was just to extract money from the businessman in their finance deals. The name of the businessman wasn’t disclosed. Mohammed Rafiq was booked under sections 153 (A) (promoting enmity on grounds of religion) and section 506 (ii) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

India Today insults Indian Army in its cover page, Army seeks response

Sanghamitra
-
0
India Today insults Indian Army in its cover page, Army seeks response

The Army has been the favourite punching bag for the media lately. From dishing out ‘expert advise’ on how the army should handle the Doklam crisis to hailing terrorists as rebels, media leaves no stone unturned in denigrating and disrespecting the armed forces.

However, India Today has recently gone a step ahead. In their new magazine cover titled ‘The Army Is Broke’, the magazine has run a morphed photograph of an Army general with medals and regimental insignia. The image shows the Army General showing his empty pockets and the sword hanging on his side been torn out.

The photo also has an eerie resemblance former Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag. The attempt to show a decorated army officer as broke and depicting turned out pockets of the uniform was objected to by the Indian Army.


The Indian Army’s official Twitter handle has stated that the cover has deeply hurt the sentiments of veterans and serving soldiers and they have conveyed the same to the concerned people at India Today. It also added that a response to the magazine is being awaited.

The social media too did not take the cover photo well. Several people have condemned the cover image and called out the magazine’s attempt to insult the soldiers.


There were people who tried to defend the cover and criticise the Army’s response to the cover. There were some who suggested that the Army’s reaction was uncalled for and some even went as far as to call it a ‘political response’. Twitter users saw through the irony and were quick to claim that to claim the Army’s reaction as politically motivated was itself a politicisation of the issue.


There were many social media users arguing that the India Today cover is just a representative design and the Army is wrong to react to the cover in such manner. But the thing to be understood here is, for the Army, the uniform is a symbol of what they represent and pictures of a decorated officer turning out his empty pockets must have been hurtful to many. The Army has strict rules to adhere to when it comes to the uniform and it being a disciplined organisation, is expected to object to uniforms being used or rather misused for commercial gain.

A similar issue had come to light recently when an army veteran had objected to former actress Twinkle Khanna selling her husband’s costume in the Rustom movie as ‘Original Uniform’. Though the veteran’s choice of words was criticised by some people, it was a general opinion that selling a costume as ‘Uniform’ was not ok. While there might be differences of opinion on whether the Army is right to react or not, to term the reaction as ‘political’ is but a symbol of the mentality that views every issue from a political lens. The Uniform may seem to the rest of us as just a symbol, but for those who have served in the Army and faced the hardships, it is something they cannot take lightly.

Assam: Congress opposes amendment to Citizenship Act seeking to grant citizenship to non-Muslim migrants

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Assam: Congress opposes amendment to Citizenship Act seeking to grant citizenship to non-Muslim migrants

The Joint Parliamentary Commission (JPC) on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 began its hearing in Assam on Monday amid protests over the BJP government’s alleged attempt to make the northeastern state a “dumping ground for Bangladeshi Hindus”. While certain Assamese sections are staunchly opposing the Bill, Bengalis are lending strong support to it.

The Bill amends the Citizenship Act, 1955 to make migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, eligible for citizenship. The Congress party has issued a statement against the proposed amendment which seeks to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus and other non-Muslim migrants from the three countries.

In a memorandum signed by Bora, former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, opposition leader Debabrata Saikia and other senior leaders, the Congress said, “The State had already passed a turbulent period between 1979 to 1985 when there was a mass movement against illegal migrants in which many people got martyred. This new Bill will endanger the cultural, political and social identity of Assam.”

Former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that Assam will no more bear the burden of outsiders. Assam state Congress chief Ripun Bora, said, “We will not allow dilution of the Assam accord inked in 1985 by former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. We will oppose the bill in Parliament and if required will move the Supreme Court against the bill.”

Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) founder Akhil Gogoi told the media at the venue of the JPC hearing, “The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is a threat to the very identity and existence of the people of Assam. It also negates the secular tenets of the Constitution of India and hence can neither be acceptable nor legally tenable. In no way can religion be the basis of citizenship and the Constitution is specific about that. The Bill is unconstitutional.”

The JPC is expected to meet more than 200 organizations during its visit to Bengali dominated Barak district on Tuesday. Chief Minister Sarbanand Sonowal stated, “The JPC will take a decision only after weighing divergent views.”

Muslim-Dalit tensions in UP village after Muslims molest women taking part in wedding procession

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Muslim-Dalit tensions in UP village after Muslims molest women taking part in wedding procession

Numerous people have been arrested and cases have been registered against 70 individuals in connection with abuse and assault on Dalits during the marriage procession of a Dalit couple. The incident occurred at Gorya village falling under Itwa police station of the Siddharthnagar district in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday evening when members of a ‘particular community’ started teasing and harassing some women participating in the procession.

When the women objected, the harassers reportedly attacked them. They further attacked those too who came to the rescue of the women. As per media reports, the goons assaulted them after entering their homes as well.

Police have arrested Mijaz, Thappu, Izhar, Nashir, Arshad, Altaf Hussain and Moh. Firoz and cases have been registered against them under sections 147, 148, 149, 307, 452, 323, 336, 504, 506, 427 of the Indian Penal Code. Itwa Police chief Anjani Kumar Rai said the rest of the accused will soon be arrested.

BJP MLA Dr Satish Dwivedi reached the spot and talked to the victims of the family and directed the authorities to ensure that the perpetrators do not escape justice. Raghavendra Pratap Singh, Dumriyaganj MLA, stated that there was a concerted attempt by members of the particular community to disturb the communal harmony of the place and demanded that compensation is immediately issued to the victims.

This incident is one of many instances of Muslim atrocities against Dalits. Only yesterday, reports had emerged of clashes between the two communities after Muslims opposed the funeral procession of Dalit woman through ‘their street’ in Tamil Nadu. Last year, reports had emerged of clashes between the two communities at Kalinagar area under Madhothanda Police Station, Pilibhit district, Uttar Pradesh after a Muslim man and his friends hurled casteist slurs at a Dalit man. Earlier in January, this year, a Dalit family had alleged that they were beaten up for refusing to convert to Islam and casteist slurs were hurled at them.

As per reports, a curfew is currently in place at the Gorya village where the incident occurred after communal clashes took place in the area. Propagators of Dalit-Muslim unity are yet to find their voice on the latest act of atrocity perpetrated on the Dalits by members of the Muslim community.

1...7,2067,2077,208...7,677Page 7,207 of 7,677