The police will also slap sections related to forgery in the case, including IPC sections 408, 463, 465 and 468.

MUMBAI: The Mumbai police have started scrutinising the financial transactions of five channels, which were allegedly involved in fake Television Ratings Points (TRP) scam, an official said on Thursday.

The financial transactions that took place in the last five years are being examined, he said.

“The Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the Mumbai crime branch has started the process of scrutinising the financial transactions of these five channels that happened in the last five years,” the official said.

It will also examine their revenue sources, he said.

“During the investigation conducted so far, it has been observed that there was a sudden spike in the number of transactions,” he said, without giving any further details.

The police will also slap sections related to forgery in the case, including IPC sections 408, 463, 465 and 468, he said.

Meanwhile, the police recorded the statement of CFO of the Republic TV channel S Sundaram on Thursday and he will again be called on Friday, the official said.

Executive editor of the channel Niranjan Narayanswamy will also be called for questioning again, he said.

The probe team has recorded the statement of Republic TV’s distribution head Ghanshyam Singh in the case, he said.

The alleged fake TRP scam came to light when ratings agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) filed a complaint with the police through Hansa Research Group, alleging that certain channels were rigging TRP numbers to lure advertisers.

It was alleged that some families at whose houses meters for collecting data of viewership were installed were being bribed to tune into a particular channel.

He also said that the opposition to the farm laws in the country by the Congress and other parties was nothing more than an excuse to save the brokers and middlemen.

SASARAM: The whole country was waiting for the revocation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir since years and it was the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government which carried it out, but today the Opposition is saying they will reverse this decision, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Prime Minister said that even after making announcements of reversing the decision on Article 370 the Opposition was audacious enough to ask for votes from Bihar residents, who send their sons to protect the country’s borders.

“The whole country was waiting for years for removal of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, the NDA government took this decision. But today they are talking about reversing the decision, they say when they come to power Article 370 will again be enforced. Look at their audacity, even after saying all this they have the guts to ask for votes from Bihar residents,” PM Modi said at the rally in Sasaram.

“Is this not the insult of Bihar which sends its sons and daughters to the borders for the protection of the country? I want to clarify one thing to them from Bihar, the land of farmers and soldiers, they can take the help of whosoever they want but the country will not go back on its decisions, Bharat will not go back on its decisions,” he added.

He also said that the opposition to the farm laws in the country by the Congress and other parties was nothing more than an excuse to save the brokers and middlemen.

“Mandis and MSP are just excuses, the real motive is to save brokers and middlemen. Before Lok Sabha elections when money started getting deposited directly into farmers’ bank accounts then they spread confusion. When Rafale aircraft were purchased, then also they were speaking the language of brokers and middlemen,” he said.

The Prime Minister also cited the apathy of the Opposition parties, during their rule in Bihar, for the adversities faced by people in the Bhojpur belt and further said that the ‘lalten’ (lantern, also RJD’s election symbol) era was gone.

“All NDA parties today are working together for making an Atmanirbhar, confident Bihar. Bihar still has miles to go on the path of development and has to fly towards touching new heights. The era of ‘lalten’ is gone. In the last six years consumption of electricity has increased 3 fold in Bihar,” PM Modi said.

“Voters of Bihar have taken a resolve that they won’t let those who have a history of making the state ‘Bimaru’ come near them,” he added.

PM Modi added that the results of almost all pre-poll surveys are suggesting that NDA will return to power in the state and thanked the residents for the same.

He also hailed the COVID-19 management undertaken in the state under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

The Prime Minister is scheduled to address two more rallies in Gaya, and Bhagalpur in the poll-bound state today.

He is slated to hold a total of 12 election rallies in Bihar starting today.

Bihar assembly elections will be held in three phases — October 28, November 3, and 7, and the counting of votes will take place on November 10.

Vivo stood in the third place in Q3, growing 19 per cent to ship 8.8 million smartphones, while Realme breathed down its neck with 8.7 million units shipped, Canalys said.

NEW DELHI:  Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi retained its top slot in the Indian smartphone market with 26.1 per cent market share during the third quarter of 2020. It shipped 13.1 million units, a rise of over 9 per cent when compared to a year-ago period, while Samsung came in second with shipments 
increasing 7 per cent to 10.2 million units, according to research firm Canalys.

Vivo stood in the third place in Q3, growing 19 per cent to ship 8.8 million smartphones, while Realme breathed down its neck with 8.7 million units shipped, Canalys said. The fifth in the row is Oppo having shipped 6.1 million units. Overall, smartphone shipments in India stood at 50 million units in Q3 2020, an all-time record in a single quarter, after falling by 50 per cent in the previous quarter.

The research firm added that the domestic smart market is yet to see any significant impact of the Indo-China tension. Together, Chinese vendors comprised 76 per cent of total smartphone shipments this quarter, up from 74 per cent a year ago. “Ongoing tension between India and China has been a hot topic in the past few months, but we have yet to see a significant impact on purchase decisions of mass market customers,” said Canalys Research analyst Varun Kannan.

“However, the tensions have caused Chinese smartphone brands to act more conservatively in recent months, reducing their marketing spend, and carefully trying to project the image that they are important contributors to, and stakeholders in, the economic future of India,” he added.

Share of Chinese vendors’ in Q3, however, is slightly lower than the June 2020 quarter, when Chinese companies had a cumulative share of around 80 per cent. Experts feel that Reliance Jio’s upcoming smartphone has the capability to disrupt the domestic market. Reports suggest that Jio’s unannounced 5G smartphone could be priced as low as under Rs 5,000 at launch.

Summoning officials of Amazon and Google on the same issue is also under active consideration of the joint committee of Parliament, the sources said.

NEW DELHI: Social media giants Facebook and Twitter have been issued summons by a joint committee of Parliament on the issue of protection of data and its privacy, sources said on Thursday.

Representatives of Facebook India have been asked to appear on Friday before the Joint Committee on the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, chaired by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi, while Twitter officials are required to appear before the panel on October 28, as per the notice issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.

Summoning officials of Amazon and Google on the same issue is also under active consideration of the joint committee of Parliament, the sources said.

When contacted Lekhi said, “Whosoever iso required, whether an individual or an entity, will be asked to depose before the panel on the issue of protection of data and its privacy and their respective social media platforms will be thoroughly examined by the panel.

“It would be inappropriate and unfair to look at the calling of social media platform from the political prism. The committee has representatives from across the political spectrum and the deliberations on the bill are being held from the national interest perspective,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Centre on Thursday warned Twitter about its location setting that showed Leh in China, saying any disrespect towards the country’s sovereignty and integrity is totally unacceptable.

In a strongly-worded letter, Ajay Sawhney, Secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), asked Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to respect the country’s sensitivities, sources in the ministry said.

Twitter came under heavy criticism and faced backlash from social media users after its geotagging feature displayed “Jammu & Kashmir, People’s Republic of China” in a live broadcast from Leh’s Hall of Fame, a war memorial for fallen soldiers in the Union Territory of Ladakh.

Last month, Union Information and Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had also written to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and accused the social media platform’s employees of supporting people from a political predisposition that lost successive elections, and of “abusing” the Prime Minister and senior cabinet ministers.

The parliamentary standing committee on Information and Technology chaired by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor had also summoned Facebook officials on the alleged misuse of its hate speech rules.

SRINAGAR: Jammu-based parties have now joined hands to demand a split of J&K UT for creation of a separate Jammu state. 

J&K National Panthers Party (JKNPP) chairman and former minister Harsh Dev Singh told this newspaper that representatives of about 20 political, social and civil society groups apart from intellectuals, lawyers, students and youth associations and trade bodies held a meeting on Wednesday in which a resolution was passed to seek statehood for Jammu region.

He claimed that the region faced neglect and deprivation in all fields of life including development, funds allocation, tourism promotion, and employment over the years.

“Jammu was the biggest causality of Kashmir crisis. Even our statehood was snatched because of issues with Kashmir. 4G internet connectivity was snapped in Jammu only because of Kashmir. The democratic rights have been denied to us only because of the adverse security situation in Kashmir.” 

Singh alleged that Kashmir and Ladakh receive focused attention of the Centre at the cost of Jammu. Parties and people of Jammu region now want a split of Jammu from Kashmir.

“We will also be demanding constitutional guarantees to safeguard land and jobs of people from Jammu.”

Dogra Sadar Sabha president and former minister Gulchain Singh Charak said meetings would be held to evolve a consensus on the issue.

“A short and long term strategy will be formed for fulfillment of the demands.”

An important meeting of Muslim organisations and high-ranking representatives and personalities of the city was called to discuss the issue of celebrating Eid Milad-un-Nabi in Maharashtra.

MUMBAI: The Raza Academy will approach the court if the Maharashtra Government does not allow them to conduct Eid Milad-un-Nabi procession, said Muhammad Arif Razvi, Secretary Raza Academy.

“Alhaj Muhammad Saeed Noori has decided that if the Maharashtra Government does not allow us to take out the procession, we shall approach the court, as two months ago the Mumbai High Court had given conditional permission for the procession from Imam Bara to Mumbai and the same people were given conditional permission by the court to perform their religious rituals, citing the same,” said Rizvi.

An important meeting of Muslim organisations and high-ranking representatives and personalities of the city was called to discuss the issue of celebrating Eid Milad-un-Nabi in Maharashtra at the Home Minister of Maharashtra’s Anil Deshmukh office in Mantralaya on October 20, Razvi stated.

During the meeting senior officials of Maharashtra and Mumbai Police were present.

However, the organisers of the procession committee have not yet received any response from the government. The Home Minister had said that they will take a decision after talking to the CM, Razvi stated.

“Then on October 21, Hazrat Moin e Millat Hazrat Moin Mian Sahib had called a meeting of Ulemas at the Jamia Qadria Ashrafia of Imams and religious leaders from Mumbai and all other areas during which Moin Miyan Sahab had clearly said that we should get permission for the procession of Eid Milad-un-Nabi. There seems to be no interest in this from the government and so far, the administration has not clarified the outlines of the procession, which is causing a lot of uneasiness among the Muslims,” he said.

Amin Patel, MLA, Iqbal Memon, Officer, O.P. Chairman of Khilafah Committee Sarfraz Arzoo and representatives of Raza Academy Maulana Waliullah Sharifi, Maulana Abbas Rizvi and other organisers of the procession, present in the meeting of the Home Minister, sought conditional permission for the procession of Eid Milad-un-Nabi. The procession is being held in Mumbai for almost 102 years.

“Surprisingly, markets, shops, hotels, even train services have been restored but not allowing the procession on Eid is tantamount to ignoring the sentiments of Muslims,” said Razvi.

“We see the only one way now to get permission from our judiciary for the procession. That is why the soul of Raza Academy, Alhaj Saeed Noori Sahib and all the Ulemas have decided that if the Maharashtra government does not allow us then we shall approach the courts,” he added.

Yadav in a jibe at the Prime Minister said he hoped that the issues will be mentioned in his speech at the rallies.

PATNA: Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s three rallies in poll-bound Bihar scheduled for today, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav raised the issues of unemployment, among others, which he alleged, have been plaguing the state over the 15 years rule of National Democratic Alliance (NDA)

Yadav in a jibe at the Prime Minister said he hoped that the issues will be mentioned in his speech at the rallies.

“I hope the Prime Minister will tell Bihar residents today why even after 15 years of JDU-BJP government Bihar is at the lowest rank in the national average of sectors like education, health, jobs, employment, farming, industry? What has NDA given to Bihar, which gave it 39 out of 40 MPs, apart from unemployment?” Yadav’s tweet read (roughly translated from Hindi).

The Prime Minister will address three rallies in Sasaram, Gaya and Bhagalpur in poll-bound Bihar on Friday.

Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to hold 12 election rallies in Bihar starting from today.

Bihar Assembly elections will be held in three phases — October 28, November 3, and 7 and the counting of votes will take place on November 10.

Noida (UP): A rape acused man allegedly tried to escape after snatching a pistol from a policeman in Uttar Pradesh’s Greater Noida on Wednesday but was arrested again following a brief exchange of fire, officials said.

The accused was arrested by a team from Surajpur police station in the morning in connection with a rape of a minor and was taken to the crime scene in the evening, when he tried to escape, the officials said.

The accused was taken to the crime scene for investigation. He told the police that he had kept a knife in hiding behind the Moser Baer company’s office. When the police reached there to recover the weapon, the accused snatched a sub-inspector’s pistol and ran away from the spot, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Central Noida, Ankur Aggarwal said.

He was chased by the police but after reaching some distance the accused opened fire on the officials. He got a bullet shot on his leg in retaliatory firing by the police, Aggarwal said.

The accused, who was booked under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, has been taken to a hospital for treatment, the additional DCP said adding that further proceedings in the case are underway.