Ex-TN Chief Minister O Panneerselvam snaps ties with NDA
Chennai, Jul 31 (PTI): Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam-led AIADMK Cadres Rights Retrieval Committee on Thursday walked out of the BJP-led NDA coalition.
Panruti S Ramachandran, a veteran leader and advisor to the Committee announced the decision.
Speaking to reporters, Ramachandran, flanked by Panneerselvam and panel leaders said: "Hereafter, the Committee will not be a part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)."
The decision to move away from the NDA was unanimous, he said answering a question.
On behalf of the Committee, its chief, Panneerselvam will soon commence tour of several parts of the state and it has been resolved to decide on the question of alliance in future according to the political circumstances, he added.
Asked on the reasons for quitting the NDA, Ramachandran said the reason was widely known and there was no necessity to explain it.
He expressing confidence that "a right alliance to lead the people in the right direction will materialise in future."
Asked if the BJP has betrayed Panneerselvam-led panel, Ramachandran said he need not spell out what the BJP did to the Committee as the nation knows it.
To a question, Panneerselvam said he met Stalin here during his morning walk and that he moved on after conveying his pleasantries.
Amid speculations about his next move, when Panneerselvam strongly condemned the union government on July 29 for not releasing 'Samagra Shiksha' funds to Tamil Nadu it became more clear that he was preparing to move out of the NDA.
Popularly known as OPS, Panneerselvam's attempt to get an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Tamil Nadu on July 26 and 27 also did not materialise.
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami met the prime minister at Tiruchirappalli airport on July 26 night. Also, Panneerselvam had not been invited when Amit Shah visited the state in recent times.
OPS partnered with the NDA for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and at that time, the AIADMK was not part of the BJP alliance as it had pulled out of the coalition in September 2023. In April this year, the AIADMK revived ties with the BJP.
Panneerselvam, who was expelled from the AIADMK on July 11, 2022, continues to contest the leadership of Palaniswami. Attempts of OPS and his supporters aimed at rapprochement have so far not yielded results.
To this day, OPS has maintained that he is an "AIADMK man," and had ruled out floating a separate political party and the BJP top leadership had asserted that it would not interfere in the internal affairs of its ally, the AIADMK.
Of late, there has been speculation that OPS may strike an alliance with actor-politician Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam for the 2026 Assembly polls as the BJP did not show clear signs of accommodating him.
However, Panruti Ramachandran, while speaking to reporters on Thursday, did not give a categorical answer to a related question.
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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.
