The Indian Government refutes the report on India’s Press Freedom going down

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July 22, 2022

anurag thakur, anurag, press freedom, freedom of press — The Indian Government refutes the report on India's Press Freedom going down 2

On World Press Freedom Day, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) hit headlines stating that India’s press freedom ranking fell to 150th out of 180 countries, from 142nd last year. The report stated that India’s position has been consistently falling in the index since 2016 when it was ranked 133. Reacting to these reports the Government informed parliament that they do not agree with the report and they question the method of such a survey. Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur wrote a reply in the Rajya Sabha saying, the sample size is very limited and there is no weightage to fundamentals of democracy; he also questioned the report’s non-transparency.

When Afternoon Voice asked Anurag Thakur, he said, “The government has never interfered in the press jobs. Indian media is the most liberal and they have the utmost freedom to speak their opinions. Our Prime minister always said Media should have its voice and they should come up with constructive criticism. I don’t agree with what the report states.”

RSF is an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation that defends the right of every human being to have access to free and reliable information. The 2022 edition of the index assesses the state of journalism in 180 countries and territories, highlighting the “disastrous effects of news and information chaos — the effects of a globalised and unregulated online information space that encourages fake news and propaganda,” stated Reporters without Borders (RSF).

“The authorities’ targeting of journalists, coupled with a broader crackdown on dissent, has emboldened Hindu nationalists to threaten, harass, and abuse journalists critical of the Indian government, both online and offline, with impunity,” RSF’s report on India said. The report describes India as the world’s most dangerous country for the media. Journalists are not safe and exposed to all kinds of physical violence, ambushes by political activities and deadly reprisals by criminal groups or corrupt local officials. It also supports Hindutva, the ideology that spawned the Hindu far right, and waged all-out online attacks on any views of their thinking, the report added.

Sudarshan News Channel’s founder editor said, “The pain of the people is that now they are speaking about Hindutva and the justice to Hindus. They refuse to be victims in their own country and they also reject the appeasement policies in the name of secularism. Such agencies are dangerous for our nation and its integrity. It is their deliberate attempt to malign India on a global platform.”

Newspaper Association of India’s general secretary Vipin Gaur said “Tomorrow some agency of India will come up with the report that American journalists do not have press freedom or some other country. They might say when it comes to Press freedom Indian media is number one. the question is who are these agencies? What is the basis of their reports? How many Indian media houses or journalists have participated in such a survey?”

NSE phone tapping case: Court sends Chitra Ramkrishna to judicial custody

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ANI

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July 22, 2022

A Delhi court on Friday sent Chitra Ramkrishna to judicial custody till August 5, 2022. Ramkrishna, a former MD and CEO of the National Stock Exchange, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the money laundering act for alleged illegal phone tapping and snooping of employees of the stock exchange.

She was produced before the court on Friday after the ending of the remand period granted earlier. Special Judge Sunaina Sharma on Friday sent Chitra to Judicial Custody after taking note of the ED application which did not seek further custody.

Special Public Prosecutor Naveen Kumar Matta appeared for the Enforcement Directorate in the matter.

The same court on Wednesday sent Sanjay Pandey, former Mumbai Police Commissioner to eight days’ ED remand in the National Stock Exchange (NSE) co-location scam case.

ED earlier submitted that Chitra Ramkrishna is necessary to establish a money trail of proceeds of crime and to gather crucial evidence. ED alleged that she was directly or indirectly indulging in or knowingly assisted in and was actually involved in all processes or activity connected with the proceeds of crime including its concealment, possession, acquisition or use and further in projecting or claiming it as untainted property.

ED lawyer had also submitted that custodial interrogation of Chitra Ramkrishna is essential to further determine her own role as well as that of various other persons who facilitated the offence of money laundering and to determine the entire modus operandi employed for the generation of proceeds of crime and projection thereof as licit payment for ‘Periodic Study of Cyber Vulnerabilities’ of NSE.

ED lawyer further submitted that custodial interrogation of Chitra Ramkrishna is essential to establish a money trail of Proceed of Crime as well as projection thereof as she may be required to be confronted with the other suspects named in the impugned FIR. She is also required to be confronted with various documents collected during the course of the investigation.

ED further submitted that custodial interrogation of Chitra Ramkrishna is necessary to ascertain her complicity with other key players involved in laundering the proceeds of crime, her relationship and modus operandi adopted with such other persons.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) recently registered a fresh FIR in the NSE Co-Location Case over allegations of phone tapping

Following the orders of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last week registered a fresh case in the alleged National Stock Exchange (NSE) co-location scam that involves phone tapping of NSE employees.

The fresh FIR mentioed the names of former NSE Chief Chitra Ramakrishna, Ravi Narain and former Mumbai Commissioner Sanjay Pandey for allegedly tapping phones of NSE officials and other irregularities.

Pandey is a 1986-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer who retired from service on June 30.

During the investigation, it has been found that Pandey is closely related to the functioning and activities of a company called iSec Securities Pvt Ltd. The company had conducted a security audit of NSE around the time the alleged co-location irregularities have taken place. The company was incorporated by Pandey in March 2001 and he quit as its director in May 2006. His son and mother took over the charge of the company.

It has been alleged that illegal phone tapping of NSE employees was done between 2009-17.

CIA Chief: It has forced China to determine about Taiwan over Ukraine crisis

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ANI

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July 22, 2022

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief has warned that China appears to be determined on using force in Taiwan but Russia’s experience in Ukraine has affected Beijing’s calculations on when and how – rather than whether to invade. CIA Director William Burns said that China likely saw in Ukraine that “you don’t achieve quick, decisive victories with underwhelming force”, Al Jazeera reported.

China repeatedly claims that Taiwan is part of its territory and has not ruled out using force to take control of the island. Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum, Burns said that China was “unsettled” when looking at Russia’s five-month-old war in Ukraine, which he characterized as a “strategic failure” for President Vladimir Putin because he had hoped to topple the Kyiv government within a week.

“Our sense is that it probably affects less the question of whether the Chinese leadership might choose some years down the road to use force to control Taiwan, but how and when they would do it,” Burns said as quoted by Al Jazeera.

The CIA Director’s comments came amid the continued tension between Washington and Beijing over a slew of issues including trade and Taiwan, as United States President Joe Biden revealed plans for a call with President Xi Jinping – the first between the two leaders in four months.

“I think I’ll be talking to President Xi within the next 10 days,” US President Joe Biden told reporters after he returned from the state of Massachusetts. The US calls China its main strategic rival and says high-level engagement is important to keeping the difficult relationship stable and prevent it from veering inadvertently into conflict.

Earlier, Biden said the US military believes it is not a “good idea” for House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to travel to Taiwan as planned.

Meanwhile, China warned against Pelosi’s upcoming visit to Taiwan next month saying that it will act strongly and take countermeasures if the US side insists on going ahead with the visit.

Burns played down speculation that Xi could make a move on Taiwan after a key Communist Party meeting later this year but said the risks “become higher, it seems to us, the further into this decade that you get”, according to Al Jazeera. “I wouldn’t underestimate President Xi’s determination to assert China’s control” over Taiwan, he said.

Speaking before Burns at the forum in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, China’s ambassador to the United States, Qin Gang, said that Beijing still preferred “peaceful reunification”, but he accused the US of supporting “independence” forces in Taiwan.

Rebellion by Shiv Sena legislators betrayal of humanity: Aaditya Thackeray

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PTI

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July 22, 2022

Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray on Friday hit out at the party’s rebel legislators, including Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, terming their rebellion as “betrayal of humanity”.

He was addressing party workers at Manmad in Nashik district on the second day of his three-day ‘Shiv Sanvad Yatra’, which is aimed at reaching out to the party cadres.

“This is not betrayal of Shiv Sena and Uddhav Thackeray, but betrayal of humanity,” he said.

“These people did not have guts to revolt in Maharashtra so they went to Surat, Guwahati and Goa. Assam was reeling under floods, but the rebel legislators were enjoying themselves,” the Sena legislator from Worli constituency in Mumbai alleged.

He admitted that his father Uddhav Thackeray was unable to meet party leaders and workers during his stint as chief minister.

”But Uddhavji did not stop his work as chief minister. He kept working and never thought that if nothing is given to the MLAs or MPs, they would leave him. It was our mistake that we did not indulge in politics,” he said.

The rebels are now showing their strength, but for the last two-and-half years they were silent despite being in the government. They were planning their revolt when Uddhavji underwent his surgery, Aaditya said The new dispensation comprises of traitors, he said, calling the Shinde-led government as “illegal”.

”We are not answerable to the traitors, but will surely tell people of Nashik what the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government did for the development of the district.

“Those who wanted to leave, have left. But the saffron flag will continue to fly here,” he said.

He said the Shiv Sena never tried to finish off its political opponents, but its own people tried to do this with them.

Meanwhile, rebel Sena MLA Gulabrao Patil said, “Had Aaditya held such meetings earlier, the party would not have faced a revolt. Uddhavji was unwell, but you were young and 30 years old. Today, Uddhav has to travel without a mask and visit the party’s shakhas (branches). We revolted to restore the party’s lost glory.”

ED attaches Worli properties linked to NCP leader Praful Patel

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Web Team

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July 22, 2022

praful patel — ED attaches Worli properties linked to NCP leader Praful Patel 8

The recent action is part of ED’s ongoing probe in the Iqbal Mirchi money laundering case. The Enforcement Directorate has sealed a certain number of units across four floors of Ceejay House, the Worli building built by Nationalist Congress Party politician Praful Patel’s company, Millennium.

The recent action is part of ED’s ongoing probe in the Iqbal Mirchi money laundering case, agency sources confirmed on Thursday. The units provisionally attached by ED are located on the 12th, 13th, 14thand 15thfloors of Ceejay House, and are owned by Patel and members of his family.

The former aviation minister also has his primary residence at Ceejay House though it is not clear whether the apartment he lives in has also been seized.

In 2019, ED had attached another two floors at Ceejay House which belonged to Mirchi’s family. Iqbal Mirchi, a key member of Dawood Ibrahim’s gang, died in London in 2013.

The ED in the course of its money laundering investigation has said, “Mirchi was an international drugs dealer and smuggler who amassed huge wealth and acquired various immovable properties worth hundreds of crores and businesses across the globe.

After detailed investigation under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), ED started attaching his properties held in India.” The agency contends that these properties in India were acquired by Iqbal Mirchi in the name of his family members and relatives.

Malad firm that duped people by selling old phones

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Web Team

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July 22, 2022

A Crime Branch team raided the premises of Rahil Implex in Neo Corporate Plaza in Malad (West) on Wednesday and arrested Rahil Ranka, 25, the owner, and his manager Siddhesh Sutar, 24. Police said that Ranka and Sutar reside in Malad and Goregaon, respectively.

Ranka’s company is registered as a trading company. The Mumbai Crime Branch has busted a racket where a Malad-based company lured people on Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms with advertisements of high-end mobile phones being sold at cheap rates, and sold them old and obsolete phones instead.

The police raided the company’s premises on Wednesday and arrested two people, including the owner, and said that the company, which even ran a customer care centre, had been operating for the last five years.

The raid was carried out after Police Inspector Sachin Gavas of Unit 11 received a tip-off about the scam. Police said that the accused sold these phones for Rs 4,299 to many people from far-off states like West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha, among others, making it difficult for the duped customers to complain.

Marathi signboards on shops deadline extended by Mumbai civic body

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Web Team

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July 22, 2022

The Indian Hotel and Restaurants Association (popularly known as AHAR) submitted that its members will comply with the direction within the extended period of time, after which the court disposed of its petition.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Friday informed the Bombay High Court it had granted an extension till September 30 to put up Marathi signboards in Devanagari script on shops and establishments in the city.

The civic body on July 8 had told the HC that its shops and establishment department had sent a proposal to the BMC Commissioner seeking a three-month extension.

A division bench of Justices R D Dhanuka and Kamal R Khata was hearing AHAR’s plea, argued through advocate Vishal Thadani, stating that it had challenged the validity of the initial deadline of May 31 fixed by the civic body

ED has opposed the bail plea of Nawab Malik

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Web Team

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July 22, 2022

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has opposed the bail plea of NCP leader Nawab Malik, saying his application is a ploy to hide the fact that he has been out of jail for more than six weeks for medical treatment, and he should return to custody.

Investigation has come to a halt due to the former minister’s unavailability. Moreover, there is no credible information available to the prosecution about the status of his health, it added.

“In the present bail application, the accused has not raised any medical grounds, implying that the medical treatment allowed by this court in private hospital is no more required. It is, therefore, essential that that accused be lodged in jail in the interest of investigations,” said the ED.

Malik’s lawyer had earlier submitted that he was suffering from chronic renal disease with bilateral renal cyst and this could lead to kidney failure.

It was also submitted that in April, he was advised to undergo surgical excision of left renal cyst.

On May 13, the court had allowed Malik to get treated at a private hospital for six weeks.

“Superintendent of Arthur Road jail is directed to admit the accused Nawab Malik at Criticare Asia Hospital for taking treatment at his own expenses,” special judge Rahul N Rokade had said.

Malik would be escorted by the necessary police personnel and all expenses incurred would be borne by him.

The ED pointed out “it has been more than six weeks that the accused is ostensibly at large for medical treatment”.

Man held for blackmailing student with porn

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Web Team

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July 22, 2022

2 arrest for attack, Representative Image, — Image for representative purpose

Ravi Dandu, 30, a contractual employee in the technical section of a private bank, was not only harassing the 17-year-old student of a Vile Parle college and about 35 fellow students on her contact list but also blackmailing them.

Dandu managed to get hold of the student’s contact details from the bank database as she holds a savings account. In her complaint, she said the accused had introduced himself as a professor from her college on WhatsApp.

He claimed he was creating a students’ group to share notes and study materials and asked her for a one-time password sent to her mobile. Acting on a complaint in February by a college girl about porn videos being sent to her and other girls on her phone contact list, police finally managed to arrest the culprit, who was proving extremely slippery, on Wednesday.

In the meantime, the pervert managed to pepper over 550 women, including minors, with porn and blackmail them using 10 cellphones and 12 different SIMs he had procured using fake documents. “He had illegally accessed the WhatsApp of many women and minors to steal their contact lists to send the porn videos. His intention was to coerce them into a physical relationship,” said an Andheri police officer.

Varun Gandhi questions Centre’s move to scrap train fare concession to elderly

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PTI

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July 22, 2022

BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Friday questioned the government’s decision to scrap the concession given to senior citizens in train tickets and asked why this relief to the elderly is seen as a “burden” when MPs continue to get subsidy on train fare.

Ending the concession for the elderly is unfortunate, he said, and asked the government to reconsider the decision. It is insensitive to desert our own people at this stage of their lives, he said.

The Railway ministry recently informed Parliament that the cost of granting concessions to passengers “weighs heavily” on the national transporter, ruling out the restoration of the facility for all categories.

Female senior citizen travellers were eligible for a 50 per cent concession, while male and transgenders availed 40 per cent discount in all classes. The minimum age limit for a woman to avail the concession was 58, while it was 60 for a man.

In a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw recently said the Indian Railways is already bearing more than 50 per cent of the cost of travel, on an average, for all passengers, including senior citizens, on account of lower fare structure for passenger services.

He also said the railways has forgone Rs 4,794 crore as revenue due to concessions in passenger fare to senior citizen passengers during 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 for both reserved and unreserved categories.