Several Union ministers yet to clear dues on official bungalows: RTI
New Delhi: Several Union ministers, including Vijay Goel, Prakash Javadekar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Sushma Swaraj, have not cleared dues on their official bungalows till February, the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry said.
Replying to an RTI query, the ministry said Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Union Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region Jitendra Singh also have outstanding payments on their bungalows.
These dues concern furniture and other things provided at the bungalows, an official of the ministry said. The amounts for Naqvi and Singh are around Rs 1.46 lakh and Rs 3.18 lakh respectively for the same period, according to the ministry.
The reply, dated April 26, came on an RTI application filed by Ajit Kumar Singh .
The Directorate of Estates, which comes under the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, allots bungalows to Union ministers and MPs in the national capital.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman had pending dues of Rs 53, 276 while dues of Rs 86,923 was not cleared by Javadekar till February.
Goel, who is minister of state for parliamentary affairs, also did not clear dues running into nearly Rs 3 lakh while Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh had dues of Rs 2,88,269 till February, it stated.
Responding to the RTI query , the directorate said External Affairs Minister Swaraj had pending dues of Rs 98,890 on her official bungalow till the same period.
The Directorate of Estates issues a 'No Demand Certificate (NDC)' to those ministers and MPs who have cleared their dues.
According to the RTI reply, there was only Rs 14,627 dues pending on Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot after he paid Rs 1,23,215 out of Rs 1,37,842 accessed from August 2014 to February 2019.
There are also several Union ministers who have cleared their dues.
Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Giriraj Singh, Babul Supriyo, Harsh Vardhan, Manoj Sinha, Narendra Singh Tomar, Mahesh Sharma, Jayant Sinha, Ravi Shanker Prasad, Uma Bharti and Smirti Irani are among the Union ministers who have cleared their dues.
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FIR filed after e-commerce platform linked tech firm alleges SMS spoofing fraud
Bengaluru (PTI): An FIR has been registered against unknown people for allegedly sending fraudulent messages in the name of an e-commerce platform with promises of cash rewards, further disrupting its operations, police said on Wednesday.
The offence is said to have taken place between April 23 and April 27, they said.
A representative of city-based technology company Hiveloop Technology Pvt Ltd (HTPL), part of the Udaan group (eB2B platform), has lodged a complaint alleging a large-scale SMS spoofing fraud following which a detailed investigation has been initiated into the matter, a senior police officer said.
According to the FIR, HTPL is a registered entity on the TRAI-mandated DLT platform, which permits only pre-approved SMS templates and whitelisted URLs to be sent through authorised sender IDs.
The issue came to light on April 23, when HTPL received alerts from buyers about fraudulent SMS messages appearing to originate from the company's sender ID "UDAANN". The messages reportedly contained Bitly links and falsely claimed a credit of Rs 10,001, urging recipients to withdraw money, it said.
On April 27, at around 12:49 pm, the DLT platform blacklisted HTPL's SMS templates, citing their alleged use in sending fraudulent messages. Within minutes, the company's sender ID was also blacklisted. Airtel's DLT system subsequently confirmed the action and shared details of the fraudulent messages that were circulated in HTPL's name without its knowledge or consent, the FIR stated.
Following this, the company's messaging operations were affected, and even legitimate communications such as one-time passwords to buyers began failing. Later, the DLT operator suspended HTPL's entire account following complaints raised on TRAI's Chakshu platform, bringing all SMS services of the company to a halt, it further stated.
HTPL has stated that neither it nor its authorised vendors sent the fraudulent messages. The links embedded in the messages reportedly redirected users to an online betting website, the FIR stated.
The company has claimed that the incident has resulted in a complete breakdown of SMS-based services, including buyer authentication, order updates and promotional communication, leading to significant financial losses.
At least 13 victims have been identified so far, with the possibility of more affected users. Victims were allegedly directed to an online betting platform, raising concerns of potential financial fraud, the FIR added.
