Filmmaker Avinash Das booked for sharing Amit Shah's photo with arrested IAS officer
Ahmedabad, May 16: Gujarat police have booked filmmaker Avinash Das for sharing a photo of Union Home Minister Amit Shah with Jharkhand cadre IAS officer Pooja Singhal, who was recently arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case, an official said.
Police Inspector H M Vyas of Ahmedabad Police's Detection of Crime Branch said Das (46) shared the photo on his Twitter handle on May 8.
The photo shows Shah and Singhal at a public event five years ago, but Das tweeted it to mislead people and defame the minister's reputation, the official said.
Das has also been booked for allegedly insulting the national flag by posting on March 17 a morphed picture of a woman wearing a tricolour on his Facebook account, the official said.
A case has been registered against Das under IPC 469 (forgery) and section 67 of IT Act for the May 8 Twitter post, he said. Das has also been booked under sections of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act and IT Act for the March 17 Facebook post, the official added.
The ED on Wednesday arrested Jharkhand mining secretary Singhal in a case of money laundering involving alleged diversion of MGNREGA funds, and also seized over Rs 18 crore in cash from the house of a chartered accountant, allegedly linked to Singhal.
Das has directed the 2017 film Anaarkali of Aarah', starring Swara Bhaskar, Sanjay Mishra and Pankaj Tripathi.
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Karnataka panel backs move to grant second official language status to Tulu
Mangaluru (PTI): A high-level committee constituted by the Karnataka government to study the framework adopted by Andhra Pradesh for recognising Urdu as a second official language has submitted its report, backing the state’s move to accord similar status to Tulu.
The six-member panel, headed by K M Gayatri, former Director of the Kannada and Culture Department, examined the procedures followed by the Andhra Pradesh government before granting second official language status to Urdu, officials said on Wednesday.
The committee undertook a field visit to the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat on January 19 and 20 and held consultations with senior officials to understand the legal provisions, administrative mechanisms, and implementation benchmarks involved, they said.
The panel also included Tharanatha Gatti Kapikad, president of the Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy, in an advisory capacity.
The report, along with a detailed note outlining Tulu’s historical, linguistic, and cultural significance, was submitted to J Manjunath, Secretary, Kannada and Culture Department, at Vikas Soudha here.
According to official sources, the study was aimed at gathering inputs to help Karnataka frame criteria and procedural guidelines if it decides to grant second official language status to Tulu.
Senior officials present at the submission included B S Manjunath Swami, Director of the Kannada and Culture Department; representatives of the Law Department and the Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department; and office-bearers of various state academies.
Tulu is predominantly spoken in the coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi, and in parts of Kasaragod in neighbouring Kerala.
The demand to accord it second official language status in Karnataka has been raised by cultural organisations for several years.
