A man was beheaded by two men in Udaipur’s Maldas street area today. He had shared a social media post in support of suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma a few days ago.
The two men posted a video boasting about the beheading and threatened PM Modi’s life as well.
Locals protested after the incident that took place in broad daylight. Shops in Maldas street area of Udaipur have been closed following the incident.
Udaipur Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar Choudhary said few accused have been identified and a thorough probe will be conducted.
“A heinous murder has been committed and a thorough investigation will be conducted into the incident. Few accused have been identified. Police teams have been constituted to locate the accused. We will take action on the video of men claiming to have committed the act,” Choudhary said.
District Collector of Udaipur Tara Chand Meena urged people to maintain peace and law and order.
“I appeal to all to maintain peace and law and order. The affected family will be provided help from the government. Stringent action will be taken against the accused,” he said.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot promised the strictest action against the culprits and said the police will go to the bottom of the matter.
“I condemn the heinous murder of youth in Udaipur. Strict action will be taken against all the criminals involved in this incident and the police will go to the bottom of the crime. I appeal to all parties to maintain peace. Strictest punishment will be given to every person involved in such heinous crime,” he said.
The BJP had suspended party spokesperson Nupur Sharma earlier this month for her controversial remarks during a TV debate.
Harassment and arbitrary arrests of human rights defenders for tirelessly seeking truth and justice have become alarmingly commonplace in India, Amnesty India said on Tuesday, demanding immediate and unconditional release of fact-checking website Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair.
Zubair was arrested by the Delhi Police on Monday night for allegedly hurting religious sentiments and promoting enmity on Twitter.
Aakar Patel, chair of board for Amnesty International India, said the Indian authorities are targeting Zubair for his crucial work to combat the rise in fake news and disinformation and call out discrimination against minorities.
“The arrest of Mohammed Zubair shows the danger facing human rights defenders in India has reached a crisis point,” Patel said in a statement.
“The fact that he was not provided a copy of the First Information Report (FIR) and was detained incommunicado during the initial hours following his arrest shows just how brazen the Indian authorities have become.
“Harassment, intimidation, unlawful and arbitrary arrests, and imprisonment of human rights defenders for tirelessly seeking truth and justice has become alarmingly commonplace in India,” he said.
Calling on the Delhi Police to immediately and unconditionally release Zubair and end its “relentless harassment” of journalists, human rights defenders and activists, Patel said the Alt News co-founder’s arrest is a clear violation of the right to freedom of expression, abuse of power by the authorities and sends a message that dissent is not tolerated in the country.
Zubair was arrested in connection with one of his recent tweets that had a questionable image with the purpose of deliberately insulting the god of a particular religion, according to police.
Alt News co-founder Pratik Sinha alleged that the police did not any prior notice to Zubair, even though it is mandatory for the sections under which he has been arrested.
FC Barcelona on Monday announced that AS Roma have decided to unilaterally, without reason, withdraw from the agreed contract for both parties for the Joan Gamper Trophy game.
The pre-season clash was to be played on August 6 at Camp Nou, in a fixture that would have witnessed a men’s and women’s game once again.
The La Liga club is working on finding a new opponent for this year’s edition.
“In the next 24 hours the return of money already spent on tickets will begin and the Club wants to make it clear that the suspension of the games has been due to circumstances outside the control of FC Barcelona, the express wish of AS Roma,” FC Barcelona in a statement said.
The Club’s Legal department is studying possible action against the Italian club for damages caused to FC Barcelona and its fans due to this unexpected and unjustified decision.
Joan Gamper Trophy returns to the Camp Nou after being played at the Estadi Johan Cruyff last season. The women’s game will start at 5.30 pm local time, while the men’s game kicks off at 9.00 pm. The official presentation of the two squads will take place in between at 7.50 pm.
AS Roma were also the guests at the Joan Gamper in 2015, with Barca winning 3-0 thanks to goals from Neymar, Lionel Messi and Ivan Rakitic.
In pre-season, FC Barcelona will also meet Real Madrid again this summer for a game in Las Vegas on July 23, one of the four that the Catalans will play on their US tour.
In addition to friendlies already announced against Inter Miami FC on July 19 and the New York Red Bulls on July 30, Xavi Hernandez will also be preparing for the forthcoming season with games against Real Madrid on July 23 in Las Vegas and Juventus on July 26 in Dallas.
Football fans in the US are going to be treated to another Clasico on July 23 at Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, which holds 65,000 spectators and is the home of the Las Vegas Raiders in the NFL.
Ahead of the NATO summit that will be held today in Madrid, Secretary-General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg said that NATO allies stand with Ukraine and will step up their support for the country.
The development comes after a telephonic conversation between Stoltenberg and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Russia’s war of aggression.
“Spoke with President @ZelenskyyUa on #Russia’s war of aggression. At our #NATOSummit we will step up support for our close partner #Ukraine, now & for the longer term. #NATO Allies stand with you,” the NATO secretary-general said in a tweet.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also addressed the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) on Monday to press Western nations for accelerated sanctions on Russia.
The Ukraine-Russia conflict has been at the centre of the summit being held inside a century-old mountainside castle in Germany’s Bavaria region.
During the summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made India’s position clear on the Ukraine conflict and he reiterated that there must be an immediate end to the hostilities and a resolution should be reached by choosing the path of dialogue and diplomacy, said Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra.
PM Modi had also spoken with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and expressed his deep anguish about the loss of life and property due to the ongoing conflict.
Leaders have decided on new steps to isolate Russia’s economy, including a ban on new imports of Russian gold, and are pledging support for Zelenskyy as his country suffers setbacks in the east.
Moreover, US President Joe Biden announced that the group will impose new import bans on Russian gold as a punishment for Moscow’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
The G7 leaders also held discussions on the impact of Russia’s war on food and energy supplies including the global economy and said the bloc is determined to support Ukraine in producing and exporting grain, oil, and other agricultural products as well as to address the causes of the evolving global food crisis.
They called upon Russia to cease, without condition, its attacks on agricultural and transport infrastructure and enable free passage of agricultural shipping from Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea.
The leaders also agreed to further strengthen Ukraine’s resilience by expanding cooperation in intelligence and information sharing, information security, as well as maritime security.
Condemning unprovoked and unjustifiable war, the leaders pledged USD 29.5 billion worth of support to Ukraine to help the country close its financing gap and continue ensuring the delivery of basic services to the Ukrainian people.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan will chair a meeting with states on the COVID-19 situation and vaccination, through video conference today, informed sources on Tuesday.
Last week on June 23, Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya reviewed the COVID and vaccination situation in the country.
The Union Minister chaired a meeting with key experts and officials.
In a high-level meeting, Mandaviya advised strictly to monitor the Covid situation in the country focusing on vaccination of the elderly population, school-going children and surveillance and genome sequencing.
India has been witnessing a high number of COVID-19 cases over the last couple of weeks. States like Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Gujarat are reporting more than 1,000 cases daily.
The Union Minister stressed on the need to focus on districts reporting high case positivity and undertake adequate testing (with a higher proportion of RTPCR) and effective Covid-19 surveillance to assess and control the spread of infection in a timely manner.
Mandaviya directed the officials to continue to focus on surveillance and on whole-genome sequencing (WGS) to scan for any possible mutation.
He also directed monitoring of hospitalizations due to COVID19, and SARI/ILI cases.
He exhorted to increase the pace of vaccination including booster doses in districts reporting high cases. “As there are adequate vaccine doses available, let there be no vaccine wastage while focusing on accelerating vaccination among the eligible and vulnerable groups,” he directed.
The meeting was attended by Dr VK Paul, Member Health NITI Aayog, AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria, ICMR Director-General Dr Balram Bhargava, Dr N K Arora, Chairman COVID working group, National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI), NCDC director Sujeet Singh and Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan.
Meanwhile, India recorded 11,793 new coronavirus infections were reported in the last 24 hours, the country’s tally to 4,34,18,839. With this the active cases rose to 96,700.
Two more bodies have been recovered from the debris after a ‘dilapidated’ building collapsed in Mumbai’s Kurla.
The death toll now stands at three, confirmed BMC officials.
A total of 12 people have been rescued in the rescue operation which is underway.
Maharashtra Minister Subhash Desai has said that the family of the deceased will be given Rs 5 lakh each while the injured will get free treatment.
“Rs 5 lakh to be given to the family of the deceased and the injured will be given free treatment. The incident will be investigated and action will be taken against those responsible. A meeting has been called to ensure that such an incident doesn’t happen again,” said Subhash Desai.
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Additional Commissioner Ashwini Bhide on Tuesday said, “D wing of the Naik Nagar Society collapsed last night. 12 people were rescued and one was declared dead. Some people are still trapped.”
According to Bhide, the collapsed building was dilapidated, since 2013 notices had been first given for its repair, and then for its demolition.
The four-storeyed building collapsed in Mumbai’s Kurla late on Monday night. The incident took place in the Naik Nagar area.
Minister Aaditya Thackeray on Monday night visited Kurla where the building collapsed and said that such property should be vacated on the notice of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
“Whenever BMC issues notices, (buildings) should be vacated themselves…otherwise, such incidents happen, which is unfortunate…It’s now important to take action on this,” Thackeray told ANI.
He had added, “Around five to seven people were rescued. All 4 buildings were issued notices, but people continue to live there. Our priority is to rescue everyone…In the morning we’ll look into evacuation and demolition of these buildings so that nearby people aren’t troubled.”
The rebel Shiv Sena MLAs of the Eknath Shinde camp, who are currently in Assam, will hold a meeting on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the further plan of action, amid the ongoing political crisis in Maharashtra.
According to the sources, they are expected to take an important decision today. Independent MLAs might approach Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari very soon.
Sources have earlier learned that they are likely to stay for more days at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Guwahati and are unlikely to return before July 5.
“Rebel Maharashtra MLAs likely to stay for more days at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Guwahati, Assam. The hotel was booked till July 5 and the booking can now be extended as per requirement,” sources said on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, attacking rebel MLAs of the party, Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray accused them of “betraying” the party and said, “the dirt has gone out of Shiv Sena”.
Thackeray, who was addressing Shivsainiks in Mumbai said the party rebels were “enjoying” in Guwahati when Assam was dealing with floods in parts of the state.
Thackeray also claimed that 15 to 20 MLAs, who are in the Eknath Shinde’s rebel camp were in touch with the Shiv Sena and have urged the party to bring them back to Mumbai from Guwahati.
He said the leader of the rebel group Eknath Shinde was offered the post of Chief Minister in May but “he did drama”.
Additionally, a core committee meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Maharashtra unit was held on Monday to discuss the state’s political situation amid the crisis faced by the MVA government.
Notably, the political tussle in Maharashtra between Shiv Sena and the rebel group led by Eknath Shinde has now reached the Supreme Court. The pleas filed by the breakaway camp challenge the disqualification proceedings against Shinde and 15 other rebel MLAs.
On Monday, a separate plea was filed by Shinde in the top court regarding the safety of the legislators who have challenged party chief and Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala heard the pleas on Monday.
Earlier on Monday, the Supreme Court granted interim relief to rebel Shiv Seva leader Eknath Shinde and other MLAs to file their reply to disqualification notices issued to them by the Deputy Speaker of Maharashtra Assembly by July 12, 5.30 pm.
“This is the win of the Hindutva of Balasaheb Thackeray and the ideas of Anand Dighe,” Eknath Shinde tweeted after the Supreme Court deferred the disqualification proceedings of rebel MLAs till July 11.
Mamata Banerjee on Monday alleged that the BJP led federal government at the Centre against people who are “Speaking the truth”.
Banerjee claimed that ordinary people are being “tormented” under the BJP and as a result several lakhs of people, including businessmen have left the country.
“BJP is doing whatever it wants to do … It is using central agencies like CBI and the ED against those who are speaking the truth,” she said at a programme here.
She had made the same charge on a number of occasions in the past.
Banerjee, who is also the TMC supremo, said, “Today I saw that a Shiv Sena leader in Maharashtra (Sanjay Rout) has been summoned by the ED. Why will it (BJP) torment ordinary people like this? Is this the way to run a democracy? “Several lakhs of people and businessmen have left the country in the last few years,” she claimed.
“You can check this with the passport and visa offices.” The ED has summoned Raut, a Rajya Sabha MP, on Tuesday at its office in the western metropolis for questioning in a money laundering probe linked to the re-development of a Mumbai ‘chawl’ and other related financial transactions involving his wife and friends.
As the Maharashtra political crisis deepened, several Shiv Sena workers took to the streets against the party rebels across Maharashtra. Amid the battle for control of Shiv Sena between Uddhav Thackeray and rebel leader Eknath Shinde, claims and counter-claims kept surfacing throughout the day.
Two petitions have been filed challenging the disqualification notice issued by the deputy speaker and the appointment of Ajay Chaudhary as leader of the legislative party. The SC is likely to hear their plea today.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has written to Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla requesting that the adequate provision of Central security forces be made and kept ready if needed.
No explanation given by Adv Kaul as to why this case should come to SC directly: Argues MVA Adv Singhvi
When the hearing began, the SC asked the Shinde Sena why the matter wasn’t taken to the HC first. To which Shinde camp Advocated replied, “Shinde and other rebel MLAs didn’t approach HC as a minority of the legislative party is “subverting the state machinery, attacking their houses”. He said, “They’re threatening that our dead bodies will return to from Assam. The atmosphere is not conducive for us to exercise our rights in Mumbai.”
However, MVA Advocate Singhvi has again raised the question asked by the SC and said that the Shinde Sena has not provided an explanation for the same.
“Most people especially workers working on ground levels will go with the party rather than supporting rebelled MLAs”, Suresh Bhau Lad, NCP leader.
Sachin Sawant, Congress leader, “This is a very sad state of democracy. The way Shiv Sena has broken shows no part is safe. All three parts come together to survive. The same situation happens in MP, Karnataka, and Uttarakhand. This is definitely a very parallel situation as per Indian democracy.”
“Shiv Sena further will be bright, Shiv Sena was a party and will be a party in the future also”, said Priyanka Chaturvedi, Shiv Sena MP.
Eknath Shinde’s pleas being heard in Supreme Court – Highlights
Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul appearing for Eknath Shinde and others tells the Supreme Court that the Deputy Speaker cannot proceed with the disqualification proceedings when the resolution seeking his removal is pending
· Supreme Court asks Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde why he has not approached the High Court with his plea against disqualification notices issued to him and other rebel MLAs
· Kaul says they didn’t approach the High Court as Supreme Court had passed the order in a number of cases like floor test, disqualification
· Kaul says Shinde & other MLAs didn’t approach HC was that a minority of the legislative party is subverting the state machinery, attacking our houses. They’re saying that our dead bodies will return from Assam. The atmosphere is not conducive for us to exercise our rights in Mumbai
· Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul appearing for Eknath Shinde and others says threats have been given to these MLAs and it was said that bodies of 40 MLAs will arrive back
· Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, appearing for rebel MLAs, tells SC that the Dy Speaker has no authority to deal with the issue till the question of his removal is decided. What is sought to be done in this matter is undue haste, violation of principles of natural justice.
Uddhav Thackeray reshuffles departments of ministers
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has reshuffled the departments of ministers. This has been done so that the issues of public interest are not neglected or ignored, the CMO office stated.
The allotted departments are as follows –
· Eknath Shinde’s urban development department handed over to Subhash Desai
· Gulab Raghunath Patil’s Water Supply and Sanitation department handed over to Anil Parab
· Dadaji Bhuse and Sandipanrao Bhumre’s Agriculture department handed over to Shankarrao Gadakh
· Uday Samant’s higher and technical education department handed over to Aaditya Thackeray
· Shambhuraj Desai’s three departments were handed over to Sanjay Bansode, Satej Patil and Vishwajeet Patangrao Kadam
· Rajendra Patil Yadravkar’s four departments were handed over to Vishwajeet Patangrao Kadam, Prajakt Tanpure, Satej Patil and Aditi Thackeray
Uddhav offered the CM post to Eknath Shinde on May 20, claims Aditya
In a major revelation, Maharashtra Minister Aditya Thackeray on Sunday claimed that Maha Vikas Aghadi’s Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had offered the CM’s post on a platter to his cabinet colleague Eknath Shinde on May 20.
“However, at that time, Shinde had dilly-dallied, was evasive and did not give a proper response… I had heard of some murky goings-on… Exactly a month later on June 20, Shinde and his group started the rebellion in the party,” said Thackeray Jr. He termed as “good riddance” that all the ‘muck’ has gone out of the party on its own, now leaving it clean, amid a thunderous round of applause.
Due to the ongoing political crisis, Maha BJP leaders were allowed to skip the national executive in Hyderabad on July 2
Maharashtra BJP leaders have been allowed to skip the National Executive meeting going to take place in Hyderabad on July 2-3. Maharashtra leaders Devendra Fadnavis and Chandrakant Patil are among the members of the national executive. Amidst the hectic political activity. they have preferred to stay put in Maharashtra.
Shiv Sena Rebels said they would consider themselves fortunate if they die while saving the ideology of Balasaheb Thackeray.
Launching a fresh attack on Shiv Sena leadership, dissident leader Eknath Shinde on Sunday wondered how could Bal Thackeray’s party support the people having a direct connection with Dawood Ibrahim who was responsible for killing innocent Mumbaikars by triggering bomb blasts.
He said the banner of revolt was raised by him and other MLAs to protest against such support and he doesn’t care for his life in the bid to save Bal Thackeray’s Shiv Sena.
Shinde’s tweets on Sunday night are an apparent reference to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) minister Nawab Malik who is in jail in connection with a money laundering case allegedly involving relatives of Dawood Ibrahim.
The tweets are also seen as a reply to Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut who had termed Shinde and other rebel MLAs “bodies without souls” which will be sent to the morgue. “How can Hinduhriday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray’s Shiv Sena support those who have a direct connection with Dawood who killed innocent Mumbaikars by carrying out Mumbai bomb blasts? We are taking this step to oppose this; Don’t care if this step leads us to the brink of death,” Shinde tweeted in Marathi.
A metropolitan court granted remand of social activist Teesta Setalvad and former Gujarat DGP RB Sreekumar to the Ahmedabad crime branch for questioning till July 2.
Seetalvad and Sreekumar were granted remand in a case registered against them on charges of forgery and criminal conspiracy, among others.
Earlier on Sunday, the Gujarat government decided to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by the state’s Anti-Terrorism Squad DIG Deepan Bhadran to investigate the role of Setalvad, Sreekumar and former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots.
An FIR was lodged against Setalvad, Sreekumar and former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt for giving false testimonies in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots, a top police official said.
The six-member SIT will include DCP (Crime) Chaitanya Mandlik, ATS SP Sunil Joshi, Deputy SP (Special Operations Group) BC Solanki, who will be the investigating officer, and a woman police inspector, among others, the official said on conditions of anonymity.
The Gujarat Police Crime Branch on Sunday arrested Teesta Setalvad in connection with a case against her NGO which gave baseless information about the 2002 Gujarat riots to the police.
The action came after Union Minister Amit Shah in an interview with ANI said that Teesta Setalvad-run NGO gave baseless information about the 2002 Gujarat riots to the police.
On Saturday, Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) team detained Setalvad from Mumbai in connection with a case on her NGO and later in the night she was taken to Ahmedabad.
The Gujarat ATS team took Teesta Setalvad to the Santacruz police station. The Supreme Court had on Friday, dismissed as “devoid of merit” an appeal by Zakia Jafri in a plea challenging SIT’s clean chit to the then chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi and others in cases related to the riots. Zakia Jafri is the widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed in the riots.
