Daily wrap: FB targets Cong; Man held for raping minor girl in Kovai

Facebook targets Congress but BJP takes a bigger hit in crackdown

Facebook on April 1 announced that it has removed pages related to political parties for coordinated inauthentic behaviour in India. The move comes with barely two weeks left for the Lok Sabha elections.

The social media giant, in a statement, said that it took down about 687 Facebook pages and accounts linked to individuals associated with the IT cell of the Indian National Congress (INC), and 15 pages related to Indian IT firm Silver Touch, which operates for the Bharatiya Janata Party.

While Facebook singled out the Congress by directly mentioning the party, there was no mention of accounts relating to other leading political parties, including the BJP. An email sent to Facebook seeking clarification on the same did not elicit any response.

ISRO sets up a launch viewing gallery at Sriharikota 

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) constructed a launch view gallery in the form of a stadium from where visitors can view launches live at the spaceport of Sriharikota. The gallery can hold 5,000 visitors. The gallery is placed at an appropriate location with a clear line of sight to the two launch pads of the Sriharikota range. Large screens are placed to visually explain the various intricacies of launches and satellites. Pre and post launch activities will be telecasted and explained on these screens.

‘PM Narendra Modi’ film to release on April 5

The Bombay High Court disposed the plea filed to stay the release of film ‘PM Narendra Modi.’ The film will be released on April 5. This comes as a major blow to opposition parties. Actor Vivek Oberoi, who plays the Prime Minister in the movie, and the director of the film recently appeared before the EC panel to discuss the matter.

Man held for raping and killing minor girl in Coimbatore

Coimbatore rural police have arrested a 34-year-old man for raping and murdering a six-year-old girl in Pannimadai on the outskirts of Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.

The arrested person was identified as Santhoshkumar (34) of Thondamuthur in Coimbatore. On March 25, when the girl was playing outside Santhoshkumar’s house, he allegedly took the girl and sexually harassed her. Later, he brutally raped and killed the six-year-old girl, said the police.

Four militants killed, three Army jawans injured in Pulwama encounter

Four militants were killed while three Army jawans and a police personnel were injured in an encounter in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday (April 1), police said. On a credible input about presence of militants in Lassipora area of south kashmir’s Pulwama district, security forces launched a cordon and search operation there on April 1 morning, a police spokesman said.

Johnson & Johnson’s baby shampoo fails quality test

Johnson & Johnson’s baby shampoo failed the quality test after it was found to have a harmful substance in it. R Sharma, drug controller, Rajasthan, told ANI, “We conducted tests in February on drugs and cosmetics, including two batches of Johnson & Johnson’s baby shampoo. The report states that the sample of the cosmetic contains a harmful ingredient. The drug control officer will submit a report, then we will send notice to the local manufacturer.”

India successfully launches EMISAT satellite

India’s EMISAT satellite was successfully launched onboard the polar rocket PSLV-C45 from Sriharikota on April 1. After a perfect lift-off at the end of the 27-hour countdown, the nearly 50 metre-tall PSLV C-45 injected the 436 kg EMISAT into the orbit about 17 minutes later. The EMISAT satellite is aimed at electromagnetic measurement. The 28 foreign customer nano-satellites would be released into different orbits nearly two hours later after restarting the fourth stage of the rocket, ISRO said.