'Sad letter day' in India's history: Congress on SC's Loya verdict
New Delhi, April 19: Rejecting the "natural death" theory of judge B.H. Loya based on which the Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a petition seeking a SIT probe, the Congress said it is "sad letter day" in India's history and reiterated its demand for a "fair" investigation.
"Today is a 'Sad Letter Day' in India's history. Congress is committed to people's demand for a fair investigation in the matter surrounding Judge Loya's death," said Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala.
The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed petitions seeking a SIT probe into the death of Judge Loya who was earlier holding trial in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh staged shootout case, holding he had a natural death.
Surjewala maintained that not even judiciary can decide whether a death is natural or not without an investigation, while targeting the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, saying it was afraid of getting an investigation done.
He said Judge Loya's "suspicious death" at a Nagpur guesthouse in November 2014 had anguished many for he was trying a case where one of the accused was (now) BJP President Amit Shah, and the apex court's verdict left many questions unanswered for all those seeking fair investigation and justice.
After Loya's death, Amit Shah was discharged and CBI refused to file an appeal against it, he said.
Listing the chain of events leading to Judge Loya's "mysterious death" and all the apprehensions expressed by members of his family, judges, jurists, the bar, media and people at large hinting at a conspiracy, Surjewala also noted that the matter was even raised by the four seniormost judges of the Supreme Court in their unprecedented press conference.
He questioned the rationale behind using statements of some judges in an administrative enquiry before a police officer as the sole yardstick for arriving at a conclusion, particularly when suspicion was being raised by forensic evidence, witnesses, as well as withdrawal of the judge's security, the lack of his travel records and no entry in the guesthouse's register - while 15 different employees at the Nagpur guesthouse did not even recall that Judge Loya even came there.
Surjewala also said that even Loya's family had publicly stated that clothes on his body were blood-stained.
He also noted two associates of Judge Loya who were allegedly informed about the pressure being mounted on him to let off the accused also died under suspicious circumstances in 2015 and 2016, but no case had been filed or investigation done, while a third narrowly escaped.
Surjewala also said BJP's attempts to make false political capital out of Supreme Court judgment must be condemned, as the Congress was not a petitioner. "For a vile BJP to misinterpret SC's judgement to attack the Congress reflects their jitteriness and frustration," he said.
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Aman Gupta sides with Piyush Goyal’s comments on Indian startups to focus on deep tech
New Delhi, Apr 06 (PTI): boAt co-founder Aman Gupta has come out in support of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal's recent remarks urging Indian startups to focus more on deep-tech innovation. Gupta's comments come amid an ongoing debate within the startup ecosystem where several founders have countered Goyal's critique of consumer-focused ventures like food delivery and luxury goods startups.
Gupta took to social media platform X to echo Goyal's call for startups to move beyond consumer-centric models like food delivery and fantasy sports apps and instead prioritise technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, and quantum computing.
"It's not every day that the government asks founders to dream bigger. But at Startup Mahakumbh, that's exactly what happened. I was there. I heard the full speech. Hon. Minister @PiyushGoyal Ji isn't against founders. He believes in us. His point was simple: India has come far, but to lead the world...we need to aim higher.
"It reminded me of something I say often on Shark Tank India, If you want to build a world-class product, you must know your competition. That applies to India too," Gupta wrote.
The minister, during the inaugural of Startup Mahakumbh on Thursday, asked the Indian startup community to shift their focus from grocery delivery and ice cream making to high-tech sectors like semiconductors, machine learning, robotics, and artificial intelligence.
He had questioned Indian food delivery startups for turning unemployed youth into cheap labour.
"Are we going to be happy being delivery boys and girls... Is that the destiny of India...this is not a startup, this is entrepreneurship... What the other side is doing -- robotics, machine learning, 3D manufacturing and next generation factories," Goyal said, showing a slide titled "India vs China. The Startup Reality Check".
The minister had pointed out that only 1,000 of India's 1.57 lakh recognized startups operate in deep-tech spaces-a situation he described as "disturbing" given India's aspirations to become a developed nation by 2047.
Startup founders including Zepto CEO Aadit Palicha, Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu, and Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma have countered Goyal's comments.
Gupta, however, said pitching the country against China is a smart strategy.
"Benchmarking against China, the US, or anyone else -- isn't weakness. It's a smart strategy. We're already the 3rd largest startup ecosystem in the world and the fastest-growing major economy. But if we want to be No.1, we need to also go deep into AI, deep tech, climate, mobility, and infra. We need LLMs and innovation stacks that compete on global standards.
"And to make that happen, we also need Scientific risk, More patient capital, Founder-policymaker collaboration and a long-term national vision," Gupta wrote.
It’s not every day that the government asks founders to dream bigger.
— Aman Gupta (@amangupta0303) April 6, 2025
But at Startup Mahakumbh, that’s exactly what happened. I was there. I heard the full speech. Hon. Minister @PiyushGoyal Ji isn’t against founders. He believes in us.His point was simple: India has come far,… pic.twitter.com/bA4ontAz1M
