'Scorpion' remark against PM: SC extends stay on defamation proceedings against Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Asking the complainant's lawyer "why be so touchy", the Supreme Court on Friday extended the stay on trial court proceedings against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor in a defamation case filed for his alleged "scorpion on Shivling" remark targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh passed the order after adjourning the matter on the request of Tharoor's lawyer.
The lawyer appearing for the complainant, BJP leader Rajeev Babbar, sought a hearing on a non-miscellaneous day.
"What non-miscellaneous day? Why do you want to be so touchy about all this? Let us close all this," the bench said, as it posted the matter for hearing on September 15.
Tharoor moved the top court against the Delhi High Court's August 29, 2024, order, which refused to quash the defamation proceedings against him, asking him to appear before the trial court on September 10.
Tharoor's counsel previously argued that neither the complainant nor the members of the political party could be called an aggrieved party.
The counsel also said that Tharoor's comment was protected under the immunity clause of the defamation law, which stipulates that any statement made in "good faith" is not criminal.
Tharoor was stated to have merely made a reference to an article published in the Caravan magazine six years prior to making the statement.
The top court had expressed surprise that in 2012, when the article was originally published, the statement was not deemed defamatory.
"Eventually, it is a metaphor. I have tried to understand. It refers to the invincibility of the person referred to (Modi). I do not know why somebody has taken objection here," Justice Roy had said earlier.
While refusing to quash the proceedings against Tharoor, the high court had said, prima facie, imputations like "scorpion on Shivling" against the prime minister were "despicable and deplorable".
It said that prima facie, the remark defamed the prime minister, the BJP as well as its office-bearers and members.
The high court also said there was sufficient material before the judicial magistrate for summoning Tharoor under Section 500 (punishment for defamation) of the IPC.
The complainant alleged that his religious sentiments were hurt by the Congress leader's remark.
In October 2018, Tharoor reportedly claimed that an unnamed RSS leader had compared Modi to "a scorpion sitting on a Shivling".
The Congress leader purportedly said it was an "extraordinarily striking metaphor".
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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.
