US may have some illusions about finding oil in Pakistan, I wish them luck: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi, Jul 31 (PTI): Congress MP Shashi Tharoor took a swipe at the US on Thursday after it announced a deal for working with Pakistan to develop "massive oil reserves" in the South Asian country, saying Washington may have "some illusions" about finding oil in Pakistan and "I wish them luck".
US President Donald Trump has announced sealing a trade deal with Pakistan and said Washington will work with Islamabad to develop what he described as the South Asian nation's "massive oil reserves".
It was not immediately clear what massive oil reserves in Pakistan Trump was referring to.
In a social media post, the US president also wondered if Pakistan could sell oil to India "some day".
"We have just concluded a deal with the country of Pakistan, whereby Pakistan and the United States will work together on developing their massive oil reserves," Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday.
"We are in the process of choosing the oil company that will lead this partnership. Who knows, maybe they'll be selling oil to India some day!" he added.
Asked about Trump's remarks, Tharoor said, "They may have some illusions about finding oil in Pakistan, I wish them luck."
"We were all one country at one time. I have not seen any reports that there was a great deal of oil to be found in what is today Pakistan," the former Union minister told reporters in the Parliament House complex.
"But if the Americans want to look, let them look. We found some oil in Bombay High, we found some oil in Assam, but we are importing 86 per cent of our oil and gas needs. So I do not know how much they are going to find. As far as I am concerned, let them do what they want with other countries, what matters to me is what they do with our country," he added.
Pakistan has long claimed to have large oil deposits along its coast, but no progress has been made to tap those. It has been trying to lure in investments to tap into these reserves.
The country currently imports oil from the Middle East to meet its energy demands.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took to social media on Thursday to thank Trump over the "historic" trade agreement and expressed hope that it would expand the cooperation between the two sides.
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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.
