A special PMLA court in Mumbai has today declared liquor tycoon and former Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Mallya as a fugitive economic offender. As per reports, his properties can now be confiscated by the Government of India.
As per reports, the PMLA court has also refused Mallya’s petition to stay the order so he can get some time for an appeal.
The petition to declare Mallya a fugitive under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act 2018 was submitted by the Enforcement Directorate last month.
As per reports, today’s court order also mentions that the court will decide on the list of assets to be confiscated on a later date.
This is the second major blow to the billionaire liquor tycoon after a court in the UK ordered his extradition to India last month. Mallya had left India in March last month and is wanted by Indian authorities for defaulting on loans taken from a consortium of Indian banks to the tunes of 9000 crores.
After the middleman in the AgustaWestland case, Christian Michel was extradited to India from UAE last month, Mallya had also offered that he is willing to pay back the entire principal amount of the loan.
Mallya is wanted by the CBI and the ED for cases of loan default and money laundering. Mallya has been maintaining that he is ‘willing to pay the money’ but also has been insisting that he is not a defaulter.
Mallya had earlier even claimed that he did not ‘flee’ the country in 2016 but went abroad to ‘attend a meeting’. The Enforcement Directorate rubbished that claim and stated that nobody goes to attend a meeting with 300 bags and cargo in tow.
This is a piece about a cartoon and an anchor. Both are interchangeable: a cartoon could be an anchor; an anchor could be a cartoon. Both could invite ridicule and stay unrepentant.
On Friday (January 4, 2019) Times of India published a cartoon (see picture above). It mocked Hindus for stopping menstruating women from entering the Sabarimala temple. A priest is seen invoking Gods to “do away” with “menstruating unclean women.” Gods ask “With retrospective effect?” The priest says “yes.” Next, “poof” the priest is smoked out of existence (since all of us come from a woman’s womb).
We would come to this misinformation on “Sabarimala and menstruating women” in a bit. First, I would like you to look at the picture again. “Teeheeheee” is “Ha Ha” in the dictionary. It means uncontrollable joy. Utter joy, as Faye D’ Souza, must have seen, at the “stupidity” of Hindus who are fighting for their right worship as they believe in one shrine of Sabarimala. That Faye is a Christian, it carried communal tones. Times of India might have been the original “communal” instigator but Faye was no less in her contempt for Hindus. She is lucky she is in India where Hindu majority are tolerant beyond belief. A Michelin-starred chef Atul Kochhar was sacked by his hotel employers in Dubai for his “anti-Islamic tweet” recently. JW Marriott sacked Kochhar on fear of hurting “local” sentiments—and their profits–in the Islamic state. Kochhar’s tweet–admonishing actress Priyanka Chopra for ignoring Islamic excesses in India—was honey compared to Faye D’ Souza’s poison-dipped tweet.
Anyway, what caught my eye was a surgical tweet by the editor of OpIndia, Nupur J. Sharma: “Don’t think people who believe in virgin birth should be talking about menstruating women. No?” (image below)
Some scholarly tweets were no less devastating. A tweet handle (see image below) quoted The Bible (The Book of Leviticus: 15: 19-30) to show what Christianity thought of menstruating women.
Another tweet quoted The Book of Ezekiel 36: 17 (Hebrew Bible), to stress the point of how Christianity viewed menstruating women (see image below).
I checked up on Islam. This is what it says on menstruating women doing prayers: “It is haraam for a menstruating woman to pay both obligatory and naafil prayers, and they are not valid if she does them. She does not have to do a particular prayer unless she was pure or became pure with enough time to perform a complete rak’ah, in which case she has to do the prayer, whether it is at the beginning of the time for it or at the end.”
“In al-Saheehayn it is also narrated from Umm ‘Atiyyah that she heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say: “Let the girls who have attained puberty, women in seclusion and menstruating women go out – i.e., to the Eid prayer – and witness good and the gathering of the believers. But let the menstruating women avoid the prayer place.”
The instances above are not meant to say that menstruating women are unclean. It’s that most religious texts have a similar opinion on them. It now brings me to the “Sabarimala and menstruating women” bit and the “misinformation” propaganda on it.
The Sabarimala deity Ayyappa has other temples at Kulathupuzha, Aryankavu, Achankovil where he exists as a child, as a married person with a wife and as an ascetic. There are no restrictions on the entry of women in these temples. In Sabarimala, Ayyapa is present in the form of Naishtika Brahmachari (celibacy). According to the rule of Naishtika Brahmacharya, its practitioners besides celibacy are also required to maintain absolute restraint over all their senses—including non-contact with women, especially of reproductive age.
One of the beauties of Hinduism is that it allows everybody to follow whatever route or faith they believe it. The truth is one but the routes are limitless. It has millions of Gods because a devotee could choose his own way for “moksha.’ Hinduism thus accords a similar space and respect to Islam and Christianity.
To hold Hinduism as practising gender inequality is rotten propaganda. All rituals must be done with your wife beside you. Mahakali, Mahalaxmi, Maheshwari are all manifestations of how Hindus treat its women. All its gods are shown together with their wives—Sita-Ram, Shankar-Parvati etc. Why, it’s even Mother India (Bharat Maa) when Hindus mention their motherland. “Vandematram” is another one proof.
It’s been nearly 48 hours. Neither Faye D’ Souza has issued an apology or deleted her tweet. Times of India too hasn’t shown remorse on the offensive cartoon. This impudence flourishes because majority Hindus of this country are liberal to a fault.
A video has gone viral on social media, in which a Congress MLA from Rajasthan Johri Lal Meena is seen reprimanding Dalit voters of his constituency, for not voting for him during assembly elections. Johri Lal Meena is an MLA from Alwar’s Rajgarh-Lakshamngad constituency and was addressing residents of Barela village.
राजस्थान में कांग्रेस विधायक जौहरी लाल ने दलित समाज के लोगों को गांव में दी धमकी, कहा-”तुमने वोट नहीं दिया, मैं तुम्हारे कोई काम नहीं करूगां”।
”If a buffalo doesn’t give milk, no one feeds it. Similarly, if a son doesn’t work, then why should a father take care of him?” Meena is seen saying in the video. He also cited poll results of booth number 204 and 205 and said that from their booth he got fewer votes than BSP’s Banna Ram and BJP’s Vijay Madi.
”I am taking this poll results to every village I am going. Rajputs did not vote for us, that is fine, as Congress indeed snatched their rights. But the SC/ST people have received many favours from the party, why haven’t they voted then?” the MLA reportedly added. He then said that how can they expect work from him when they have voted in favour of BSP, and added they should be ashamed of it. After his speech, many locals criticised the MLA and also raised slogans against him.
This outrageous speech by a Congress leader is not limited to this. Mamta Bhupesh, the recently sworn in women and child development minister in Rajasthan’s Congress government had declared in a public event that her first duty is towards her caste, and then to the society.
Congress had won the largest number of seats in the recent assembly elections in the state and formed the government with Ashok Gehlot as the CM.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Jharkhand for laying the foundation stone for various development projects. While addressing a public meeting in Palamu, PM Modi censured Congress’ opportunist policy of offering loan waivers as a dishonest means to gain electoral benefits. PM proclaimed that farmers are no more than a vote bank for Congress.
कांग्रेस के लिए किसान सिर्फ और सिर्फ वोट बैंक है लेकिन हमारे लिए किसान हमारा अन्नदाता है, कांग्रेस और भाजपा में यही अंतर है : पीएम मोदी
PM Modi alleged that if Congress had completed all the projects pertaining to farmers’ interests in time, farmers would not have had to borrow loans. He claimed that Congress’ time-consuming and inefficient implementation of projects compelled farmers to borrow loans and now they are misleading them with loan waivers.
Extolling about his government’s achievements, PM Modi said that his government has worked towards eliminating the intermediaries and brokers who earlier used to bedevil farmers. The government has adopted transparent measures in governance and the schemes such as direct money transfer in the beneficiaries bank accounts testify the government’s integrity.
हमारी सरकार में दलालों और बिचौलियों की कोई जगह नहीं है, हम सरकार की योजनाओं के लाभार्थियों के खातों में सीधा पैसा जमा करके पारदर्शिता और ईमानदारी से कार्य कर रही है : पीएम मोदी pic.twitter.com/Q6WIjnuVAA
PM Modi also asserted that his government is working at a breakneck pace to bring about the development in the country. He contended that during the Sonia Gandhi-led remote control government was ruling the country, they could build only 25 lakh houses for the poor but under BJP government, in just 4 years, 1 crore 25 lakh homes have been built for the homeless.
जब देश में रिमोट कंट्रोल वाली सरकार थी तो उन्होंने पांच साल में गावों में सिर्फ 25 लाख कर बनवाये थे और हमनें 5 साल से भी कम समय में 1 करोड़ 25 लाख घर बनवा दिये हैं : पीएम मोदी
In addition, he also said that the BJP government is committed to providing all the basic amenities to the poor and not just houses with mere four walls.
With respect to Congress’ farm loan waiver, Prime Minister Modi is not too far off the mark. We have already seen how in Karnataka, despite the Congress-JDS government’s tall promises, only 800 farmers have benefited from the so-called farm loan waiver and how some farmers are still getting notices to clear their loans. In Madhya Pradesh, multiple farmer suicides have occurred despite Congress’ tall promises of farm loan waiver that came with terms and conditions. A day after Congress leaders boasting about farmer loan waiver in Punjab, today, a debt-ridden farmer has committed suicide.
Even after these failed promises, Congress has gone ahead and promised farmer loan waivers in Haryana now. The bad economics of such waivers only goes to show how Congress has absolutely no agenda for the upliftment of the society and is now relying on such hollow promises.
Bank fraud accused and fugitive Mehul Choksi has landed in fresh trouble, as the Enforcement Directorate has issued a provisional order to attach his Thailand factory, worth Rs 13 crore.
ED attaches under PMLA, a factory premise worth Rs.13.14 Crore in Thailand (M/s Abbeycrest (Thailand) belongs to Gitanjali Group of Mehul Choksi in #bankfraud case. pic.twitter.com/MLbxkhi7Ga
According to reports, the ED, after probe and gathering concrete evidence about a Thailand factory, discovered it is owned by Abbeycrest (Thailand) Ltd. which is connected to Choksi’s Geetanjali group of companies. ED said that the attachment has been done under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, and the factory is a beneficiary of the Letters of Understanding (LoUs), that were fraudulently issued from the Punjab National Bank, worth Rs 92.3 crore. ED under the same act had attached various other properties of Choksi last year.
The ED will reportedly soon issue Letters Rogatories (judicial requests) for the legal formalisation of the attachment of the property in Thailand.
“With this attachment, the value of attachment/seizure in the PNB scam is to the tune of Rs 4,765 crore (approx). Further investigation is in the process,” ED was quoted by media reports.
Nirav Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi and others are being probed under various criminal laws after the Indian financial sector was rocked by a startling revelation of fraud early last year following a complaint by the Punjab National Bank (PNB). Both Nirav Modi and Choksi are currently absconding. Mehul Choksi is reported to be residing in the Carribean country of Antigua, with which India doesn’t have an extradition treaty. In December, last year, his advocates had given an assurance to the court that their client is fully cooperating with banks, to settle the case. They also said that Choksi cannot travel to India, due to his bad health.
Minister of State for External Affairs General VK Singh (Retd.) had informed parliament that fugitive Nirav Modi is currently in the United Kingdom. He had also stated that extradition efforts have been initiated by ED and CBI. The Interpol has also issued a Red Corner Notice against him as per request by Indian authorities.
Communal tensions have been reported at Kundaspara in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Fakharpur Police station. It is reported that a Savitri Vat is located in the area where villagers gather to offer their prayers. The villagers claim that recently, an attempt was made by Muslims to occupy the spot forcibly.
It was also claimed that people from the Muslim community, with the intention to take control of the site, throw animal parts and garbage to defile the place. Thus, when Hindus reach the place to offer their prayers, certain goons from the Muslim community chased them away.
When Hindus protested against it, people from the other community indulged in stone-pelting. Four people, including the BJP booth president, were injured in the incident. The villagers also claim that they had written to the Police several times complaining about the Police of people from the other community but no action was taken and their concerns were not addressed.
Patrika also reported that the villagers had threatened to convert their religion if justice is not served to them. They are reported to have said that since it appeared to be a crime for Hindus to offer their prayers at their religious site under the Yogi government, then converting to other faiths appeared to be an acceptable course of action.
However, when OpIndia.com contacted the local police station, they denied that anyone had issued any threat to convert their religion. The Police also said that it was more of an incident between two families rather than two communities. We were told, “A Muslim family lives right next to the Chabutra and they throw garbage towards the place of worship against which people protested. So a minor conflict erupted as a consequence between the two sides. It wasn’t an instance of conflict between Hindus and Muslims as such, it was a dispute between two families.”
The Police further stated that efforts were currently on to resolve the dispute. A Panchayat was also organized for the purpose where people from both communities participated. The situation is said to be under control and the Police said that a boundary wall will soon be constructed to settle the matter.
Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah has been in the thick of things recently. The actor didn’t appreciate Virat Kohli’s aggression during the Test match series between India and Australia and called the cricketer “world’s worst behaved player”. That’s where the trouble began.
Soon, the actor started receiving harsh criticism for his tirade against Kohli. Under such circumstances, Naseeruddin came out and said that he was scared for the lives of his children in today’s India. Along expected lines, his statement created quite the stir in mainstream media and he had to skip the Ajmer Literature Festival after various groups launched protests against him.
Then, finally, Naseeruddin featured in a video by Amnesty International, an NGO that is under investigation for alleged FCRA violations where he can be seen supporting the ‘Urban Naxals’ who were arrested in connection with the violence at Koregaon Bhima and an alleged assassination plot of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Therefore, Naseeruddin’s opposition to Narendra Modi is quite obvious from all his actions. But, it appears that the actor is also lying blatantly to further his agenda. In an interview with India Today, when he was asked about his opinion of Narendra Modi, he said, “That is a very difficult one,” and added, “I had great faith in 2014 when he ascended to power. I won’t go so far as to say that my faith has been shaken. I still look forward to the future.”
Amusingly enough, in 2013, Naseeruddin certainly doesn’t appear to have faith when one looks at his statements and actions from that time. In fact, he sponsored an effort in 2013 which was directed to ‘expose’ Narendra Modi.
Naseeruddin can appear very convincing when he is speaking but that has more to do with his skills as an actor, it’s his job to appear convincing. The internet, however, has a long memory and never forgets a thing.
It has become a general theme for actors to say outlandish things and scream ‘no space for dissent’ whenever people criticize their statements. It appears that snowflakes in Bollywood do not understand how Freedom of Expression works. If they have the right to voice their ‘dissent’, then others have the right voice their own dissent against the ‘dissent’ by celebrities. However, celebrities appear to be under the impression that they are beyond ridicule and criticism merely because they’re celebrities.
A lot has been said and written about cow vigilantes and the havoc they have wreaked since 2014. The running narrative is that Hindus, who worship the cow are on a rampage to lynch and kill all Muslims who consume beef. However, there are certain instances of cow vigilantism that escape the outrage by the “liberals” mostly because the perpetrators are Muslims.
On 30th December, a Muslim man, Kabul Miyan was lynched to death by a mob on the suspicion of cow theft in Araria, Bihar. The ghastly incident took place after two cows and a calf was stolen from another Muslim man, Muslim Miyan, and the villagers were keeping a vigil to locate the cattle. When they said Kabul moving around suspiciously, they caught hold of him and thrashed him. Thereafter, Muslim Miyan’s cattle was reportedly found near the spot of the incident.
According to reports, the mob was led by a Muslim man called Mohammed Muslim. In a video of the gruesome attack that went viral, Mohammed can be seen laughing and encouraging the mob. During the preliminary investigation, it was revealed that Kabul had 13 cases registered against him in Sikati police station. Police officers are now trying to identify the people involved in the incident and take stern steps against them.
This incident, however, failed to inspire the kind of ire that several other lynchings inspired. There was no ‘Not in my name’ placards, nobody called India ‘lynchistan’ and there were no cries of justice for the Muslim man beaten to death, as there always is, ignoring the fact that this phenomenon is more of a law and order situation and not that of religion.
In fact, the reporting was starkly different from when media reports incidents when Muslims are lynched by Hindus for exactly the same reasons.
NDTV headlined their story, “Man, 55, Beaten To Death By Mob Over Alleged Cattle Theft In Bihar’s Araria”.
How NDTV reported the Araria incident
It was interesting to note how “Muslim man” became just “Man”, “Cow Vigilantes” became just a “mob” and “cow” became “cattle”. Starkly different from some of their other reportage about such instances.
How NDTV reported another incident from 2017
IndiaToday followed the same pattern. Their headline had the exact same keywords as the NDTV headline. Man. Cattle.
IndiaToday does an NDTV
Their reportage was, however, extremely different when allegedly, the mob was headed by one Anuj Bansal.
IndiaToday mentions “Muslim” and “cow” in another article where perpetrator was Hindu
IndianExpress of the “And they hanged him” fame could not be left behind in the media free fall.
Their headline was simple. Man lynched on suspicion of cattle theft.
Indian Express forgets to mention the religion of victim and ‘cow’ becomes ‘cattle’
While Indian Express has run several reports an opinion pieces where the Muslim card was played abundantly in other crimes. This one, for example, written by Harsh Mander.
Indian Express runs op-eds that play the Muslim victim card
While we have known for quite some time that Hindu victims don’t inspire sympathy from the media, just like the sadhus beaten to death by Muslims because they opposed cow-slaughter never got any attention, it is unfortunate to know that the headlines are watered down even when the victims are Muslims.
Evidently, it is not the religion of the victim that drives their outrage but the religion of the perpetrator. In cases where a Hindu is said to have committed the crime, the outrage that has ensued from the usual quarters have been high. In this case, for example, where the mob was led by a Muslim and the cow that was stolen was also of a Muslim, the headlines have been watered down to replace “cow” with “cattle” and there is no sign of “Muslim” or “Vigilantism” in the headline, as is the norm.
While this narrative has been used to demonise Hindus and the BJP alike, as soon as the government changed in Rajasthan from BJP to Congress, the media starting whitewashing the lynching incidents that were taking place in the state. From the ‘dara hus musalman’ narrative, the religion vanished and Sageer Khan became a nameless youth who was beaten up.
Under Congress rule, a guy named Sageer Khan is just a nameless youth going through routine beating, not a dara hua muslaman. https://t.co/lGwu0ye7in
Often, it is seen that cases of mob violence are related to cows being stolen from those who depend on these animals for their livelihood. Just like in this case from Bihar. However, this aspect is summarily ignored by most “liberal” commentators because painting Hindus are out-of-control religious mobs suits their narrative of demonising Hindus.
Media seems to help actively in creating the narrative against Hindus, while the real issue of cow smuggling is pushed under the rug.
A 55-year old farmer has reportedly committed suicide in Bathinda, Punjab after he was unable to clear a debt of Rs 3.5 lakhs. According to reports, 55-year-old Nachhatar Singh of Ramgarh Bhunder village in Bathinda allegedly committed suicide yesterday in his fields.
As per reports, Nachhatar Singh consumed poison in his field yesterday. He owned 2.5 acres of land but had to sell it. Later, Nachhatar’s unmarried brother Teja Singh gifted his 2 acres of land to Nachhatar’s brother Sukhwinder Singh and since then Nachhatar’s family has been farming the land.
Nachhatar’s family had allegedly owed Rs 3.5 lakhs to a bank and a commission agent. Unable to clear the debt, Nachhatar was reportedly under severe mental stress and hence consumed poison in his fields. He was noticed by his son when he carried tea for Nachhatar. He was taken to a nearby hospital and later shifted to a private hospital in Ludhiana where he was declared dead.
BKU Ugrahan, a farmers’ organisation in the area has demanded a compensation of 5 lakhs and a job for his son.
Many incidents of farmer suicides have come to light in recent times. In Karnataka, despite the Congress-JDS government declaring 44,000 crores for farm loan waivers, it was reported that only 800 farmers have been benefitted so far. In Madhya Pradesh too, the newly formed Congress government, despite promising an unconditional loan waiver, had announced a waiver scheme that benefits only a select number of farmers and comes with a bunch of terms and conditions.
PM Modi had recently criticised Congress’ loan waiver promises as a ‘lollipop’ to cheat people and had stated that farmers need a more comprehensive and effective solution.
It is notable here that just three days ago, two Punjab Congress leaders had protested against PM Modi’s statement about the Punjab government failing to help farmers and had carried a poster before the parliament that the Congress government in Punjab had cleared loans of 417387 farmers in the state by spending Rs 3445 crores.
Two days after Chandran Unnithaan, an Ayappa devotee and member of Sabarimala Karma Samithi died after stone pelting by CPIM workers, the preliminary autopsy report has proved contradictory to what Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan had stated.
#SabarimalaUproar#TheRightStand#Breaking just a day after Pinarayi Vijayan said that death of an Ayyappa devotee, Chandran Unnithaan, took place due to heart attack, the police in its remand report state that his death was a ‘pre-planned murder’.
According to reports, on January 3, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan had addressed the media confirming the death of Unnithaan and had stated that he had died due to a cardiac arrest. Vijayan had reportedly stated, “There was tension at Pandalam at 6.30 pm yesterday. A person named Chandran Unnithan got injured in it. As per the information received he died of cardiac arrest at the Believer’s Church hospital at 11 pm. Cardiac arrest can’t be due to stone pelting.”
It is notable here that after the communist government in Kerala had secretly escorted to of their women activists belonging to the restricted age group inside the Sabarimala temple, there were agitations and protests all over the state. In the evening, there was a clash between the members of the Karma Samithi and CPIM workers near their party office in Pandalam.
As per reports, CPIM workers had pelted stones at the members of the Sabarimala Karma Samithi from the rooftop of the party office building. Chandran Unnithaan, a 55-year-old resident of Koorambala was grievously injured in the stone pelting. He was taken to the Pandalam Hospital and when his condition worsened he was reportedly shifted to the Believers Church Medical College Hospital in Thiruvalla. There he was declared dead.
An autopsy was reportedly conducted at the Kottayam Government Medical College Hospital on Thursday morning. As per latest reports, doctors conducting the autopsy have confirmed that the cause of Unnithaan’s death was due to the skull injuries. The News Minute has quoted sources from the Medical College saying, “The cause of death as of preliminary examination is from the skull injuries. Though he was a heart patient, it is the injuries that lead to bleeding and death”.
Unnithaan’s death summary reportedly states that there was heavy bleeding from his ear, nose, and mouth due to the skull injuries. He was declared dead at 10.48 pm on Wednesday.
As per latest reports, Kerala police have now confirmed that Unnithaan’s death was not due to cardiac arrest but pre-meditated murder. Yesterday, two CPIM workers named Kannan and Aju had been arrested in connection with Unnithaan’s death.
Yesterday, three SDPI workers were also arrested for stabbing 4 BJP workers in Vadanapally, Thrissur. The Sabarimala Karma Samithi had called for a dawn-to-dusk bandh in the state in protest of the communist government’s attempts to desecrate the Sabarimala temple traditions.
