Like our stories? Have something to share? Send in your bouquets and brickbats to facebook.com twitter.com instagram.com Live TV Live Tv For Generation Ace [email protected] @absoluteindianews @absoluteindnews @absoluteindianews @absoluteindianews VOL. 8, ISSUE 250, MUMBAI |FRIDAY, JULY 23, 2021 I`5 I PAGE 08 PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY FROM MUMBAI, BHOPAL AND NEW DELHI NATION 02 HOLLYWOOD 06 SPORTS 07 India, China to soon hold Anna Faris and Michael Barrett secret- Harmanpreet shines but team military talks to resolve... ly wed in courthouse... loses in inaugural match... IT raids at media group's premises across the country Criticising the government for "using ED and IT as weapons", former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Congress leader Digvijaya Singh took to Twitter and said "Hope promoters won't fear." Similarly, Bharat Samachar channel has gone on air to say the raid is an attack on free press. Team Absolute|New Delhi tions and instances of round tripping of "evidence of tax fraud" by the channel. AGENCIES ARE FREE TO funds. The department may have also laid The raids come at a time when both the DO THEIR WORK: I&B he Income Tax Department has con- its hand on a paper trail of bogus pay- media houses had recently put out reports Tducted searches at offices of media ments made to show expenditure in books critical of the government's handling of MINISTER entity Dainik Bhaskar and an Uttar of company. the coronavirus crisis, particularly the sec- Agencies do Pradesh-based news channel Bharat Further, raids were also conducted in ond wave of Covid that swept through their own work, Samachar in several locations across the the office of Bharat Samachar, an Uttar India in April-May. The raids were raised we don't interfere country over alleged tax evasion. Pradesh-based news channel. Search in the Rajya Sabha by the opposition, in their function- According to people in the know, raids operations were conducted at its Lucknow which linked the crackdown to reports on ing. I would also Congress slams govt for IT raids have been conducted at Bhopal, Indore, office and the editor's residence. Covid "mismanagement" by the govern- like to say that Jaipur and Ahmedabad premises of the Sources said the raids were based on ment. facts need to be New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday slammed the gov- Dainik Bhaskar group. Search operations found before ernment over IT raids on media houses and said that instead also took place at the residences and CMs condemn action reporting about of protecting the nation, central agencies have now begun to offices of the promoters of the group and a any incident. act as poachers for intimidating the whistleblowers. few other employees. Chief Ministers of Rajasthan and Delhi Ashok Gehlot, Arvind Kejriwal, former CM of Sometimes lack of Addressing a press conference, senior leader Abhishek Singhvi According to sources, I-T department Madhya Pradesh Kamalnath and other political leaders also condemned the action of the information is said, "The IT raid on Dainik Bhaskar highlights the dangerous, raids follow information of tax evasion taxmen in raiding the premises of a giant media house. Bengal Chief Minister Mamata misleading." dismissive, and draconian nature of the BJP government." and alleged cases of related party transac- Banerjee called it a brutal attempt to stifle democracy. Anurag Thakur, I&B Minister, India Pegasus project data All allegations, all finger-pointing should be at the customer: Pegasus spyware seller LONDON | Agencies DALAI LAMA'S CLOSE AIDES HIT THE LIST he maker of the power- ful spy software alleged- Team Absolute|New Delhi the current Dalai Lama, 86, a globally Tly used to hack the acclaimed figure whose death is likely to trig- PEGASUS IS A CONCOCTED HACK STORY: BJP phones of various people he phone numbers of a top ring of ger a succession crisis that is already drawing New Delhi: Hitting out at Amnesty around the globe says blam- advisers around the Dalai Lama are in world powers. Last year the US made it a International's role over the alleged snooping ing the company is like "criti- Tbelieved to have been selected as those policy to impose sanctions against any gov- on prominent citizens using Israeli Pegasus cising a car manufacturer of 'people of interest' by the government ernment that interfered with the selection spyware, the BJP on Thursday termed it a con- when a drunk driver crash- clients of Israeli surveillance company NSO process, The Guardian said. cocted hack story. The saffron party said that es", the BBC reported. politicians and journalists. Group. An analysis strongly indicates that the The Dalai Lama, who has spent the past 18 the global fishing expedition launched by a A NSO spokesperson told Investigations have begun Indian government was selecting the poten- months isolating in his compound in syndicate of media organisations put out a BBC: "If I am the manufac- as the list, of 50,000 phone tial targets, The Guardian said. Dharamsala, is not known to carry a personal malicious report with no evidence. turer of a car and now you numbers, contained a small Other phone numbers apparently selected take the car and you are driv- number of hacked phones. by Delhi were those of the former President of ing drunken and you hit The Israeli company says Amnesty International Hits Out at 'False' Media Reports somebody, you do not go to its software is intended for the car manufacturer, you go use against criminals and ter- Paper snatched from IT Minister in RS the Tibetan government-in-exile, Lobsang New Delhi: Reports from some websites misquoting, mistrans- to the driver. We are sending rorists and made available to Sangay, the staff in the office of another lating and misinterpreting a Hebrew statement issued by Amnesty the system to governments, only military, law enforce- New Delhi: Even as IT Minister Ashwini Buddhist spiritual leader, the Gyalwang International Israel on the Pegasus Project and its leaked database we get all the correct accredi- ment and intelligence agen- Vaishnaw was reading a statement on the Karmapa, and several other activists and cler- have been seized upon by the Modi government in an attempt to tation and do it all legally. cies from countries with good Pegasus project amid an ongoing row over ics who are part of the exiled community in discredit the allegation that an official agency in India might have You know, if a customer human rights records. alleged large scale snooping involving India, the report said. been snooping on journalists and opposition politicians. In a decides to misuse the system, Company spokesman told politicians, Trinamool Congress MPs The data may provide a glimpse at the deli- sharply worded official statement issued on Thursday afternoon it he will not be a customer BBC News: " we don't have snatched the report from the Minister's cate relationship between Tibetan exiles and said: "Amnesty International categorically stands by the findings of anymore. But all the allega- any data of our customers in hand and tore it into pieces on the floor of the Indian government, which has provided the Pegasus Project, and that the data is irrefutably linked to poten- tions and all the finger-point- our possession and more the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. Trinamool refuge for the movement since its leaders fled tial targets of NSO Group's Pegasus spyware. The false rumours ing should be at the cus- than that, the customers are MP Shantanu Sen was seen on national a Chinese crackdown in 1959, while also being pushed on social media are intended to distract from the tomer."NSO Group is facing not related to each other, as television snatching the report right out of viewing it as leverage -- and sometimes a lia- widespread unlawful targeting of journalists, activists and others international criticism, after each customer is separate. the Minister's hand, tearing it apart and bility -- in its own relationship with Beijing, that the Pegasus Project has revealed." Amnesty International has reporters obtained a list of Since the beginning of the then throwing the shredded pieces into The Guardian said. It also highlights the grow- said it will issue an English translation of the Amnesty International alleged potential targets for company, we didn't have the air. ing urgency of the question of who will follow Israel statement shortly. spyware, including activists, 50,000 targets total." Farmers begin 'Kisan Sansad' at Jantar Mantar FIR against Ex-Mumbai 4 killed as rains pound Maha, thousands Team Absolute|New Delhi Sansad', the protesting farmers all those attending the Kisan police commissioner marooned in coastal areas held discussions on the Mandi Sansad will have identity cards Team Absolute|Mumbai group of 200 farmers Act, rollback of the three farm issued by the Samyukt Kisan Team Absolute|Mumbai reached the Jantar laws, besides demanding that Morcha (SKM)," said a protest- t least four persons were reported killed AMantar amid multi-layer MPs should discuss the farm- ing farmer. umbai police have as torrential rains pounded security on Thursday to launch registered an FIR ers' issues during the ongoing AMaharashtra on Thursday for the sec- their agitation against the three Magainst senior IPS Monsoon Session of the Farmers are ond time in five days, hitting the coastal Central farms laws in the heart officer Param Bir Singh, Parliament. Protesting farmer Konkan and western parts severely, officials of the national capital. 'anndatas' of the five other police personnel leaders said on Thursday that said.