Home Blog Page 7227

After Nirav Modi fraud, PNB decides to hire detectives to go after absconding defaulters

OpIndia Staff
-
0
After Nirav Modi fraud, PNB decides to hire detectives to go after absconding defaulters

The Punjab National Bank which was at the receiving end of a massive Rs 13,000 crore fraud supposed to have been perpetrated by diamond baron Nirav Modi, has now decided to hire detectives to track absconding defaulters, as reported by India Today.

In the advertisement by the bank, it invited applications for detective agencies operating for the period of 2018-19, with the last date for the submission of the application being 5 May. As per the bank, it seeks to supplement efforts of field officials in recovering dues from NPA accounts with the help of these detective agencies.

The detectives are expected to borrowers, guarantors, mortgagors and legal heirs in India and abroad who are untraceable. Further, the detectives would need to ascertain the details of the said parties like, present location, income, businesses and assets. They would also have to uncover the bank accounts and credit facility details availed by these parties.

For the services, the bank has also revealed the payment structure. After uncovering the borrower location the detectives would be paid Rs 7,500 per person. For locating currently unknown asset properties, the bank would pay Rs 20,000 and for providing auxiliary information Rs 2,500 would be paid. If the detective agency failed to either locate the party or asset properties, they would be paid a maximum of Rs 3,000 and Rs 7,000 respectively.

Besides detailing out all the requirements and incentives, the bank has also cautioned against the use of any coercive means to achieve the said objectives, in line with a Supreme Court warning.

As per a PTI report, the bank is seeking to boost its chances of recovering about Rs 57,519 crore in bad loans. Besides hiring detectives, the bank has decided to name and shame defaulters to increase societal pressure and urge them to pay back. The bank has also decided to impound passports of about 150 wilful defaulters.

Indu Malhotra appointed SC Judge, the first woman to be elevated directly from the bar to bench

Sanghamitra
-
0
Indu Malhotra appointed SC Judge, the first woman to be elevated directly from the bar to bench

The Law Ministry has cleared the name of advocate Indu Malhotra for appointment as a Supreme Court Judge. According to reports, Malhotra is the first woman in the country to be elevated directly from the bar to the bench of Supreme Court Judges.


Malhotra’s name was cleared by the apex court collegium, comprising the five seniormost judges of the Supreme Court, on January 10th. The collegium had also cleared the name of Uttarakhand Chief Justice K M Joseph. Joseph’s name is yet to be approved by the government. According to reports, Malhotra’s file was forwarded by the Law Ministry to the Intelligence Bureau for verification in the second week of April. Malhotra has been officially appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of India.

Indu Malhotra will be the second sitting judge in the SC. Currently, Justice R Bhanumathi is the sole female sitting judge in the apex court. Malhotra will be the seventh female Supreme Court Judge in the country. Justice M Fathima Beevi, Justice Sujata V Manohar, Justice Ruma Pal, Justice Gyan Sudha Misra, Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai and Justice R Banumati have been the previous women to hold the prestigious positions. She is also the second female lawyer after Justice Lalita Seth to be designated Senior Advocate by the SC.

The government has reportedly asked the SC to reconsider the proposal to elevate Justice KM Joseph to the apex court. According to reports, the Law Ministry’s letter to the SC cites the reasons of seniority and representations as main reasons for not clearing his name. Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has reportedly written to the SC that there are presently 11 more Chief Justices of various high courts who are senior than Justice KM Joseph and his parent HC, the Kerala HC already has a judge in the SC, that is Justice Kurien Joseph. The letter has also mentioned that several states HCs do not have representation in the SC at all.

Advocate Indira Jaising today tried to move a petition asking for a stay order over the appointment of Indu Malhotra on the ground that the centre has not cleared the name of KM Joseph, but the Supreme Court bench of judges has reportedly refused to stay the appointment and stated that the centre is well within its rights to send back a name for reconsideration and the collegium will deal with the issue according to the constitution and law.

UNICEF India praises Yogi govt for immunising every child in the state against Japanese Encephalitis

Sanghamitra
-
0
UNICEF India praises Yogi govt for immunising every child in the state against Japanese Encephalitis

The United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has applauded the Uttar Pradesh government led by CM Yogi Adityanath for successfully immunising all children of the state against Japanese Encephalitis and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome. The government of UP has been carrying out the immunisation and awareness drive under the flagship ‘Dastak’ campaign.


The UP government had launched the Dastak programme in February 2018, with an aim to immunise every child under 15 years of age and carry out widespread sanitation and awareness programmes. The campaign was planned as a holistic programme to educate and provide facilities to the families, not only for vaccination but also for prevention and treatment of the disease.

With regards to the drive, Yogi Adityanath had stated that, for the 38 districts of UP affected by the disease the state health department would be made the nodal agency and other departments like urban development, Panchayati Raj, Women and Child Welfare, Rural Development, Medical Education, Animal Husbandry and basic education departments would work under them.

The target for completion of vaccination work was set for April and the UP government, as claimed by UNICEF, has achieved it. As Japanese encephalitis is a vector-borne disease, the UP government gave equal importance to sanitation and awareness drives. Health workers, teachers and Asha workers as a result organised camps, visiting door to door and carrying out vaccination and awareness drives in the schools and localities.


A video released by the Department of Health and Family Welfare states that, under the Dastak programme, Asha workers visited 26,33,837 households for awareness drives and 32,03,785 children under the age of 15 years were vaccinated against the disease.

Mamata Banerjee castigates Rahul Gandhi for moving impeachment motion against the CJI

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Mamata Banerjee castigates Rahul Gandhi for moving impeachment motion against the CJI

Amongst the mayhem created by the Congress party over CJI impeachment, came an unanticipated revelation by the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee. She said in an interview on Tuesday that, she had tried to discourage the Congress from moving the impeachment motion to remove the Chief Justice of India (CJI), arguing that the case for the opposition parties wasn’t strong enough.


“The Congress was wrong to give impeachment notice against the CJI. The Congress wanted us to support it. But we did not,” she told News18 Bangla channel.

“I told Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi not to go for impeachment,” Banerjee said, adding that her party did not want to interfere in the Judiciary. She slammed the move as a wrong political step, for which her Trinamool Congress party had distanced itself, breaking rank with other opposition.

Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday had rejected the notice by seven Opposition parties, led by the Congress, to impeach the Chief Justice of India on five grounds of “misbehaviour”, saying the allegations were neither “tenable nor admissible”.

The ruling party, however, considers this move by the opposition an attempt to intimidate the Chief Justice of India and to tarnish the reputation of Bhartiya Janta Party. As per reports, Finance minister Arun Jaitley said an impeachment motion has to be filed in the rarest of rare cases where a “gross misconduct” has been indulged in by a delinquent judge during his tenure. “The present impeachment motion has been filed on untenable grounds. It has been filed for the collateral purpose to intimidate the Chief Justice of India and other judges of the highest judiciary.”

This comes at a time when Mamta Banerjee and the Congress party leaders have shared their animosity for the BJP. It will be intriguing to see the congress party’s reaction on this disclosure by Mamata.

Son of a former Maoist preacher joins the Congress after meeting Rahul Gandhi

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Son of a former Maoist preacher joins the Congress after meeting Rahul Gandhi

The son of a former Maoist ideologue on Wednesday joined the Congress party after meeting party president Rahul Gandhi, as reported by Hindustan Times. The Maoist ideologue and balladeer popularly named “Gaddar” is reported to have shunned his former ways of “inspiring” youths to join the Maoist movement, in favour of embracing spirituality.

This transformation of “Gaddar” supposedly came as a shock to Maoist sympathisers who while conceding the former’s lack of activity in Maoist circles, asserted that the balladeer was still a hardcore follower of Maoism and Marxism.

The 42 year old son of Gaddar named GV Surya Kiran though was welcomed into the Congress after a meeting with party president in New Delhi. Besides Kiran, two Telangana BJP leaders including former minister Nagam Janardhan Reddy too joined the Congress. The other leader Adi Srinivas rejoined the Congress following his defection to the BJP.

As per Kiran, he was interested in politics and found the Congress under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership the most suitable for “youth leaders” like him. When quizzed over the possibly of his father campaigning for him, he claimed that it was his father’s decision to make. As quoted by a Deccan Chronicle report, Kiran clarified that he wasn’t part of any Maoist groups.

If indeed it happens, “Gaddar” campaigning for the Congress might be a bit ironic considering he fought the Congress for decades while being part of the People’s War Group (PWG), the precursor to the Congress party, as reported in Mumbai Mirror.

When quizzed about his father’s view over his decision to the join the Congress, Kiran claimed that he was okay with it. He also pointed out that his father had joined the parliamentary process in 2017 by registering as a voter for the first time.

Such inductees within the Congress party seem to be part of the party’s preparation for the 2019, when Telangana too goes for polls. This has resulted in claims that Kiran desires a ticket from either Bellampally or Jukkal assembly constituencies.

This might cause a bit of trouble within the party as Congress MLA DK Aruna from Telangana has been quoted as saying in another context that tickets should only be given to those who have put in at least five years of party work.

AIMIM leader heard conspiring with ‘journalists’ to ‘trap’ BJP MLA in a rape case, FIR registered

Sanghamitra
-
0
AIMIM leader heard conspiring with ‘journalists’ to ‘trap’ BJP MLA in a rape case, FIR registered

The Agra city President of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and some of his associates have been booked under sections of IPC for plotting and conspiring to falsely blame the BJP MLA from Etmadpur in a rape case. According to a report in Times of India, the FIR was filed after an audio clip where the Agra city AIMIM President Mohammad Idris was in conversation with a relative of a rape survivor and several others, went viral.

Mohammad Idris was reportedly heard in the clip plotting to frame the Etmadpur BJP MLA Rampratap Singh Chouhan in a rape case to extort money. He was reportedly in conversation other persons, including journalists to frame the BJP MLA and malign the state government.

The FIR which was lodged in the Etmadpur-Daula police station by BJP worker Raj Kumar, reportedly stated that Mohammad Idrish and another AIMIM leader Raees, along with other men were planning to incite communal tension by putting up posters of the BJP MLA in the area. In the audio clip, they can be reportedly heard making plans to use posters and try to drive the public sentiment against the state BJP government.

According to the report, station in-charge of the Etmadpur-Daula police station, Kamlesh Kumar Singh has stated that an FIR has been registered against two AIMIM leaders and several others under IPC sections 153A ( promoting enmity on religious, regional, language and racial grounds and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 384 (extortion), 124A (sedition), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (words, gesture or act to insult the modesty of a woman). He also added investigations are on and the culprits will be arrested soon.

According to reports, the 49-minute audio clip had the two AIMIM leaders and several journalists talking where they were planning to put hoardings and they would need funds to make the matter sensational like the Unnao rape case where the BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar was arrested. They were also reportedly discussing to hold a press conference and conduct a private medical test to show the injuries on the victim’s body. The reports state that the rape was reported in the area some days ago and the victim has changed her statement many times since.

A similar attempt to malign a BJP leader on charges of rape and murder of a child in Surat had come to light recently. Aam Aadmi Party leaders Arvid Kejriwal, Alka Lamba and many others had even helped to spread the fake news on social media. A person who was seen with Congress IT cell head Divya Spandana had spread the false information that BJP/ABVP leader Harish Thakur was behind the rape and murder and his tweet was shared by AAP leaders and Misa Bharti, daughter of fodder scam convict Lalu Prasad Yadav. The allegations were refuted by Surat Police.

Radical Islamist outfit PFI withdraws candidates in Karnataka to help Congress : Times Now

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Radical Islamist outfit PFI withdraws candidates in Karnataka to help Congress : Times Now

As per a report by Times Now, radical Islamist outfit PFI has withdrawn its candidates in the Karnataka elections to reduce competition for the Congress party. This as per the media report was an arrangement made after alleged alliance plans between Congress and PFI was exposed:


In the said Times Now report, a correspondent asks Attaullah Jokatte an SDPI (the political arm of PFI) candidate whether he had withdrawn his nomination, which was confirmed by the latter. When quizzed about the reason, Jokatte claimed that it was done to prevent “communal forces” from coming to power.

After being questioned whether they were supporting the Congress, the SDPI leader answered that they were supporting whichever “secular party” was strong in a particular constituency. When pressed over the matter, the SDPI leader claimed that they were opposing the BJP and were supporting Congress and “secular parties”.

When asked about the SDPI’s plans in the Mangalore region, the leader of the radical Islamist outfit again reiterated his party’s support to the “strongest secular party” while detailing those constituencies there had either Congress or the JDS as a strong party.

This sensational report isn’t the only time PFI and the Congress have been mentioned in the same breath. It has been reported that the Karnataka’s Home Minister had ruled out any immediate ban on PFI by claiming that there was no immediate proposal for the same. The Congress government had also made news in 2015 when it proposed to withdraw 175 cases against the PFI.

The outfit PFI has a violent history in Kerala which includes chopping off hands of a Kerala Professor for allegedly insulting Islamic Prophet Mohammed. Besides this, it has been accused by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) of being involved in the controversial ‘love jihad’ cases in Kerala. Recently, activists of its political arm SDPI were arrested in connection with an ABVP worker’s brutal murder in Kerala’s Kannur.

Karnataka too bore witness to the violent fangs of the PFI when it attacked a Hindu boy and Muslim girl in Mangalore.

Jammu-Kashmir cop goes missing, suspected to have deserted police

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Jammu-Kashmir cop goes missing, suspected to have deserted police

According to reports a policeman named constable Tariq Ahmad Bhat, posted at Police post-Pakherpora in Budgam district, is suspected to have deserted the force and is believed to have fled with his service rifle. Sources confirmed that he has not reported on duty since Tuesday.


A police official stated Bhat’s service rifle and some ammunition have been additionally missing from the police publish. Efforts are on to find the policeman who’s to date being handled as a “missing” case, the official stated, including that the potential for Bhat having abandoned the force, can’t be ruled out.

A military man abandoned the drive in Shopian district earlier this month and later joined militant ranks.

The news of Kashmiri cops abandoning their troops is nothing new, there have been various previous instances where either Kashmiri policemen or soldiers have abdicated and joined various terror groups. Last year it was reported that a Kashmir policemen Ishfaq Ahmad Dar, who was posted at Police Training Centre in Kathua district in the state, was missing with an AK47 rifle. It was later reported that Dar had joined Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.

In a similar incident, reported by us, a Kashmiri soldier, Mir Idrees Sultan, who was posted in Bihar, went home to Shopian on leave and had reportedly joined the terrorist outfit Hizbul Mujahideen.

Last year a Kashmir constable by the name of Syed Naveed Mushtaq had reportedly gone missing from the Budgam district of Kashmir on Saturday. The constable who hailed from the Pulwama district was deployed to guard the godowns of Food Corporation of India at Chandpora in Budgam district.

After he went missing, a manhunt was launched by the police authorities on suspicion of him deserting the force to join the terrorists. What fueled this theory further was the fact that he had taken with him four self-loading rifles and ammunition. Unfortunately, their fears were confirmed and according to reports, the Hizbul Mujahideen confirmed the joining of constable Syed Naveed Mushtaq.

Plea of Chidambaram’s wife to quash ED summons over Sharada chit fund scam, rejected by Madras HC

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Plea of Chidambaram’s wife to quash ED summons over Sharada chit fund scam, rejected by Madras HC

A petition filed by Nalini Chidambaram – senior advocate and wife of Congress leader P Chidambaram challenging a Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons was dismissed by the Madras High Court on Tuesday. She has been summoned by the ED as a witness in the infamous Sharada chit fund scam.

As per legal websites, Ms. Chidambaram had argued against her personal presence in the investigation by claiming that Section 160 of CrPC states that a woman can’t be required to attend an investigation in any place excluding her area of residence. It was also argued that ED’s repeated insistence on her appearance amounted to harassment.

Justice S.M. Subramaniam though rejected this contention by observing that, “citing general provisions of section 160 cannot result in someone seeking absolute exemption from personal appearance in the investigative process”. The judge also observed that the exception has been provided for vulnerable women, which was not the case in all circumstances.

The Judge also assuaged Ms. Chidambaram by reminding her that she was only being summoned after her authorised representative N.R.R. Arun Nataraja gave an unsatisfactory explanation.

The summon in question was issued by the ED on 7 September 2016, asking Ms. Chidambaram to be present at their Kolkata office. This was prompted via a statement made by a chit scam accused named Manoranjana Sinh that, Ms. Chidambaram was paid Rs 1 crore by the Saradha Group for her court appearances. As per ED, the legal fee was paid via the money collected from the public in form of chits.

Later a stay order was imposed on the summons by the Madras High Court on 21 September 2016.

This might come as a bit of a blow to the Chidambaram family, whose member Karti is one of the accused in the INX Media Case, and is currently out on bail. It has been reported that Indrani Mukherjea (accused of murdering her daughter), had admitted to paying a Rs 5 crore bribe to one of Karti’s firms. This was allegedly paid with the motive to acquire “dubious and illegal” post facto FIPB clearances given to INX media by then Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

Congress’ attempt to establish guilt by association between Modi and Asaram backfires

Jhankar Mohta
-
0
Congress’ attempt to establish guilt by association between Modi and Asaram backfires

The Congress party floated a fresh attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi after self-styled godman Asaram was convicted by a Jodhpur court today for raping a minor in 2013. The party’s official Twitter handle tweeted an old video showing PM Modi sharing the stage with Asaram.


In its constant attempt to downplay Prime Minister’s image, the congressmen seem to deliberately remain oblivious to the past. It turns out, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Asaram did not share the proximity that the Congress party would like to project. 

In September 2012 Asaram issued a threat to the Narendra Modi-led Gujarat government cautioning it against targeting him and his son Narayan Sai in a case related to the mysterious death of two students. In a public address, Asaram had warned the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi saying, “If you try to suppress us more, we will throw you out [of power]”.

In 2013, Narendra Modi, who was then Gujarat chief minister and the BJP’s election committee chief, was reportedly unhappy with BJP leaders defending Asaram who was accused of sexual assault.

Tweeteratti also lashed out at the Congress trying to politicise the issue. Actor and Director Farhan Akhtar castigated those who posted old pictures trying to obliterate the government’s image. He said that it wasn’t a crime if someone was associated with Asaram before he was accused or found guilty.


Congress party’s attempt to ratify disgrace over Modi and Asaram’s affiliation boomeranged when some alert users on Twitter tweeted what appeared to be a photo of Congress leader Digvijaya Singh bowing and paying his respects to Asaram.


Recently, Congress has constantly attempted to undermine the PM, by peddling conspiracy theories and lies, people on twitter are slamming them saying that they have only proven that Narendra Modi, despite the “closeness” the Congress party would like the project, did not interfere and he let the law takes its court.


The Congress party and especially, its Social Media in charge Divya Spandana seem to have a tough time grasping simple concepts that come fairly easily to the rest of the world. If one is to trust Congress’ logic, everyone associated with Rahul Gandhi now, an accused in National Herald, should be castigated and ostracised in the even of his guilt is proved in the court of law. Also, every individual who was associated with Rahul Gandhi when he was accused of rape, should also be castigated. The thought certainly sounds ridiculous, but if ‘guilt by association’ even when Asaram wasn’t an accused when Narendra Modi shared a stage with him, is what Congress believes in, it should try going the whole 9 yards.

It seems like if scoring self-goals was an Olympic sport, Congress would have certainly won gold.

1...7,2267,2277,228...7,677Page 7,227 of 7,677