Cop asks Bhopal gym to bar entry of Muslims, removed from field duty
Bhopal (PTI): A police sub-inspector has been removed from field duty after he allegedly asked a gym owner not to allow entry to Muslims at the facility in Bhopal, officials said on Tuesday.
The action against sub-inspector Dinesh Sharma was taken after a video surfaced on social media showing him purportedly making the controversial comments.
"No Muslim will come here to train or take training. I am telling you this clearly," the cop was seen instructing the gym owner in the clip.
According to the police, some Bajrang Dal members had visited the gym, located in the Ayodhya Nagar area of Bhopal, and raised questions over the presence of Muslim trainers at the facility.
After this, the police were called to defuse the tension there. Sharma allegedly made the comments at that time, an official said.
After a video of his comments went viral on social media, the police started an investigation into the matter.
Following the investigation, Sharma was on Monday attached to the Police Lines here, an official said.
The police have made it very clear that no such act will be allowed which creates tension between communities, the official added.
Following the incident, Bhopal BJP MP Alok Sharma said a list of such gyms where Muslims impart training was being prepared.
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Shashi Tharoor calls for regulation and taxation instead of banning online gaming
New Delhi(PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday criticised the government’s move to ban online money gaming, warning that such a step would only push the industry underground and strengthen criminal networks.
He also said he had not studied the three Constitution amendment bills seeking to provide a framework for the removal of prime ministers, Union ministers, chief ministers and state ministers detained on serious criminal charges in any detail.
“On the face of it, it is difficult to say it has any problem, but obviously if anyone does something wrong they should not be a minister anyway. I don’t know if there is any other motive,” he remarked.
Discussing the bill seeking to prohibit and regulate online gaming introduced in the Lok Sabha, he said, "I had written a very long article on the argument that by banning online gaming we are simply driving it underground, whereas it could be a useful source of revenue for the government if we legalise it, regulate it and tax it."
He added that many countries have studied the issue in detail and concluded that regulation and taxation can generate funds for social causes, while bans merely enrich “criminal mafias”.
In a post on X, Tharoor recalled that he had “gone on record in 2018 urging the government to legalise, regulate and tax online gaming, rather than drive it underground by banning it, which will merely enhance the profits of the mafia”.
“It’s a pity that the government seems to have derived no lessons from the experience of other countries that have considered this issue,” he wrote.
He added that the bill should at least have been referred to a parliamentary committee “to consider all the pros and cons before rushing it into law”.
The proposed bill prohibits online money gaming and its advertisements, prescribing imprisonment or fines, or both, for violators. It differentiates such games from eSports and online social games, while calling for their promotion.
1/2 I went on record in 2018 urging the government to legalise, regulate and tax online gaming, rather than drive it underground by banning it, which will merely enhance the profits of the mafia. https://t.co/KYi2aTxDQQ
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) August 20, 2025
