Kejriwal not to appear before ED, will go to Madhya Pradesh for poll campaigning, say AAP sources 2
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will not appear before the Enforcement Directorate for questioning and will visit Madhya Pradesh for poll campaigning, AAP sources said on Thursday.
”He will be going to Madhya Pradesh’s Singrauli, where he will take part in a roadshow along with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. He will leave for Madhya Pradesh in a while,” a party source said. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had summoned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for questioning in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam. He was supposed to depose at the probe agency’s Delhi office at 11 am on Thursday.
Kejriwal on Thursday wrote to the ED, demanding that the probe agency withdraw its notice, summoning him for questioning, claiming it was ”illegal and politically motivated”.
The Delhi Chief Minister’s Office said that in reply to the ED notice, Kejriwal has termed it as ”illegal and politically motivated” and aimed at preventing him from campaigning in the poll-bound states.
Kejriwal also alleged that the notice was sent to him at the behest of the BJP.
The Mumbai crime branch is cracking down on an overseas jobs racket 4
Placement jobs overseas are a common scam in the city; they entice young people with the promise of placement abroad and then extort money. The Mumbai crime branch arrested two members of such a gang. These people used to defraud the targets by stealing their passports and large sums of money.
The gang used to ask to pay around Rs 50,000–1 lakh and when the victims demanded their passports back, they would demand a blackmail amount in exchange.
Ramkrupal Kushwa from Bhiwandi and one Rohit Sinha from Delhi came under the trap of cops, and at least six more members are wanted in this case. This gang cheated several youngsters with the promise of jobs in Azerbaijan. Police said that the accused gang operated recruitment and placement services under the name of Bombay Consultancy at Shahid Bhagat Singh Road in south Mumbai and lured youngsters with a promise of a Rs 50,000–Rs 80,000 job package in Azerbaijan.
A crime branch officer told Afternoon Voice that “the accused used to show bogus documents to lure youngsters. They used to show them the demand for bogus placements, accept money from them and cheat the victims, mostly from Bihar. When the victims demanded their passports back, the gang members demanded an extortion amount in exchange for passports”.
A police team led by inspector Ghanshyam Nair raided the consultancy office and seized a router, two telephones, fake rubber stamps, visas, a medical test book and 21 passports of various victims. “At least 40 to 50 people, mostly from middle-class families, were tricked by the gang.
Maratha quota stir: Curfew lifted in Beed; 99 people held so far for violence 6
The Beed administration lifted curfew imposed in parts of the district on Wednesday morning after violence during the Maratha quota agitation on Monday, officials said.
Prohibition orders will continue in the district, located in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra, and Internet services are still shut down to maintain law and order, they said.
There is no relaxation in curfew in Dharashiv district as of now, the officials said. The Beed police have registered more than 30 offenses and arrested 99 people so far in connection with the violence, they said.
After violence in Beed on Monday, curfew was enforced in a periphery of 5 kilometres from the collector office, head offices of talukas, and all national highways passing through the district. ”Curfew in Beed district has been revoked by the district administration at 6 am on Wednesday. Prohibitory orders still exist in the district,” an official said. ”Internet services are still shut down in Beed,” Collector Deepa Mudhol Munde told reporters. The curfew is still in effect in Dharashiv district and a decision to revoke it will be taken after a review by the administration, an official from Dharashiv said.
On Tuesday, prohibitory orders were also imposed in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district by Collector Aastik Kumar Pandey to maintain law and order. Nanded Collector Abhijeet Raut had also imposed prohibitory orders on Tuesday on national highways and other roads so as to keep the transport movement smooth, another official said. Maharashtra’s Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Sanjay Saxena visited Beed district on Tuesday to take stock of the situation after large-scale violence there during the Maratha quota agitation.
The Beed police have registered more than 30 offenses and arrested 99 people so far in connection with the violence. The situation is currently under control, an official said.
ADG Saxena has been reviewing the situation in Beed. He will also submit a report about the situation to the government, the official said.
The residence of Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar group) MLA Prakash Solanke at Majalgaon town in Beed was set on fire and stones were hurled at it by a group of quota agitators on Monday morning.
The group also set ablaze a car parked at the residence after an audio clip of the MLA, in which he purportedly spoke about the Maratha quota agitation and made a veiled comment on quota activist Manoj Jarange, who is on an indefinite fast, went viral.
Later, the protesters set ablaze the first floor of the Majalgaon Municipal Council building.
Another group of protesters barged into the residential premises and office of NCP MLA Sandeep Kshirsagar in Beed city and set them on fire on Monday evening.
The residence of former Maharashtra minister Jaydutt Kshirsagar in the city was also torched.
Police fired tear gas shells to disperse a mob that had gathered outside the residence of NCP leader Amarsingh Pandit.
Kapil Sibal targets Centre over 'Apple warning' to Opposition leaders, alleges 'misuse of system' 8
Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal hit out at the central government on Wednesday after opposition party leaders received an ‘Apple warning message’ claiming a privacy breach attempt on their devices. “The government itself has people who are compulsive wrongdoers. Why talk of the opposition? Everything that this government has done since it came to power has been contrary to the Constitution. Actually, they have subverted every provision of the Constitution. People belonging to the BJP, against whom serious cases are pending, are out on bail. This is a complete misuse of the system,” Kapil Sibal told ANI.
Earlier on Tuesday, several political leaders also reported receiving alerts from Apple. Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge and the party’s General Secretary organisation KC Venugopal, Congress’ Pawan Khera, Shashi Tharoor, Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra, BRS working president KT Rama Rao and AAP MP Raghav Chaddha are among others who reported receiving alert messages from Apple.
The leaders of the opposition parties have alleged that the government was behind the attempt to breach their devices. The leaders also shared screenshots of the warning received on their devices. After a major controversy erupted between the ruling party and the opposition leaders over the alleged hacking of their phones, Apple officially announced that it does not attribute the threat notifications to any specific state-sponsored attacker.
“State-sponsored attackers are very well-funded and sophisticated, and their attacks evolve over time. Detecting such attacks relies on threat intelligence signals that are often imperfect and incomplete. It’s possible that some Apple threat notifications may be false alarms or that some attacks are not detected,” Apple said in a statement.
The tech giant further said that they are unable to provide information about what causes them to issue threat notifications, as that may help state-sponsored attackers adapt their behavior to evade detection in the future.
Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics, and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said the government has asked Apple to join the investigation with “accurate information on the alleged state-sponsored attacks”.
“The Government of Bharat takes its role of protecting the privacy and security of all citizens very seriously and will investigate to get to the bottom of these notifications. In light of such information and widespread speculation, we have also asked Apple to join the investigation with real, accurate information on the alleged state-sponsored attacks,” Vaishnaw posted on X.
Maharashtra Workers' union calls for shutdown of market in Pune to support Maratha reservation demand 10
The workers’ union at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj market yard in Pune has called for the shutdown of the market for one day to show support for the Maratha reservation demand by Manoj Jarange-Patil. All businesses and trade under the Agricultural Produce Market Committee shut down on Wednesday to support the Maratha reservation demand by Manoj Jarange Patil.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde convened an all-party meeting on Wednesday morning to discuss the situation in the state amid the intensified Maratha quota agitation. Quota activist Manoj Jarange has been sitting on an indefinite fast for over a week. On Tuesday, the Maratha reservation activist decided to start drinking water after CM Eknath Shinde assured him of a solution.
Jarange-Patil, however, continues his agitation, refusing to eat solid food. Patil says he will continue to drink water for two more days but will resume his complete hunger strike if the state government fails to place Marathas under the OBC category by giving them Kunbi caste certificates. The activist also demanded that the government convene a special session to discuss the Maratha reservation demand.
Earlier on Tuesday, the state government accepted the first report presented by the Justice Shinde committee and issued a Government Resolution (GR) to decide the procedure for granting Kunbi caste certificates to the Maratha in the Marathwada region.The process of issuing Kunbi certificates has begun. The Kunbi community is eligible for reservations in the OBC category. The GR (Government Resolution) noted, “The available documents from Marathwada and other regions concerning the Maratha-Kunbi and Kunbi-Maratha caste certificates, the (retired) justice Sandeep Shinde Committee’s first report, have been approved by the State Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde today.”
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde reiterated that the state government is committed to providing Maratha reservations that will pass legal scrutiny. According to the Shinde Committee report, approximately until October 30, 1,74,45,432 records have been checked and from them, 13,498 records of the Kunbi caste have been found as of now. “Also, 460 pieces of evidence presented by the citizens in the review meeting in Marathwada were presented to the committee. During the investigation, most of the records in the old archives were in Modi script or Urdu. The first report of the Justice Sandeep Shinde (Retd) committee has been accepted. After this report, the Kunbi caste certificate will be given to Marathas”,” it added.
The Shinde committee reviewed the district-wise records in connection to the Maratha reservation. The committee directed the concerned eight district collectors to prepare a single sample for all the districts of Marathwada and inspect the records to submit a report to the government regarding the checked records.
Israel War (2023) and how India is preparing for the forth 12
The catastrophe which had erupted on October 7, 2023 by the attack of Hamas on Israel and confiscating hostages to bow down the Israel Government Authority, had literally started from the day 15th May 1948, when the British departed from Palestine, and the entire Jews and Arab started to fight it out. Though, in every battleground Israel had always proved its strength and sovereignty in front of every red eye, yet the Palestine people with the alliance of Arab World’s never skedaddled from their demand.
History had been written by the Blood of Battles in the name of Crusade (1095 AD), when the Orthodox Ecclesiastical Christian Group first came to Jerruhzalem with their Religious sentiments, to encroach and beat back the Muhammadan Muslims’ from this so-called pious land, Vatican City. As, the Muslims’ also do believe that the pious Mosque Al-Aqsa (al-muṣallā al-qiblī) also having a great significance in the Life of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), as the concept of Mehraj and the theory of helotize feudal serfdom (Quran Al Isra 17:1) manifested here.
The renowned Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO-1964) was an univocally accepted voice in United Nation who always enunciated for liberating and achieving self-determination of Palestine and Refugee Settlements. Several times, the foreign delegates and ministerial diplomats of different countries came together in Lebanon, Jordon, Qatar to meet with PLO Officials, to clutch some accelerated solution.
Though, in the era of 1940, the strategical podium attenuated when the Germany started to decimate the Jews people in the name of Nazi Chauvinisms. Rather, in WWII (1941-44), the Jews saw their worst time to prove their identity, and established the concept of fittest. At the end of the WWII, the British Colonials established the Israel (1948) explicitly to bring the Jews Identity.
Octobor 7, 2023 would be considered as a “Black Day” in Israel as a designated indigenous socio-political group named HAMAS, promotes the Islamic Resistance Movement. They attacked during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah on Shabbat, and a day after the 50th anniversary of the start of the Yom Kippur War, which also began with a surprise attack. HAMAS confiscated some hostages with their demands and was started to blackmail the Israel Govenment.
The World leaders started to walk forth the issue to bring a stability into this catastrophe. Meanwhile, the Foreign Minister, Russia called the HAMAS Authority and Palestine Liberation Group (PLO) into Moscow.
Since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict escalated, China has been calling for a ceasefire and cessation of hostilities, protection of civilians, opening a humanitarian aid corridor and averting a larger-scale humanitarian disaster.
With Philanthropic and Humanitarian Support, India also had come up to the front for the Palestine people. Govt. of India had forwarded supplies with the essential amenities as well as also initiated the Operation AJAY to bring the Indian Citizens back safely from this conflict zone. Without determining officially, HAMAS, as an International terror Group, India abstained from UN Vote for truce in this Isreal Palestine War.
On the other hand, Israel was creating political pressure on India to announce HAMAS as a International Terror Group but hitherto HAMAS hadn’t made any other “announced-cum-targeted” attack without Israel. Even, seeing the gap, the Turkey PM Erdogan also had proclaimed with a voice that “HAMAS is fighting for their Land and Right”.
Meanwhile, the HAMAS had released two American hostages with the arbitrament of Qatar Officials, rather on the other page Qatar had announced Death penalty for 8 Indian Ex-Naval Official who was working there. Diplomatically, now India had come onto the political fringe where the Government now must have to come out and make their stand clear enough. Though, the FM Mr. Jaishankar admonished that Govt. is looking closely with their sincere effort.
Maratha quota issue: A 3-member panel to advise Maha govt on approaching SC, says CM Shinde 14
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said on Monday that a three-member committee of experts will be set up to advise the state government on the submission of a proposed curative petition in the Supreme Court in connection with the Maratha quota issue.
Members of the Maratha community have been staging protests seeking reservation in government jobs and education under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.
The agitation intensified after quota activist Manoj Jarange sat on an indefinite fast from October 25 at Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district as part of the second phase of the protest. Speaking to reporters, Shinde said, “An expert committee will be formed which will advise the state government for a proposed curative petition, which the state will file before the Supreme Court. The expert committee will have three retired judges.”
“I do not want to go into the details of why the previous government failed to retain the Maratha reservation in the state. The Supreme Court has struck down the reservation upheld by the Bombay High Court,” he said.
The state government has already formed a committee, headed by retired judge Sandeep Shinde, to submit a report on how to issue Kunbi caste certificates to the Maratha community.
“The committee will submit its report tomorrow and it will be discussed in the cabinet meeting,” CM Shinde said.
Activist Jarange has announced that fast-unto-death protests will begin in villages across Maharashtra if the state government fails to act on the pending demand of the Maratha community.
The Maharashtra government’s stated position is that it is committed to granting reservation to the Maratha community which stands legal scrutiny.
Delhi excise policy scam cases: SC rejects bail pleas of ex-deputy CM Manish Sisodia 16
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the regular bail pleas of former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in corruption and money-laundering cases related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.
A bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice SVN Bhatti said it has recorded the statements of the probe agencies that the trial in these cases will conclude in six to eight months.
But if the trial proceeds in a ”sloppy manner”, then Sisodia will be at liberty to apply for bail in these cases in three months, the bench said.
The top court pronounced its verdict on Sisodia’s two separate regular bail pleas filed in corruption and money-laundering cases related to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy. It had on October 17 reserved its verdict on both the pleas.
Sisodia was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on February 26 for his alleged role in the ”scam”. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader has been in custody since then.
The ED arrested Sisodia in a money-laundering case stemming from the CBI FIR on March 9 after questioning him in Tihar jail. Sisodia resigned from the Delhi cabinet on February 28.
The high court denied him bail in the CBI case on May 30, saying having been the deputy chief minister and excise minister, he is a ”high-profile” person who has the potential to influence the witnesses.
On July 3, the high court declined him bail in the money-laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the city government’s excise policy, holding that the charges against him are ”very serious in nature”.
The Delhi government had implemented the policy on November 17, 2021, but scrapped it at the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruption. According to the investigating agencies, the profit margins of wholesalers were increased from 5 per cent to 12 per cent under the new policy.
The agencies have alleged that the new policy resulted in cartelisation and those ineligible for liquor licences were favoured for monetary benefits. However, the Delhi government and Sisodia have denied any wrongdoing and said the new policy would have led to an increase in Delhi’s revenue share.
Congress 'strongly opposed' to India's abstention on UN resolution on Israel-Hamas conflict: Sonia Gandhi 18
The Congress is ”strongly opposed” to India’s abstention on the recent UN resolution on the Israel-Hamas conflict, former party chief Sonia Gandhi said on Monday, asserting that while her party had unequivocally condemned Hamas’ attacks, the tragedy is compounded with the Israeli state now focused on exacting revenge from a population that is largely as helpless as it is blameless.
She also said her party’s longstanding position has been to support direct negotiations for a sovereign independent, viable and secure state of Palestine coexisting in peace with Israel.
In an article in The Hindu, Gandhi said ”humanity is on trial now”, as she called for the loudest and most powerful voices to be for a cessation of military activity.
”We were collectively diminished by the brutal attacks on Israel. We are now all diminished by Israel’s disproportionate and equally brutal response. How many more lives will have to be taken before our collective conscience is stirred and awakened?” she said.
On October 7, 2023, on the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, Hamas launched a brutal attack on Israel, killing more than a thousand people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping over 200 more, she noted.
”The unprecedented attack was devastating for Israel. The Indian National Congress strongly believes that violence has no place in a decent world, and the very next day unequivocally condemned Hamas’s attacks,” she said.
Gandhi further said that this tragedy is, however, being compounded by the Israeli military’s ”indiscriminate operations” in and around Gaza that have led to thousands of deaths, including large numbers of innocent children, women and men. ”The power of the Israeli state is now focused on exacting revenge from a population that is largely as helpless as it is blameless. The destructive might of one of the world’s most potent military arsenals is being unleashed upon children, women and men who have no part in the Hamas assault; they, instead, for the most part, have been at the heart of decades of discrimination and suffering,” she said.
Articulating the Congress’s stand on the Israel-Palestine issue, she said there can be no peace without justice. Israel’s unremitting blockade for over a decade and a half has reduced Gaza to an ”open-air prison” for its two million inhabitants packed into dense cities and refugee camps, she said. ”In Jerusalem and the West Bank, Israeli settlers backed by the Israeli state have continued to push out Palestinians from their own land in a seeming effort to destroy the vision of a two-state solution. Peace will come only if the world, led by countries that have the ability to influence policies and events, can restart the process of restoring the two-state vision and make it a reality,” Gandhi stressed. She said the Congress has been consistent over the years in its strong belief that both the Palestinians and Israelis have the right to live in a just peace. ”We value our friendship with the people of Israel. But this does not mean that we erase from our memories, the painful history of forced dispossession of the Palestinians from what was their homeland for centuries, and of years of suppression of their basic right to a life of dignity and self-respect,” she said.
”Contrary to some mischievous suggestions, the position of the Indian National Congress has been long standing and principled: it is to support direct negotiations for a sovereign independent, viable and secure state of Palestine coexisting in peace with Israel,” Gandhi said.
She pointed out that this was also the stand taken by the Ministry of External Affairs on October 12, 2023. ”It is noteworthy that the reiteration of India’s historic position on Palestine came only after Israel began its assault on Gaza. The Prime Minister had made no mention of Palestinian rights in the initial statement expressing complete solidarity with Israel,” she said.
”The Indian National Congress is strongly opposed to India’s abstention on the recent United Nations General Assembly Resolution calling for an ‘immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities’ between Israeli forces and Hamas in Gaza,” the former Congress chief said.
”It is unfortunate that many influential countries are being wholly partisan when they should be trying their utmost to end the war. The loudest and most powerful voices should be for a cessation of military activity,” she asserted. Otherwise, this cycle will continue and make it difficult for anyone in the region to live in peace for a long time to come, Gandhi added.
She pointed out that in this war, as it is now described, entire families have been wiped out and neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble. ”The denial of water, food and electricity is no less than the collective punishment of the Palestinian people. The outside world, particularly those who want to help, is largely blocked out of Gaza, with relief and aid reaching the needy in a trickle, and not on the scale that is necessary,” she said. ”Not only is it inhumane but it is also illegal in international law. Very few Gazans are untouched by the violence. Bottled up on a small, over-densely populated strip of territory, they have nothing to fall back upon. And now, even the occupied West Bank has flared up and the conflict is widening,” Gandhi pointed out.
Noting that the prospects for the future are ominous, Gandhi said senior Israeli officials have spoken of destroying and depopulating large parts of Gaza. The Israeli Defence Minister has referred to Palestinians as ”human animals”, she said and added that this ”dehumanising language” is shocking coming from the descendants of those who themselves were the victims of the Holocaust.
”The Israeli government is making a grievous error in equating the actions of Hamas with the Palestinian people,” she asserted. In its determination to destroy Hamas, it has unleashed indiscriminate death and destruction against the ordinary people of Gaza, Gandhi said. ”Even if the long history of the suffering of the Palestinians is ignored, by what logic can a whole population be held responsible for the actions of a few?” she said in the article.
With India abstaining from voting on the United Nations resolution on the Israel-Hamas conflict, opposition parties on Saturday had asserted that the move goes against everything the country has stood for, even as the BJP stressed that India will never be on the side of terrorism.
Over 1,400 people were killed in the unprecedented attacks on Israel by Hamas on October 7. Hamas also took more than 220 people hostage. Israel then launched retaliatory strikes. The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said on Saturday that over 7,700 Palestinians have died since October 7.
Expressing shock over the twin explosions that took place at a convention centre in Kerala, leaving one dead and several injured, Congress leader Sashi Tharoor on Sunday condemned the incident and demanded swift police action in the matter.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said to see his state falling prey to the “mentality of killing and destruction was tragic”.
“Shocked and dismayed by the news of a bomb attack on a religious gathering in Kerala. I condemn it unreservedly & demand swift police action. But that’s not enough. To see my state falling prey to the mentality of killing and destruction is tragic. I urge all religious leaders to unite in condemning such barbarism & teaching their followers that violence achieves nothing but more violence,” Tharoor, the Thiruvananthapuram MP, posted from his official handle on X.
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the wake of the blasts.
The Union Home Minister also instructed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the National Security Guard (NSG) to reach on the spot and start an inquiry into the incident.
One person was killed and several critically wounded in the explosions that took place at a prayer meeting of Jehovah’s Witness believers at Zamra International Convention and Exhibition Centre in Kalamassery area in Ernakulam district.
The Home Minister later issued a direction to the chiefs of both the NIA and the NSG — the two Central agencies specialised in anti-terror investigation and operations respectively — to send their specialised teams on the spot to start an inquiry.
Earlier, the Kerala Chief Minister termed the explosion an unfortunate incident saying that the state government was taking it very seriously.
“It’s a very unfortunate incident. We are collecting details regarding the incident. All top officials are there in Ernakulam. DGP is moving to the spot. We are taking it very seriously. I have spoken to the DGP. We need to get more details after the investigation,” Vijayan said.
Kerala’s Leader of Opposition and the Congress’s state president, VD Satheesan, meanwhile, said he was told that there were two blasts and there was a fire. “Intially, there was a major blast. It was followed by a second blast, which was minor. A woman died and another 25 persons, who were injured in the incident, are currently under treatment at the hospital. Six of the 25 injured persons are currently in the ICU. Around 2,000 people were present at the prayer hall when the explosive devices went off,” he said.
Those injured in the twin blasts were admitted to Government Medical College Hospital in Kalamassery, as well as in private hospitals.
The explosions were reported a little after 9.30 am at the venue where a regional meeting of the believers was underway.
