Hindu ritual, Islamic prayer held at Gangolli GP premises; BJP leaders allegedly object to ‘Dua’
Udupi: A row has erupted in Gangolli gram panchayat of Kundapura taluk following the conduct of religious prayers during an oath-taking ceremony. The ceremony saw both a Hindu ‘Homa’ ritual performed by the elected Hindu members and a religious prayer by a Muslim cleric.
Byndoor MLA Gururaj Gantihole, along with members of the Hindu Hitha Rakshana Samiti, staged a protest outside the Panchayat office on Friday, condemning the prayer offered by the Moulwi.
During the oath-taking ceremony on Thursday, the designated president and the vice-president allegedly held religious prayers -- “Homa” ritual and a Muslim prayer -- on the gram panchayat premises, as reported by Deccan Herald.
Gantihole, addressing the protest, accused the Congress of forming an alliance with the SDPI and demanded action against the party for conducting religious prayers within the Panchayat building. He criticised the Congress for what he called a lack of ideological commitment, alleging that the party facilitated “illegal activities in government buildings” for political gain.
“On one hand, the Congress calls for banning the SDPI. On the other hand, it has entered into an alliance with the SDPI for coming to power. By compromising their principles for power, the Congress has shown that their priority lies solely in authority,” DH quoted Gantihole as saying.
In the elections held in December for the 33 seats in the Gram Panchayat, the Congress-supported candidates secured 12 seats, BJP-supported candidates won 12, while SDPI-backed candidates won six seats. With the support of the SDPI, the Congress came to power, with Congress-supported candidate Jayanthi Kharvi elected as president and SDPI-supported member Mohammed Tabraz as vice-president.
Reacting to the protest, Mohammed Tabraz defended the prayers, stating, "While president Jayanthi Kharvi held a ‘Homa,’ our religious leader offered a ‘Dua’ for the welfare of the village. However, BJP leaders raised an objection to offering the ‘Dua.’
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7 held for running fake call centre in South Kolkata
Kolkata (PTI): Seven people were arrested from the Parnashree area in the southern part of the city for allegedly running a fake call centre, a police officer said on Saturday.
Acting on a tip-off, police raided a house on Netaji Subhas Road on Friday night and found the fake call centre operating from the ground floor, he said.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused had set up a bogus company using forged documents and posed as employees of an antivirus firm to call citizens in the US, the officer said.
"The callers would gain the trust of victims and then use remote access to take control of their phones or other digital devices. The accused allegedly siphoned off large sums of money, running into millions of dollars, from victims' accounts," he said.
Five laptops, two WiFi routers, six mobile phones and four headsets were seized from the accused, he said, adding that the seven are being questioned to ascertain the full extent of the racket and to identify others involved.
