Only domestic payments enabled for Alt News: Razorpay
New Delhi(PTI): Razorpay, the payment gateway used by Alt News to receive donations, on Friday said only domestic payments were enabled for the fact-checking website and foreign transactions were not allowed without FCRA approval.
Delhi Police had last week told a Delhi court that they were investigating alleged violations of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) by Alt News in their probe against co-founder Mohammed Zubair.
In a statement posted on his Twitter handle, Razorpay co-founder and CEO Harshil Mathur said the payment gateway had shared with investigating authorities "only specific data" within the scope of the investigation.
"While I am not allowed to share the specifics owing to the ongoing investigation, I want to state that the concerned business was only enabled to receive domestic payments in-line with our policy to not allow international transactions without FCRA approval for donation pages," he said, without directly naming Alt News.
Amid concerns over the data that Razorpay may have shared, he said the specific scope of the investigating agencies' request was only to determine whether there were any foreign donations.
"And therefore donors' PAN, address, pin code etc were not shared, which we believed were outside the scope of the investigation," he said.
The investigation into Alt News payments follows Zubair's arrest on a complaint from a Twitter account that said he insulted Hindus in 2018 when he posted an image from an old Hindi movie.
On Alt News saying they were not contacted before the information was shared, Mathur said Razorpay had reached out on registered mobile numbers of the business but could not reach them.
"In hindsight, we understand it may have been difficult for them to get on the phone in such a situation and we could have tried to find other channels," he said.
Giving details, he said the firm on Monday received a written notice for transaction data for a specific time period.
"We immediately reached out to the authorities to understand the scope and reasons for the request. A Razorpay senior leader went from Bengaluru to Delhi to speak to the authorities," he said. "As is our process, we consulted multiple legal experts on this and got a unanimous view that we have to comply with the request."
Razorpay temporarily disabled Alt News' business account awaiting clarity on the purpose of the investigation to safeguard and prevent consumer losses, he said. "As soon as we got that clarity, we immediately re-enabled payments for them."
He also said policy experts and legal counsels across the country have given an undivided view that it was necessary for Razorpay to comply with the legal request.
"We have always championed the need for an appropriate data privacy law in the country," he said. "We are not perfect, to anyone who feels that there is something else we could have done, my DMs are always open, please give us feedback."
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
