Despite Modi's Saudi visit, uncertainty persists for 42,500 Hajj pilgrims
New Delhi: Uncertainty looms large over the fate of 42,500 Indian Hajj pilgrims registered with private tour operators, as procedural lapses prevented the completion of formalities before the closure of Saudi Arabia's Hajj portal.
Even as hopes were pinned on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia for a resolution, the issue reportedly remained unaddressed, especially after his trip was cut short due to the Pahalgam terror attack.
Private tour operators allege that the central government failed to inform them about the February deadline for completing Hajj travel procedures. However, the government blames the operators for not adhering to required protocols in time.
Saudi Arabia had recently announced an additional quota of 10,000 Hajj slots, reopening the Nusukh portal on Thursday. But tour operators claim that technical issues have stalled the uploading process. The portal is set to close by May 5, leaving very little time. Reportedly, fewer than 500 pilgrims from Kerala may benefit from this new quota.
Out of the 1.75 lakh Hajj slots allotted to India under the India-Saudi agreement, 30%—approximately 52,500—were designated for private operators. It is this quota that is now in jeopardy.
An estimated 11,000 pilgrims from Kerala had registered through private operators, some even switching from the government-run Hajj Committee in hopes of better services. Many of them have already paid up to Rs 6 lakh, either as an advance or in full. Operators claim that these payments were remitted to the central authorities.
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Gurugram Police arrest BJP Yuva Morcha member for spreading fake murder story on social media
New Delhi: Gurugram Police have arrested BJP Yuva Morcha member Hariom Mishra, for allegedly spreading a fabricated and communally sensitive story on social media about the murder of a college student in Gurugram.
Mishra who is also known as Shaurya Mishra had shared a collage of four photographs on his X handle earlier this month. He claimed that a 24-year-old college student, identified as Nikita Agarwal, had been murdered by her classmate Arif Khan in Gurugram. In the post, he alleged that the woman was blackmailed, forced into prostitution, gangraped, and eventually killed. He also claimed that Arif dumped her body in a forest. The claims were presented as being based on police sources.
The post went viral and garnering over 1.5 lakh views, and was amplified by several right-wing social media handles across X, Facebook and Instagram. A verification of the claims revealed that no such incident had taken place in Gurugram. A search of credible news reports showed no record of any such murder. The police said this news would have inevitably attracted media attention if it were true.
On December 11, Gurugram Police publicly refuted the claims through their official X handle. They stated that the information which was being circulated was completely false. The police warned that legal action would be taken against those spreading misinformation. Despite the warning, Mishra neither deleted the post nor issued any clarification.
Police in Gurugram confirmed Mishra's arrest on December 16. The police said a FIR was filed after he continued to spread false information about the alleged murder of a Hindu woman by Muslim man. Police said Mishra, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Kaushambi district, is now being investigated.
Gurugram Police spokesperson Sandeep Singh told The Print that the accused had deliberately misrepresented facts and used objectionable content to spread hatred along religious lines. “Such posts can create serious disturbances in society, and the police take these matters very seriously,” he said.
A reverse image search conducted by fact-checkers at Alt News, revealed that the photographs used in the viral post were unrelated to the claims, while two of the images were traced to a Pinterest account belonging to influencer Maulik Chopra and another image was sourced from an Instagram post by influencer Shivam Thakur featuring a woman named Deepanshi Rawat. The fourth image was found on an unrelated Instagram page. The images depicted different individuals and had no connection to any crime.
Police said they are also investigating Mishra’s motive behind sharing the false and provocative content.
