News Analysis India

Tag: Delhi police

  • Raids at Ghaizabad hospitals; five arrested from Uttarakhand for manufacturing fake Remdesivir 

    By PTI
    GHAZIABAD: Raids have been conducted at five hospitals in Ghaziabad and irregularities were found in stocking of life-saving medicines.

    The administration had received complaints that the hospitals have admitted people who were not having COVID symptoms to show their beds occupied.

    The facilities were later providing beds at exorbitant rates, according to a statement.

    A team checked the stocks of Nagar Hospital and it was found that from April 6, the facility hospital had received 250 remdesivir injections, while it was declared as COVID hospital on April 25.

    The medical store was selling remdesivir directly to the needy and no record of sale was maintained, an official said.

    Remdesivir was not given to the patients who were admitted to the hospitals.

    The whole stock was sold out at the medicine outlet of the hospital, the official said.

    Four more facilities — Ganesh Hospital, Narinder Mohan hospital, Le Crest and Atlanta hospitals — have been warned to rectify the errors found in records maintenance.

    They will submit the record within a week.

    Notice has been issued to the management of Nagar hospital.

    Action would be initiated against the management under the pandemic and other appropriate sections of law.

    The Delhi Police on Thursday busted a pharmaceutical unit and arrested five people from Uttarakhand’s Kotdwar area for allegedly manufacturing large quantities of fake Remdevisir injections, official said.

    Police said they have seized 196 fake Remdesivir injections.

    The accused have already sold 2,000 fake Remdesivir injections.

    Delhi Police Commissioner S N Shrivastava took to Twitter to share information regarding the incident and the subsequent arrests.

    “Delhi Police working on useful information arrested 5 culprits in a prolonged investigation & unearthed a ‘pharmaceutical’ unit at Kotdwar, Uttarakhand manufacturing large quantities of fake Remdevisir injections (COVIPRI) sold at price over Rs 25000.

    “In all 196 ready to sell fake Remdesivir injections were seized.

    From the premises, packing machines, 3000 empty vials for packing Ramdesivir were recovered.

    Accused further disclosed that he already sold 2,000 fake Remdesivir injections to desperate people,” the commissioner tweeted.

    Due to the spirilling cases of the coronavirus, the demand for antiviral Remdesivir injection has increased.

  • Punjabi man arrested for passing sensitive information about Indian Army to foreign intelligence agency 

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police has arrested a man for allegedly passing sensitive information about Army deployment to a foreign intelligence agency, officials said on Saturday.

    The accused has been identified as Harpal Singh, a resident of Tarn Taran in Punjab, they said.

    “A highly motivated and radicalised man was arrested for passing sensitive information to foreign intelligence agency. He conveyed details related to Indian Army personnel, Army movements, location of Army and BSF posts and bunkers on the outposts of India at India-Pakistan borders,” a senior police officer said.

    The money routed through hawala channels was used for funding the espionage operation, he said.

    Further details are awaited.

  • HC grants interim protection from arrest to Mumbai journalist in rape case provided he joins probe

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court Friday granted interim protection from arrest to a Mumbai-based television journalist in a rape case provided he joins the police investigation.

    Justice Mukta Gupta issued notices and sought responses of Delhi Police and the complainant woman on journalist Varun Hiremath’s plea seeking anticipatory bail in the case.

    “Petitioner be not arrested till the next date of hearing subject to him joining the investigation as and when directed,” the high court said.

    It asked the police to verify the documents to be given by the man and file a status report and listed the matter for further hearing on April 16.

    Hiremath, represented through senior advocate Kapil Sibal, has approached the high court after his earlier anticipatory bail plea was dismissed by a trial court here on March 12.

    The 22-year-old woman in her complaint alleged she was raped by Hiremath at a five-star hotel in Chanakyapuri on February 20.

    The counsel for the 28-year-old man claimed before the court that that there had been a history of previous sexual relationship between the accused and the complainant.

    When advocate Siddharth Arora, representing the complainant, urged the court not to grant any protection to Hiremath as he has been on the run for last 50 days, the high court said if the man has documents to show that the relationship was consensual, let him join the investigation and police will verify it.

    Prosecutor Tarang Srivastava accepted notice on behalf of Delhi Police.

    The trial court, while rejecting the journalist’s anticipatory bail plea, had said that consent cannot be implied from the complainant’s previous experiences with the accused and if the woman stated in her evidence before the court that she did not consent, the court shall presume that she did not.

    Before the trial court, the man’s counsel had highlighted some WhatsApp and Instagram chats between the accused and the complainant “in order to show the love and passion between them for each other”.

    It had also noted in its order that some WhatsApp chats of the accused and the victim after the alleged offence indicated “towards the feeling of sorry by the accused of his acts”.

    It has said the question of consent coupled with the conduct of complainant and accused was a matter of trial and that it was only considering the anticipatory bail plea.

    On the basis of woman’s complaint, an FIR under IPC sections 376 (punishment of offence of rape), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) was registered at Chanakyapuri police station here.

  • Court directs police to re-investigate phone conversation of Shanti Bhushan, Mulayam, Amar Singh

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A city court has directed the Delhi police to probe afresh a 2011 case related to an audio CD allegedly containing a telephone conversation of former law minister Shanti Bhushan, Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav and the then SP leader Amar Singh.

    The court passed the direction on January 28, while dismissing a police plea to close the case, registered on April 15, 2011 following a complaint by Bhushan that the CD appeared to have been “fabricated to malign me” and that its contents were “defamatory”.

    “IO (Investigating Officer) is directed to investigate the contents of the CD in question and file a report,” Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Dr Pankaj Sharma said, while directing the IO to file the report by March 25.

    However, the IO failed to file the report, and the court, on March 25, said, “Let the IO be summoned for filing the report in terms of previous order for July 15, 2021.”

    The news regarding the CD was reported in media earlier that month.

    In the purported phone conversation involving Bhushan, Yadav and Singh, who passed away last year, Bhushan allegedly referred to his lawyer-son Prashant Bhushan who can “manage very well” and to a then Supreme Court judge.

    The police had in April 2014 filed an “untrace report”.

    It said Shanti Bhushan “suspected that ‘Amar Singh could be behind the fabrication and circulation of the audio CD to malign his reputation” and that its circulation among the media “was intended as an attempt to force him to leave the joint drafting committee for the Jan Lokpal Bill, since Kapil Sibal and P Chidambaram, then Union Ministers, were against his participation as co-chairman of the drafting committee”.

    However, he “could not put forward any worthwhile evidence in support of his allegations against Chidambaram, Sibal and Singh except oral allegations.”

    The police report added that “it is not correct to proceed against anyone only on the basis of presumptions and without any substantial and corroborative evidence. Hence this case is being filed as untraced for want of any sufficient evidence.”

    In its report, the police also rejected a claim made by Prashant Bhushan, citing a Central Forensic Science Laboratory-Delhi report that that the contents of the CD had not been copied from the Amar Singh tapes that did the rounds following alleged tapping of his phone in 2005-06.

    Bhushans, who were at that time non-government representatives in a panel constituted to draft the Lokpal Bill following a fast by social activist Anna Hazare, denied that the phone conversation ever took place and called it a “conspiracy” to weaken Anna Hazare’s movement.

  • Delhi HC asks police to file status report on plea for action against FB for ‘digital fraud’

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has asked the city police to file a status report on a plea seeking a direction to authorities to take action against Facebook and its senior officials for their alleged criminal acts and ‘digital conspiracy’.

    The court was informed by the counsel for the Delhi Police Commissioner and its Cyber Crime Cell that the complaint made by the company Vas Data Services, which was running its operations through its website www.yepme.com, has already been closed.

    Justice Anu Malhotra, in its March 24 order, asked the State to submit its status report in this regard before the next date of hearing and listed the matter for further hearing on April 15.

    Senior advocate Maninder Singh, representing the petitioner company, said as per the platform’s offer, the companies opting to advertise on the space will have to pay for ad-services that would include clickable space on their website, as an advertisement, which when clicked by a Facebook user will redirect him to an external website or application link of the company.

    “However, Facebook by misusing its unimpeachable reputation in the digital world deliberately developed a faulty system to gain booming undeserved profits,” he contended.

    The petition, filed through advocates Gaurav Singh and Ekta Vats, said main purpose of the petitioner company to spend huge money on advertisement through the platform was to convert “clickers into buyers” but due to the alleged deliberate technical discrepancies, the prospective buyer never reached their website, causing a loss of business and reputation.

    It alleged that the platform kept on charging money from the company and on checking the records, it was found that there was huge discrepancy in the amount charged and service provided, that is flow of traffic through clicking of advertisement.

    The plea said Facebook, among other offerings, also sells or offers digital advertising space to commercial business houses and the major source of income for the platform is generated by selling the advertising space.

    The plea, which alleged commission of offences including cheating, criminal conspiracy under the IPC and computer related offences under the Information Technology Act, said that a complaint was given to the Delhi Police Cyber Cell in this regard in 2019 but no FIR has been lodged till date.

    The plea has sought direction to the Delhi Police Cyber Cell to submit its detailed status report before the court, explaining the action taken till date against the proposed accused.

    It has also sought direction to the Centre and police to jointly constitute a Special Investigation Unit (SIT) and handover the investigation into the complaint to the SIT which shall lodge a report.

    The petition sought direction to the Centre to set up an authority specifically dealing with digital frauds being carried out on digital platforms to safeguard rights of stakeholders and to submit a detailed proposal before the court in this regard.

  • Republic Day violence: Court asks Delhi health secretary to constitute panel to examine X-ray report of dead farmer

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the Delhi health secretary to constitute a board of experts to examine the X-ray report of a 25-year-old farmer who died after his tractor overturned during the farmers’ protest rally against three agri laws in the national capital on Republic Day.

    Justice Yogesh Khanna also asked the doctors of Maulana Azad Medical College to prepare the X-ray report from the original X-ray plate, which has been received by the Delhi Police from the UPr Police.

    The court said the report be examined by the board comprising medical and forensic experts as also a radiologist among others.

    The board shall be constituted by the secretary of the health department of the Delhi government, the HC said and posted the matter for further hearing on April 14. The court was told that they have shown CCTV footage to the family members and lawyers of the victim Navreet Singh.

    The high court was hearing a plea by deceased Singh’s grandfather Hardeep Singh claiming that the victim suffered gunshot injuries to his head. His post mortem was conducted at Rampur district hospital in UP. However, both the Delhi and UP Police told the court that Navreet did not suffer any gunshot wounds.

    According to the police, the man had died as his tractor overturned at ITO where many farmers participating in the tractor parade had reached from the Ghazipur border after taking a detour off the pre-agreed route for the march.

    The court was informed by Delhi government standing counsel (criminal) Rahul Mehra and advocate Chaitanya Gosain, representing Delhi Police, that they have shown CCTV footage to the family members and lawyers of the victim Navreet Singh.

    The high court had earlier directed the Uttar Pradesh police to provide original X-Ray plate and video of post mortem of the victim to Delhi Police.

    The high court was hearing a plea by deceased Navreet Singh’s grandfather — Hardeep Singh — claiming that the victim suffered gunshot injuries to his head.

    His post mortem was conducted at Rampur district hospital in UP.

    However, both the Delhi and UP Police told the court that Navreet did not suffer any gunshot wounds.

    Delhi Police had earlier told the court that though they have requested the UP Police to give the original X-Ray plate and post mortem video, the officials of Rampur police and hospital denied doing so unless ordered by the court.

    The counsel for UP Police and the CMO of the hospital had said they did not have the X-Ray report but only the X-Ray plate and the post mortem report which they are willing to handover to Delhi Police on the date and time fixed by the court.

    She had said the original post mortem and inquest reports have already been handed over to the Delhi Police.

    Advocate Vrinda Grover, representing the petitioner, had sought a copy of the X-Ray report and post mortem and inquest reports and Delhi Police had consented to it.

    Delhi Police had earlier said that according to the post-mortem report the young farmer died due to a head injury as a result of the accident and all his injuries were possible in a road accident.

    The petition, also filed through advocate Soutik Banerjee, has sought a court-monitored SIT probe into the death of the young farmer.

    Delhi Police has relied upon the footage collected from CCTV cameras located at the site — Deen Dayal Upadhyay marg — where the young farmer died and said that he was driving the tractor at high speed and the vehicle overturned after hitting the barricades.

    It had said that the footage also shows that the police personnel were running away for safety from the speeding tractor and that none of them fired upon the vehicle or the driver.

    Delhi Police has also said that CCTV footage further indicates that the protestors did not take the injured Navreet Singh to any nearby hospital and instead they attacked the ambulances that reached the site after hearing about the accident.

    It had said that the protestors instead of taking him to the hospital immediately, kept his body on the road for five hours and then spread rumours that he was killed in police firing.

    The UP police, in its status report, had stated that no FIR has been registered by it in connection with the death as claimed by the petitioner.

    The petitioner’s counsel had earlier contended that the way Delhi Police has conducted itself in the matter “does not inspire a shred of confidence”.

    She had argued that this indicated that the victim lost control of the tractor and it overturned as he was shot by the police personnel.

    According to the police, the man had died as his tractor overturned at ITO where many farmers participating in the tractor parade had reached from the Ghazipur border after taking a detour of the pre-agreed route for the march.

    The police had claimed that the man was driving the tractor and he came under the vehicle as it overturned.

    Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at the Delhi border points — Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur — for over three months, demanding the repeal of new farm laws and a legal guarantee on the minimum support price(MSP) for their crops.

    The protesting farmers clashed with the police in the national capital on January 26 during a tractor parade to highlight their demands.

    (With PTI Inputs)

  • Delhi cops targetting youth from Punjab: Akali outfit

    Express News Service
    CHANDIGARH: The functionaries of Youth Akali Dal (SAD) said they would gherao Delhi Police personnel “singling out” Punjabi youth and registering “false” cases against them in connection with the January 26 violence in the national capital.

    After a meeting here on Thursday,  YAD president Parambans Singh Romana said they received reports of Punjabi youth being “unfairly targeted” by the Delhi Police and the central government. “We have decided to stand by our youth. Our rank and file will rush to support any youth who is unfairly targeted by the Delhi Police. I request all affected families to seek the support of the YAD in this regard,” Romana said.

    He also targetted the Congress saying its government in Punjab “abrogated” the duty towards its citizens and allowed free hands for the central government to arrest youth from the state. “It is now clear that Chief Minister Amarinder Singh is playing a fixed match with the central government.

    That is why he has not directed the Punjab Police to ensure youth from the state are not subjected to discrimination in any manner whatsoever. The Delhi Police cannot make any arrests in Punjab without taking the Punjab Police into confidence. If the Delhi Police is acting on its own then its officials should be booked for indulging in illegal practices,” he said. He also announced that the outfit take out hold massive rallies in all constituencies in the State starting from March 15.  

  • Toolkit case: Court seeks police response on Shantanu Muluk’s anticipatory bail plea

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A court here on Wednesday sought response from the Delhi Police on the anticipatory bail application of Shantanu Muluk, who along with Disha Ravi is accused of sharing a “toolkit” on social media related to the farmers’ protest.

    Muluk, along with Ravi and another co accused Nikita Jacob, was booked for alleged sedition and other charges.

    Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana, who granted bail to Ravi on Wednesday, directed police to file reply to Muluk’s bail application and posted the matter for arguments on Thursday.

    Muluk had got transit bail from Bombay High Court on February 16 for a period of 10 days.

    During the brief hearing held through video-conferencing on Wednesday, the court also noted that Muluk has been granted protection from arrest till February 26.

    The matter was adjourned after the public prosecutor said that the investigating officer of the case was not present today and “it would be better if the matter is heard in physical presence.”

    In his application, Muluk has said that he merely created the toolkit with information on the agitation, which was then edited by others without his knowledge.

    According to the police, the ‘Toolkit’ was a sinister design to defame India and cause violence.

    The application further said that that Muluk did not access the document after January 20.

    “The applicant (Muluk) helped collate information about the site of farmers’ protests and formulate it in the form of a map for easy reference.”

    “The toolkit clearly shows that there is absolutely no connection with their social media support for the farmers protests, and with any violence whatsoever,” it said.

    The application said there was “absolutely nothing” in the toolkit that advised doing anything unlawful and that all it talked about was social media and offline peaceful protests and contacting elected representatives.

    In response to the allegation put forth by the police on his links with the Canada-based Khalistani organisations ‘Poetic Justice Foundation’ and Sikhs for Justice, the accused said that he has never had any contact with any person outside India in relation to the toolkit.

    “There may be differing views on ‘internationalising’ a protest, but the same is certainly not illegal. Applicant as a climate activist perforce campaigns with activists internationally. Simply talking to persons from outside India cannot be criminalised,” the application said.

    The application further claimed that he did not know about the co-founder of Poetic Justice Foundation, MO Dhaliwal and nothing objectionable was said in the zoom call on January 11, of which they both were part of.

    “There were some 70 odd persons on the call of whom the applicant did not know anybody apart from his colleague Nikita Jacob.

    Some people spoke there but nobody said anything that was divisive on the Zoom Call so the applicant had no reason to suspect anyone or anything,” he said.

    Muluk and Jacob had joined the investigation at Delhi Police’s Cyber Cell office in Dwarka on February 22, and were later confronted with Disha Ravi.

    Ravi was arrested by a Cyber Cell team of the Delhi Police from Bengaluru and brought to Delhi.

    Muluk and Jacob are currently on transit bail, while Ravi was granted bail on Tuesday after nine days of her arrest.

    If convicted for sedition, the accused may get a maximum jail term for life.

  • Toolkit row: Climate activist Disha Ravi released from Tihar jail after court terms evidence as scanty and sketchy

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Climate activist Disha Ravi, who was arrested in connection with the toolkit case, was released from Tihar jail on Tuesday night after a city court granted her bail.

    “Disha was released after jail authorities completed all formalities regarding her release,” official said.

    In a blow to Delhi police, a court here Tuesday granted bail to Disha, arrested in connection with allegedly being involved in sharing a “toolkit” on social media related to the farmers’ protest, saying citizens are conscience keepers of government in any democratic nation and cannot be put behind the bars simply because they choose to disagree with the State policies.

    The court said the evidence produced by police against Ravi was “scanty and sketchy” and there was nothing on record to establish any direct link between her and pro­-Khalistan activists of ‘Poetic Justice Foundation’ (PJF) and also there was not even an iota of evidence brought connecting the perpetrators of the violence on Janury 26 in the national capital with the PJF or her.

    Further, it observed that there was nothing on record to suggest that the activist subscribed to any secessionist idea and there is absolutely no link established on record between her and banned outfit Sikhs for Justice.

    In the 18-page order, Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana granted relief to Ravi on a personal bond of Rs one lakh and two sureties of like amount and noted that the 22-year-old activist who was arrested by a Cyber Cell team of the Delhi Police from Bengaluru on February 13, has “absolutely blemish free criminal antecedents”.

    Ravi has been slapped with the charge of sedition in the case which entails maximum punishment of life sentence.

    She is also booked for the offences of criminal conspiracy, provoking people to cause riot and promoting enmity between different groups.

    The judge said the freedom of speech and expression includes the right to seek a global audience and that there are no geographical barriers on communication and that creation of a WhatsApp group or being editor of an innocuous Toolkit was not an offence.

    While the order on bail was being pronounced, Ravi was produced before another court on expiry of her custodial interrogation by police, which sought her further custody by four days.

    As soon as the hearing on police plea started, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Sharma, who was informed about the bail order by the superior court, said “in view of the bail order, this application (seeking further custody) becomes infructuous. The application will be disposed of post confirmation of bail.”

    The activist appeared relieved after hearing that she was granted bail.

    The Sessions Judge said “considering the scanty and sketchy evidence available on record, I do not find any palpable reasons to breach the general rule of ‘Bail’ against a 22 years old young lady, with absolutely blemish free criminal antecedents and having firm roots in the society, and send her to jail,” the judge said.

    The judge reproduced the relevant portions of the toolkit in its order and said that it’s perusal revealed that any call for any kind of violence is conspicuously absent.

    “In my considered opinion, Citizens are conscience keepers of government in any democratic Nation. They cannot be put behind the bars simply because they choose to disagree with the State policies. The offence of sedition cannot be invoked to minister to the wounded vanity of the governments,” the court said.

    The court said the difference of opinion, disagreement, divergence, dissent, or for that  matter, even disapprobation, are recognised legitimate tools to infuse objectivity in state policies.

    “Let noble thoughts come to me from all directions,” the judge quoted from Rig Veda and said “this 5000 years old civilization of ours has never been averse to ideas from varied quarters”.

    “An aware and assertive citizenry, in contradistinction with an indifferent or docile citizenry, is indisputably a sign of a healthy and vibrant democracy,” the court said.

    “The right to dissent is firmly enshrined under Article 19 of the Constitution of India. In my considered opinion the freedom of speech and expression includes the right to seek a global audience.”

    “There are no geographical barriers on communication. A citizen has the fundamental rights to use the best means of imparting and receiving communication, as long as the same is permissible under the four corners of law and as such have access to audience abroad,” the court said.

    It said, “Further, since the link with the said toolkit or PJF has not been found to be objectionable, mere deletion of the WhatsApp chat to destroy the evidence linking her with the toolkit and PJF also becomes meaningless.”

    While observing that there is nothing on record to suggest that the applicant accused subscribed to any secessionist idea, the court said “further, the prosecution has, except for pointing out that applicant/accused forwarded the toolkit to climate activist Greta Thunberg, failed to point out as to how the applicant/accused gave global audience to the ‘secessionist elements’.”

    The court said that it was conscious of the fact that it was very difficult to collect evidence for the offence of conspiracy and the investigation was at a nascent stage and police which is in the process of collecting more evidence made a conscious choice to arrest Ravi the applicant accused upon the strength of material so far collected and “now they cannot be permitted to further restrict the liberty of a citizen on the basis of propitious anticipations”.

  • Toolkit case: Police grills Nikita and Shantanu, gets one-day custody of Disha Ravi

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Monday sent student-activist Disha Ravi, arrested in connection with the farmer protest ‘toolkit’ probe, to one-day police custody.

    The 21-year-old was produced before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Sharma on expiry of her three-day judicial custody.

    Delhi Police sought five-day remand saying Disha had tried to shift blame on the co-accused — Nikita Jacob and Shantanu Muluk — during questioning and needed to be confronted with them.

    The court granted one day for custodial interrogation.

    Opposing the police plea, Disha’s lawyer Siddharth Agarwal said, “The police have a right to interrogate the accused even in the jail. Why do you require her custody?” He pointed out that an order on her bail plea is expected on Tuesday. Besides, he contended, why should Disha be in police custody while the two co-accused are out on bail. 

    Police said Jacob and Muluk may be arrested in future. The two had earlier secured pre-arrest transit bail from Bombay High Court. They  joined the probe and was questioned at Delhi Police’s Cyber Cell office on Monday. 

    They are being quizzed about their role in the case and their connection with the pro-Khalistani outfit Poetic Justice Foundation, Pieter Frederich and ISI agent BS Bhinder, said a source.

    An officer said the IP address and locations provided by Google on request show the toolkit was uploaded from Karnataka and Maharashtra.