Fake website offering Sabarimala guest house facility detected, probe launched
Pathanamthitta (Kerala) (PTI): A fake website deceiving Lord Ayyappa devotees by promising guest house facilities at Sabarimala has been detected, police said on Saturday.
Pathanamthitta Cyber Police registered a case on Friday and launched an investigation into the fake website, officials said.
According to police, the website came to light when searches on Google for rooms available for booking at Sabarimala were conducted.
The website--sannidanamguesthouse.in--offered guest house facilities for Ayyappa devotees in Sabarimala, they said.
Two mobile phone numbers were provided on the website for booking rooms.
A police officer said they suspect some devotees may have lost money while attempting to book rooms through the website.
Upon investigation, police found that one of the numbers belonged to a person named Hamid from Haryana, while efforts are underway to trace the details of the second number.
Police later registered a case into the incident.
As per the FIR, the accused include the owner of the fake website, Hamid, and the person operating the second phone number.
The case has been registered under Sections 319(2) (cheating by personation), 318(4) (cheating), and 3(5) (joint criminal liability) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and Sections 66(c) (identity theft) and 66(d) (cheating by personation) of the Information Technology Act.
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Electorate in 9 states, UTs shrink by 1.70 crore after SIR
New Delhi (PTI): Voter base in nine states and Union territories has shrunk by more than 1.70 crore following the publication of final electoral rolls as part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), according to official data.
The data shared by the chief electoral officers of Gujarat, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Goa and Kerala on Saturday showed that their combined voter base stood at over 21.45 crore before the SIR exercise began on October 27 last year.
It shrunk to 19.75 crore after publication of their final electoral rolls this week, a net change of over 1.70 crore electors.
While the exercise, which kept the Election Commission in the spotlight, has been completed in Bihar, it is currently underway in 12 states and Union territories covering nearly 60 crore electors.
The remaining 40 crore electors will be covered in 17 states and five Union territories.
In Assam, a "special revision", instead of SIR, was completed on February 10.
Due to a variety of reasons, the SIR in the nine states and three Union territories have seen frequent tweaking in schedules.
As in Bihar, political parties have approached the Supreme Court challenging the exercise in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
