Twitter restores verified blue tick of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s personal account
New Delhi, Jun 5: Social media giant Twitter on Saturday removed the blue verification tick from the accounts of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and other senior functionaries only to restore it after a lot of hue and cry by Sangh sympathisers on social media.
Taking strong objection, Rajiv Tuli, a functionary in Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's (RSS) Delhi unit, told PTI that this "clearly shows biasness and a clear example of 'tech feudalism' by Twitter".
He cited several Twitter handles which have been "inactive but continue to remain verified".
The blue tick, which is a verification badge, was removed from five accounts belonging to senior functionaries of the RSS, the ruling BJP's ideological mentor, sources in the Sangh said.
Later in the day, the verification badge of Bhagawat, Suresh Soni, Arun Kumar, Suresh Joshi and Krishna Gopal was restored.
Tuli said it was "done after much heckling".
Senior RSS functionaries including Bhagwat had joined Twitter in July 2019.
Sources in the Sangh said that the accounts were created to "check the spread of misinformation by parody accounts".
Earlier in the day, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu's verification badge was also removed which was later restored.
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.
SC seeks ED's response on journalist's bail plea in money laundering case
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to file its response within three days on a bail plea of journalist Mahesh Langa in a money laundering case linked to an alleged financial fraud.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi also asked senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the jailed journalist, to file rejoinder, if needed, to the ED's response within two days of it being filed.
The top court fixed the case for further hearing on December 15.
During the brief hearing on Monday, Sibal said a journalist has been facing as many as six cases.
"The journalist is accused of extortion," the counsel for the ED said and sought a short adjournment on the ground that Solicitor General Tuhar Mehta was unavailable at the moment.
The top court on September 8 sought responses from the Gujarat government and the ED on Langa's bail plea.
While issuing the notices on Langa's bail plea, the bench asked, "What kind of a journalist is he?"
"With due respect, there are some very genuine journalists. But there are also people who on their scooter say we are 'patrakar' (journalists) and what they actually do everybody knows," the bench told Sibal.
Sibal replied that these are all allegations.
"In one FIR, he gets anticipatory bail, then a second FIR is lodged and again anticipatory bail is granted but now he is booked under a third FIR for income tax evasion. There are other things also against him," Sibal submitted.
He added that there is a background to the case also.
On July 31, the Gujarat High Court rejected Langa's bail plea in the money laundering case on the grounds that if released on bail, prejudice would be caused to the prosecution case.
On February 25, the ED said it arrested Langa in a money laundering investigation linked to an alleged financial fraud.
He was first arrested in October 2024 in a GST fraud case.
The money laundering case against Langa stems from two FIRs filed by Ahmedabad police on charges of fraud, criminal misappropriation, criminal breach of trust, cheating and causing wrongful loss of lakhs of rupees to certain people.
