Archives for June 2022

New Delhi: Soon after the arrest of Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said arresting one voice of truth will only give rise to a thousand more.

Zubair was arrested by the Delhi Police on Monday for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through one of his tweets, officials said.

Gandhi alleged that every person exposing BJP’s hate and bigotry is a threat to the party, while noting that truth will prevail.

“Every person exposing BJP’s hate, bigotry and lies is a threat to them. Arresting one voice of truth will only give rise to a thousand more,” he said on Twitter.

“Truth always triumphs over tyranny,” the former Congress chief said, using the hashtag “#DaroMat”.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also extended his support to the arrested journalist.

“Altnews & @zoo_bear have been in the forefront of exposing the bogus claims of the Vishguru, who has struck back with a vengeance characteristic of him. Delhi Police, reporting to the Union Home Minister, has long lost any pretensions of professionalism and independence,” he tweeted.

Congress whip in Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore demanded an immediate release of the journalist.

“After 2014, India’s few fact-checking services, especially @AltNews, perform an important service in our post-truth political environment rife with disinformation and lies,” he said.

“They debunk falsehoods whoever perpetrates them. Now it’s Co founder arrested by Delhi police under Shah. To arrest @zoo_bear is a blunder by DelhiPolice. He should be released immediately,” he tweeted.

Kathmandu: Sale of Pani Puri has been banned in Kathmandu Valley’s Lalitpur Metropolitan City as cholera cases have spiked in the Valley with 12 people testing positive.

The Lalitpur Metropolitan City (LMC) on Saturday decided to stop the sale and distribution of Pani Puri in the metropolis, claiming that cholera bacteria were found in the water used in Pani Puri.

The metropolis has made internal preparations to stop the sale of Panipuri in the crowded areas and in the corridor area, stating that there is an increased risk of spreading cholera in the Valley, according to Municipal Police Chief Sitaram Hachethu.

With seven more people tested positive for Cholera in the Kathmandu Valley, the total number of cholera patients has reached 12 in the Valley, according to the Ministry of Health and Population.

According to Chumanlal Dash, director at Epidemiology and Disease Control Division under the Health Ministry, five cases of Cholera have been identified in Kathmandu Metropolis, and one each in Chandragiri Municipality and Budhanilkantha Municipality.

The infected are currently undergoing treatment at Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Diseases Hospital at Teku. Earlier, five cases of Cholera were found in different parts of the capital city. The two of the infected people have already been treated and discharged.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health and Population has urged the people to visit their nearest health facility immediately if they experience any symptoms of cholera.

The ministry has requested everyone to be alert and vigilant as diarrhea, cholera and other water-borne diseases are spreading especially during summer and rainy season.

London: England’s World Cup winning skipper Eoin Morgan is set to announce his retirement from international cricket on Tuesday after a career spanning 16 years during which he amassed over 10,000 runs across ODIs and T20Is.

According to a report in Sky Sports, the 35-year-old Dublin-born Morgan wanted to lead England at this year’s T20 World Cup in Australia but he had a change of heart after struggling with his form and fitness in the last 18 months.

Morgan captained England in the first two ODI games against the Netherlands this month but failed to open his account on both the occasion. He subsequently missed the third game due to a groin niggle.

Vice-captain Jos Buttler is likely to replace him as England skipper and the upcoming white-ball series against India could be his first assignment.

Morgan made his debut for Ireland in 2006 but then after three years he switched his alliance to England in 2009.

The elegant left-handed batter, who played in the middle-order, has so far scored 7,701 runs from 248 ODIs, after making his debut against Scotland.

He also featured in 115 T20 matches, amassing 2,458 runs, after making his debut in the format for England against the Netherlands in 2009.

The soft-spoken Morgan also featured in 16 Tests but managed to score only 700 runs and played his last Test in 2012 against Pakistan.

However, Morgan’s legacy will be defined by his seven and a half year rein as England’s limited over captain during which the team rose to the number one position in the world rankings in both ODI and T20 cricket.

He had taken over the reins of ODI captaincy from Sir Alastair Cook before the 2015 ODI World Cup in Australia-New Zealand and played a key part in revolutionizing the team’s cricket after their shock group stage exit in the quadrennial event.

Morgan along with then coach Trevor Bayliss breathed a fresh air into the English side, which encouraged the players to play a fearless brand of cricket, which eventually led them to win the World Cup in 2019 in their own back-yard.

His other achievements include leading his side to the final of the T20 2016 World Cup the semi-finals of the 2021 edition of the tournament.

Maharashtra Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray

Karjat (Maharashtra): Maharashtra Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray on Monday claimed 15 to 20 Shiv Sena MLAs who have joined the rebel camp are in touch with him and have urged the party to bring them back to Mumbai from Guwahati, where they are lodged in a hotel along with Cabinet minister Eknath Shinde whose rebellion has pushed the MVA government into a major crisis.

Addressing Shiv Sena workers in Karjat, on outskirts of Mumbai, Thackeray, who has been doing firefighting to save the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, said every party worker is seeing the current situation as an opportunity and not as a problem.

The dirt has gone away. Now we can do something good, Thackeray said, referring to the rebel MLAs.

The Shiv Sena leader, the son of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, said before the June 21 revolt there were murmurs that some developments will take place in the party, which heads the MVA that also comprises of the NCP and the Congress.

A majority of the Sena MLAs, including nine ministers, have rebelled against the party, threatening the existence of the two-and-a-half-year old government.

The Sena has claimed some legislators have been kidnapped or forcibly taken by the rebel camp.

Around 15-20 MLAs are in touch with us. They call me and Shiv Sainiks and urged us to bring them back from Guwahati, he said.

Their situation is like a prisoner, first in Surat (where the rebels landed after leaving Mumbai last week) and then in Guwahati, he said.

Shinde has claimed the support of more than three dozen Sena MLAs out of the total 55.

Slamming the Sena strongman from Thane without taking his name, Thackeray said some leaders were blindly trusted and the sad part is such people were promoted in the organization continuously.

He said the MLAs leaving the parties was like “cleaning the ‘nullahs’ and garbage before the onset of monsoon”.

Jaipur: The Rajasthan BJP on Monday hit out at Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for accusing his former deputy Sachin Pilot of being involved in a conspiracy to dislodge the Congress government in the state.

Former state deputy chief minister Pilot and 18 MLAs close to him had rebelled against Gehlot in 2020, triggering a political crisis in the state.

Gehlot had on Saturday said Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat’s recent remarks over the rebellion against him two years ago prove that he in connivance with Pilot tried to topple the state government.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly Gulab Chand Kataria claimed that Gehlot is annoyed by the fact that Pilot enjoys widespread public support.

“Sachin Pilot has the support of the people while Gehlot and (parliamentary affairs minister Shanti) Dhariwal do not. Gehlot wants to throw him out so that he can rule like an autocrat,” he said.

Kataria’s deputy Rajendra Rathore called Pilot Neelkanth (the one with a blue throat), which is another name of Lord Shiva, who consumed a deadly poison for the benefit of living beings.

“Rajasthan’s CM and his ministers are crossing the limits of politics of insult. I would like to thank Sachin Pilot for his patience, who was sometimes called useless and sometimes a conspirator, Rathore told reporters in Bharatpur.

He has become Neelkanth. But when Neelkanth spews poison, an earthquake comes. When will that earthquake hit the Congress, I don’t know,” Rathore said, adding that Pilot’s patience should not be tested.

Has anyone stopped the chief minister from taking action against Pilot if he allegedly tried to topple the government in the state? Ever since Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has praised Pilot for his patience, the Rajasthan chief minister has become restless. Gehlot is only worried about saving his chair, he added.

Shekhawat had said at a meeting in Chomu town of Jaipur that Pilot missed the opportunity and had the government changed, water would have reached state areas through the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project.

New Delhi: The Delhi Police has registered a case of rape and criminal intimidation against Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s personal secretary P P Madhavan on a complaint by a 26-year-old woman, officials said on Monday.

The woman alleged that the accused lured her on the pretext of providing her a job and had promised marriage, they said.

A police officer said the victim was allegedly raped and threatened of dire consequences by the accused if she reported the matter.

“A complaint was received at the Uttam Nagar police station on June 25. A case under sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered. We are investigating the matter,” said M Harsha Vardhan, Dwarka Deputy Commissioner of Police.

He said the police were investigating the allegations levelled against a 71-year-old man who is working as a personal secretary to a senior political leader.

Though the DCP did not name the political leader, officials in the Delhi Police said the allegations were levelled against Madhavan.

The officials said the woman lives in Delhi and her husband died in 2020. The husband used to work at the Congress party office, they said, adding that he used to affix hoardings.

New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Monday arrested Journalist Mohammed Zubair, co-founder of AltNews on charges of hurting religious sentiments and promoting enmity.

His colleague and co-founder of AltNews alleged that Zubair was called for questioning in a different case but was arrested in this one. He also added that mandatory notice was not given despite repeated requests.

“No FIR copy is being given to us despite repeated requests,” he tweeted.

Police, however, said Mr Zubair had joined the investigation in this case, registered at the Special Cell police station, and was arrested “after having sufficient evidence on record”. He is still being questioned and police will present him before a magistrate tomorrow to seek further custody, it is learnt.

Roorkee (Uttarakhand): A woman and her six-year-old daughter were allegedly gangraped in a moving car in Haridwar’s Roorkee by a man and his friends after giving her a lift in his car, police said Sunday.

They said the woman was on her way home from Piran Kaliyar, a Muslim religious site, during the night with her six-year-old daughter when she was offered the lift by a man named Sonu.

Superintendent of Police (Rural) Pramendra Doval said some friends of the man were already in the car.

According to the complaint, Sonu and his accomplices allegedly raped the woman and her daughter in the moving car and dumped them near a canal.

The woman somehow managed to reach a police station in the middle of the night and narrated the incident to the police.

According to police, said while the woman could not tell exactly how many men were there in the car, she said the person driving it was named Sonu.

Police said the two were admitted to the Roorkee Civil Hospital, and their medical examination confirmed rape.

Police said they have registered a case and started looking for the accused, but have not been able to trace them yet.