Mumbai: Dear Mr Azmi, this cheque of Rs 2 crore will bounce

August 23, 2012

raj_takrey

Mumbai, August 23: Find Bangladeshis, get Rs 2 crore. That was Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Abu Asim Azmi’s singular challenge to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Wednesday. While blaming ‘illegal immigrants’ to the city for the August 11 violence at Azad Maidan, Raj had alleged during his rally on Tuesday that Azmi — a Maharashtra MLA — had won the 2009 polls because of the Bangladeshi voters in his constituency.

“Raj Thackeray says there are lakhs of Bangladeshis in my constituency. I will give Rs 2 crore if he shows even one lakh Bangladeshis and Pakistanis in Bhiwandi,” Azmi said at a press conference in Mumbai. He even flaunted the Rs 2 crore cheque on the occasion. Bear in mind the cheque has been issued on a Samajwadi Party account.

On Raj Thackeray displaying a purported Bangladeshi passport at the MNS protest, Azmi said, “The throwing of passport should be inquired into. It is a serious offence.”

Where’s the money?

Even as Azmi’s grandstanding was being commended by party leaders, MiD DAY paid a visit to Citizen Credit Co-operative Bank Ltd at Colaba, where the particular account exists. While the manager wasn’t available, another officer informed us that anyone who deposits such a huge amount in an account should confirm the situation with the branch. He also claimed he has never seen Azmi entering the premises.

We then contacted Ganesh Kumar Gupta, the SP treasurer in Maharashtra, to check on the availability of funds. Also, the cheque displayed yesterday had Gupta’s signature along with Azmi’s. But, initially the treasurer appeared oblivious of any such development. In fact he was shocked to hear the amount and the person in whose name the cheque had been written.

“For the last 20 years my party has been in deficit. We do not get any funds except the membership fees. I would have to verify if any large amounts have accumulated in the last two months,” he told this reporter.

Gupta immediately called up Azmi to confirm the facts. Then his tone changed. “Yes, today at the press conference we issued a cheque. The funds do not matter, because we are sure Raj Thackeray won’t be able to prove his allegations.”

While Azmi desires to put up banners pertaining to the cheque at Shivaji Park in Dadar among other parts of Mumbai, Gupta, now extremely excited, went ahead and announced that the reward can go up to Rs 4 crore. “Let him prove that there are illegal immigrants. We will hike the prize to Rs 4 crore. We are certain Raj won’t be able to corroborate anything,” said Gupta.

Azmi speaks

When Azmi realised his party treasurer had told MiD Day too much, he called up this reporter and said, “I am someone whose cheques never bounce. If this cheque bounces, I will quit politics. Also the account has over Rs 1 crore. If needed I can arrange for Rs 3 crore within a day.”

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News Network
February 1,2020

New Delhi, Feb 1: India on Friday banned the export of personal protection equipment such as masks and clothing amid a global coronavirus outbreak.

It did not give a reason for the ban but it reported its first case of the new coronavirus on Thursday, a woman in Kerala who was a student of Wuhan University in China.

The central Chinese city of Wuhan is the epicentre of the outbreak, and the virus has since spread to more than 9,800 people globally and killed 213 people in China.

Several Indian citizens living in Wuhan will arrive in India by plane on Saturday and be taken to a quarantine centre on the outskirts of the capital New Delhi.

India, the world’s second most heavily populated country after China, has taken measures to ensure that all people arriving from China report to health authorities.

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News Network
April 3,2020

New Delhi, April 3: The Government on Thursday launched a mobile app developed in public-private partnership as part of efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus.

"The app, called 'AarogyaSetu' will enable people to assess themselves the risk for their catching the coronavirus infection," an official release said.

It said that the app will calculate this based on their interaction with others, using cutting edge Bluetooth technology, algorithms and artificial intelligence.

"Once installed in a smartphone through an easy and user-friendly process, the app detects other devices with AarogyaSetu installed that come in the proximity of that phone. The app can then calculate the risk of infection based on sophisticated parameters," the release said.

It said that the app will help the government take necessary timely steps for assessing risk of spread of COVID-19 infection and ensuring isolation where required.

"The app's design ensures privacy. The personal data collected by the app is encrypted using state-of-the-art technology and stays secure on the phone till it is needed for facilitating medical intervention," the release said.

It said the app is available in 11 languages and has highly scalable architecture.

"This app is a unique example of the nation's young talent coming together and pooling resources and efforts to respond to a global crisis. It is at once a bridge between public and private sectors, digital technology and health services delivery," the release said.

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News Network
June 3,2020

New Delhi, Jun 3: Over 1 lakh scanned copies of Indians' national IDs, including Aadhaar, PAN card and passport, have been put on dark web for sale, cyber intelligence firm Cyble said on Wednesday.

The leaked data seems to have originated from a third party and not from the government system, according to a report by Cyble.

"We came across a non-reputed actor who is currently selling over 1 lakh Indian National IDs on the dark net. With such a low reputation, ideally, we would have skipped this; however, the samples shared by the actor intrigued our interest -- and also the volume. The actor is alleged to have access to over 1 lakh IDs from different places in India," Cyble said.

The personal data leaked by cyber criminals leads to various nefarious activities such as identity thefts, scams, and corporate espionage. Many criminals use the personal details in the IDs to win trust of the people over a phone call for fraudulent activities.

Cyber criminals leak personal data of 2.9 cr job-seeking Indians on dark web for free

The Cyble researchers acquired around 1,000 IDs from the seller and confirmed that the scanned IDs belong to Indians.

"Preliminary analysis suggests that the data originated from a third party, and no indication or artefact is indicating that it came from a government system. At this point, Cyble researchers are still investigating this further -- we are hoping to share an update soon," Cyble said.

The scanned ID documents indicate that the data may have been leaked from a company's data base in the segment where they have to comply with 'Know Your Customer' (KYC) norms.

"Cyble researchers have also learned about a surge in KYC and banking scams -- leaks such as this are often used by scammers to target individuals, especially elderlies," Cyble said.

The cyber intelligence firm has recommended people to refrain from sharing personal information especially financial information over phone, e-mail or SMS.

"Regularly monitor your financial transaction, if you notice any suspicious transaction, contact your bank immediately," the company said.

In May, Cyble showed two instances where personal data of 7.65 crore Indians have been put on sale in the dark web. In one instance, the seller claimed to have sourced data of 4.75 crore Indians from online directory Truecaller and in other, the seller claimed to have sourced from job websites.

Truecaller, however, had denied the claim of breach in its database.

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