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Drugs, Mega Land Deal: Ahmedabad Builder Duped Of Rs 1 Crore In 'Digital Arrest' Scam

by | Nov 21, 2024 | top-stories


Police officials said the fraudsters appeared to have been keeping tabs on the builder.

Ahmedabad:

A builder in Ahmedabad lost Rs 1 crore after he fell prey to a ‘digital arrest’ scam in which some people posing to be from the police and the Narcotics Control Bureau told him that 550 grams of a drug was found in a parcel in his name. 

Police officials said the fraudsters appeared to have been keeping tabs on the builder and also cited a Rs 50-crore land deal concluded by him to gain his confidence.

On July 3, the builder got a call from a man who claimed to be a representative of a popular international courier company. The man told the builder that 550 grams of the drug MD were recovered from a parcel in his name and said he was transferring the call to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), which had registered a case against him.

In his police complaint, filed recently, the builder said he then got a video call from a man wearing a police uniform, who claimed to be an NCB officer and asked him to record a statement online. The ‘officer’ also pointed to alleged suspicious transactions in the builder’s bank accounts and threatened that agencies like the police, CBI, Enforcement Directorate and NCB would investigate him.

Officials said that, after sufficiently scaring the builder, the man convinced him to transfer Rs 1 crore, returnable in 10 days, to avoid being prosecuted. The scammer also spoke about a recent Rs 50-crore land deal in which the builder was involved to make him believe that he was speaking to someone in law enforcement. 

The scammers made no contact with the builder after that and, when his attempts to reach them failed, he realised that he had been conned. He approached the Ahmedabad cyber crime cell recently, over four months later, to file a complaint. 

Ahmedabad Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crime) Lavina Sinha said a case has been registered and also laid out a list of steps that people can take to avoid falling for such frauds. 

“The police or any other agency will always carry out a physical arrest. There is no provision for digital arrest under Indian law. To prevent such frauds, people should follow this three-step process: Stop, think and then take action. If anyone asks for money to be transferred, one must stop and think whether the call is authentic and only then take action. And if money is transferred to fraudsters, people should call 1930 immediately and lodge a complaint,” she added.

(With inputs from Mahendra Prasad)



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“Rama Krishna Hari”: Supriya Sule On Cousin Ajit Pawar's Bitcoin Row Remark

by | Nov 20, 2024 | top-stories


Ajit Pawar has said probe will reveal the truth, Surpiya Sule has denied the allegations

Mumbai:

The Maharashtra government will order a probe and truth will come out, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said today when asked about allegations of bitcoin fraud against his cousin and Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule. “An inquiry will be done and the truth will come in front of the people,” Mr Pawar, who is contesting the Assembly polls from Baramati, said this morning.

“Whatever audio clip is being shown, I just know that I have worked with both of them. One of them is my sister and the other is someone with whom I have worked a lot. The audio clip has their voices, I can figure out from their tone. An inquiry will be done and everything will be clear,” he added.

The remarks play out against the rivalry between the two camps of NCP — one led by veteran politician and party founder Sharad Pawar and Ms Sule and the other by Ajit Pawar. An Ajit Pawar-led mutiny split the NCP in 2023, following which the junior Pawar joined the BJP-Shiv Sena government in the state. This election is also a fight between two factions of NCP to prove who has the people’s support.

What Are The Allegations

Ravindranath Patil, a retired IPS officer, has accused Ms Sule and Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole of being involved in a fraud involving cryptocurrency dating back to 2018. These funds, he has alleged, have been used in the assembly election campaign.

The BJP latched on to the retired officer’s remark and Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi accused Ms Sule and Mr Patole of using illegal bitcoin transactions to influence election results.

“An accused dealer contacts a former police officer, who has been jailed previously, and tells him that he (the dealer) wants to conduct bitcoin transactions in cash. The officer declines the request. However, the dealer tries to convince him, claiming that a few ‘big people’ are involved, allegedly naming Nana Patole and Supriya Sule. When the officer expresses doubt, the dealer sends him the audio clips,” Mr Trivedi said in a press meet yesterday.

“According to the dealer’s claims, the audio clips mention the need for money for elections. We now have five questions for the Congress Party: first, are you involved in bitcoin transactions? second, are you in contact with individuals named Gaurav Gupta or Mehta? third, are the chats in question those of your leaders? fourth, is the audio in the clips authentic? fifth, who are the ‘big people’ referred to?” Mr Pawar added.

What Has Supriya Sule Said

Ms Sule has trashed the allegations and challenged the BJP to a debate on the issue. “I deny all the allegations levelled against me by Sudhanshu Trivedi. All this is conjecture and innuendo, and I am ready for a debate with any representative of the BJP at a time and date of their choice, in a public forum,” she posted on X.

She has said it is appalling that Mr Trivedi made “such baseless” allegations. “…yet not surprising as it’s a clear case of spreading false information, the night before elections. My lawyer will be issuing a criminal and civil defamation notice against Sudhanshu Trivedi for making outrightly false allegations with an intent to deceive the public at large,” Ms Sule has said. This morning, the NCP (SP) leader said she has sent a criminal defamation to Mr Trivedi. “He has asked me five questions. I am ready to respond wherever he wants, whenever he wants. These are all lies.”

Asked about Ajit Pawar’s charge that the voice on a viral audio clip is hers, Ms Sule replied with a smile, “He is Ajit Pawar, he can say anything. Rama Krishna Hari.”

The five-time MP has also filed a complaint with the Election Commission and the Cyber Cell in Pune.

Ms Sule’s father and NCP founder Sharad Pawar said, “…The person who made the allegations was in jail for several months. Taking that person along and making false allegations, only BJP can do this.”

Mr Patole, too, trashed the allegations and alleged a political conspiracy by the BJP. “We will file a complaint,” he said. 



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Emergency Landing, Fliers Stuck For 3 Days In Phuket; Air India Responds

by | Nov 19, 2024 | top-stories


Over 100 New Delhi-bound passengers of an Air India flight have been stranded in Thailand’s Phuket for over 80 hours now after several delays due to technical faults, according to multiple posts put out by passengers on social media. 

According to the passengers, the flight was scheduled to take off for Delhi on the night of November 16. But the airline’s representatives informed the passengers of a six-hour delay due to a technical fault. The passengers allege that after being made to wait for hours at the airport, they were asked to board the plane, only to be deboarded an hour later. The flight was cancelled.

Air India, while regretting the inconvenience to passengers, said the November 16 flight was “cancelled due to a technical issue”. The airline insisted that the staff on the ground made efforts to minimise passengers’ inconvenience, providing all on-ground assistance including hotel accommodations and meals.

“Some of the guests were also accommodated on alternatively available flights. Passengers were also offered options for full refunds on cancellation and complimentary rescheduling. At Air India, the safety and security of our passengers and crew is a top priority,” it added.

The passengers included elderly and children. The next the plane was prepped for a flight. The passengers say they were told that it was the same plane, but the fault had been fixed. The plane took off and about two-and-a-half hours after take-off, it landed back at Phuket and the passengers were again told that there was a technical fault. Since then, the passengers have been stuck at Phuket.

The plane’s trajectory, as captured by tracking app FlightRadar, shows its two-hour flight before it returned to Phhuket.

Social media posts allege that passengers are not getting any satisfactory response from airline representatives.

Earlier, the airline source said, “Several passengers have been sent back. About 40 are still in Phuket, they would be sent back this evening.”



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“Go Falcon. Go GSAT-20”: Elon Musk's SpaceX Successfully Launches Indian Satellite

by | Nov 18, 2024 | top-stories


India’s most advanced communications satellite was successfully lifted off into space by Elon Musk’s SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket which launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA.

At the stroke of one minute past midnight on Tuesday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s most sophisticated communications satellite, which will provide broadband services in remote areas and in-flight Internet in passenger aircraft, set off for its 34-minute journey into outer space on board Elon Musk-owned SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket on its 396 th flight.

“Launch successful,” said Radhakrishnan Durairaj, Chairman and Managing Director of New Space India Limited, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Mr Durairaj who monitored the flight from Cape Canaveral told NDTV, “GSAT 20 got a very precise orbit”.

Named GSAT N-2 or GSAT 20, the 4,700 kg fully commercial satellite, was launched from Space Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral in Florida. The launch pad has been hired by SpaceX from the US’ Space Force, a special branch of the country’s armed forces that was created in 2019 to secure its space assets.

Dr S Somanath, Chairman, ISRO, speaking during the launch said, “The mission life of GSAT-20 is 14 years and the ground infra-structure is ready to serve the satellite”. Speaking to NDTV from the UR Rao Satellite Center in Bengaluru from where he monitored the lift-off, Dr Somanath said, “(It was) A very successful launch as we got a good orbit, the satellite is healthy, solar panels are deployed”.

This is the first time that ISRO launched a satellite on a SpaceX rocket through its commercial arm New Space India Limited (NSIL). This is also the first time ISRO has built a satellite that only uses the advanced Ka band frequency – a range of radio frequencies between 27 and 40 gigahertz (GHz), which enables the satellite to have higher bandwidth.

India sought a dedicated launch and that there were no co-passenger satellites on the flight.

For the satellite launch, a standard Falcon 9 B-5 rocket, which is 70 metres long and weighs around 549 tonnes, was used during lift-off. It has been designed as a two-stage rocket – a launch vehicle in which two distinct stages provide propulsion consecutively in order to achieve orbital velocity. The rocket can lift up to 8,300 kg to the geosynchronous transfer orbit and 22,800 kilograms to the low earth orbit. The first stage was successfully recovered at about 8 minutes into the flight and it was the 371st recovery by SpaceX.

Falcon 9 is a partially reusable rocket and SpaceX asserts “this was the 19th flight for the Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission. After stage separation, the first stage landed on a drone ship, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.”

After the satellite was placed in the orbit, India’s Master Control Facility a part of ISRO at Hassan took control of the satellite and in a few days this latest Indian bird will then be raised to its final home – 36,000 kilometres above India.

So far, Falcon 9 has been part of 396 launches and has faced just four setbacks, achieving a remarkable success rate of 99 per cent. Experts say that a dedicated launch of a Falcon 9 rocket costs about $70 million on an average.



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GRAP 4 In Delhi Explained: What Is Banned, What Is Allowed

by | Nov 18, 2024 | top-stories


GRAP 4 In Delhi: Physical classes for all students except Class 10 and 12

New Delhi:

In response to worsening air quality in Delhi-NCR, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has decided to activate Stage IV of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) from today.

Delhi’s daily average Air Quality Index (AQI) rose sharply to 441 by 4 PM on Sunday, and further escalated to 457 by 7 PM, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Therefore, in an effort to prevent further detorioration of the air quality, Centre’s air quality panel has invoked stricter pollution control measures for the Delhi-NCR under Stage 4 of the anti-pollution plan Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP).

What Is Banned And What’s Not

1. Physical classes for all students except Class 10 and 12.

2. Entry of truck traffic into Delhi (except for trucks carrying essential commodities/providing essential services). All LNG/CNG /Electric/BS-VI Diesel trucks shall however be permitted to enter Delhi.

3. Light Commercial Vehicles registered outside Delhi, other than EVs/CNG/BS-VI diesel, to enter Delhi, except those carrying essential commodities/ providing essential services.

4. Delhi-registered BS-IV and below diesel-operated medium and heavy goods vehicles will be prohibited from operating, except for those carrying essential services.

5. NCR State Governments/GNCTD will decide whether to permit 50% of employees in governmental, municipal, and private offices to work from home.

6. State government may consider additional emergency measures like closure of colleges/educational institutions and closure of non-emergency commercial activities, permitting running of vehicles, and odd-even basis of registration numbers etc.

7. The Central Government has the authority to decide whether to allow its employees to work from home.

In addition, people have been urged to follow the guidelines and help ensure the successful implementation of the GRAP measures aimed at maintaining and improving the air quality in the region. Children, the elderly, and those with respiratory, cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, or other chronic diseases should stay indoors as much as possible and refrain from outdoor activities.



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