KALABURAGI FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 14 CITY EDITION LIGHT COMBAT AIRCRAFT TEJAS MK1A’S FIRST FLIGHT SUCCESSFUL The HAL said the first LA 5053 aircraft of the Tejas Mk1A series took to the skies successfully from its facility in Bengaluru on Thursday ‘SIGNIFICANT MILESTONE HAS BEEN ACHIEVED’ INDIAN AIR FORCE TO INDUCT THE AIRCRAFT “HAL achieved this significant production milestone with concurrent design & development amid major supply chain challenges in the global geopolitical environment subsequent to the contract signature in February 2021,” said C B Ananthakrishnan, chairman and managing director of the company. The aircraft was piloted by Group Captain K K Venugopal (Retd) ■ ■ The Tejas Mk1A will have an advanced electronic RADAR, warfare, communication systems and additional combat capability The country can look forward to an early induction of the Tejas Mk1A by the IAF and more numbers through the three lines of production established at HAL, it said in a statement 18 MINS WAS THE FLYING TIME OF TEJAS MK1A’S FIRST FLIGHT CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI DELHI COURT EXTENDS CHIEF MINISTER’S ED REMAND TILL ALL FOOLS’ DAY Kejri argues his case, sees plot to crush party former minister Satyendra Jain was also present. A Delhi court on Thursday saw Referring to this allegation, its arrested chief minister him- Kejriwal said because of his poself arguing his case in the liq- sition, several ministers come uor policy scam. “I was named to his residence and even exby four witnesses in the excise change documents. “Is this policy case. Are four statements statement sufficient to arrest a enough to arrest a sitting CM?” sitting CM?” he questioned. he asked. On the statement of another The court extended the cus- accused-turned-approver Ratody of Delhi Chief Minister ghav Magunta to the ED, the Arvind Kejriwal with the En- CM said Magunta’s father gave forcement Directorate (ED) by six statements to the probe four more days till agency but did not say April 1 in the scam. anything about KejriThe Rouse Avenue wal. Magunta is the Court saw heated arson of Buchi Babu, The actual excise guments between Kechartered accountant policy scam jriwal and ED lawyers of BRS leader K started after the during the hearing. Kavitha, who too is beginning of the “Where is the `100 under arrest in the ED investigation crore liquor scam same case. The AAP and not when the money the ED keeps chief argued that peopolicy was made harping on?” Kejriwal ple are being turned Arvind Kejriwal, asked, adding that the approver and forced Delhi chief minister entire liquor policy to change their statecase is a political conments. The ED invesspiracy to crush his Aam Aad- tigation began in August 2022. mi Party . The 2021-22 Delhi excise policy During the previous hearing, was later scrapped. the probe agency had sought to Not opposing the ED’s deestablish Kejriwal’s role in the mand for further custody Kejri, formulation of the excise poli- wal pointed out that approver cy by citing a statement of C Sarath Chandra Reddy donated Arvind, the then Secretary of `55 crore to the BJP just after former Deputy CM Manish his arrest. “I have the evidence. Sisodia. Arvind told the ED Money trail is established. He that he was handed a draft re- donated `55 crore to BJP after port of a Group of Ministers on being arrested,” Kejriwal said. the excise policy by Sisodia at The court noted his point and Kejriwal’s residence where assured it will be investigated. Comments by US State Dept unwarranted: foreign office Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi U J W A L J A L A L I @ New Delhi Arvind Kejriwal comes out of a Delhi court after his production in the excise policy scam on Thursday | PTI CUSTODY EXTENSION “...there appears to be sufficient reasons to permit further custodial interrogation, particularly keeping in view the submissions that he (Kejriwal) is required to be confronted with the material collected and statements recorded so far,” special judge Kaveri Baweja said INDIA on Thursday said described the US State Department’s recent comments on the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as unwarranted - its second riposte in response to two statements. Apart from weighing in on Kejriwal, the State Department also commented on the freezing of Congress funds. “ you are aware, on WednesAs day India had lodged its strong , objection and protest with the senior official from the US Embassy with regard to the comments made by the US State Department. The recent remarks by the State Department are unwarranted. Any such external imputation on our electoral and legal processes is completely unacceptable,” said Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Randhir Jaiswal. The MEA said in India, legal processes are driven only by the rule of law. “Anyone who has similar ethos, especially fellow democracies, should have no difficulty in appreciating this fact. India is proud of its independent and robust democratic institutions. We are committed to protect them from any form of undue external influences,” Jaiswal added. India also reiterated that mutual respect and understanding form the foundation of international relations and states are expected to be respectful of the sovereignty and internal affairs of others. In first tango, RIL picks up 26% stake in an Adani arm R A K E S H K U M A R @ New Delhi IN a first, rival billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani have joined hands for a business deal as Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) acquired a 26% stake in Mahan Energen Ltd (MEL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Adani Power Ltd. The deal will give RIL 500 MW of electricity from MEL’s M a d hy a P r a d e s h based power plants for captive use. “One unit of 600 MW capacity of MEL’s Mahan thermal power plant, out of its aggregate operating and upcoming capacity of 2,800 MW, will be designated as the Captive Unit for this purpose,” Adani Power said in an exchange filing. It added that RIL will pick up 5 crore shares with EXPRESS READ Gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari dies Lucknow:Jailed gangster-turnedpolitician Mukhtar Ansari died at the Banda Medical College in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday following a cardiac arrest, its principal said. NEET aspirant hangs self in Kota Kota: A 19-year-old NEET aspirant allegedly hanged herself at her PG room here, the seventh suicide by a coaching student in the city since the beginning of this year. Somya Kurmi took her life late Wednesday night. Cafe blast case: NIA DKS’ brother Suresh files papers, arrests key conspirator declares assets worth `593 crore BALA CHAUHAN @ Bengaluru IN A MAJOR breakthrough in the Bengaluru cafe blast case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested a key conspirator, Muzammil Shareef, following raids in three states. Shareef was reportedly picked up from Bengaluru and placed in custody as a co-conspirator after NIA teams cracked down at 18 locations, including 12 in Karnataka, five in Tamil Nadu and one in Uttar Pradesh, the NIA stated in a press release on Thursday . The NIA took over the case on March 3. It had earlier identified the main accused, Mussavir Shazeeb Hussain, who had carried out the blast. Hus- sain is a resident of Masjid Road, Thirthahalli, Shivamogga. He is also accused in other terror cases. He features in the wanted list of NIA. The agency had also identified another conspirator, Abdul Matheen Taha, also from Shivamogga, who is wanted in other terror-related cases, and is on the run. NIA officials raided the houses of the three accused and residential premises and shops of other suspects. According to informed sources, the cafe blast case reportedly has linkages with the same module to which Mohd Shariq, the main accused in Mangaluru pressure cooker blast case in November 2022, belonged. CONTINUED ON: P5 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru THE ASSETS of sitting MP DK Suresh, brother of Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, increased by 75% in the last five years. Suresh filed his nomination papers on Thursday to contest from Bengaluru Rural Lok Sabha constituency. According to his affidavit filed before the Election Commission, Suresh has assets worth Rs 593 crore, which were worth Rs 338 crore in 2019. His liabilities have increased from Rs 51 crore to Rs 150 crore (188%). Renowned cardiologist and former director of Sri Jayadeva Institute Of Cardiovascular Science and Research Dr CN CM Siddaramaiah greets Congress candidate for B’luru Rural DK Suresh in Ramanagara on Thursday | EXPRESS Manjunath is contesting against Suresh on BJP ticket. The MP’s asset value increased due to appreciation of the value of his immovable assets such as residential and commercial buildings, and agricultural land (inherited) in Ramanagara and Bengaluru. The immovable assets alone are worth Rs 486 crore. Suresh, who owned movable assets worth Rs 33 crore in 2019, now has such assets worth Rs 106 crore, a whopping 220% increase in five years. Suresh has three cases against him for violation of COVID -19 protocol. The MP and his brother organised a padayatra seeking implementation of the Mekedatu reservoir project two years ago. P6 Stake transfer to meet captive use norms If a power generating unit has to be considered a captive generating plant, the captive user must hold not less than 26% of the ownership in the captive generating company. Also, 51% of the power generated must be used by the owners for their own consumption a face value of `10 (`50 crore). “The proposed investment by the Company is in compliance with the provisions of the Electricity Rules, 2005, in terms of which the Company as , a captive user, is required to own 26% proportionate ownership in one unit of MEL of 600 MW capacity with RIL being the cap, tive user of 500 MW generation capacity,” said RIL in its exchange filing. Ambani’s interests span oil and gas to retail and telecom while Adani’s focus is on infrastructure spanning sea ports to airports, coal and mining. Though considered business rivals, the two Gujarat industrialists have rarely crossed each other’s path except in the clean energy business, where the two have announced multibillion investments. Adani aspires to be the world’s largest renewable energy producer by 2030, while Reliance is building four gigafactories in Jamnagar — one each for solar panels, batteries, green hydrogen, and fuel cells. Adani is also building three gigafactories for manufacturing solar modules, wind turbines, and hydrogen electrolysers. S I D D U T O C O N S U LT H I G H C O M M A N D Cong yet to decide on Kolar candidate E N S @ Bengaluru THE CONGRESS is yet to announce its candidate for Kolar Lok Sabha constituency although five Congress legislators on Wednesday threatened to resign in protest against selecting Food and Civil Supplies Minister KH Muniyappa’s son-in-law Chikkapeddanna for the seat. On Thursday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar held meetings with Congress leaders from Kolar district. However, they failed to convince them, sources said. With this, the Congress party’s campaign that was supposed to start from Kolar has been postponed. Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar met the party leaders belonging to the former Assembly speaker Ramesh Ku m a r ’s f a c t i o n . T h e sources said the leaders of the faction made it clear to the CM and DCM that they will not support any member of Muniyappa’s family for the Kolar seat. The leaders reportedly told Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar that the candidate for Kolar should be selected after taking into consideration the suggestions of local Congress leaders. They appealed to the CM to name the party candidate soon. Siddaramaiah promised them that he will hold discussions with the party high command and get back to them. The CM asked leaders from Kolar not to go to the media, which may embarrass the party high command. “Whatever decision the high command takes, we all should obey and work for the candidate’s victory Sid,” daramaiah told them. Meanwhile, Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar spoke to Muniyappa. But he is firm on his demand for the party ticket to his son-in-law. Muniyappa alleged that some leaders from Kolar district created unnecessary issues for the party. If the party selects his son-in-law for Kolar, he will ensure his victory Muniyappa said. P4 , MINISTER PRIYANK GETS THREAT LETTER The Vidhana Soudha police have registered an FIR against an unknown person for sending a threat letter to Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge and his family members. Priyank told reporters here on Thursday that the letter was posted from Kalaburagi to his Bengaluru office address a few days ago | P4 Youth dies after his friend inserts air Peanuts as wage hike draw barbs in poll season compressor hose into rectum ‘for fun’ RURAL JOBS SCHEME J I T E N D R A C H O U B E Y @ New Delhi A paltry annual hike in daily wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) for unskilled workers was jeered at by the Opposition, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi promising to jack it up to `400 a day . Each state has a different daily wage rate under the scheme. Haryana was at the top of the pecking order at `374 after the revision this year while in Uttar Pradesh it was just `237. In gross terms, states like UP and Assam witnessed an increase of just `7 as compared to last year while the wage rise in MGNREGA WAGES FOR UNSKILLED MANUAL WORKERS REVISED WAGES IN 2024 WAGES IN 2023 Andhra Pradesh Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Gujarat Goa Haryana J&K Jharkhand Karnataka 272 238 228 221 256 322 357 244 228 316 300 249 245 243 280 356 374 259 245 349 CHANGE IN % 10.2% 2.9% 7.4% 9.9% 9.3% 10.5% 4.7% 6.1% 7.4% 10.4% Goa was `28. The annual revision by the Centre is meant to mitigate inflation. A govern- Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Odisha Punjab Rajasthan Tamil Nadu Telangana Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal 333 221 273 237 303 255 294 272 230 230 237 346 243 297 254 322 266 319 300 237 237 250 3.9% 9.9% 8.7% 7.1% 6.2% 4.3% 8.5% 10.2% 3% 3% 5.4% Wages in rupees, States ment official termed the revision a routine exercise. Taking a dig, Rahul sarcasti- cally said, “Congratulations to MNREGA workers! The PM has increased your salary by `7. Now he might ask you, ‘What will you do with such a huge amount of money?’” Trinamool leader Saket Gokhale sharply criticised the inadequate increase of wages, especially in West Bengal. “Shameful & shocking that in today’s wage revision announced for MGNREGA, Modi Govt has increased wages for workers in Bengal by only 5%,” Gokhale posted on X. Goa topped the chart with a hike of 10.56%, while in Karnataka it was 10.4%, MP and Chhattisgarh 9.9%, Gujarat 9.3% and Bihar 7.4%. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru A 24-YEAR-OLD youth working with an event management company died after his friend inserted an air compressor hose into his rectum “for fun” at a car service station in the city . The accused put the hose pipe of the running machine into the victim’s rectum who had gone to the station to wash his friend’s bike. It is said that the high pressure air that entered the victim’s stomach severely damaged his intestine and other organs. The victim, who fell unconscious, was immediately rushed to a nearby hospi- tal. The incident happened on Monday and the victim died on Wednesday. Based on a complaint by his sister, Sampigehalli police registered a case and arrested the accused. The victim has been identified as R Yogesh of Ashwath Nagar near Sampigehalli and the accused as Murali, an employee of CNS Car Spa in Thanisandra. Yogesh used to frequently meet Murali and other friends at the service station. Yogesh had taken leave from his company to make preparations for his sister’s wedding in April — Police Officer On Monday around 7 pm, he went to the station to wash his friend’s bike. When the victim, who was wearing shorts, was standing near the bike, the accused allegedly inserted the compressor hose into his rectum. When Yo gesh did not return home, his sister Jayashree called him and she was informed that he was in hospital. When Jayashree rushed to the hospital, Yogesh told her what had happened to him. On Tuesday morning, he developed breathlessness. He was immediately shifted to another hospital where he died around 9.30 am the next day .
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