The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday staged a protest outside the Congress office in Ranchi against Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s alleged objectionable remark related to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s father.

The demonstration was led by Jharkhand BJP chief Aditya Sahu and Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, Babulal Marandi.

BJP workers marched to the Congress office and demanded an apology from Kharge. The situation turned tense for some time as workers of both the BJP and Congress came face-to-face outside the party office.

Anticipating unrest, the district administration had deployed heavy security in the area, with police personnel stationed in large numbers and barricades set up around the premises.

Protesters attempted to cross the barricades and move towards the Congress office, leading to heated arguments between the police and BJP workers.

Carrying party flags and placards, the protesters called for an end to what they described as disrespectful remarks against the Prime Minister and urged political leaders to maintain decorum in public discourse.

The protesters raised slogans against the Congress and Kharge, demanding an apology to the Prime Minister.

On the other hand, Congress workers present there also responded with slogans against the BJP. Some workers were seen climbing barricades to register their protest. Police promptly removed them from there, preventing any untoward incident.

Speaking during the protest, Babulal Marandi alleged that Congress leaders had repeatedly made objectionable statements against Prime Minister Modi and had now extended such comments to his parents.

He said political differences should be expressed within the bounds of decorum and civility.

The BJP has called for nationwide demonstrations and gheraos of Congress offices over the controversy. The Ranchi protest was part of that campaign.

Despite the heavy police deployment, workers from both parties remained steadfast in their respective demonstrations throughout the event.

Shiv Sena-UBT and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leaders on Monday criticised the remarks made by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge during a programme in Patna, even as they questioned the standards of political discourse and called for greater restraint in the language used by political leaders.

The controversy erupted following Kharge’s address at a Congress event in Patna on Sunday, organised to mark the birth anniversary of Bihar’s first Chief Minister, Sri Krishna Singh. During the programme, a person in the audience reportedly interrupted Kharge, saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would not leave power.

Responding to the interruption, Kharge said, “Modi ka baap bhi jayega” (Even Modi’s father will have to go). The Congress President reportedly repeated the remark several times, triggering a political controversy and drawing criticism over the language used while referring to the Prime Minister.

Reacting to the controversy, Shiv Sena-UBT leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said the continuously declining standard of language in political discourse was unfortunate.

Speaking to media, Chaturvedi said: “The continuously declining standard of language used by everyone in politics is unfortunate. But at the same time, what are the pressing issues in the country today? The country’s issues are inflation, corruption, vote theft, and many challenges faced by the youth that are being ignored. This is once again an issue meant to distract attention.”

She expressed hope that political parties would exercise restraint while making statements and expressing their views, stressing that family members who had no role in politics should not be dragged into political disputes.

“I would repeat that dragging mothers, fathers, sisters, daughters, or children, who have nothing to do with politics, into political matters is completely wrong,” she said.

Meanwhile, RJD MP Manoj Jha also criticised the use of such language but questioned what he described as selective outrage over controversial remarks made by political leaders.

Speaking to media, Jha said: “No one can support this kind of language. I am observing the outrage, but why is this outrage so selective? When remarks such as ‘Congress ki vidhwa’, ‘Jersey cow’, references to the ‘mangalsutra’, ‘they will take away your buffaloes’, and ‘they will perform mujra’ are made, should there not be outrage or anger then?”

Jha said he had already submitted a written request in Parliament for a discussion on the standards of language used by both the ruling party and the Opposition.

“I am saying it again today through you: there should be a two-day discussion in Parliament on what the dignity and standards of language used by both the ruling party and the Opposition should be. It cannot be that there is outrage today and silence tomorrow. That does not seem right,” he said.

Referring to what he described as a “pretence of purification” staged against Kharge himself in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani, he said he had not witnessed similar outrage on that occasion.

“When a pretence of purification was staged against Kharge himself, I did not see this outrage. This is not appropriate,” the RJD MP said.

Delhi Police have busted a major cyber fraud network involved in transactions worth over Rs 30 crore as it arrested seven people in connection with an online shopping scam that came to light following a complaint by a Delhi University student, officials said on Monday.

The investigation began after Fatima, a student of Ramjas College at Delhi University and a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj, reported being cheated of Rs 6,450 through an Instagram shopping advertisement. The complaint was registered on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP), following which an FIR was registered at the Cyber Police Station, North District, on September 4.

According to the complaint, the student came across an advertisement for a kurti on an Instagram account named ‘Kavya_kurti_hub’. She was redirected to a WhatsApp number, where she placed an order worth Rs 799 and paid Rs 400 in advance through a QR code.

Subsequently, she received a call regarding parcel delivery and was asked to provide a passcode. The seller then induced her to make additional payments on the pretext of generating the code and processing a refundable charge. She transferred Rs 1,150, Rs 2,000, Rs 2,650 and Rs 650 in separate transactions. However, neither the parcel was delivered nor the money refunded.

During the investigation, police analysed nearly 200 mobile numbers, IMEI numbers, banking transactions, and digital records obtained from platforms and service providers, including Flipkart, Zomato and Blue Dart.

The investigation traced the cheated money through Pine Labs Merchant to a Canara Bank account linked to Kizentech Solutions Pvt. Ltd. in Greater Noida.

Following extensive technical surveillance, police conducted coordinated raids in Greater Noida on October 16 and arrested six accused: Aditya Mishra, Ayush Verma, Abhishek Pal, Himanshu Rana, Rahul Kumar, and Gaurav Pandey. Another accused, Udit Pratap Singh Bhadauriya, was arrested from Kanpur on October 21.

Police said the investigation had so far linked 27 cyber fraud complaints from different states to the network. Approximately 25 bank accounts allegedly opened in the names of fictitious firms and individuals were found to have been used to route the proceeds of cybercrime.

During interrogation, investigators found that the accused allegedly established firms and opened current bank accounts, which were subsequently supplied to other members of the syndicate for monthly payments and commissions. Pandey, an MBA graduate, allegedly played a key role in arranging and supplying bank accounts to cyber fraudsters.

Police also recovered 20 mobile phones, 45 SIM cards, 39 point-of-sale (POS) machines, 33 debit cards, 28 cheque books, 15 scanners, two laptops, five stamps, seven Aadhaar cards, five PAN cards and 21 bank-related documents.

The operation was conducted by a team led by SI Arvind Yadav under the supervision of senior North District police officers.

Police said further investigation was underway to identify additional members of the network and establish links with other cyber fraud cases.