New Delhi: News portal ‘The Wire’ has filed a police complaint against its former consultant Devesh Kumar in connection with a “fabricated” story related to the BJP’s IT department head Amit Malviya, a senior police officer said on Sunday.

According to the officer, the news portal filed the complaint late on Saturday through e-mail.

Earlier on Saturday, the Delhi Police had filed an FIR against ‘The Wire’ and its editors based on a complaint by Malviya, who accused it of “cheating and forgery” and “tarnishing” his reputation.

“A case has been filed. Investigation will be initiated and necessary action will be taken,” the officer said.

Malviya had on Friday said he will pursue criminal and civil proceedings against the portal over stories, since retracted, which insinuated that he enjoyed a special privilege on Meta platforms through which he could get any story taken down if he believed it was against the BJP’s interests.

Malviya’s complaint was filed with Delhi Police’s special commissioner (crime) against ‘The Wire’, its founding editors Siddharth Varadarajan, Sidharth Bhatia and M K Venu, deputy editor and executive news producer Jahnavi Sen, the Foundation for Independent Journalism and some unknown people.

The complaint was filed for various offences punishable under sections 420 (cheating), 468 and 469 (forgery), 471 (fraud), 500 (defamation) r/w 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (criminal act) of the Indian Penal Code.

Though ‘The Wire’ has apologised to its readers and withdrawn the stories, the BJP leader had noted that the news portal did not offer him an apology despite “maligning and tarnishing my reputation and causing serious harm to my professional career”.

The Wire, in a statement on Thursday, said journalists rely on sources for stories and do their best to verify material they receive.

“Technological evidence is more complicated and the usual due diligence may not always reveal the fraud perpetrated upon a publication. This is what happened to us,” it said.

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New Delhi: Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Sunday said the city government has set up 586 teams to ensure strict implementation of the ban on construction and demolition activities in the national capital in view of worsening air quality.

Addressing a press conference, Rai said that as per experts, wind speed and direction would become unfavourable from November 1 and push the air quality index into the ‘severe’ category.

Therefore, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has directed the authorities in the NCR to implement curbs, including a ban on construction and demolition activities, under stage III of the Graded Response Action Plan, he said.

“We have held a meeting with all construction agencies in the capital and government departments concerned, including the PWD, MCD, Railways, DDA and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee. We have decided to implement the ban on construction and demolition activities in the city,” the minister said.

The government has prepared a strong monitoring system to ensure compliance of the directions. It has set up 586 teams comprising officials of different departments, he said.

These teams will monitor the implementation of the ban on construction and demolition activities.

Under stage III of GRAP, the authorities have been asked to enforce a strict ban on construction and demolition activities in the NCR, except for essential projects and non-polluting activities such as plumbing, carpentry, interior decoration and electrical works.

The restrictions will not be applicable on essential projects concerning national security, defence, railways and metro rail among others.

The ban on construction and demolition activities covers earthwork for excavation, boring and drilling; fabrication and welding operations; loading and unloading of construction material; transfer of raw material, including fly ash, either manually or through conveyor belts and vehicular movement on unpaved roads.

It also bans the operation of batching plants; laying of sewer lines, waterline, drainage work and electric cabling through open trench system; cutting and fixing of tiles, stones and other flooring materials; grinding activities; piling work; water proofing work; road construction and repair works, including paving of sidewalks, pathways and central verges among others.

Balaghat: A thief returned silver and brass items stolen from a temple in Madhya Pradesh’s Balaghat district along with an apology letter saying his act caused him sufferings, police said on Sunday.

The unidentified thief had stolen 10 decorative pieces of silver, including ‘chhatras’ (an umbrella shaped decoration piece), and three brass items from the Shantinath Digambar Jain Temple under Lamta police station limits on October 24, Additional Superintendent of Police Vijay Dabar said.

Since then, the police were searching for the culprit, he said.

On Friday, members of a Jain family spotted a bag lying in a pit near the panchayat office in Lamta following which they alerted police and the community members, the official said.

The stolen goods were recovered from the bag along with an apology letter from the thief, he said.

The letter, a photo of which surfaced on social media platforms, stated, “I am seeking an apology for my act. I made a mistake, forgive me. I have suffered a lot after the theft.” Dabar said the police have seized the stolen items and efforts are on to arrest the thief. 

Hyderabad: Three persons who allegedly tried to “poach” four TRS legislators have been arrested and a local court here has remanded them to judicial custody.

The arrests were made on Saturday night after the Telangana High Court had set aside a lower court’s order and directed the accused in the case to surrender before police.

Earlier, a local court here on October 27 rejected the remand of three people, who were arrested by the Cyberabad police on the charge of trying to coax four TRS legislators into defecting, over not following the procedure of issuing a notice before the arrest.

The government appealed to the High Court against the lower court’s order.

Following TRS’ allegations that BJP tried to poach some of its MLAs, the saffron party filed a writ petition in the High Court seeking a CBI probe.

Another judge of the High Court, on the petition by BJP, posted the matter for November 4 and deferred investigation till then.

Based on a complaint by Pilot Rohith Reddy, one of the legislators, cases under relevant sections – criminal conspiracy, offering bribe and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 – were filed against the trio — Ramachandra Bharati alias Satish Sharma, Nanda Kumar and Simhayaji Swamy — on the night of October 26.

As per the FIR copy, Rohith Reddy alleged that the accused offered him Rs 100 crore and in return the legislator had to leave the TRS and contest as a BJP candidate in the next Assembly elections.

The incident led to a war of words between the BJP and TRS with allegations and counter allegations.

Jadcherla (Telangana): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who is leading the party’s pan-India Bharat Jodo Yatra on Sunday gave some exciting moments during the foot march as he suddenly started to sprint along with some school children, forcing others to run.

Caught unawares over his sudden shifting of gears, Gandhi’s security personnel, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee President Revanth Reddy and others also started scooting from their brisk walk.

Joined by party leaders and cadre, Gandhi resumed his foot march from here this morning and is expected to cover a distance of 22 kilometres, Congress sources said.

This is the fifth day of the party’s campaign in the state.

Gandhi will address a Corner Meeting at Solipur junction at Shadnagar in the evening, before halting for the day.

The Gandhi scion-led yatra completed over 20 km on Saturday, before halting at Jadcherla X Road Junction for the night.

The yatra will cover 19 Assembly and 7 Parliamentary constituencies in poll-bound Telangana, spanning a total distance of 375 km in the state, before entering Maharashtra on November 7. The yatra will take a one-day break on November 4.

The Wayanad MP will meet intellectuals, leaders of various communities, including personalities from the sporting, business and entertainment sectors during the party campaign in the southern state.

He will also visit prayer halls, mosques and temples across Telangana, members of the Telangana PCC said.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra commenced on September 7 from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu.

Gandhi completed the marathon walk in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, before beginning the Telangana leg of the yatra last week.

The Telangana State Congress has formed 10 special committees to coordinate the yatra. 

Kozhikode (Kerala): Seawater receded from Nainamvalappu beach here on Saturday evening creating panic among locals. The district administration, however, said that there is no tsunami warning as of now.

District Collector Narasimhugari T L Reddy issued a warning to the locals asking them not to venture into the sea bed.

“The seawater receded around 30 metres in the evening. Later, it gradually receded to around 50-70 metres. However, since it is night time, we cannot measure the distance as of now,” Reddy told PTI.

He said the locals have claimed that it happens once in a year. 

Indore: Two boys were beaten, tied to a vehicle and dragged on the road for allegedly stealing cash from a vehicle in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore on Saturday, police said.

A video of the incident which took place in the morning has surfaced on social media, an official said.

The boys, aged between 13 and 17 years, had allegedly stolen cash from a vehicle belonging to a businessman from Khandwa, who had come to Indore’s Devi Ahilyabai Holkar fruit and vegetable market with sacks of onions, assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Nihit Upadhyay said.

The boys were accused of stealing cash kept in the businessman’s small loading vehicle, he said.

A purported video of the incident shows the boys being tied to the vehicle with a rope and questioned about the stolen cash using abusive words.

The video shows the vehicle suddenly starting and the boys being dragged on the ground some distance along with it. Onlookers start shouting and make the vehicle stop.

“People’s behaviour with the boys was absolutely objectionable. These people will be identified and arrested after screening the video of the incident,” the official added