NRIs who missed Eid prayers stage protest after Dubai-Mangaluru flight diverted to Kochi

Newsroom, Jan 24: BJP leader and Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Shobha Karandlaje has been booked by Kerala police over a misleading and communally provocative social media post.

Karandlaje had tweeted that that Hindus from a colony in Kuttipuram in Malappuram district were denied water supply as they supported the the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). 

"Kerala is taking baby steps to become another Kashmir. Hindus of Kuttipuram Panchayat of Malappuram was denied water supply as they supported #CAA2019. #SevaBharati has been supplying water ever since. Will Lutyens telecast this intolerance of PEACEFULS frm God's Own Country!?," she tweeted. 

A case has been booked under section 153(A) of IPC (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race etc). Karandlaje took to Twitter to slam the Kerala government, and said it had lodged a complaint against her instead of acting against the discrimination faced by dalit families of Cherukunnu. 

"It is high time the society unites against these pressure tactics of a non-performing, biased left government," she said. 

Karandlaje claimed that the CAA had been accepted by both houses of Parliament and people supporting the Act were facing boycott in business and were being denied basic amenities and jobs. "The CPI(M) government is blind to all these incidents across Kerala, but files a case against me for speaking the truth!" she retorted.

According to reportage from multiple outlets, the colony in Malappuram district's Kuttippuram was dependent on a private individual for water; then came accusations that they were denied the water for attending BJP's pro-CAA rally. 

A resident of the colony was quoted by a newspaper, “We were denied drinking water because our husbands participated in a meeting organised to gather support for the CAA. Some people told the family that they should not give drinking water to us because CAA is a threat to the people in their community.” 

However, the individual in question denied the accusation, claiming a lack of water because of technical issues.

The case was registered after a complaint by lawyer Subhash Chandran, a resident of Malappuram. Aravindan E.A., SI of Kuttippuram police, said, "From a private person's borewell, water was being provided to the people of the colony. This motor had taken for agricultural work and he was recently issued a warning by State Electricity Board. He was told that if he uses the motor for any other purpose, power supply would be disconnected. He then had stopped using the pump following the crisis worsened.”

Lucknow, Apr 13: Muslims in Uttar Pradesh are now worried that the intense communal profiling of the Corona patients by the official agencies could lead to lynching incidents once the lockdown is lifted.

Muslim scholar and former SP spokesman, Abdul Hafiz Gandhi, on Monday said, "The manner in which the government agencies are identifying persons belonging to Tablighi Jamaat in the list of Covid-19 patients is now translating into intense communal profiling which has been prohibited by the World Health Organization and the central government. A very small percentage of Muslims subscribe to the Tablighi Jamaat ideology but the impression going around is that the Muslim community, in general, is spreading coronavirus."

He said that there was a strong possibility of Muslims, in general, being attacked after the lockdown is lifted.

"This is exactly what happened on the cow slaughter issue. Even a small rumour led to people being lynched by mobs across the country. Corona is a pandemic and should be treated like one. We should fight against the virus together instead of creating a communal divide. Every day, the government spokesman lays down the number of Corona positive cases and then goes on to say how many of them are from Tablighi Jamaat," he explained.

Amir Haider, a social activist and also a veteran Congress leader, echoed similar sentiments when he said, "We strongly condemn the Tablighi Jamaat for ignoring the protocols and holding the congregation but why is the state government repeatedly harping on the religious angle. Shia and Sunni clerics are repeatedly asking the people to adhere to government guidelines and follow safety protocols.

He said that efforts to create a communal divide on the corona issue could have dangerous ramification after the lockdown is lifted."

A retired IAS officer, who did not wish to be named, said, that people have already started objecting to taking home deliveries from Muslim employees.

"My neighbours refused to take delivery of groceries from a Muslim boy. This is just the beginning of the narrative that is being drilled into the minds. We must check this before it explodes into something very dangerous," he said.

Bengaluru, Feb 24: Fugitive underworld don Ravi Poojary, with more than 90 criminal charges pending against him, was brought to the city in the wee hours of Monday after he was arrested from Senegal in South Africa.

Police said that he was wanted in more than 92 criminal cases. In Bengaluru alone, he was involved in more than 39 cases, including double murder of Ravi and Shobana in 2007, an attempt to murder attack on Mantri developers 2009, extortion and other crimes etc. He had committed crimes in various parts of the state including Myusuru, Hubballi, he had involved in extortion, threatening builders, politicians, etc.

"Though Senegal police had nabbed him about six months back to get him to India it took more than six months since there was no agreement to deport criminals from that state to us. However, now all legal hurdles have been removed and we have succeeded in bringing him", a top police official told media.

A team of Bengaluru Police headed by Additional Director General of Police Amar Kumar Pandey, Joint Police Commissioner Sandeep Patil reached Senegal on Saturday and brought him to the city by Air France flight.

Ravi Poojari was wanted in cases of extortion and murder and was active in the Mumbai underworld. He was part of the underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's gang and later is said to have worked with 'Chota Rajan' for some time. Claiming to be an enemy of Dawood, Poojari reportedly finished off all his associates and anti-India elements in the country. His men were involved in a shootout on the Shabanam Developers office in Bengaluru in which a woman staffer was killed.

He is also said have been involved in the shootout case of Shahid Azmi, an advocate from Mumbai. There are cases against him in Kerala, Gujarat, and Maharashtra.