Month: June 2022

As the funeral ceremony of the late singer, KK will be held today, several singers from the Bollywood Music industry visited his Mumbai residence to pay their last tribute to the deceased singer.

The death of famed singer Krishnakumar Kunnath, aka KK, on Tuesday night, came as a shock to the nation. Over the years, the beloved playback singer had amassed a large fan base, with his songs being performed at numerous school and college occasions around the country.
On Thursday morning, the mortal remains of singer KK was delivered to his Mumbai home. Friends, family, and relatives paid their last respect to the singer at Park Plaza, Andheri, ahead of his final rites.

Salim Merchant, Shankar Mahadevan, Shreya Ghoshal, Hariharan, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Javed Ali, Alka Yagnik and Raghav Sachar from the B-town music industry were photographed visiting the singer’s Mumbai residence for the final rites.

Sharply reacting to Congress MLA Sajjan Singh Verma’s ‘wisdom of Nehru and Jinnah’ remark on the partition of the country, BJP MP Ashok Bajpai on Thursday said that the Congress leader has “himself accepted that the party is responsible” for the tragedy of partition in 1947.

This comes after Verma claimed that former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Muhammad Ali Jinnah divided the country “as an act of wisdom”.
Speaking to ANI, Bajpai said, “Congress leader Sajjan Singh himself has accepted that Congress is responsible for the partition of the country. The patriots of the country have always been saying that if Congress had not made haste, today the country would not have been partitioned and the country would not have had to suffer tragedy.”

Bajpai further said that the Congress leaders have accepted the “truth” that they have done a “good job” by dividing the country.

Recalling the time of 1947 when the country was undivided, the BJP MP said that the matter could have been resolved with talks, however, “the rush to get the power at hand” by assuming the office of the Prime Minister did not let them delay partition and attempt to solve the situation by talks.

Notably, Sajjan Singh had also termed Jinnah a “freedom fighter” and said that he did the “right thing” by dividing the country.

Slamming the Congress leader for his remark, Bajpai said that they are praising Jinnah because “had the country not been partitioned, Congress would not have got a chance to form the government”.

“Perhaps there would have been another Prime Minister, the Congress leaders are thankful to him for paving the road for the partition of the country,” he said.

Sajjan Singh Verma had said, “The division of the country into two by Nehru and Jinnah was an act of wisdom. Jinnah was a freedom fighter, and this should be remembered. He did not break the country but did the right thing. Was he not a freedom fighter?”

Verma hit out at the ruling BJP in Madhya Pradesh and at the Centre, asking if the “definition of freedom fighter changes because of one being a Muslim”.

“Does the definition of freedom fighter change because of one being a Muslim? The BJP is propagating this culture. PM Modi in his January 26 speech said that Jawaharlal Nehru and Jinnah are responsible for dividing the country in 1947. The country should thank the two leaders as they did the work of wisdom by dividing the country into two parts,” he said. (ANI)

Sourav Ganguly has not resigned as the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

BCCI secretary Jay Shah refuted the media reports on Wednesday that claimed Ganguly has stepped down as President of the apex cricketing body in India.
“The rumours doing rounds about Mr Sourav Ganguly stepping down from the post of BCCI President are factually incorrect. We have some exciting times in the form of media rights coming up and my colleagues and I are completely focused on the upcoming opportunity and safeguarding the interest of Indian cricket,” Jay Shah, BCCI Secretary told ANI.

Rumours regarding Ganguly resigning from the president post surfaced when former Indian captain said he was “planning to start something” to help a lot of people in a Twitter post, hinting towards a new “chapter of his life”.

“Today, I am planning to start something that I feel will probably help a lot of people. I hope you continue your support as I enter this chapter of my life,” said the cricket board president.

The cryptic tweet triggered massive speculation that Sourav Ganguly, 49, is stepping down as BCCI president.

“2022 marks the 30th year since the start of my journey with cricket in 1992. Since then, Cricket has given me a lot. Most importantly, it has given me the support of all of you. I want to thank every single person who has been a part of the journey, supported me, and helped me reach where I am today,” added Ganguly. (ANI)

Union Minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday lambasted Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for “giving a clean chit” to arrested Cabinet Minister Satyendar Jain while also posing a set of questions to the Aam Aadmi Party supremo.

Jain was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in an alleged money laundering case and sent to custody till June 9.
However, Kejriwal on Tuesday defended Jain calling the latter a true patriot and terming the allegations against him ‘false’.

Addressing a press conference here today, Irani said, “Arvind Kejriwal presumed the role of a judge and gave him a clean chit. I want to ask Arvind Kejriwal a few questions. My first question is, can Kejriwal deny that Satyendar Jain laundered Rs 16.39 crore using 56 shell companies with the support of hawala operators in Kolkata from 2010-11 to 2015-16?”

The Union Minister further asked if Satyendar Jain declared that money laundered representing the undisclosed income under the income disclosure scheme 2016 in the name of his close associates Ankush Jain, and Vaibhav Jain is a self-declaration by him in 2016.

“Is it true that the principal commissioner of income tax has held that the unaccounted income of Rs 16.39 crore was not of Ankush Jain and Vaibhav Jain, but that Satyendar Jain was the real owner of the income,” she asked in her series of questions to the Delhi CM.

Citing an order of the Delhi High Court delivered on August 21, 2019, Irani said that the Court bench has confirmed the very findings of the principal commissioner of income tax that “Satyendar Jain indeed himself is the real owner of the money laundered”.

“Is it true that Satyendar Jain is the beneficial owner of the shell companies namely Prayas InfoSolutions Pvt Ltd, Indo Metal Impex Pvt Ltd, and Akinchan Developers Pvt Ltd and he controls them through shareholding along with his wife?” she asked.

“Is it true that through this black money, Satyendar Jain took the ownership of 200 bighas of land in many areas of Delhi to his advantage?” Irani added.

She further asked if providing a huge return on the investment on the land in the vicinity of unauthorised colonies by Satyendar Jain was the “real reason why the Aam Aadmi Party regularised the unauthorised colonies”.

“Does Arvind Kejriwal knowingly now give patronage to those who have deceived the people? How long will ‘Desh ka gaddar’ continue to receive your support?” asked Irani.

Meanwhile, Kejriwal came out in the open to defend the arrested Minister, claiming that the case registered against him is fake and politically motivated.

“Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain has been arrested by Enforcement Directorate. I have personally read all the papers and case filed against Satyendra Jain by ED and it is completely false. We have a very strict and honest government. We are hard-core patriots; we can get beheaded but can never betray the country. His arrest is politically motivated,” Kejriwal said while addressing a press conference on Tuesday. (ANI)

When two creative people get married, it is difficult for both to grow simultaneously without intruding into each other’s space. Think ‘Abhimaan’ where Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bhaduri essayed those fictional characters so perfectly. But this is the 21st century.

Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna have a marriage where they have divergent views on almost all aspects of creative pursuits and yet they manage to make the relationship work. Sometimes even across continents.
Twinkle spends a lot of time with son Aarav who is studying in London these days. She herself is honing her skills in fictional writing while her husband Akshay is set to make waves one way or the other with his latest film ‘Samrat Prithviraj’.

He very candidly says that he divides time between London and India, picking up any role that offers him a chance to shoot in London. Akshay is a family man through and through- a doting father, a dutiful son and brother and an equal partner to his wife.

While speaking exclusively to ANI on a whole gamut of issues, Akshay grins when asked about ‘pind da munda’ marrying into South Mumbai sophistication. He says “It works very weirdly. I have no idea. She thinks there, I think there (We think in two opposite directions).”

Akshay has a child-like way of accepting what comes his way in life, he admits that he is a sponge when ideas come his way. Acutely conscious that he is not as well read, as educated as his wife, he says he reads her articles, and listens to her views, her opinions just as he does when meets with learned people. And that sometimes spurs his creative instinct.

“If asked and not why did you do it. If asked, then she will give me a suggestion. If she asks me to read her column, I will read it. If she asks what I think about it; I will say this is not a good thing. If not asked, I keep myself aside. I don’t interfere with her life, she doesn’t interfere with mine.” he said.

A big void in his life is the passing away of his mother with who he shared a very special bond. His only sibling, his sister lives in the same building as him. In the interview to ANI, he mentions how work-life balance is extremely important for everyone.

On the subject, Akshay said,”It is very important that you keep a balance of your life.” He spoke of how a few days ago he had gone to a village for shooting where he visited a farmer’s house for tea. ” I will tell you the truth, though his house was really small there was happiness all around, even more than mine, though I have everything.”

“They were happy because there are not stressed about anything. They wake up in the morning and go to work, in the evening they eat dinner before sunset. They work for the entire day, their children go to a school nearby. They have kept a balance.”

“They told me that in the night ‘I tell my children stories from the Ramayan and they go to sleep, sometimes I so tired that while narrating I myself fall off to sleep while they don’t’. So, I realized that they have kept a life balance and this is a thing to learn, to go back to our basics, we are not in our basics.”

‘Prithviraj’, which is directed by Chandraprakash Dwivedi, is set to release on June 3 in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Manushi Chhillar, Sanjay Dutt and Sonu Sood are also a part of the period drama.

The film is based on the life story of brave and mighty king Prithviraj Chauhan and portrays the great warrior’s valour and valiant fight against the cruel invader Muhammad Ghori. (ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday met pugilist Nikhat Zareen and other boxers who won medals at the Women’s World Boxing Championships in Turkey last month. Nikhat Zareen is the fifth Indian boxer to have won a gold medal at the prestigious event.

Apart from Nikhat, Manisha Moun and Parveen Hooda, both of whom bronze medal at the Women’s World Boxing Championships, met the Prime Minister.

Nikhat said in a tweet later that it was an honour to meet the Prime Minister.

“An honour to meet our Hon’ble PM @narendramodi sir. Thank you sir,” she said.

The boxer, born in Nizamabad in Telangana, registered a dominating 5-0 victory in the final. Living up to the expectations, Nikhat thrashed Thailand’s Jitpong Jutamas without breaking a sweat in the 52kg final 30-27, 29-28, 29-28, 30-27 and 29-28. It was also India’s first gold medal in the world’s championship since boxing great Mary Kom won it in 2018.

Before Nikhat, Mary Kom (2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2018), Sarita Devi (2006), Jenny RL (2006) and Lekha KC (2006) had won gold medals at the world boxing championship.

Manisha (57kg) and Parveen (63kg) won bronze medals and the Indian contingent concluded its campaign with three medals at the world’s biggest boxing event, which witnessed exciting competition between 310 boxers from 73 countries. The boxing event this year also marked the 20th anniversary of the Women’s World Championships.

Out of 12 Indian boxers, eight made it to the quarter-finals in this year’s tournament–the joint highest alongside Turkey.

With the addition of three medals in Istanbul, India’s overall medal tally in Women’s World Boxing Championships has gone up to 39 which includes 0 gold, eight silver and 21 bronze. This is third highest after Russia (60) and China (50). (ANI)

By Payal Mehta & Aashique Hussain

Keeping the upcoming elections of Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat in mind the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will hold its national executive meeting in Hyderabad on July 2 and 3.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, party president JP Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and a host of other members of the BJP national executive will be participating in the two-day-long meeting.

This meeting which takes place every quarter is taking place after a long time because of the COVID-19 restrictions in place.

The last meeting of the BJP national executive took place in New Delhi in November 2021 just before the elections in five states including Uttar Pradesh, where BJP registered a thumping victory in early 2022.

Several important discussions including how the party is looking to fare in the upcoming elections and the growth of the organisation, a role that a party sees for itself as a build-up to the 2024 general elections are likely to be on the agenda.

In this meeting, the party passes political as well as economic resolutions lauding the work that has been done at the Centre by the Narendra Modi-led government.

Recently, the Narendra Modi-led Central government has completed eight years in office with 2019 being a big win over the 2014 general elections.

The choice of the venue for the national executive meeting is an extremely important as well as significant one with the kind of push that the BJP has been making towards the state of Telangana.

Recently at a public meeting which was held in Telangana, PM Modi spoke about the bright prospects of his party in the state and condemned the dynasty rule of the KCR family.

Earlier, BJP national president JP Nadda as well as Union Minister Amit Shah on their recent visit to the state had called out the rule of the KCR family and said that Telangana was looking for a change and could give a chance to the BJP.

On his front, the Telangana Chief Minister and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party chief K Chandrashekar Rao not only has been hitting out at the Central government and the Prime Minister but has also been holding meetings with several leaders in the Opposition-ruled states in a bid to form an anti-BJP and anti-Congress front.

On their front, the BJP has been keeping up the fight alive with BJP Telangana president Bandi Sanjay leading the fight for the state from the front.

During the agitation, Sanjay was jailed by the TRS-led government. There has also been a face-off between the ruling NDA government and the TRS in the Parliament with the TRS MPs boycotting the Parliament session for a few days demanding the procurement of paddy by the Central government.

The state of Telangana goes to elections at the end of 2023 and the TRS-led government in the state will be seeking its third term. (ANI)

Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said that it has provisionally attached at least 33 bank accounts of Popular Front of India (PFI) and its organization Rehab India Foundation (RIF) in the ongoing investigation against them in the money laundering case.

A total amount of Rs 68,62,081 has thus been provisionally attached under Section 5 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

“ED has provisionally attached 23 bank accounts of PFI having a collective balance of Rs 59,12,051 and 10 bank accounts of PFI’s front organization RIF having a collective balance of Rs 9,50,030 in the ongoing money laundering investigation against PFI and its related organizations,” the probe agency said in a statement.

ED investigation revealed that a huge amount of monies including cash from questionable sources have been received by PFI and RFI.

“An amount of more than Rs 60 crore have been deposited in the accounts of PFI which includes cash deposit of more than Rs 30 Crore since 2009. Similarly, around Rs 58 Crore have been deposited in the accounts of RIF since 2010,” it said.

Further, an investigation by ED revealed that PFI, in active collusion with other associated accused persons has indulged in the laundering of proceeds of crime in terms of Section 3 of PMLA, 2002.

“Proceeds of crime mobilized in the form of cash have been deposited in its bank accounts by falsely projecting them as cash donations from sympathizers/members. Similarly, in order to obliterate the fund trail and circumvent the regulatory rigour, proceeds of crime were mobilized in the form of cash and deposited by PFI leaders in the bank accounts of various individuals and immediately thereafter these funds were transferred from bank accounts to PFI’s bank account,” the ED said.

The investigation also revealed that PFI was covertly mobilizing funds through a well-organized network in Gulf countries as part of a criminal conspiracy and these proceeds of crime were secretly and clandestinely sent to India through underground and illegal channels and by way of foreign remittances into the bank accounts of sympathizers, office bearers, members and their relatives and associates in India and thereafter these funds were transferred to the bank accounts of PFI, RIF, other individuals and entities.

“In this way, the proceeds of crime have been placed, layered & integrated and therefore projected as untainted money in the bank accounts of PFI as well as RIF. This has been done as a part of a larger criminal conspiracy of PFI and its related entities to raise funds within the country and abroad to carry out various unlawful activities which have resulted in the registration of numerous FIRs/complaints against them for the commission of scheduled offences over time and the filing of chargesheets and conviction of its members/office-bearers,” the probe agency further said.

ED has already filed a prosecution complaint on February 6, 2021, and a Supplementary Prosecution Complaint on May 6, 2022, against members or office-bearers of PFI and Campus Front of India before the Special PMLA Court in Lucknow.

The Court has taken cognizance of the offence of money laundering against all the accused persons. (ANI)

Krishnakumar Kunnath, popularly known as KK, was a legendary singer with an amazing voice and a unique ability to portray emotions in his voice. The sudden demise of the singer, on Tuesday evening, has left all his fans and admirers in shock.

Fans and celebrities are mourning his death and paying tribute to him by playing his incredible songs on repeat in their playlists and altering their social media statuses to include his tunes.

KK was a multilingual singer who sang in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Bengali, among other languages.

Fanatics and music fans will always remember KK for his iconic songs from many films and albums.

Here are the top 7 songs of the great singer, KK, who has created a void in Bollywood’s music industry, that is almost unable to fill.

1. ‘Tadap Tadap’ from the movie ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’
2. ‘Aankhon Mein Teri’ from the movie ‘Om Shanti Om’
3. ‘Kya Mujhe Pyaar Hai’ from the movie ‘Woh Lamhe’
4. ‘Tu Jo Mila’ from the movie ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’
5. ‘Aashayein’ from the movie ‘Iqbal’
6. ‘Tu hi meri shab hai’ from the movie ‘Gangster’- A Love Story 7.’Khuda Jaane’ from the movie ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’ (ANI)

In the last few years, India has repositioned itself strongly on the world map in its diplomatic relations. From sending Covid vaccines to 150 nations to taking steps to get Pakistan blacklisted in FATF, India has asserted its presence everywhere.

The vision of the government about the world is free from old shackles. This is the reason that by helping over 150 countries at the time of Covid, India gave new confidence to the world to fight the biggest pandemic of the century.

In the post-Covid era, the world is looking towards India with a new hope. This is the reason that from G-20 to BRICS, from Quad to SCO Summit, and from ASEAN to Eastern Economic Forum and COP-26, India’s voice was taken very seriously. India has proved that it is ready to take on a big global responsibility after it took over the UNSC presidency last year for a month in August.

Now the voice of a confident India is being heard in every important international forum of the world. In the difficult times of Covid, Vishwa Guru India not only showed the world the courage to deal with the crisis but also showed its strength and resilience.

The reason for the changing image of India in global relations is the continuous effort to enhance the credibility of the country, increase security as well as make the lives of the people of the country easier. An example of this is the passport and visa facilities. More than 300 new passport centres have also been established in the country in the last few years.

Modi said, “The power of India’s passport has increased, any citizen going to another country, when he shows his Indian passport, then he is seen with pride.”

The Indian passport has climbed seven places to 83rd position in the 2021 Henley Passport Index from the 90th spot in the year 2020.

India has isolated Pakistan in the global arena on terrorism grounds. The International Court of Justice ruled in favour of India in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case and forced Pakistan to grant consular access. Due to the lack of even minimum support at the UN Human Rights Commission, Pakistan did not get a chance to raise the Kashmir issue. It is a result of India’s growing clout that after the cowardly terrorist attack in Pulwama and the subsequent airstrikes by India, all major global leaders stood in solidarity with India.

India also strongly believes in neighbour first and extended neighbourhood policies. It believes it is important for every nation to not only choose their friends carefully but also promote enduring partnerships taking into account events that have a worldwide impact.

With an aim to promote better relations with neighbours, the policy of ‘Neighborhood First’ was adopted whereas the policy of ‘extended neighbourhood’ was accorded a key priority to give a new dimension to relations with distant countries.

With the new thinking of the top leadership, the world’s hesitancy towards India also started dispelling and India is providing stewardship to the world with the spirit of ‘Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam’ during the Covid phases.

Vaccination against Corona started with this mantra and when India developed two homegrown vaccines, it lent a helping hand to other countries by supplying vaccines to over 150 countries.

International Solar Alliance (ISA) is another initiative taken to meet the special energy needs of solar resource-rich countries which are led by India and France. The headquarter of this international organization is in India. So far, 103 countries have become its members.

India is an important strategic partner of the Quad group along with the US, Japan, and Australia. This partnership is very important from the strategic point of view of Asia and the Pacific. Along with America, Japan, and Australia, now 2+2 talks with Russia also started. India was elected a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the eighth time.

Showing another humanitarian side during the Russia-Ukraine War, Operation Ganga was launched to bring back more than 22 thousand of its citizens. Indian students from other countries of the world, including Pakistani citizens, were also evacuated.

As a responsible nation even during the Corona period, India successfully launched the ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ and ‘Operation Samudra Setu’ campaign to bring its citizens from the countries around the world. Seven Maldivians were evacuated along with 647 Indians from the Chinese city of Wuhan.

In 2015, ‘Operation Rahat’ was launched to evacuate Indian citizens from Yemen. When the earthquake struck Nepal on April 25, 2015, special aircraft provided relief material and India provided assistance of USD 67 million. (ANI)