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Nikki Yadav case: Accused Sahil’s father was earlier arrested in murder case, say Delhi Police sources

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ANI
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sahil gehlot, sahil gahlot, virender, virender gahlot, nikki yadav, nikki yadav murder case
Nikki Yadav case: Accused Sahil's father was earlier arrested in murder case, say Delhi Police sources 2

In a sensational revelation in the Nikki Yadav murder case, Delhi Police sources said on Monday that accused Sahil Gehlot’s father Virender had been arrested in a murder case earlier. The police, in their attempt to collect evidence, took the arrested accused along with Sahil to the dhaba, where he had stored Nikki’s body in a fridge, to recreate the crime scene, sources said.

The police had produced Sahil’s father, Virender, two cousins, Ashish and Naveen, and two friends, Amar and Lokesh, at the residence of the duty magistrate on February 17. According to the police, three years ago, Sahil and Nikki got married in a temple, and Nikki had invited her family members to attend the wedding. However, Nikki’s family members did not approve of the marriage due to different castes.

Meanwhile, the police discovered the involvement of Sahil’s father, cousin and two friends as well and when the police arrested them and interrogated them. The answers during their interrogation were different from those in Sahil’s statement, sources said. “For this reason, the very next day after the arrest, the police took them to the dhaba of Mitrau village, where Sahil had kept Nikki’s dead body in the fridge,” they added.

According to the police, Sahil’s friends had told that Nikki and Sahil had wanted to get married for a long time and they finally did in the year 2020 when they lived in Greater Noida. “This is why the police took the accused Sahil to the house in Noida where they lived. The neighbours were also questioned,” sources said.

The investigation so far has revealed that Nikki’s family members were aware of her marriage, though they have denied it since the beginning. The police have also recorded his statement in this regard. The police are currently examining the phone logs and data of the accused to find out who was involved in the conspiracy and how they planned the murder, sources said.

The Dwarka court on February 15 granted five days’ remand of Sahil Gahlot to Delhi Police Crime Branch to interrogate him and to ascertain the route where he went after the commission of the crime. Nikki was strangled to death allegedly by her partner after she came to know of his impending marriage with another woman, police said. Sahil was arrested on February 14 by the Crime Branch.

The accused was getting engaged on February 9. The accused went to meet Nikki at her flat and left early in the morning. They went to many places in Delhi, during which there was an argument about his marriage. During this, he got angry and strangled the victim with a mobile cable, according to the DCP Crime Branch. “After that, he kept the victim’s body in the refrigerator in a dhaba in Mitraon village, and then the accused went to his marriage.” “We are investigating this case deeply,” he added.

Fraud property builders is a new nuisance for Mumbai

By
Vaidehi Taman
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fraud, home, propety, scam property, properties in mumbai, scam, hotel, fake hotels, cheating, fraud, scammers
Fraud property builders is a new nuisance for Mumbai 4

The rate of urbanisation in India is rapidly increasing. India’s growth and industrialization evolution rates have been changing drastically since the beginning of the 21st century. In India, people are moving from place to place in search of capital, leading to a shortage of land shortly; as a result, the real estate market is booming rapidly. Henceforth, investing in real estate can be profitable. But as the demographic rate is increasing, the crime rate is thriving. Real-estate business is contributing to the economic growth of the country on a large margin; real estate does have a lot of opportunity and capital because of the presence of an abundance of money, making the real estate market vulnerable to scammers and opportunity seekers, inadequate amount of research and mindfulness can be fatal.

As the need for housing is growing, scams are also on the rise. There are many housing projects mushrooming in cities, and people are falling prey to them. Builders grab money and just abscond, or most of the time they give blank checks and fool the gullible buyers. Catching these goons becomes difficult as the buyers sign various papers while purchasing the property. As the real estate market grows, the numbers of scammers and fraudsters are increasing simultaneously. Investors invest in real estate for a better, more secure future, as real estate is considered the most valuable asset.

When an investor makes an investment in the wrong places, their investment is vulnerable to theft and is prone to scams. Swindles occur as a result of investors’ ignorance prior to investing and their gullible faith in scammers. The real estate market is characterised by excessive risk, expensive prices, and inadequate security. It is insecure and an easy target for scammers because of its lack of security. Fraudulent mortgages and falsified documents are the two most typical scams. The largest issue in real estate transactions is typically a purposeful presentation of incorrect facts. Investors that make hasty decisions, easily fall for the seller’s falsified claims, or are duped by the scammers’ phoney profiles are most likely to be taken advantage of.

Scams are also caused by a lack of research; investing without first inspecting increases the likelihood of being duped. Scammers use fake advertisements, phishing emails, and phone calls to spoof investors. Even if a consumer commission grants relief to flat buyers by ordering a builder to refund money with interest after he fails to hand over possession, the builder can still be made to repay double the amount in a separate cheque-bouncing case before a criminal court. In two recent orders by a magistrate’s court, three directors of a construction company were directed to pay Rs 82 lakh to two brothers who had paid Rs 41 lakh for two Dahisar flats in 2014 but failed to get possession, and the refund cheques bounced. The directors of Prisha Developers Pvt. Ltd., Sonali Ugle, Rajaram Bandekar, and Kiran Gupte were also sentenced to six months’ imprisonment each in both cases.

The brothers had moved the magistrate’s court in 2016 by filing separate complaints. While Anuj Kumar Jha (46) had booked a 503 sq ft flat for Rs 54 lakh and paid around Rs 16 lakh, his brother Pankaj (49) paid around Rs 25 lakh for a 665 sq ft flat that he had booked for Rs 80 lakh. The Vile Parle siblings were to get possession in 2016. When the flats were not delivered by March 2016, the construction company signed a memorandum of understanding to cancel the booking. The cheques handed over bounced. They said that they issued demand notices to the accused on May 2, 2016, calling upon them to pay the cheque amount, within the stipulated time. The notices to the directors were returned with the remark “shifted,” but a notice sent to their office address was returned with the remark “intimation posted,”, which the brothers said amounted to service on the accused. As the amount claimed in the notice was not paid by the accused, the brothers said that they were left with no option but to knock on the court’s doors. They filed the complaint on May 24, 2016.

Apartments are listed on websites such as booking.com with few photos of the lodging. As it is new, there is no review information whatsoever; furthermore, it is not searchable on Tripadvisor or even Google. Choose an apartment that is usually listed as pay on arrival with free cancellation. Payment: “Booking.com takes your payment on behalf of the property for this stay.” Aside from making no sense if the listing states pay on arrival, the scam appears when / if you contact the landlord to enquire about the place, where it will be revealed that he/she/they have no bank account on file with Booking.com and will ask you to transfer the entire amount up front via bank transfer to a personal bank account. Property scams and cheating are not new in India; hundreds of Indians are cheated every hour, but there is no concrete remedy to bring them to justice. The lengthy judicial procedure takes a hell of a lot of time, and the complainant not only loses his hard-earned money but also his hopes.

Environmentalists jibe at Fadnavis on his promise of making Mumbai Pollution-free and Mithi River issue

By
Web Team
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fadnavis, devendra, environmentalist, mithi river, mumbai pollution, pollution, mumbai, bmc, municipal corporation, flood, flooding, devendra fadnavis, cm, dy cm, maharashtra
Environmentalists jibe at Fadnavis on his promise of making Mumbai Pollution-free and Mithi River issue 6

The Mithi River is one of the most polluted rivers in India. It is considered to be one of the most important rivers in the city as it plays a significant role in the drainage system of Mumbai. However, the Mithi River faces a number of annual problems that have a severe impact on the environment and the health of people living in the surrounding areas.

The state government and the county’s richest municipal corporation, the BMC, have failed to come up with a solution to this problem. Recently, the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, said that the government aims to make Mumbai pollution-free in the next 2-3 years. His statement was panned by opposition leaders, who called it a “laughable” statement. 

Two of the biggest problems with the Mithi River are the floods that occur during the monsoon season. The second major issue that the river faces is pollution. Due to the industrialization of Mumbai and the lack of proper waste management systems, the river has become heavily polluted with untreated sewage, garbage, and toxic waste.

River pollution is affecting the city, and the lack of plantations and mangroves is also a reason for the bad environment. Many of the greeneries, especially mangroves, maintain water quality, clarity, and filter pollutants, which are beneficial for nature, and they protect us from natural disasters, but they are massively being cut down in the name of development projects, after which these rivers are either polluted by some chemicals or waste materials.

We spoke to some activists and experts to learn about the health hazards and the necessary steps to address these issues so that we could ensure that the river is preserved for future generations.

Environmental activist Girish Raut told Afternoon Voice, “The river is flowing from the industrial areas, where many harmful chemicals are contaminated and waste is thrown into the river; this was also the cause of the flood that took place in 2005.”

“Apart from the many mangroves that have been cut down to develop the city, the government does not realise the importance of them. People who are protesting against these projects are always considered fools, and none of the authorities are bothered to work on the river project. So how can it become pollutant-free?”, Raut further added.

When it comes to BMC officials, all promises made to make the city more environmentally friendly remain on paper. Some RTI activists have expressed their concerns about the river’s pollution and have been involved in discussions for many years. 

“All these are empty promises being made by the government and authorities, but the cleaning of the rivers is only for the talks, and no one wants to work on it,” said RTI activist Gaurav Vora.

“Cleaning rivers should be a priority for the Maharashtra government as an environmental issue, because if we don’t treat nature as important, how will it treat us?” said Shailesh Gandhi, an RTI activist.

Ben Stokes surpasses Brendon McCullum to become the leading six-hitter in Test cricket

By
ANI
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ben stokes, cricket, Brendon McCullum, McCullum, Brendon
Image: Reuters

England all-rounder and Test skipper Ben Stokes made history on Saturday, surpassing New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum to become the player with the most sixes in the history of Test cricket. He reached the milestone during the first Test between England and New Zealand at Mount Maunganui.

On day three of the Test match, in the 49th over of the second innings of his side bowled by NZ’s Scott Kuggeleijn, Stokes hit the third ball for a six over fine leg to surpass McCullum, who is interestingly now England’s Test head coach, to become the leading six-hitter in the longer format. Stokes played an entertaining knock of 31 runs in 33 balls, consisting of three fours and two sixes, before he was dismissed by all-rounder Michael Bracewell, with assistance from wicketkeeper Tom Blundell, who stumped the batter.

In 90 Test matches, Stokes has hit 109 sixes and a total of 5,652 runs with 12 tons and 28 fifties at an average of 36.00. His best score in the format is 258. On the other hand, McCullum has 107 sixes in 101 tests. He made 6,453 runs at an average of 38.64. He has 12 centuries and 31 fifties in the longer format, with a best score of 302.

As for the match, England’s second innings is currently in progress, and they have a lead of 355 runs in the match. They are at 336/8. England took a healthy lead thanks to fifty-run performances from Joe Root (57), Harry Brook (54) and wicketkeeper-batter Ben Foakes (51).

Earlier, the Kiwis were all out for 306 in their first innings. After being reduced to 83/5, Devon Conway (77) had an 85-run stand for the sixth wicket with Tom Blundell, who went on to smash 138 runs in 181 balls. Blundell became the first-ever wicketkeeper-batter to have a century in a pink-ball Test match. Knocks from Neil Wagner (27) and Kuggeleijn (20) also came in handy for the Kiwis. Ollie Robinson picked up 4/54 in 19 overs. James Anderson took 3/36 in his 16.5 overs. Stuart Broad, Ben Stokes and Jack Leach picked up one wicket each.

With this score, New Zealand was trailing by 19 runs after their first inning. England declared their first innings at 325/9 in just 58.2 overs. Half-centuries from Brook (89) and Ben Duckett (84) were highly crucial for the visitors. Ollie Pope (42) and Chris Foakes (38) also played some useful knocks in the first innings. Wagner was the pick of the bowlers for New Zealand in the first innings, with 4/82 in 16.2 overs. Skipper Tim Southee and Kuggeleijn got two wickets each. Tickner picked up one wicket.

“Accept it and take a new symbol”: Uddhav’s ally Sharad Pawar on “bow and arrow” loss

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ANI
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pawar, bow and arrow, uddhav thackeray, uddhav, shiv sena, sharad pawar, ncp, eknath shinde
Image: PTI

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Chief Sharad Pawar remarked on the loss of the “bow and arrow” symbol of his ally Uddhav Thackeray’s faction on Friday, stating that it would not have any major impact. He also stressed that the people would accept the new symbol.

Pawar’s remarks came after the Election Commission of India (ECI) ordered that the party name “Shiv Sena” and the party symbol “Bow and Arrow” be given to the Eknath Shinde faction. The NCP chief asked Thackeray to accept the Election Commission‘s decision and adopt a new symbol.

“It’s the decision of the Election Commission.” Once a decision is made, there can be no discussion. Accept it and adopt a new symbol. The loss of the old symbol will have little impact because people will accept the new symbol. “It would just be discussed for the next 15 to 30 days, and that’s it,” Pawar explained. He recalled the Congress having to change its symbol from two bullocks with a yoke to a hand and said that the people would accept the new symbol of the Uddhav Thackeray faction like they accepted the Congress’ new symbol.

Also read: Tug-of-war between two Sena factions over bow-and-arrow

“I remember Indira Gandhi also facing this situation. Congress used to have a “two bullocks with a yoke” symbol. Later, they abandoned it in favour of the “hand,” which was widely accepted as a new symbol. “Similarly, people will accept the new symbol (of the Uddhav Thackeray faction),” he said.

In a major setback to the Uddhav Thackery faction of Shiv Sena, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday allotted the party name “Shiv Sena” and the symbol “Bow and Arrow” to the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

While the Shinde faction welcomed the decision of being recognized as the real Shiv Sena, the Uddhav Thackeray faction said they will move to the Supreme Court. Earlier, the Eknath Shinde faction burst crackers and celebrated in Nashik today after the Election Commission order.

The Uddhav Thackeray faction accused the Election Commission of haste and said the decision shows “it works as BJP agent”. The Commission observed in its order that the current constitution of the Shiv Sena party is undemocratic and has been “mutilated to undemocratically appoint people from a coterie as office bearers without any election at all”. It said such party structures fail to inspire confidence.

Calling the poll panel’s decision a “murder of democracy”, Uddhav Thackeray said he will approach the Supreme Court against the decision. “They should first understand Balasaheb. They have come to know that ‘Modi’s face does not attract people in Maharashtra anymore so they have to put Balasaheb’s mask on their face for their own benefit. I had said that ECI should not give a decision before the SC verdict. If the party’s existence is decided based on the number of MLAs and MPs, any capitalist can purchase MLA, MP and become CM,” Uddhav Thackeray said at a press conference.

He said they have the support of people and will go to them. “We will surely go to the Supreme Court against this EC order. We are sure that the SC will set aside this order,” Thackeray said. Shiv Sena was formed by Uddhav Thackeray’s father Balasaheb Thackeray.

Ashok Chavan refutes Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil’s open offer’ to join BJP

By
Vaidehi Taman
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radhakrishna vikhe patil, patil, ashok chavan, chavan, bjp, congress, bjp offer, maharashtra politics, maharashtra congress
Ashok Chavan refutes Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil's open offer' to join BJP 10

Congress leader Ashok Chavan is currently supervising the upcoming BMC election strategy in Mumbai. Congress leaders have a lot of ego issues and differences among themselves. Speculation was rife a few days ago about the possibility of Chavan joining the BJP after he met several BJP leaders in the recent past.

Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, a former Congress leader and state revenue minister who is now with the BJP, gave an open offer to former chief minister Ashok Chavan to join the BJP, saying his future in the Congress was austere. Vikhe Patil confirmed that he has given Chavan an open offer.

“I have not spoken to Chavan; it’s my open offer.” In my opinion, a high-profile leader like Ashok Chavan has no future in Congress, which is on the verge of collapse. “In the recent past, most top Congress leaders have quit the party,” he said.

But Ashok Chavan, a former chief minister, denied the possibilities. Ashok Chavan is the core leader of the Maharashtra state Congress, and he has been given several responsibilities to deal with internal disputes.

Assam Child Marriage: Sons put in jail, but no solution to a girl child’s life ahead

By
Vaidehi Taman
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assam child marriage, child marriage, assam, assam police, hemanta biswa sarma, sarma, biswa sarma, assam crackdown
Image: PTI

Thousands of people have been arrested as part of the Assam government’s campaign against child marriage. Now that the police have sent the sons of hundreds of families to jail, people are worried about how their households will run. Moreover, the young brides are not given any respite or solution for spending their lives ahead. They are still in the same house with their in-laws, and their husbands are arrested. This put social pressure on those young girls and their families. Over the next week, thousands of men in Assam who married underage girls will be arrested. While doing this, the government has no plans or proposals to secure those girls’ lives who are minors.

India has the highest number of child brides globally, although the incidence has been decreasing in recent years. The state government is also handling the child marriage issue with iron, but that is only ahead of elections or for some publicity gimmick. Fewer girls are marrying before the age of 15 (from 23.5% to 18.2%), but rates of marriage have increased for girls between ages 15-18 (26.7% to 29.2%). The most horrific truth about child marriage is forced sexual intercourse and then pregnancy, which results in the death of millions of girls around the world. This heartbreaking incident is not only prevalent in Assam but around India too.

There is a patriarchal belief that the husband should exercise total dominion over his wife, which is easier if she is a child and he is 30 or 40 years older. A non-scientific belief about virginity is another reason, and the biggest reason is poverty. Small girls can be moulded as per the protocol of the family they are going into, and in her father’s house, she was the biggest liability. Economic troubles and poverty encourage fathers to sell their daughters into marriage in cultures where girls are considered to have no other value. A girl child is seen as a liability in rural India, and her parents want to wash their hands of this responsibility at the earliest possible date.

Secondly, there is no proper implementation of anti-child marriage laws. People who have seen such a violation neither complain nor cooperate with the police in the enforcement of these laws. Look at Assam. If thousands of men are getting arrested for getting married to minor girls, what was the administration doing when these events were happening? This is the darkest side of the ruling government and administration. One of the darkest aspects of Indian society is sexual repression, with its deeply disturbing effects.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has awoken from his slumber and announced that thousands of people involved in child marriage will be arrested. Thousands of young men and women who married girls under the age of 18 will be arrested over the next six to seven days. Action will also be taken against those who engaged in child marriage earlier. Nagaon had recorded a high percentage of child marriages (42 per cent) and women giving birth before reaching the age of 18 (15 per cent). Himanta Biswa Sarma’s announcement was part of the government’s campaign against child marriage, which he cited as the reason behind child pregnancy, which in turn was responsible for high maternal and infant mortality rates in Assam.

The legal age of marriage in India is 18 for women and 21 for men. But, despite the law, child marriage remains widespread in parts of the country, with some states recording a higher percentage of girls being married at a young age. As per the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5), 2019–21, in Assam, around 11.7 per cent of women between 15 and 19 years of age were already mothers or pregnant at the time of the survey. Several Assam districts had a high percentage of women aged 20 to 24 who were married before 18. The data further showed that a high percentage of married girls gave birth before they reached the legal age of 18.

This is a political campaign that will last until the 2026 Assembly elections. This leaves no doubt that the police campaign to arrest people for allegedly marrying girls below 18 and booking them under the provisions of the POCSO Act and the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act has an electoral purpose. The motive is two-pronged. The first point that Sarma is trying to convey is that he is unsparing when it comes to practises that are identified with Muslims—in this case, child marriage. He has already raked up allegations of “love jihad” and “inducement” for religious conversion, and the latest move is to further stigmatise the community.

The second purpose this campaign serves emanates from the furore this would cause. The uproar caused by this police operation has already resulted in thousands of arrests, primarily in Muslim and tribal majority districts. Anger among the general public over non-delivery has the capacity to trigger anti-incumbent sentiment and can thereby have a negative impact on the electoral fortunes of the BJP, first in 2024 during the Lok Sabha elections and later in 2026 during the Assembly polls.

In a unique cyber-crime love story, a hacker barged into the Mumbai police data system

By
Vaidehi Taman
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heart on keyboard, mumbai police, cybercrime, love story, police, cyber love,
In a unique cyber-crime love story, a hacker barged into the Mumbai police data system 13

Life is all about doing something for the people we love and here no one knows when and how they cross boundaries. Most of us would agree that our relationships are the most important thing. That a layoff or lost opportunity can be tolerated so long as the people we love are healthy and safe. And yet it’s all too easy to lose sight of the big picture when we’re knee-deep in the struggles of our daily lives. It’s easy to deprioritize the little things that keep relationships strong when we’re worried about our debt and our deadlines. It’s human nature—our negativity bias: we’re more sensitive to what’s going wrong than what’s going right. It’s how we’re wired, a means to keep ourselves safe. When one is in love then life is about more than just being safe. Today I am going to tell you a love story that led a man to breach cyber security.

A 27-year-old UP-based civil engineer Babu Shah’s wife works in Mumbai. She has seen this busy and never-ending fast life here. She is ambitious and wants to go abroad for better opportunities. She found one such opening. She applied for a passport; there were no discrepancies in her passport form and the documents. But the application was halted by authorities after the initial application due to some official reasons. We all know how lethargic our system is. It takes time in each government domain.

Also read: Sri Lanka banks on RBI swaps to boost its reserves: PM

The wife was not happy about the delay; she cribbed about it to her husband. When one is in love that too if she is his beloved wife, I know a man can try to pluck stars from the sky. His woman’s happiness is what matters the most. Babu decided to impress his wife by fulfilling her dream of getting a job abroad. To achieve his motive, he hacked the Mumbai Police data system. How he hacked will not be appropriate to explain here. But being a skilled techie, he managed to do so. This is not the first time that someone barged into the Mumbai police data system or website. There were several attacks reported earlier too.

There were Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the state. Millions of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses that were infected with a kind of virus known as a Trojan are being used in the attack, since 2016 there were hundreds of such cases registered by Mumbai police. The official website of the Thane City Police was hacked and restored, the hackers claimed to be supporters of an Islamic group. Following the hacking, a message popped up on the website, allegedly from the hackers in which they demanded an immediate apology to “Muslims all over the world”. But no hacker was traced or arrested.

A hundred times Mumbai police websites were down, many government websites were hacked and data was compromised. Mumbai police are not well versed or updated with cyber security measures and hacking techniques. Perhaps this is the reason that the detection rate of cybercrime is very marginal. With the latest infrastructure and cyber forensics, security agencies and cops are successfully reaching their targets.

Well! Let us come back to Babu, to ensure that his wife’s passport application got a smooth approval, he hacked the Mumbai Police system and approved her form along with that of three other applicants to avoid any suspicion.  By approving those forms which were under scrutiny, Babu left a clue for cops about this hack. Police got alert and during the probe, it was found that the accused used a system with Noida’s IP address to hack the police system.

His wife, who was an applicant whose passport forms were cleared, was a resident of Chembur, Tilak Nagar and Antop Hill in Mumbai. The Mumbai Police Crime Branch arrested Babu Shah from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. An investigation is underway to find out how the techie managed to hack the system. The case has been handed over to the Southern Region Cyber Police Station.

Well, as we call it a blessing in disguise Babu has exposed Mumbai police to cyber security skills. He successfully accessed the data and made changes, imagine if some neighbouring country hackers got into the system through this vulnerability and damaged the system and data both. There is a possible threat to the Mumbai police’s data system when it comes to passport approval.

I won’t refute the fact that Babu has committed a crime, but I also look at it as time exposure. If this wouldn’t have happened, the police could never understand the glitch.

Why was the latest earthquake in Turkey so devastating?

By
Vaidehi Taman
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turkey, earthquake, quake, global warming, climate change, turkey death rate, syria, syria earthquake
Image: Suhaib Salem/Reuters

Deaths in earthquakes are often caused by falling bricks and masonry. Many people in Turkey who were affected by the earthquake live in structures that are extremely likely to be damaged by shaking, with unreinforced brick masonry and low-rise concrete frames. Seismologists consider Turkey a tectonically active area, where three tectonic plates—the Anatolia, Arabia, and Africa plates—touch and interact with each other. The two major fault lines surrounding the North Anatolian Fault and the East Anatolian Fault which has a slip rate of between 6 and 10 millimetres per year—are gradually squeezing the country westward toward the Mediterranean Sea. Yet, many buildings in the region are not built to withstand large earthquakes, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS), making the destruction worse.

The area of Turkey and Syria that has been hardest hit by the 7.8-magnitude earthquake and its aftershocks is known for having big quakes, but it had been decades since one this large last hit. The Turkish authorities are currently compiling lists of persons liable for prosecution in connection to the shoddy building construction. There are of course people who bear the blame, but this comes off as a witch hunt. Why were they allowed to get construction permits? Why were the faulty plans approved? Who approved them? Didn’t any civil engineers check the building’s progress? Is it possible that no one knew the constructions were NOT earthquake safe? How could a government be so criminally indifferent to huge blocks being built, later to be proven as solid as sand castles? Blame should be sought from the top, but that is highly unlikely to happen.

Also read: Germany to issue emergency visas to Turkish, and Syrian earthquake victims

Too many people died because of criminal decisions at all levels of government and guild. The Arabian Peninsula is part of a tectonic plate that is making its way north into the Eurasian Plate, and the entire nation of Turkey is getting squeezed aside.  That tectonic shift has been behind earthquakes for millennia in the area, including one that flattened the Syrian city of Aleppo in 1138. More recent quakes, such as the 1999 one that struck the city of Izmir, have killed many thousands. Most of the largest earthquakes in the past hundred years have been along the North Anatolian Fault.

But stress has been building along another major fault: the East Anatolian Fault. That fault has seen some big earthquakes in the past, says Patricia Martínez-Garzón, a seismologist at GFZ Potsdam, a research centre in Germany. But more recently, there hasn’t been as much activity. Some researchers had begun to suspect the fault was due to a major quake, according to Fatih Bulut, with the Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul. His research group and others had run computer models showing that this fault could have a magnitude 7.4 or greater earthquake. But that doesn’t mean that seismologists could say exactly when a big one would hit, according to Ian Main, a seismologist at the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom.

In 1999, a magnitude-7.4 earthquake hit 11 kilometres southeast of Izmit, Turkey, killing more than 17,000 people and leaving more than 250,000 homeless. After this tragedy, the Turkish government introduced new building codes and a compulsory earthquake insurance system. However, many of the buildings affected by this week’s quake were built before 2000, says Mustafa Erdik, a civil engineer at Boğaziçi University, Turkey. Things are worse in Syria, where more than 11 years of conflict have made building standards impossible to enforce. The earthquake struck Syria’s north-western regions, with buildings collapsing in Aleppo and Idlib. Some war-damaged buildings in Syria have been rebuilt using low-quality materials or “whatever materials are available.

Researchers say people need to brace themselves for yet more quakes and aftershocks, as well as deteriorating weather. The possibility of major aftershocks causing even more damage will continue for weeks and months. Earthquakes occur when the movement of tectonic plates creates a sudden, rapid displacement of the Earth’s crust. Tectonic plates are large pieces of the Earth’s lithosphere (the rigid outer layer of the planet) that fit together like a puzzle. These plates move and interact with one another along plate boundaries, causing earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and the creation of mountain ranges.

The region of Turkey and Syria is located along the boundary of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates, making it a highly seismic area with a history of powerful earthquakes. The earthquakes that occur in this region are caused by the movement of these tectonic plates and the release of pent-up energy stored in the Earth’s crust. In addition to plate boundary earthquakes, there are also interpolate earthquakes that occur within the plates themselves, caused by the adjustment of stresses within the plate.

Finally Amit Shah spoke on the Hindenburg-Adani row

By
Vaidehi Taman
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amit shah ani iv
Finally Amit Shah spoke on the Hindenburg-Adani row 16

The Hindenburg-Adani row has turned into a major political controversy with the Congress and other opposition parties making allegations of favouritism and crony capitalism against the government. They raised the issue during the budget session of parliament demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe. The opposition parties have also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue. After Rahul flashed pictures of Modi with Adani, the BJP hit back with images of the industrialist with Rahul’s brother-in-law Robert Vadra and also with Congress chief ministers. The BJP said that Rahul’s allegations that Modi helped Adani’s business to flourish was false and challenged him to prove his claims against the prime minister in Parliament.

People were expecting PM Modi to say something on Hindenburg-Adani row in parliament but he gave Nehru a ride to the house and remained mute on this core controversy surrounding Adani. The opposition was constantly targeting the BJP-led government over the Adani controversy, people wanted to know why BJP is silent on this issue. On social media a successful narrative was created that Adani and Modi are old time friends and that is the reason BJP is siding him. To address the issues finally Union Home Minister Amit Shah gave an interview to media and said that it will not be appropriate for him to comment as the Supreme Court has taken cognizance of the matter but there is nothing “for the BJP to hide or be afraid of”.

If BJP discloses all the sources of their political funding, there will be really nothing to hide. I wish we could have an independent wing of CBI/ ED working under a Lokpal with a constitution section to let the truth emerge. Congress or any opposition party don’t have an investigation resource to bring out the evidence. It is an unfair and uneven battle to nail down these despots. India’s Adani Group made headlines last month after it was accused by US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research of stock manipulation, unsustainable debt and use of tax havens.

The ports-to-energy conglomerate, which operates seven publicly traded companies, had a combined valuation of $220 billion. Because of the accusations, Adani’s shares have been in free fall, with the conglomerate’s cumulative market value loss reaching a whopping $133 billion. The Adani Group has denied the allegations, calling them “malicious” and “baseless” and says its plans have not changed. But investors are clearly still nervous.

After Hindenburg Research accused the group of “brazen” stock manipulation and accounting fraud, its valuations have nearly halved. The group’s founder Gautam Adani has seen billions wiped off his personal wealth and has dropped to the 17th spot on the list of the world’s top 20 richest people.Analysts are watching to see if there will be a regulatory inquiry into the group’s corporate governance. The issue has also set off a political row over Adani’s perceived closeness to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which both deny.

TotalEnergies has put a hold on a multi-billion dollar contract to extend its partnership with Adani for the production of green hydrogen; the French oil major announced .The embattled group was also forced to call off its flagship Adani Enterprises’ $2.45 billion FPO due to the market rout. Global rating agencies have mixed views on the Adani situation and the direct ramifications for the Adani Group. Banks have a loan exposure of around Rs80,000 crore to the Adani Group, of which the SBI has lent around Rs27,000 crore. However, SBI chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara said the bank’s loans to the group were 0.88 percent of its books and that it does not envisage any challenge. Similarly, the LIC’s investment of around Rs36,000 crore in the Adani Group is 0.97 per cent of its assets under management at book value. Also, the group has offered to return its debt early to restore market sentiment.

They have sought questions over the investment of LIC and some public sector banks in the Adani group. The government has rejected the allegations with PSUs and regulatory bodies also issuing statements about following the norms and acting to their mandates. The Centre informed the Supreme Court that SEBI had agreed to constitute a committee to protect investor interests following Hindenburg’s report on Adani Group. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud that SEBI is completely equipped to deal with the situation that took place due to a recent report by Hindenburg Research.Mehta also said that the government has no objection to appointing a committee to suggest how to ensure investors are protected in the future. However, he said that the remit of the committee is important since it has an effect internationally and that the government will provide names in a sealed cover.

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