Rumour-driven lynching movement under Modi government: Congress
New Delhi, July 2: Blaming the Modi government for launching a "rumour-driven lynching movement" in the country, Congress said "absolute anarchy, mob-frenzy and jungle raj" have become new symbols of Prime Minister Narandra's Modi "New India".
The party said a new spate of lynchings has taken place whereby child-kidnappers have become a new medium of rumour mongering and mob justice and blamed the government of "abetting" in many such cases and giving "political patronage".
It said within the last month or so, nearly 30 Indians have been lynched - five people in Maharashtra's Dhule on Sunday, two earlier in Maharashtra, seven in Jharkhand, four people in Tripura, two people each in Assam, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, and Telangana and one each in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh.
"Absolute anarchy, mob frenzy and jungle raaj have become the new symbols of Modi's 'New India'. There is an unprecedented atmosphere of hate and violence.
"Rumour mongering, state-aided license to kill, decimation of rule of law leading to a 'lynching movement' have shaken our national conscience," said Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
"When the state gives the 'license to kill' with impunity and abdicates its solemn responsibility to uphold the rule of law, resulting in vigilantism, death and merciless killings of innocent lives, then each one of us should castigate it, decry it and question it," he said.
"In the past four years, we have added a new word in our socio-political vocabulary and that phrase is 'lynchings'. Under the Modi government, this new phenomena is getting a definite political patronage.
"What is absolutely reprehensible is that the state has completely abdicated its responsibility in the quest to add fuel to this madness. In many cases it has also assisted, aided and abetted such acts of violence and even justified and condoned them," he added.
Citing incidents of lynchings in Assam's Karbi Anglong, Tripura, Jharkhand and Maharashtra, Singhvi said: "What is most distressing that in case after case - the ministers of BJP-ruled states and its leaders have either been a cause of abetment or flagrantly justified this phenomenon."
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
BharatPe fraud case: Delhi HC quashes lookout circular against Ashneer Grover, wife
New Delhi, Nov 12: The Delhi High Court has ordered cancellation of a lookout circular (LOC) issued against Ashneer Grover, the former MD of payment app BharatPe, and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, noting that the FIR lodged against them over allegations of cheating and forgery has already been quashed.
Justice Sanjeev Narula passed the order on Monday after the court was informed that another bench of the high court quashed the FIR on the same day.
The FIR was quashed by Justice Chandra Dhari Singh after considering a plea moved by the Grovers stating that they have arrived at a settlement with the fintech company.
In his order, Justice Narula said, "Although the copy of the order (quashing the FIR) is not available as of now, the aforenoted fact is not disputed by the counsel for the parties.
"In light of the fact that the underlying FIR has been quashed, the LOC issued by respondent No. 3 (Bureau of Immigration), in the opinion of the court, will not survive."
The LOC was issued by the Bureau of Immigration at the instance of Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in view of the investigation against the Grovers in the cheating and forgery FIR.
The court was hearing a plea moved by Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover seeking quashing of the LOC issued against them in connection with the investigation into the cheating and forgery case.
"Accordingly, the present petitions are disposed of with a direction to the respondents to cancel the LOC against the petitioners in their records," the court noted.
Earlier, the Grovers claimed that they were informed about the LOC for the first time when they were detained at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on November 16, 2023, while they were scheduled to travel to the US.
After being detained, they were informed that the LOC was operational from November 6, 2023.
In May last year, the EOW filed an FIR against Grover, his wife Madhuri, and others under eight sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 467 and 468 (forgery), and 471 (using forged documents as genuine) for an alleged Rs 81 crore fraud after a complaint was lodged by BhartPe, the fintech unicorn.
In its complaint, BharatPe alleged that Grover and his family caused damages to the tune of Rs 81.3 crore through illegitimate payments to bogus human resource consultants, inflated and undue payments through pass-through vendors connected to the accused, sham transactions in input tax credit and payment of penalty to GST authorities, illegal payment to travel agencies, forged invoices by Madhuri, and destruction of evidence.
Madhuri was the head of controls at BharatPe before she was fired in 2022 after a forensic audit revealed several irregularities.
Subsequently, Grover resigned as the chief executive officer of the fintech firm in March 2022.
