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Former VP Hamid Ansari attends program in Kerala organised by violent Islamist outfit

OpIndia Staff
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Former VP Hamid Ansari attends program in Kerala organised by violent Islamist outfit

Former Vice President of India, Hamid Ansari, who, in his last interview before stepping down as the Vice President of India after being in office for 10 years, expressed a “feeling of unease” especially amongst Muslims, attended an event in Kozhikode, Kerala, co-organised by the women’s wing of the radical Islamic outfit Popular Front of India.

In 2010, criminals of the radical outfit were held guilty for chopping off hands of Professor Joseph for allegedly insulting Islamic Prophet Mohammed in Kerala.


The same violent Islamist outfit, PFI has been accused by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) of being involved in the controversial ‘love jihad’ cases in Kerala.


In a report based on the probe by Kerala Police, NIA had found a common accused in the two ‘love jihad’ cases of Kerala, Sainaba, who had close links with the PFI. It is understood that the NIA has informed the SC that Akhila’s “conversion” and marriage were not isolated incidents but part of an organised effort by Kerala-based PFI, SDPI and Sathyasarani.

Questions were raised why the former Vice President would attend a function organised by such a radical organisation.


Questions were also raised whether Ansari endorses the views the PFI stands for.


Meanwhile, the BJP has sought an apology from Ansari for taking part in a function organised by the PFI. The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha too came out in protest against the university for initially granting permission for the programme.

Mamata govt now makes police permission compulsory for Durga Idol immersions on Muharram

OpIndia Staff
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The Mamata government via its policies has ensured that the immersion of the Maa Durga idols has become a bigger news than the festival itself, which starts from 26th September.

Like last year, the Mamata government had imposed restrictions on the immersion of the idols wherein no immersion would be allowed on 1st October, the day of Muharram. Plus immersions would be restricted from 10 PM on 30th September.

This led to PILs getting filed in the Calcutta High Court against this decision. The High Court as a result first pulled up the Mamata government and then later put a stay order on the decision. The court also rebuked the Mamata government by stating that it was exercising extreme power without any basis.

After the judgement, the Mamata government was reportedly expected to challenge this decision in the Supreme Court but reports later claimed that it had decided against the same.

But rather than calmly accepting it and simply ensuring that different routes are created for Durga Puja immersions and Muharram processions, the government has thrown another spanner in the works.

According to reports, the Mamata government has now made it compulsory for the Durga Puja organisers to take permission from the police if they wish to immerse idols on the day of Muharram. This decision was taken at a meeting in the state secretariat which was chaired by Mamata Banerjee.

The State director general of police Surajit Kar Purakayastha as a result also told the media that the police might deny permission for immersion if it felt that the “communal harmony” would be disturbed.

According to him:

The police will evaluate the safety aspects involved with the procession and immersion and take a final call on whether to accept or reject the application

The report claimed that the permission applications would also have to be submitted “well in advance”. With 1st October just a week away, it would be interesting to see what the interpretation of “well in advance” be for the authorities.

The report also claimed that the legislators of the Trinamool Congress would be “persuading” Durga Puja organisers in their constituency to refrain from immersions on 1st October.

It remains to be seen as to how many Durga Puja immersions end up happening on that day, as such a “Permission Raj” might easily be morphed into sort of an unofficial ban by the state.

IRCTC takes on media house for ‘false and misleading’ news

OpIndia Staff
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IRCTC takes on media house for ‘false and misleading’ news

After a lull of almost a year, IRCTC was once again in the cross-hairs of the fake news industry.  Last year, multiple media houses reported a story claiming that IRCTC’s site was hacked and personal data of around 1 crore users was feared to be robbed. IRCTC had then clarified on the same day with a detailed press release explaining how they had checked their systems and found no evidence of any hacking whatsoever. Further, the Ministry from its Twitter handle explained that such news was common for the past 2-3 years and was most probably based on some people selling 1 crore email ids and phone numbers, claiming that they have obtained the same from IRCTC.

This year, at least the kind of fake news is different. On 22nd September, Indian Express ran a story titled: “Booking train ticket on IRCTC? Railways restricts card payment to these six banks”:

Within hours, IRCTC swung into action and denied the news report. This was necessary since such news of certain banks being blocked by IRCTC could have caused panic among IRCTC’s customers:


IRCTC did not stop there and sent a detailed letter to the Editor at the Financial Express, since the report by the Indian Express, was sourced from Financial Express:

The letter stated that IRCTC had offered seven payment gateways for accepting domestic debit/credit cards and had not imposed any restrictions. It further stated that no debit or credit card of any bank has been restricted for usage on any of the gateways and this can be verified by a third-party audit. It said cards of any Indian bank can be accepted on any of the seven payment gateways. In addition to this, the note said, direct integration has been provided for some banks. But since this became an additional cost, IRCTC had asked the banks to share a part of the transaction fee. But the note said IRCTC has since forfeited this fee, asking the banks to share the same with customers.

Further, IRCTC also stated that the media report had claimed that an email sent to IRCTC had remained unanswered, but the fact was that not a single email was received by the PR department for clarification on this issue. It asked the media house to issue a clarification that the original report was “misleading and false”.

In response, Indian Express updated the story and has now changed the headline totally:

The rest of the article now contains snippets from IRCTC’s clarification, and the original report is all but gone from the internet.

Muzaffarnagar rape case: victim stands by her statement, claims was forced to eat meat

OpIndia Staff
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Muzaffarnagar rape case: victim stands by her statement, claims was forced to eat meat

A teenage girl was allegedly kidnapped by four men, Saleem, Aslam, Akram and Ayub, in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffaranagar and gang raped for ten days. It was also reported that the girl was forced to eat meat and given drugs while she was repeatedly raped for ten days. A Twitter user tweeted the details and Muzaffarnagar Police’s Twitter handle refuted the claims of the girl being forced to eat meat.

However, propagandists targeted the individual and led an online mob towards him bullying him saying that he was lying about the girl being forced to eat meat. Rather than focusing on the heinous crime such as rape, the focus shifted on the fact that the individual was followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

This was the tweet of the so called “fact checker”:


He was also supported by some of the so called liberals:


However, details have now emerged that the girl has mentioned in her FIR to the police that she was indeed forced to eat meat.


Even Zee News editor Rohit Sadanad uploaded a video of the victim:


As clearly seen in the video, the victim claimed that she was confined by the youths for 10 days. There according to her they raped her and also forced her to eat meat. She also claimed that tried to force her to convert to Islam.

So not only did the “fact checker” get his facts wrong, he hasn’t yet apologised for his hit job on a private citizen or even at-least tried to put out the correct facts.

Coming back to the case, as of now, one of the accused, Salim, has been arrested while three are still absconding.


Even as there is an increase in “fact-checker” websites, most had called out the user for stating what was actually mentioned in the FIR only because he is followed by the Prime Minister. Aam Aadmi Party’s mouthpiece Janta Ka Reported developed a story on how Anshul, the Twitter user, was followed by the Prime Minister, instead of focusing on the fact that he tweeted about a girl being allegedly raped by four men.


The ideological wars on social media has taken a turn such that focus on the story shifted from the fact that a minor girl was gang raped by four men for ten days to a “Twitter user followed by PM Modi ‘spreads’ rumours”. This has often seen private citizens, especially those considered to be right-leaning, as being the cannon fodder.

Congress leader questioned after an illegal gambling operation is uncovered at his home

OpIndia Staff
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Congress leader questioned after an illegal gambling operation is uncovered at his home

Congress leader Chandrakant Kavlekar, the leader of opposition in Goa seems to have landed in a bit of trouble after it has been reported [1][2] that illegal gambling apparatus has been recovered in a raid at his house.

According to the reports, the anti-corruption had raided his house last week where it found thousands of Matka gambling slips and books inside an office present there. His house is located at Betul in South Goa.

This matter was subsequently referred to the crime branch which then attached the matka slips, documents and registers from the office. According to an officer, the seizures indicate that someone was running a full fledged matka activity from the premises.

The office as a result has now been sealed by the Anti-corruption bureau which just last week had also registered a disproportionate assets case against Kavlekar and had also named his wife in the FIR. The raid in question was as a result of this disproportionate assets case.

The whole matter was then scheduled for investigation under a 2015 FIR which was filed against an unnamed minister, police officers, matka operatives from Gujarat and also agents from Goa. The charges then were framed under the Goa, Daman and Diu Public Gambling Act, Prevention of corruption act among others.

Taking the investigation to the next step, the police today questioned Kavlekar over his suspected links with the illegal matka gambling trade in the state. According to the report, he was questioned for about 90 minutes to determine his gambling links.

He had come to the office of the crime branch armed with an anticipatory bail order which meant that he could not be arrested by the crime branch. In his defence Kavlekar has claimed that he is clean and has nothing to hide.

BSE seeks clarification from NDTV on Rs. 350 crore ICICI loan

OpIndia Staff
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BSE seeks clarification from NDTV on Rs. 350 crore ICICI loan

Woes don’t seem to be ending for the news channel NDTV anytime soon. On 22nd September, business daily Business Standard reported that for the Rs. 350 crore ICICI loan to news channel NDTV promoters allowed prepayment without penalty alleging that the reset of rate of interest to less than 10% from 19% which caused a loss of Rs. 48 crore to ICICI Bank. The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has asked for clarification regarding the same from NDTV.

Earlier in June, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had raided residence of NDTV promoters Mr and Mrs Prannoy Roy in alleged fraud case. As per details of the case, in December 2007, Roys had bought 7.73 per cent of NDTV shares from General Atlantic. Minority shareholders of NDTV were made an open offer to sell shares. To fund the purchase of shares that the minority shareholders wanted to sell, Roys created a company called RRPR Holdings Private Limited. RRPR borrowed Rs 501 crore from India Bulls Ltd.

To repay part of the India Bulls loan, RRPR borrowed Rs 375 crore from ICICI Bank in October 2008. In August 2009, RRPR found another lender called Vishvapradhan Commercial Private Limited (VCPL) to repay the ICICI loan. VCPL agreed to pay Rs 350 crore to RRPR in July, 2009.

RRPR’s balance sheets – filed before the Registrar of Companies in March, 2009 – however, showed that it had a loan of Rs 349,26,14,485 from ICICI Bank and an interest of Rs 17,21,80,697 on that loan. Between 31 March and 7 August, 2009 — when RRPR repaid ICICI after receiving the money from VCPL — an additional interest was accumulated and the bank therefore suffered a loss to the tune of Rs 48 crore.

Earlier today, amidst the speculations of NDTV entering agreement of sale for their stake in the Company, BSE had sought clarification, to which NDTV had clarified they have not entered into any such agreement.

BJP MP asks PM Modi to bring minority institutions under the RTE act

Hemant Bijapurkar
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BJP MP asks PM Modi to bring minority institutions under the RTE act

In July it was reported that Maheish Girri BJP MP from East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency had introduced a private members bill in the Lok Sabha where he had asked for amendments in the minority favouring Right to Education Act.

He back then had also pointed out possibly one of the biggest flaws in the act where even though private run unaided schools need to reserve 25% of their seats for students from the weaker sections of the society, such a compliance isn’t applicable to minority run institutions, as per the 93rd amendment in the constitution passed in 2005.

Such a partial application of the regulations has meant that the number of minority schools are steadily rising at the cost of Hindu run schools. This has also meant that over 3000 Hindu run schools have been forced to close throughout the country.

After making this point Girri had claimed that this amendment contradicted the right to equality which has been enshrined in our constitution. He also stated that no waiver should be given to any particular faith by a society which promotes the idea of secularism.

Now Girri is again in the news regarding the same issue after he tweeted today that he had requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring minority institutions under the purview of the RTE so that more economically disadvantaged students can avail the advantage of the scheme.

This is the letter by Girri to PM Modi:

Letter by Maheish Girri to PM Modi

In this letter dated 20th September, Girri stated that as minority institutions don’t come under the purview of the RTE, the disadvantaged sections of the society aren’t able to study in these minority institutions. He again claimed that by placing the minority institutions outside the ambit of article 15(5) of the constitution (the article which provides the exemption to the minority institutions), the government is violating the right to equality.

He then requested the Prime Minister to ensure that 25% of seats are reserved in all educational institutions irrespective of their religion.

It remains to be seen if the Modi government decides to take the required action in this regard.

Subramanian Swamy writes to Rajnath Singh to disqualify Rahul Gandhi as MP

OpIndia Staff
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Subramanian Swamy writes to Rajnath Singh to disqualify Rahul Gandhi as MP

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, in a letter to Home Minister Rajnath Singh has urged him to strip off Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi as Member of Parliament for violating article 9 and 18 of Constitution of India. 

Swamy, in his letter to the Home Minister has stated that as per the Registrar of Companies, England and Wales, Rahul Gandhi, who is third time MP, is the Director and Secretary of United Kingdom based company BACKOPS Limited. In the documents filed by Gandhi, he has declared himself as a British citizen.

Article 9 of the Constitution of India bars every Indian citizen from acquiring voluntary acquiring citizenship of foreign state. Article 19 of the Constitution of India also bars Indian citizen from accepting foreign titles.

Earlier too, Swamy has attacked Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi of having dual citizenship. Now, Swamy himself has become a petitioner to Home Ministry, which takes care of all citizenship related issues.

Rahul Gandhi has not yet reacted to the accusations. Interesting, yesterday while addressing a gathering of NRIs at Times Square, Gandhi had called Congress and NRI movement and referred to Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Azad, Ambedkar and other leaders of Indian Independence movement as NRIs.

Twitter reacts to the news of NDTV’s possible sale to Spice Jet’s Ajay Singh

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Twitter reacts to the news of NDTV’s possible sale to Spice Jet’s Ajay Singh

From the past few days speculations were rife about a possible takeover of the much beleaguered NDTV. We had reported how NDTV’s share prices had been exhibiting abnormal behaviour since the past few days. People on social media had put out charts of its share prices and it was found that they had risen about 88% within a week.

Such a rise in share prices had many speculating about a possible sell off. Such speculations now seem to have been conformed by various reports, which claim that Ajay SIngh who is the founder of Spice Jet, is all set to take control of NDTV. He according to the report would also take control of the editorial rights of the company. The total deal is valued at about Rs. 600 crores which includes taking over NDTV’s debts which stand at about RS 400 crores.

Ajay Singh in the past has been part of the BJP’s 2014 Lok Sabha poll campaign and has been credited by some to have coined the, “Abki baar Modi sarkar slogan”.

Such a possible takeover of NDTV by a seemingly pro-BJP entrepreneur amused many twitter users who reacted to the news:


During this whole time, NDTV has been denying reports of this take-over. The report claimed that a formal statement about this whole issue would be put out by Friday evening.

The real story of Dawood’s sister, Haseena Parkar

Hemant Bijapurkar
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The real story of Dawood’s sister, Haseena Parkar

Recently biopics of unscrupulous elements  seem to have caught the imagination of Bollywood after it has/is making movies based on the lives of Abdul Latif and Alauddin Khilji. Now another addition to the list is Haseena Parkar the infamous sister of Dawood ibrahim on whom the Shradha Kapoor starer Haseena is based.

The year’s 1992, mobster Arjun Gawali’s gang members gunned down Ibrahim Parkar following a long scuffle between Gawali and Dawood which began after Gawali’s mentor Rama Naik was killed in a police encounter allegedly at Dawood’s behest. This killing of Ibrahim Parkar the brother in law of Dawood Ibrahim and the husband of Haseena Parkar sparked her entry into the murky halls of Bollywood’s underworld.

The 7th child among 12 siblings, Haseena based herself out of the 1st floor in Gorden building in Nagpara a neighborhood in South Mumbai. It is said that she really liked the apartments and they were simply broken into and occupied. After the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts she is said to have visited Dubai several times and is also recorded to have gone for Haj back in 1998.

All this while she began flexing her muscles and allegedly projected herself as a proxy to Dawood’s illegal operations in India which included some 54 Benami properties owned by Dawood which she managed. Her numerous operations also included helping builders get permission from slum dwellers in order to redevelop their plots. Negotiating foreign rights to various Bollywood movies chiefly for those to be released in the Gulf countries and Central Russia. She was also alleged to have been involved in an Hawala racket to route money to the Middle-East..Demarcating operating areas for various Cable operators and also providing the operators security to help prevent any occupational hazards and extortion. Plus she allegedly received a cut from every business transaction occurring in her area of influence and in return she help out the locals by doing deeds like tracking down the someone’s sister who had eloped with a man. All this ensued that she became known as the ‘Godmother of Nagpara’.

Even after all this she surprisingly remained litigation free with odd cases of criminal intimidation slapped against her and only one case of extortion catching the public eye. As per the police, Haseena, along with couple others decided to develop a small slum area in Wadala back in 2006. A developer Jayesh Shah deposited Rs 1 crore for the project. The project didn’t materialize and Shah got only 70 lakhs back as the rest 30 lakh was allegedly demanded by Haseena as extortion money and also reportedly issued threats for the same. After the Anti-Extortion cell lodged a case against her she absconded. The case escalated and on May 11th a non-bailable warrant was issued, 14 days since the day she became untraceable. Finally on 25th May a sessions judge scrapped the unbailable warrant issued against her and granted her bail after observing that only a case of cheating could be made out against her. The case was still ongoing until her death.

Haseena died in 2014 after she suffered a heart attack. She was suffering from cold while fasting during Ramzan and after vomiting suffered the cardiac arrest. She allegedly left behind properties worth Rs 5000 crores which she had allegedly amassed using illegal means and was survived by two daughters and one son. It was also reported that Dawood himself attended her last rites over Skype.
Now that her life will be made into a Bollywood movie it remains to be seen as to how accurately are her deeds portrayed. Also in November 2016 the sets of the movie was paid a surprise visit by the three children and brother of Haseena who apparently liked what they saw and also doled out tips apart from presenting Shradha with Haseena’s personal belongings like her reading glasses, nose ring and her favorite lipstick.
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