Former Congress MP, Karnataka leader K C Ramamurthy joins BJP
New Delhi, Oct 22: Days after quitting the Congress and his Rajya Sabha membership, Karnataka leader K C Ramamurthy joined the BJP on Tuesday, praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership.
He claimed that there was a conflict between what his "conscience" wanted to do and what the Congress asked its members to do in Parliament, leading to his decision to quit the party on October 16.
Modi is taking many good decisions for the country, he added.
BJP general secretaries Bhupender Yadav and Arun Singh, besides the party's Karnataka unit president Pralhad Joshi, were present at the press conference as Ramamurthy was inducted into the saffron organisation.
Ramamurthy later met BJP working president J P Nadda.
The BJP is likely to win the Rajya Sabha bypoll to the seat vacated by him. The party may field him on its ticket from Karnataka where it enjoys numerical advantage over its rivals.
The BJP has launched a concerted drive since it came back to power in May to win over Rajya Sabha members of rival parties in its bid to negate the advantage the opposition had in the House.
In the recent past, Bhubaneswar Kalita and Sanjay Singh, both from the Congress, had resigned from the upper house to join it.
Neeraj Shekhar, Surendra Singh Nagar and Sanjay Seth had recently quit the Samajwadi Party and given up their Rajya Sabha membership to join the BJP. They were later re-elected to the Upper House on BJP tickets, boosting the strength of the ruling party in the Rajya Sabha where it lacks majority.
In June this year, four Telugu Desam Party members from Rajya Sabha had joined the BJP.
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Senior citizen duped of Rs 23.5 lakh on threat of digital arrest in Thane district
Thane (PTI): A 68-year-old man was allegedly cheated of Rs 23.5 lakh by cyber fraudsters who threatened him with digital arrest in Maharashtra's Thane district, police said on Monday.
This is a second such incident reported in the district this week, an official said.
Based on a complaint, the Kalyan police have registered a case under relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act, Assistant Inspector Vinod Patil of Mahatma Phule police station said.
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"The complainant alleged that two unidentified persons cheated him of Rs 23.5 lakh by threatening to place him under digital arrest and forced him to transfer money through online transactions between December 8 and 12," Patil said.
'Digital arrest’ is a growing form of cybercrime in which fraudsters pose as law enforcement officials or personnel of government agencies and intimidate victims through audio/video calls. They hold the victims hostage and put pressure on them to pay money.
He said that the accused allegedly contacted the victim on WhatsApp video calls and claimed that his bank transactions were suspicious and linked to alleged irregularities.
"The fraudsters told him that he could be placed under digital arrest, but assured him that they would help him avoid legal action if he cooperated," the officer said.
He said that the accused repeatedly threatened the senior citizen and put pressure on him to make multiple online money transfers amounting to Rs 23.5 lakh.
The fraud came to light after the victim narrated the incident to acquaintances and approached the police on realising he had been duped.
"We are analysing bank transaction details, call records and digital evidence to track down the accused," Patil said.
