Rana Ayyub faces ire after labelling saffron shawl men 'terrorists'; 5 complaints filed

Sharpening their attack on Mumbai journalist Rana Ayyub, Hindu I-T cell has filed 5 complaints against her for calling saffron-clad men protesting against the hijab-clad women as 'Hindu terrorists', in an interview to BBC. In a letter dated 16 February, to Ranchi police, Hindu I-T cell claimed that her statement has 'attacked the entire Hindu community' and that protest was a fundamental right. Hindu I-T cell has already complained against Ayyub for allegedly siphoning funds from her charity campaigns.

Hindu I-T cell files complaints against Rana Ayyub

"Her (Ayyub) statement can create severe law and order situations in the coutry, which is her intention from such words. She is trying to disturb the country's communal harmony and even in the past, she has been under scrutiny of ED for charity scams of multiple crores," read the letter, seeking stringent action against her. The group has also vowed to keep filing complaints to 'teach her a lesson through legal means'.

In her BBC interview, Ayyub says,"What culture allows 100 Hindu men chanting Jai Shree Ram to hound a young Muslim woman in her school premises? Students have been wearing religious attire like hijabs and turbans for so long in schools. Why suddenly is this group of Hindu vigilantes, Hindu terrorists - hoisting a saffron flag in an educational complex in Karnataka?".

FIR against Rana Ayyub

Rana Ayyub - a Mumbai-based journalist has come under the scanner of an alleged charity fund scandal on Thursday. The ED has issued a provisional attachment order after an FIR was registered by the Indirapuram police station in Ghaziabad for "illegally acquired money from general public in the name of charity". The complainant - a Ghaziabad resident - has alleged misuse of funds collected by Ayyub via the crowdfunding portal Ketto for three charity campaigns - Funds for slum dwellers and farmers (April- May 2020), Relief work for Assam, Bihar and Maharashtra (June- Sept 2020), and Help for Covid-19 impacted people in India (May-June 2021).

The ED states that while Ayyub has submitted information of expense to the tune of Rs. 31,16,770, the actual expenses were found to be Rs. 17,66,970 adding 'Expenses made for personal travel by air were claimed as expense for relief work'. Ketto - the intermediary platform between donors and campaigners - which was used by Ayyub for her campaigns has informed its donors that the unutilized funds of three campaigns started by Ayyub in 2020-21 are still with Ayyub. Ketto informed the donors in good faith, so they can take any appropriate action as it did not 'validate, confirm or supervise use of funds' by its campaigners. In response, Ayyub issued a statement calling all allegations against her 'baseless, mala fide and fanciful'.