Arrests in Delhi riots case under UAPA assault on constitutional guarantees, right to dissent: CPIM
New Delhi: The CPI(M) on Monday condemned the arrest of former JNU student Umar Khalid and alleged that the arrests, under the stringent UAPA, of students in the Delhi riots case were an assault on the "constitutional guarantees of the democratic right to dissent".
Khalid, a former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student, has been arrested by the Delhi Police's special cell for his alleged role in the riots that broke out in the north-east neighborhoods of the national capital in February this year.
"The arrest of Umar Khalid under the provisions of the draconian UAPA (Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act) is condemnable... Top BJP leaders who made hate speeches and incited violence are protected by the Central Government, while young peaceful protesters against the CAA are being targeted and arrested citing the utterly manufactured version of the country's Home Ministry and the Delhi Police linking anti-CAA protests with communal violence," a statement from the Left party said.
"The Central Government must stop the practice of the Special Branch summoning anti-CAA activists for questioning and trying to coerce them into implicating those targeted by the Home Ministry and the Police," it said.
It also alleged that the UAPA is being used to block the normal processes of justice by which the accused would have been out on bail since, as many of the lower courts have mentioned, there is not "a shred of evidence" against any of them for inciting violence.
The statement said Khalid's arrest comes following the detention, under the UAPA, of Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, both JNU students; Ishrat Jahan, a former Councillor of the Congress Party; Jamia students Meeran Haider who is also an RJD youth leader, Asif Tanha, Safoora Zagar, Gulfisha Fatima, and Shifr-ul-Rehman.
"The arrests constitute an assault on the constitutional guarantees of the democratic right to dissent," the statement said.
The party further said it has opposed the CAA-NRC-NPR from the beginning both in Parliament and outside in multiple protests throughout the country.
"It reiterates its strong opposition. It expresses its solidarity with all those facing the repression of the Central Government. It demands the release of all those arrested under UAPA in the Delhi communal violence case.
"Recent developments point to the urgent necessity of an independent investigation, under a retired judge, into the causes of the violence as against the biased investigation being conducted by the Delhi police under Union Home Ministry's guidance," the party alleged.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury's name also figures in the supplementary chargesheet of the Delhi Police, which cites a statement from one of the students who alleged that the leader had given speeches to mobilize protestors.
In the same supplementary chargesheet, Khalid has been named in another statement where he allegedly gave "tips" on how to organize protests.
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Bank account in Ramgarh tracked for fraudulent fund transactions across 24 states, 4 arrested
Ramgarh (Jharkhand) (PTI): Jharkhand police on Thursday said it has unearthed a network of interstate cyber frauds and arrested four miscreants for fraudulent transactions through a bank account in Ramgarh district after complaints of 274 suspected transactions in 24 states.
The states where complaints for fraudulent transactions were registered included Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
The action followed inputs received through 'Samanvaya portal', a centralised, web-based platform launched by the Union Home Ministry to curb cybercrime.
"We arrested four cyber miscreants after a current account with Kuju (Ramgarh) branch of the State Bank of India was found to have registered suspected financial transactions in 24 states with the help of the Pratibimba portal of the Home Ministry through the Samanvaya portal," Ramgarh Superintendent of Police Mukesh Kumar Lunayat said.
During the probe, police found that the account was opened under the MSME Udyam Registration scheme in the name of Shree Ganesh Enterprises, he said.
The account had been linked to as many as 274 complaints from different states related to cyber fraud and illegal fund transfers.
The registered proprietors of the enterprise were identified as Rahul Gupta (37), Ravi Kumar Verma (34), and Ajay Sharma (33), all residents of Ramgarh district, a statement from the Ramgarh police said.
During interrogation, Rahul Gupta and Ravi Kumar Verma revealed that they had opened multiple current accounts at the behest of Ritesh Agrawal alias Munna (40) and Sonu Kumar Jha (34).
They admitted receiving Rs 1.2 lakh in exchange for facilitating the opening of these accounts.
"The accused further confessed to sharing OTPs, activating mobile banking services, and handing over control of the accounts to the main operators through WhatsApp and Telegram groups. These accounts were then allegedly used to route fraudulent transactions.
Police said mobile data analysis of the accused led to the recovery of crucial digital evidence, including details of SIM cards, bank accounts, passbooks, ATM cards, QR code scanners, Aadhaar cards, and PAN cards shared through messaging platforms.
A total of four accused have been arrested so far and sent to judicial custody.
A case has been registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023 and Sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
Further investigation is underway, the police said.
