Vagabond. Traveller. Rude.
Chandigarh
Joined May 2009
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Shambhu Arvind retweeted
THE BIG IDBI STORY🚨
LIC Director Sat on Fairfax Co's Board While LIC Was Selling IDBI to Fairfax
For 7mnths, G.Mahalingam sat on boards of both LIC, a seller of IDBI Bank, & Fairfax-controlled Thomas Cook, as Fairfax bid for the bank.
@BWBusinessworld
businessworld.in/article/lic…
Shambhu Arvind retweeted
Whats going on in Manipur !🤯
Tens of thousands take over the streets of Manipur holding banners that read: "END INDIA'S PROXY WAR"
Home Minister Amit Shah and Manipur CM Yumnam Khemchand Singh, how do you explain this catastrophic failure?
Shambhu Arvind retweeted
अफसोस। यह आपराधिक है। एक पत्रकार के पूरे काम को मिटा दिया गया। इंटरनेट भी कानून माफिया की चपेट में आ गया है जो तरह तरह के नोटिसों के नाम पर या उनके नाम पर किसी के काम को ग़ायब कर देता है। पोस्ट डिलीट करने का अलग ही लेवल हो गया है। पूरी वेबसाइट ग़ायब कर दी गई है। अभिव्यक्ति की स्वतंत्रता, प्रेस की स्वतंत्रता हर स्तर पर ख़त्म की जा रही है।
PUBLIC STATEMENT BY PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA
On the arbitrary takedown of paranjoy.in by Hostinger following legal notices from Indiabulls founder Sameer Gehlaut
October 31, 2026
On the morning of October 28, 2026, my website paranjoy.in and all its associated subdomains, including media.paranjoy.in and adanifiles.paranjoy.in, were abruptly taken offline by our web hosting provider, Hostinger (HOSTINGER operations, UAB). The website, registered twelve years ago, serves as an online archive of my work over several decades as a journalist, author, publisher, and maker of documentary films and music videos
Hostinger gave no prior intimation, warning, or opportunity to respond before suspending the entire hosting account. When my colleague contacted Hostinger “Support” at 6:48 AM on October 28, a hosting “specialist” stated that the suspension was triggered by an abuse report for "Fraud/Scam" and declared that "unsuspension is not negotiable in this case."
This sudden shutdown of an entire repository under the label "Fraud/Scam" happened just days after Sameer Gehlaut, founder of the Indiabulls group, served me with an ex parte court order demanding the removal of a single article published more than seven years on Newsclick.in.
For over six years, Indiabulls and Shri Gehlaut have pursued legal action over this report and I have consistently defended our journalistic report in court. Here is the timeline:
· March 11, 2020: Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited filed a criminal defamation complaint (CC No. 1765/2020) before the Patiala House Courts, New Delhi, against NewsClick, its Reader's Editor Urmilesh, co-author of the article Sourodipto Sanyal, NewsClick editor Prabir Purkayastha, and me over an article published on the website on September 30, 2019.
· June 6, 2025 and July 9, 2025: More than five years after the complaint was filed, a Judicial Magistrate at Patiala House Courts passed an order on June 6, 2025, dropping proceedings against Shri Purkayastha while issuing summons to the remaining four accused, including me, under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code. A formal summons was issued on July 9, 2025, for appearance on July 30, 2025.
· August 27, 2026: Counsel for Shri Gehlaut, sent me a legal notice demanding the takedown of the article within 24 to 48 hours, claiming that a status report by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police had altered the factual position.
· September 2, 2026: My counsel sent a reply pointing out concerns with the legal notice
· October 24, 2026: Indiabulls Nests Limited (Plaintiff No. 1) and Sameer Gehlaut (Plaintiff No. 2) obtained an ex parte ad interim injunction from the Court of one of the District and Sessions Judges, Patiala House Courts, New Delhi, in Civil Suit No. 529/2026 (Indiabulls Nests Ltd. & Anr. v. Ashok Kumar/John Doe & Ors.), in which I am arrayed as Defendant No. 19. The order directed the removal and de-indexing of the article on paranjoy.in (listed as Item A-33 in Schedule A).
· October 25, 2026 (10:13 AM IST): Advocates representing Indiabulls Nests Limited and Sameer Gehlaut, emailed me the October 24 court order and suit documents, demanding immediate deletion and written confirmation of compliance.
· October 26, 2026 (11:33 PM IST): Sameer Gehlaut personally sent an email from his official address ([email protected]) demanding the immediate deletion of the URL from paranjoy.in and threatening to move the court under Order XXXIX Rule 2A of the Code of Civil Procedure if I did not comply, noting that the matter is next listed on December 18, 2026. While I was in the process of challenging the order dated 24.10.2026 before higher forums, on the same day, advocates representing Shri Gehlaut submitted a court order takedown complaint to Google LLC.
· October 28, 2026 (3:16 PM IST): Google Search Console sent an automated notice ([WNC-598900]) informing me that Google was blocking the specific URL paranjoy.in/article/the-maze… from appearing in search results on google.co.in.
The Lumen Database record of this complaint (Notice ID: 101001876) reveals the scale of the takedown request. The complaint targeted 52 URLs on websites across major national and international news organisations, including The Economic Times, Business Standard, The Caravan, The Daily Pioneer, Business Today, Deccan Herald, ET Now, Financial Express, Livemint, Moneycontrol, Moneylife, NDTV Profit, The New Indian Express, Outlook Business, The Quint, Quartz, and NewsClick, along with posts on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Scribd.
Most of these reports on major corporate news websites remain accessible online. In fact, Item 39 on the Lumen takedown list is the original September 30, 2019 article published on NewsClick.in: newsclick.in/The-Maze-of-Pol…, which remains live and accessible as of now.
Yet, in the case of paranjoy.in, the entire domain and every website hosted on my account were wiped off the internet.
Hostinger's Baseless "Fraud/Scam" Claim and Demand for Accountability
Hostinger did not cite the Patiala House Courts order when it suspended my account on October 28, 2026. Instead, its representative claimed that the hosting account was permanently suspended due to an abuse report for "Fraud/Scam".
This allegation is demonstrably false:
1. VirusTotal Security Analysis: Independent domain checks conducted on October 28, 2026, at 7:48 AM and 7:54 AM on VirusTotal confirm that 0 out of 92 security vendors flagged paranjoy.in or media.paranjoy.in as malicious, phishing, or fraudulent. VirusTotal explicitly categorises paranjoy.in under "news and media".
2. Google Safe Browsing Status: Checks on the Google Safe Browsing diagnostic tool at 7:55 AM and 7:56 AM on October 28, 2026, for both paranjoy.in and adanifiles.paranjoy.in returned the status: "No unsafe content found".
My website paranjoy.in does not sell financial products, solicit funds for commercial schemes, or engage in any activity that could remotely be classified as a scam. It is a repository of public-interest journalism, books, documentary films, and investigative reports built over a lifetime of work. By acting on a fabricated "Fraud/Scam" abuse report without a single verification check or prior notice to the domain owner, Hostinger has allowed its abuse-reporting mechanism to be weaponised to censor an independent journalist.
Even where a court order directs the removal or de-indexing of a specific URL, a web hosting provider has no legal or ethical justification to pull down an entire domain and hundreds of unrelated articles, archives, and subdomains without notice.
I demand immediate answers and accountability from Hostinger:
1. Who submitted the false "Fraud/Scam" abuse report against paranjoy.in, and on what exact date and time was it received?
2. What internal verification did Hostinger's abuse team conduct before classifying a 12-year-old journalism portal as a "Fraud/Scam" site, especially when 92 security vendors on VirusTotal and Google Safe Browsing show zero malicious or unsafe content?
3. Why was no prior notice, warning, or copy of the complaint sent to me before suspending the entire hosting account?
4. On what basis did Hostinger's specialist declare that the suspension of an entire archive of journalistic work is "not negotiable"?
While my legal advisers are in the process of taking appropriate steps in court regarding the ex parte order dated October 24, 2026, and the wholesale suspension of my website, this backdoor censorship through web hosting providers sets a dangerous precedent for the independence of the media and freedom of expression as enshrined in Article (19)(1)(a) of the Constitution of India as a fundamental right of every citizen of India.
Yours sincerely
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
Independent Journalist, Author, Publisher and Maker of Documentary Films and Music Videos
Shambhu Arvind retweeted
The final game is now clear.
Large-scale disenfranchisement, and then linking various public subsidy benefits to new voter ID cards, (not Aadhar or other docs). So they hold a life-and-death power over you now, once you are removed from SIR lists. Their aggression in a mala-fide SIR is understandable from this.
#SIR #EPCI #Aadhar
Shambhu Arvind retweeted
Well, well, well… Amitabh Kant, the man who headed the Modi government’s flop initiatives like Make in India and Startup India, is currently working as a Senior Adviser at Fairfax Holdings.
Now we can imagine what fate awaits IDBI’s strategic stake sale to Fairfax.
Shambhu Arvind retweeted
"Israeli-linked influence campaign exploits islamophobia to sway European elections:
A technical error exposed an Israeli IP address, while video metadata provided further evidence of the campaign’s Israeli links"
thecradle.co/articles/israel…
Shambhu Arvind retweeted
This is MAJOR. Likely the largest social media global influence operation in history has been uncovered: an anti-migrant, anti-Muslim campaign run by two Israeli firms, Timor Group and Percepto International.
🇿🇦 South Africa: As we have suspected. An evidentiary foundation for further investigation.
Huge news! For 3 years @SohanDsouza & I have investigated a covert paid ad campaign pushing anti-Muslim, anti-migrant & anti-Qatar hate speech across Europe, Lebanon & the US.
Today we publish Manufacturing the “Great Replacement”: 533M recorded exposures in 30 countries.
1/25
Shambhu Arvind retweeted
Indian companies getting hacked left and right
Today:
- Vijay Sales
- Au Small Finance Bank
🚨🇮🇳 Vijay Sales allegedly compromised, super administrator access and millions of records offered for sale
An actor using the handle "shinymontanna" is selling alleged super administrator access to the internal systems of Vijay Sales, a major Indian electronics retailer, for $25,000.
The listing claims access to over 3 million order records, information on 15,000 employees, and billing records for approximately 140,000 vendors.
The advertised access reportedly includes customer information, payment and bank transfer records, inventory, financial reports, and internal applications, with read, write, and export permissions.
Screenshots showing administrative dashboards and super administrator permissions have been published.
Claim is currently unverified.
💥 No delays. No guessing. No redactions. Get the intel threat actors see, the moment they post it. darkwebinformer.com/pricing
Shambhu Arvind retweeted
Judicial SIR.
A Ganesh Kumar of Kanchipuram has asked Madras HC to investigate journalist #SauravDas's identity and his parents, cancel his passport and Aadhaar, and block his X and Instagram.
The court has issued notice.😨
Nothing is proven. The court has made no finding. The plea's main grievance is his alleged remarks on judges.
When criticism is the complaint, questioning someone's CITIZENSHIP isn't a remedy.
It's a threat.
@SauravDassss @whattalawyer
Shambhu Arvind retweeted
Hindutvawadis created a strawman Islam for the purpose of demonizing muslims and fell in love so hard with their own strawman that they are transforming actual Hinduism into it.
Shambhu Arvind retweeted
bhai he knew that he won't get any standing ovation anywhere so he organised his team to get indians abroad to do it for him.
Shambhu Arvind retweeted
Deepinder Goyal says his Rs 85000 wearable device Temple, allows users to share their brain-tracking data with doctors, who will be able to instantly diagnose a rich gullible idiot.
Shambhu Arvind retweeted
A creepy sign of Sanghi Whatsapp influence in my Marathi circles is that 3 different Marathi women, educated professionals, are doing Karwa Chauth! They already do Vatpournima & Haritalika so not like our traditions are lacking in patriarchy. They also added Karwa Chauth!
Shambhu Arvind retweeted
Big drama in Kerala High Court. Order dictated in open court a few days back. Matter suddenly listed out of turn today and order changed sans explanation. And our courts wonder why people are questioning them.
Shambhu Arvind retweeted
I was the first person to seek the registration of an FIR regarding the crores of rupees that went up in flames at the residence of Justice Verma.
Later, I heard from important sources that the money belonged to Justice Chandrachud. Gradually, talk spread among the members of the Bar, and now it has spread like wildfire—at least in Delhi. Everyone is saying that it was Justice Chandrachud’s money, with some claiming it was ₹700 crore. There is another rumor about ₹500 crore or a similar amount recovered from the farmhouse of a female Delhi High Court judge.
These are rumors, but there cannot be smoke without fire. That is why I moved the Supreme Court for the fourth time. If Justice Verma is innocent—and many sympathize with him in Delhi, believing that although he may be corrupt, the burned money was not his but Justice Chandrachud’s—these rumors and issues still need to be addressed.
When I mentioned the matter, the Chief Justice switched off the audio and video, so no one knew what was said or transacted in court. Judges face great difficulty in such matters. For a Chief Justice, Justice Verma’s case poses a dilemma due to a sense of collegiality—or a trade-union-like mentality among judges. They tend to protect one another.
Look at the damage this causes: today, people say the safest place to keep money is a judge’s residence. There are so many allegations against judges today that people consider the political executive less corrupt by comparison. While there are no allegations against the Prime Minister, many allegations persist against the government regarding various industrial groups.
Whose failure is this? It is the failure of the press and the failure of the Bar. As the Bar, we have failed to rise to the occasion. The so-called elite and eminent lawyers in the Supreme Court are hypocrites and sycophants—self-serving individuals who care for no one else.
Common people must step forward to raise these issues. Lawyers can utilize social media for this purpose. I am not asking anyone to take to the streets—that is dangerous, and lawyers should never do so—but we must address these matters.
Shambhu Arvind retweeted
Business World magazine has a sensational scoop based on the internal minutes of a Committee of Secretaries on Disinvestment showing how rules were changed for the controversial privatisation of IDBI Bank which was sold to Canada based Fairfax Financial Holdings at Rs 52,878 crore ($5.55 billion) at Rs 81 per share.
The internal minutes state that the initial sealed bids from Fairfax and another entity came well below the confidentially set minimum reserve price of Rs 94.42. The Fairfax bids came at Rs 75. So what do the babus do? They pull off something unprecedented but do it openly and transparently. They move to another valuation method and ask Fairfax and another bidder (strangely not named because it was later rejected by Home Ministry for security reasons!) to give new bids. This time Fairfax bids Rs 81 per share , still well below the original reserve price of Rs. 94.42. Then Fairfax says this is the final offer and it would withdraw if not accepted. The government accepts it and also gives some relief on disputed tax claims on IDBI Bank. Tax payer also makes a hefty contribution here!
The deal goes through at Rs 81 per share(the original reserve price was Rs 94.42) and the internal note strangely gives reasons why this sale was necessary for the government at this juncture- Fiscal stress on Centre due to high energy prices, lack of FDI inflows and the currency under strain because of the global energy crises!
As per Business World report the justification for change of rules and methodology for the sale of IDBI Bank came from the General Financial Rules for sale of government physical assets but not shares. Then it cites the Railway Stores Code on auctioning scrap:
"Bids lower than the reserve prices may, however, be accepted by the Depot Officer where found expedient provided the Depot Officer doing so records his reasons in writing."
In my 40 years of journalism I have not come across such justification for privatisation.
Business World's Palak Shah must be commended for this investigation.
Shambhu Arvind retweeted
Introducing Reality-Aware Rendering in @Simulon, a completely new way to create with the real world.
Place neural assets with your phone and act out the scene. When you stop recording, Simulon renders the take, reading everything in it (what you do, what you say and the place around you), and your assets respond to all of it.
The final is regenerated from your recording: a new performance of the scene, not a copy of the footage.
Available now on iPhone. Coming to Android soon.
Shambhu Arvind retweeted
Welcome to 🇮🇳
Time taken for an Interim order for Ms Pushpa Das whose child was accidentally killed by anesthesia overdose - 15 months and 21 days
Time taken for an average quash petition - 18 months
Time taken by Gautam Adani to get an blank carpet order to delete a video - < 24 hours
What a country 😤😤😤
Shambhu Arvind retweeted
Foreign media is so dumb. They’re judging #RAMAYANA by Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi and Yash’s performances.
In India, first we investigate what they eat, which religion they follow and what ideology they believe in. Only then decide if they’ve done justice to the characters.