Chhattisgarh CM accuses UP police of trying to protect TV anchor Rohit Ranjan
Rahul Gandhi video case
Raipur(PTI): Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Wednesday alleged that the police in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh were trying to protect TV news anchor Rohit Ranjan, who is accused of playing a doctored clip of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
His statement comes amid the Chhattisgarh police's allegation that their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh were no cooperating with them in this case.
The Chhattisgarh police have summoned Zee News anchor Rohit Ranjan and some of his colleagues for probe into allegations of airing a doctored video of Rahul Gandhi. A team of the Chhattisgarh police on Wednesday stayed put in the national capital region for a second day as it continued its search with an arrest warrant for Ranjan.
The policemen went to the TV anchor's home in Ghaziabad in the morning and later to his office in Noida Film City, officials said.
A case was registered against Ranjan and others at Zee News on Sunday at Civil Lines Police station in Chhattisgarh's capital Raipur for allegedly promoting enmity between different groups and outraging religious feelings of people, based on a complaint by Congress MLA Devendra Yadav, Raipur's Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Prashant Agrawal said.
Talking to reporters here at the helipad in Police Lines, chief minister Baghel said, "Uttar Pradesh Police is trying to protect the accused. They should have cooperated with Raipur police."
Hitting out at the BJP, Baghel alleged, "The BJP does not honour court orders (issued against Ranjan by a Chhattisgarh court). In Nupur Sharma case, the way BJP supporters trolled the Supreme Court observations, it shows they (BJP leaders) do not believe in the court and want to weaken the Constitution. They just follow their own agenda."
The SSP had on Tuesday claimed that the Noida police obstructed Ranjan's arrest procedure by taking him away with them.
The Raipur district police had gone to Ranjan's home in Indirapuram area near Delhi on Tuesday early morning, but he was instead arrested by the Noida police who released him on bail later in the night.
"The Noida police, who released him on bail, should have informed the Raipur police, as the team had gone to Sector-20 police station (in Noida) on Tuesday, asking for the whereabouts of the accused. They did not tell us anything about him and late Tuesday evening released a press note stating that he is released on bail. Now, he is absconding," Agrawal alleged.
In his complaint against Ranjan, Yadav alleged that a video, in which Rahul Gandhi described those attacking his Wayanad office as children and said he had no ill-will against them, was "mischievously" used by the TV channel on July 1 to suggest he was forgiving the killers of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal.
Yadav, who represents Bhilai Nagar constituency in Chhattisgarh, has accused the director and chairman of Zee News and its chief executive officer of conspiring to spread fabricated and fake news against Gandhi in a bid to incite communal riots and disturb social harmony, the official said.
Ranjan and others were booked under various IPC sections, including 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class), 467 (forgery), 469 (forgery to harm reputation) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), the SSP said.
On July 2, a day after the video was aired, Ranjan had apologised for mistakenly playing Gandhi's statement on vandalisation of his Wayanad office out of context by linking it with the Udaipur murder case.
"It was a human error for which our team is apologetic. We apologise for it," he had tweeted in Hindi.
However, the video was used by several people, including BJP leaders, to attack Gandhi and the Congress party after the Udaipur murder on June 28.
The assailants in Udaipur purportedly admitted their crime in a video clip, saying it was meant to avenge an insult to Islam.
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.
Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
===================
The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
