The data was sold mainly to loan recovery agents at a monthly subscription of Rs 2,000, a half-year subscription of Rs 12,000 and an annual subscription of Rs 24,000, a police officer said.
The Mumbai Police Crime Branch, following a two-month operation, arrested two Commerce graduates on Thursday for allegedly running portals that provided personal data of residents of Maharashtra, Delhi and Gujarat at a price.
The data was sold mainly to loan recovery agents at a monthly subscription of Rs 2,000, a half-year subscription of Rs 12,000 and an annual subscription of Rs 24,000, a police officer said.
The officer added that after getting access to the website, just by feeding in the person’s name in the search option, the subscriber could get details like current and former cellphone numbers, Aadhaar card number, address, date of birth and phone numbers of family members, among other details.
A senior officer identified the two Mulund-based siblings as Rahul Eligati (28) and Nikhil Eligati (25). “Nikhil has in the past worked as a loan recovery agent, through which he came to know about the source from where data of loan defaulters was obtained by companies,” the officer added.
Accordingly, during the first Covid-19 lockdown, when Nikhil did not have a job, he and his brother procured the data and started two websites — https://www.tracenow.co. and https://www.fonivotech.com.
“Once one enters a name, all the data linked to the person that he has not even shared with others, pop up, including personal numbers, Aadhaar card data, address, date of birth, and numbers of other family members,” said an officer.
The police said that so far, there is no clarity on how the accused managed to get access to such a sensitive database. Thane: 184 arrested for various offenses in four-hour special drive, 1,600 traffic violations registered
As many as 184 people involved in various prohibited activities including gambling, consumption of liquor or narcotics, and possessing arms illegally were arrested during a surprise four-hour-long combing operation undertaken within the Thane police jurisdiction till the wee hours of Thursday, the police informed.
In a parallel drive, over 1,600 cases of traffic violations including bikers riding without helmets, motorists not wearing seat belts, signal jumping among others were also reported.
The police said that the brothers were careful with whom they shared the database. “Only if someone approached them through a reference, did they take money and shared the ID and password of the websites. They were operating the websites as a start-up and one could approach them only if you came through a reference,” the officer said.
“We are questioning the two to find out if they had hacked some government website or if an insider at such places parted with sensitive data. Another line of investigation is whether the accused purchased this data from the dark net where sometimes personal data is dumped by cyber criminals and sold for a price,” the officer added.
Taking cognizance of the seriousness of the offense, the magistrate court remanded the brothers to police custody for 12 days. The police said that more arrests are likely in the case.
Despite the government’s persistence may not be as clear-cut as a case of state domination and over-reach. It turns out that the Indian government might be right to fear that technology, for all the very real benefits it’s brought India, could also help to magnify ancient communal tensions in a way that costs lives and, perhaps even worse, might destabilize the delicate social balance within the world’s second-largest country. Technology didn’t cause any of this, of course. But social media and text messaging, both of which are becoming increasingly common in the reaches of India’s enormous lower and middle classes, accelerated the flow of rumors and of inflammatory images.
The government, unable to counter the destabilizing rumors, shut down some of the means of their dispersal. Whether the Indian government’s censorship does anything to calm this crisis, their apparent desperation is understandable. Still, India’s willingness to censor the web is part of the government’s longer-running effort to standardize the Internet, to which Western governments and web freedom advocates have persistently objected. Some of India’s sweeping restrictions compel web companies like Google and Facebook to self-police, and then self-censor, any content that could be perceived as profane or offensive to ethnic groups.
In the recent past #censorship was a big debate on social networks; the social network authorities deactivate or block these days. Censorship in India, which involves the suppression of speech or other public communication, raises issues of freedom of speech, which is protected by the Indian constitution. A classic example of censorship in India is the Central Board of Film Certification or Censor Board, which comes under the purview of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The Board regularly orders directors to remove anything it deems offensive or subjects considered to be politically subversive.
The Cinematograph Act, 1952 governs the censorship of films. It assigns certification as Universal, Adults, and Parental Guidance to films in India before public exhibition. The Indian government has earlier blocked around 250 websites, ordered Google and Facebook to pull content, threatened legal action against Twitter if it doesn’t delete certain accounts, and has arrested several people for sending provocative text messages, all in the name of public safety.
Web freedom activists distinguish this as little more than an excuse for online authoritarianism, and they’re probably often correct. We cannot isolate ourselves from this but can make a safe distance to access genuine information. A parallel system needs to strict its security norms so that any state against information and data is not in the reach of the common citizen of the country.
Being a person from Cyber Security, I know how much it is for us to fool inexperienced people on the internet and then use those resources to do something illegal and improper. There should be a body which will not only work towards security of cybercrime in government and Militant organizations but also work towards enforcement of awareness of cybercrime. It is always better to take precautions.
Rapidly increasing two-edged sword, Social media has created a vibrant online community and widened public discourse, allowing a platform for activists with a thousand causes. On the flip side, it has also become a vehicle of skewered misinformation. The perspective of an individual using a social networking site enigmatically is much more in a social networking site than in a social media. There is no procedure for registration and ownership. And so there is no way to pin down the culprits.
Censorship has become a weapon in the hands of the State to make people agree with its ideology. Now is the time to look into the role that healthy criticism, analysis, and cinema literacy, posts, cartoons, blogs or tweets rather than relying on controllers that act as moral police can play, stopping the dissent. Information technology seems to be the latest weapon of waging proxy wars.
Countries have borders and restrictions to each other’s jurisdiction, but cyberspace has no boundaries. Recent NE exodus was a disastrous moment for Indian Citizens and the Government. With 2-3 online users and a couple of hours of editing work, various groups could trigger the most massive internal exodus of People in India and nationwide protests. Most of the public who does this assumes that they do this with a false sense of secrecy.
While Cyber War between India and Pakistan is not new, something limited it to hacking off each other’s websites. Interestingly, this time it may not have been carried out by so-called hackers. Since it was easier to spread hatred than to block websites, 4-5 Social Media addicts have carried the whole episode out. The law is there to prevent this, but enforcement is far from adequate. There are many such instances and evidence that one country rages its anger or one particular religion condemns another religion, hurting its sentiments online.
But we did not do so. It was our prejudice and lack of unity that contributed to the success of the mischief-mongers. To control the situation and stabilize the country, the Government opted for censorship. There is no point in blaming the government. At least the educated should take pains to verify the truth. Pointing a finger at Pakistan will not solve the problem. The crisis has brought social media to the forefront, relegating the print and electronic media to the background. Perhaps it is one more revolution in the history of humanity. People today believe in non-stop, one-to-one communication/conversation, rather than the mass media.
Anyway, censorship might help control the situation, but this will remain as superficial of the problems that country is facing. Making the people aware of the “cyber threat” takes an hour but censorship can’t be the exact way out. India really requires proper systems to be adopted in order to be safe or else this might really create colossal disasters in the future. In the information age we cannot lock our cyberspace because it is among one of the primary tools for the sustainable development of the state. But curbing cyber-attack in any form, either cyber war or putting illegitimate material on the web has really become necessary around the globe. Though we are having strict policies, we are still not guarding our information web properly and which causes recent NE exodus type events.
A single bench of the Bombay High Court on Friday recused itself from hearing the Enforcement Directorate’s plea seeking cancellation of bail granted to Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut and his aide Pravin Raut in a money laundering case.
The ED had approached the HC seeking cancellation of bail granted to the Rajya Sabha MP and his aide by a special court on November 9.
The Central probe agency had sought an interim stay on the bail order, which the HC had refused.
On Friday, when the matter came up for hearing, the single bench of Justice M S Karnik said, “It would not be appropriate for me to take up this matter… not before me.” The matter will now be placed before a new bench.
Sanjay Raut was granted bail by special PMLA judge M G Deshpande, over a hundred days after he was arrested in the money laundering case related to redevelopment of Patra Chawl (a chawl is a row of old tenements) in suburban Goregaon.
The special court, in its order, had termed the Rajya Sabha member’s arrest as “illegal, without reason and a witch-hunt”.
The ED, in its application, said the special court order was bad in law and deserves to be set aside. It also claimed the special court had failed to appreciate the evidence submitted in the case against the accused persons.
“The special court failed to appreciate the offense of money laundering is a grave economic offense, which is committed by well-planned conspiracy and is as heinous, if not more, than an act of murder or terrorism,” the ED said.
Sanjay Raut, the leader of the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena on Friday attacked Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and said that they are ready to fight the ‘ Mahabharat of new era’, adding that the issue of Karnataka-Maharashtra border dispute has been intentionally raked up to divert people’s attention from Governor’s “insult” to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
He made the remarks while reacting to the ongoing border issue of Maharashtra with Karnataka and termed it a “fight for humanity and justice”.
“We have no personal issues with Karnataka, this is a fight for humanity and justice as Maharashtra is a border state where people speak Telugu, Kannada, as well as Marathi,” Sanjay Raut said adding that this border dispute is an attempt to divert Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s insult by governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi.
“Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has made a provocative statement on the Karnataka Maharashtra border issue and his dream will never come true. Our government is committed to protecting the country’s land, water and borders,” Bommai tweeted on Wednesday evening.
Fadnavis had said that no village in Maharashtra would go to Karnataka. “No village in Maharashtra will go to Karnataka! The state government will fight strongly in the Supreme Court to get Marathi-speaking villages including Belgaum-Karwar-Nipani,” he had tweeted.
Bommai on Tuesday claimed that some village panchayats in Jat taluka of Sangli district had passed a resolution in the past seeking to merge with Karnataka when they were facing a severe water crisis.
However, the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister denied the claims and said no such village has recently sought a merger with Karnataka.
Sanjay Raut, further in his conversation with the media persons said, “The way Shivaji has been insulted in the state by the governor, people here are upset and angry and this is another way of driving the attention from the matter with the intention that the people will forget the insult of Shivaji Maharaj. This is all scripted.”
He further added: “We are not going to give an inch of land to anyone and Shiv Sena is ready to fight the battle under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray. Uddhav Ji announced yesterday and will give details about this battle in a few days. We are ready to fight the battle of this new era Mahabharat.”
Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on November 19 stoked a controversy by calling Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj an ‘old idol’.
Addressing a function at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University in Aurangabad on Saturday, the Maharashtra Governor said, “If someone asks who your idol is, you don’t have to go out looking for one. You will find them right here in Maharashtra. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj has become an old idol now, you can find new ones — from Babasaheb Ambedkar to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.”
The statement sparked a massive furor and drew censure from Maratha organizations and Opposition leaders alike.
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is an emotive and iconic figure in Maharashtra, transcending political affiliations, and the governor’s remark on the Maratha warrior did not go down well with leaders. It sparked a massive furor and drew censure from Maratha organizations and Opposition leaders alike.
The death toll from a 5.6 magnitude quake that hit Indonesia’s West Java Province rose to 310, media reported citing the country’s national disaster mitigation agency.
The 5.6-magnitude quake hit the Cianjur region in West Java at about 1:21 p.m. local time on Monday at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), causing buildings to collapse while school classes were underway.
The death toll from the earthquake has risen to 310 and a total of 24 people remain missing, media reported.
Earlier, the head of the BNPB, Maj Gen Suharyanto, during a press conference said that the death toll rose to 271 and over a third of those confirmed dead are children, reported media.
Some 2,043 people were injured and 61,800 have been displaced, he added. Forty people remain missing. Suharyanto said 56,320 houses were damaged, more than a third of them badly. Other damaged buildings included 31 schools, 124 places of worship and three health facilities.
The agency has built 14 refugee shelters with facilities for displaced people, Suharyanto said. Victims are expected to leave their temporary tents and move to these main shelters, he said. According to Suharyanto, BNPB deployed more than 6,000 rescuers to search-and-rescue operations, reported media.
The scale of the death and destruction caused by the quake became increasingly clear on Tuesday, after earlier discrepancies in the casualty numbers reported by officials.
Visiting areas affected by the quake on Tuesday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said the government would provide compensation of up to about USD 3,200 each for owners of heavily damaged homes, reported media.
Houses should be rebuilt as earthquake-resistant buildings, he added. Indonesia’s bureau of meteorology, the BMKG, warned of a danger of landslides, particularly in the event of heavy rain, as 25 aftershocks were recorded in the first two hours after the quake.
Indonesia sits on the “Ring of Fire,” a band around the Pacific Ocean that sets off frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity.
One of the most seismically active zones on the planet, it stretches from Japan and Indonesia on one side of the Pacific to California and South America on the other.
In 2004, a 9.1 magnitude quake off Sumatra island in northern Indonesia triggered a tsunami that struck 14 countries, killing 226,000 people along the Indian Ocean coastline, more than half of them in Indonesia.
In a shocking incident that has come to light from Bihar’s Nawada district, the panchayat allegedly let off a rape accused after ordering him to do sit-ups as punishment, police sources said.
The local police informed that the accused was from the same village as the minor girl he allegedly raped.
Sources said three days ago, a panchayat was convened in the matter and the panchayat chief or mukhiya, as the post is called locally, sentenced the accused youth to do sit-ups 5 times as a punishment for the alleged rape.
According to a statement issued by the local police, “A village panchayat was called and the matter settled after the youth accused of raping a minor girl was made to do five sit-ups.”
“A video purportedly showing the youth doing sit-ups went viral on social media,” said an officer of the local police station.
The viral video of the panchayat allegedly settling the rape case by way of light punishment for the accused drew outrage from netizens.
“On the basis of the viral video, an FIR was registered on the order of the Nawada SP,” the officer added.
The SHO of the local police station told to media, “An FIR has been registered in the case and all angles are being looked into as part of the ongoing investigation.”
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) plea seeking cancellation of bail granted to Dalit rights activist and scholar Anand Teltumbde, booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the Bhima Koregaon case.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli said it would not interfere with the Bombay High Court order granting bail to Teltumbde.
It, however, clarified that the trial in the case against Teltumbde would go on without being influenced by the high court observations in the bail order.
The NIA had approached the apex court challenging the bail granted by the Bombay High Court order to Teltumbde.
While the HC granted bail to 73-year-old Teltumbde on November 18, it stayed its order for a week so that the NIA, the prosecuting agency in the case, could approach the Supreme Court.
The high court, while granting bail to Teltumbde, made a prima facie observation that there was no evidence for the offence of terrorist activity against him.
During the hearing on Friday, the SC bench asked Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhat, who was appearing for NIA, “What is the specific role of bringing UAP(A) sections into action? The IIT Madras event you alleged is for Dalit mobilisation. Is Dalit mobilisation a preparatory act to proscribed activity?”
ASG Bhati cited several documents revealing Teltumbde’s “deep involvement” with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
The prosecution’s case is that provocative and inflammatory speeches were made at the event that was allegedly backed by the CPI (Maoist), which later led to violence at Koregaon Bhima village near Pune in 2018.
Teltumbde surrendered before the NIA office in Mumbai on April 14, 2020, after the Supreme Court denied him any relief. He is now lodged at the Taloja Central jail.
Teltumbde, an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) graduate who taught at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), was booked in the case for his alleged links to the banned CPI (Maoists).
He has been charged with several sections of the Indian Penal Code and the UAPA.
Tom Latham and Kane Williamson stitched a record fourth-wicket partnership to guide New Zealand to a seven-wicket victory against India at Eden Park in Auckland on Friday.
The first ODI of the three-match series saw multiple records being broken after the Kiwi duo of Latham and Williamson hammered the Indian bowlers to share a 221-run stand.
New Zealand made a mockery of the chase as the left-hander remained unbeaten on 145 runs while the Kiwi captain carried his bat through, scoring 94 runs.
Debutant Umran Malik was the only positive from the second innings for India as the pacer accounted for two Kiwi batters and was impressed with his pace.
Chasing the total, New Zealand got off to a breezy start with openers Finn Allen and Devon Conway finding boundaries from the word go.
India opened with debutant Arshdeep Singh who had a meteoric rise in cricket ever since he debuted for India’s T20 side. But the left-arm pacer failed to replicate his T20I heroics as he was taken to the cleaners by the Kiwi openers, concerning 25 runs in his first three overs.
All-rounder Shardul Thakur drew first blood as he dismissed Allen after sticking to the fourth-stump line. The batter poked at the ball and the inside edge was gobbled up by Pant behind the stumps.
Kiwi captain Kane Williamson walked onto the crease at number three eager to answer with his bat amidst criticism for his batting in the recently concluded T20 World Cup.
The right-hander got together with Conway to stitch a 33-run partnership for the second wicket. Conway struggled for timing after hitting the initial boundaries and looked very scratchy in his brief stay that was ended by debutant Umran Malik.
Malik scalped his maiden ODI wicket in the 16th over and reduced the Kiwi team to 68/2 in 15.1 overs. The Srinagar-born speedster struck again in the 20th over to put India ahead in the game. Malik dismissed Daryl Mitchell for 11 off 16 balls.
India seemed to be ahead of their Kiwi opponents but Williamson shared a match-winning fourth-wicket partnership with left-hander Tom Latham to see his side through. The duo clobbered the inexperienced bowling attack all over the park.
While Latham played the role of the aggressor, Williamson played second fiddle keeping the scoreboard ticking. Right-hander Williamson secured his fifty in the 29th over after he pulled pacer Shardul Thakur for a four, finding form after his World Cup debacle.
Latham reached his hundred in the 40th, where he smashed four boundaries and a six, absolutely bludgeoning Thakur. The Kiwi team reached the target with almost three overs to spare.
Earlier, a late flourish from Washington Sundar and sublime batting performances from other batters helped India post a daunting total of 306/7 against New Zealand at Eden Park in Auckland on Friday.
Top knocks from Shreyas, Shikhar Dhawan, and Shubhman Gill helped India get past the 300-run mark in the first ODI of the three-match series as India raked in 96 runs from the last 10 overs. Tom Latham was declared ‘Player of the Match’ for his sensational innings helping his team secure a win.
Brief Score: New Zealand 309/3 (Tom Latham 145*, Kane Williamson 94*; Umran Malik 2-66) vs India 306/7 (Shreyas Iyer 80, Shikhar Dhawan 72; Lockie Ferguson 3-59)
The UN mission in Afghanistan has called on the Taliban to take immediate steps to end violence against women and the broader deterioration of women’s rights as a vital part of efforts to establish a meaningful and sustainable peace.
The call came as the world marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and the start of the global “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence.”
Since the summer of 2021, women in Afghanistan have had many of their most fundamental rights restricted or rescinded in a country that has one of the highest rates of violence against women globally.
“The fundamental rights of Afghan women need to be protected and concrete steps need to be taken for an enabling environment which is free from all forms of violence,” said Roza Otunbayeva, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan.
“Protecting the rights of women is a crucial factor for stability, prosperity and any lasting peace in Afghanistan” said Otunbayeva, who is also head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).
According to the UNAMA statement, the situation is exacerbated by a dire humanitarian and economic crisis, and the restrictions on women’s fundamental rights, including the freedom to move, work, seek education and participate in public life.
These factors have combined to reinforce some traditional social norms that condone the use of violence as a form of discipline and control, creating an environment where violence against women and girls is normalized, UN mission added.
In the absence of laws and policies that protect and promote gender equality and women’s rights, and the introduction of decrees and edicts that contribute to systematically erasing women from public and political life, the underlying social norms that perpetuate inequality have been emboldened.
“Each day we continue to see the normalization of violence against women and girls, in their homes, places where they are allowed to work, online, and in public spaces,” said Alison Davidian, UN Women’s Representative in Afghanistan.
“Globally we know it is impossible to create an environment where women and girls are free from violence without also having specific interventions to empower them, including initiatives to support their voice, agency and participation in the decisions affecting their lives. We need to renew our efforts to invest in both the protection and empowerment of women and girls in Afghanistan.”
The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is an annual international campaign that starts on November 25 and ends on December 10, International Human Rights Day.
It calls for global action to increase awareness, strengthen advocacy efforts and share knowledge and innovations to end gender-based violence everywhere.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia on Friday again alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was conspiring to kill Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and that he will submit a complaint regarding the same to the Election Commission.
The Delhi Deputy Chief Minister also demanded that BJP’s Manoj Tiwari be arrested for his “threat” against the AAP national convenor.
“Manoj Tiwari has threatened Kejriwal, which makes it clear that BJP is conspiring to murder Arvind Kejriwal. The way Manoj Tiwari ji has spoken yesterday, it was an open threat that after failing to trap Kejriwal through various attempts has now come to the level of killing him. Manoj Tiwari is asserting for the sake of saying that he (Delhi CM) can be attacked by anyone, how did he know? This needs to be investigated hence will file a complaint with Election Commission and an FIR,” Sisodia said addressing a press conference today.
Meanwhile, responding to Sisodia’s allegations today, Tiwari, while addressing a press conference in the national capital, said that he had only “expressed his concern” for the safety of the Delhi Chief Minister.
“I have only expressed my concern towards Kejriwal’s safety. His MLAs are being beaten and one of the party’s workers has died, the situation is of concern to me. This script of murder and threat to murder by AAP is an old one, only the year changes, their allegations remain same,” Tiwari said displaying printouts of the previous similar allegations by the AAP.
In a tweet yesterday, the Delhi Deputy CM said that the BJP was scared of losing upcoming elections and hence was “conspiring to kill” CM Kejriwal through MP Manoj Tiwari and his “goons”.
“Due to the fear of defeat in Gujarat and MCD elections, BJP is planning to kill Arvind Kejriwal with their MP Manoj Tiwari openly asking his goons to attack Arvind ji. The AAP is not afraid of their petty politics, the public will answer for their hooliganism,” Sisodia tweeted in Hindi.
Sisodia’s tweets followed BJP MP Tiwari’s tweets on the same day in which he said he was worried for the Delhi CM because of anger among AAP party workers regarding tickets for the elections and allegations of corruption.
Meanwhile, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor also asked how Sisodia came with a fear of Arvind Kejriwal’s killing right before every election.
Praveen Shankar Kapoor further said, “Manish Sisodia ji, how much more will you lower the level of politics, your people are calling you a thief, a case of suspected suicide has also come to the fore, your MLAs are openly threatening the general public and now this tweet of yours seems to be your internal survey. AAP is losing not only in Gujarat, Himachal but also in Delhi.
In a shocking incident, Aam Aadmi Party’s trade wing secretary, Sandeep Bhardwaj, was found dead at his Rajouri Garden residence on Thursday.
Notably, Lietenant Governor VK Saxena took note of the tweets and statements by the Aam Aadmi Party leaders including the ones made by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia where he has alleged Bharatiya Janata Party of planning to kill CM Arvind Kejriwal, the Raj Niwas sources said.
The sources said that the LG has taken note of Tweets and statements by AAP leaders, including Dy CM Manish Sisodia, and asked the Police Commissioner to ensure that such eventuality orchestrated, or otherwise, do not happen, to the farthest possible extent.
