KOZHIKODE l MONDAY l JULY 06, 2020 l `7.00 l PAGES 28 l CITY EDITION CONFLICT OF INTEREST COMPLAINT AGAINST KOHLI India skipper accused of violating BCCI constitution by life member of Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association PLAYER & ROLE IN PLAYER MANAGEMENT? CAN’T BE BOTH AT SAME TIME: GUPTA Complainant Sanjeev Gupta says Kohli can’t be India player and partner in sister concern of company that manages other India cricketers at the same time. Ombudsman-cum-ethics officer Justice (retd) DK Jain confirms receiving complain. Says he will go through details before deciding whether to send notice to Kohli and seek his explanation ■ ■ Complaint claims Kohli among three partners of Cornerstone Venture Partners Llp, sister concern of Cornerstone, which manages leading players like KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja & Kohli Complainant Gupta’s letter to ombudsman says Kohli should either give up this post or stop being an active player 38 (4) KOHLI ACCUSED OF VIOLATING THIS RULE OF BCCI CONSTITUTION CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Triple lockdown in T’Puram city from today Local transmission on the rise; people not to be allowed to move out except on medical emergencies Godown owner dies Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling on President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi on Sunday | BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT Buzz on Cabinet shuffle as Modi calls on Kovind month also called an all-party meeting to discuss the issue of the stand-off with China. TWO days after visiting forThis was Modi’s first oneward posts in Ladakh, Prime on-one with President Kovind Minister Narendra Modi after the Covid-19 outbreak called on President Ram Nath and the consequent lockdown Kovind on Sunday and briefed in phases. He briefed the Presihim on “issues of national and dent on the prevailing situainternational importance”, tion and the government’s reRashtrapati Bhavan said. sponses, said a senior official. The visit came at a time The prime minister is also when India is gradually roll- likely to expand his council of ing out punitive ecoministers. BJP circles nomic actions aimed have been abuzz for a at China in the afterwhile about the likely math of the June Prime Minister @ induction of fresh fac14/15 violent clash in es along with space narendramodi the Galwan Valley of for NDA allies. The called on East Ladakh. JD(U) is not yet part President Kovind “Prime Minister @ and briefed him on of the council of minthe issues of narendramodi called isters at the Centre. national and on President Kovind The NDA, incidentalinternational and briefed him on ly, has begun preparimportance at the issues of national ing for the Bihar AsRashtrapati and international ims e m bly e l e c t i o n s, Bhavan portance at Rashtrawhich may be held President’s twitter pati Bhavan,” the ofduring October-Nohandle ficial handle of the vember in multiple President tweeted. phases. The Modi-led NDA governModi’s visit to Rashtrapati ment at the Centre completed Bhavan has also come at a one year in office on May 30. time when the presiding officThe meeting also came at a ers of the two Houses of Partime when India has scaled up liament are exploring ways to military and paramilitary de- hold the Monsoon session. ployments along the troubled There exists, however, a sixLine of Actual Control (LAC) month window till September with China. The PM had last for summoning the session. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi WITH THIS ISSUE THE ESSENTIAL CAMPUS DIGEST YOUR LIFE COACH 28 PAGES, INCLUDING 16 OF edex (TABLOID) Kochi: Yousef, a native of Thoppumpady here, who was under treatment for Covid-19 at the Ernakulam Medical College, died at 9pm on Sunday. The 66-year-old was running a godown in the Ernakulam market. He tested positive on June 28 and has been on ventilator support since then. Three other members of his family have also contracted the virus. Manjeri man +ve Manjeri: The test results of the swab samples of Muhammad Mookkummel, 82, who died on Saturday, came positive. Muhammad, who was suffering from blood cancer, had arrived from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on June 29. E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @T’Puram KERALA CASE DIARY GIVEN the alarming rise in Covid cases through local contact, the state government on Sunday announced a triple lockdown in the capital city for the next one week. The lockdown will come into effect from Monday 6 am, shutting Thiruvananthapuram down. The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. People will not be allowed to move out of their houses except on medical emergencies. The Secretariat and other government and private offices will remain closed for a week. The city will have just one entry point, with public and private transport suspended. Courts too will remain closed while bail applications will be taken up online. The police will supply essential items to homes on people’s demand, for which a number will be published on Monday, the 225 2,226 Vaccine launch: S&T ministry flip-flops Police stop a man who wandered near Connemara market at Palayam in the state capital on Sunday | B P DEEPU 38 5,429 3,174 cases have been confirmed so far have recovered so far 27 cases in the state were attributed to local transmission. Of them, 22 were from the capital 1 Triple lockdown will be imposed with effect from 6am on Monday in the entire corporation limit of Thiruvananthapuram 2 All establishments including government offices will remain closed. People are requested to stay at home/ indoor. Hospitals and medcal shops will remain open 4 Door delivery will be made in essential cases DEATHS 3 People can contact 112, 9497900112, 9497900121, 0471-2722500, 9497900286, 9497900296 for procuring very essential items police said. Medical shops, hospitals and banks will function as usual. The government went into a huddle after the unexpected rise in cases of local transmission. Of the 38 cases attributed to local contact on Sunday, 22 were in the state capital. Worryingly the source of infection , remains unknown in 14 of those cases. Earlier in the day, Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran said the capital is sitting on top of a volcano that can explode any moment. The day also recorded 225 active cases in the state, including 11 paramilitary personnel and two ship crew members. Fresh cases crossed the 200 mark for the third consecutive day . “What makes the situation grim in Thiruvananthapuram district is that those who contracted the virus include persons having high social engagement,” said an official. India 3rd largest in cases, overtakes Russia EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi R I C H A S H A R M A @ New Delhi BY when can we expect a Covid vaccine? While the Indian Council of Medical Research is yet to withdraw the August 15 deadline it set for the vaccine’s launch, the Science & Technology ministry claims the Covid shot is unlikely to be ready for mass use before 2021. “With the primary scientific inputs coming from institutions like Pune-based ICMR institution National Institute of Virology and Hyderabad-based CSIR institution Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology, six Indian companies are working on a vaccine for Covid-19. Along with the two Indian vaccines, COVAXIN and ZyCov-D, the world over, 11 out of 140 vaccine candidates have entered the human trials. None of these vaccines is unlikely to be ready for mass use before 2021 (sic),” an article put out by the ministry said. The article was authored by senior scientist Dr T V Venkateswaran. When reporters sought explanation on two different versions by ministries headed by Dr Harsh Vardhan, they quickly purged the sentence, “None of these vaccines is unlikely to be ready for mass use before 2021 (sic).” under treatment cases reported on Sunday KEEP IN MIND 2 DEATHS, KERALA’S TOLL GOES UP TO 27 COMPARE THAT Russia has been reporting under 6,900 new cases since June 27 In contrast, India’s fresh case count crossed 20,000 on June 3 and has now climbed to 24,850 INDIA registered a record single-day surge of 24,850 coronavirus infections and 613 fatalities on Sunday taking the total , case load to 6,73,165 with 19,268 deaths. According to Worldometer, which tracks coronavirus cases across the world in realtime, India overtook Russia to become the world’s third worsthit country by Covid-19 in overall cases. Only the US and Brazil are ahead of India in the number of cases recorded. In terms of deaths, India is at the eighth position. While Russia’s average daily spike in Covid cases stands at 6,000, India has been recording over 20,000 infections a day . Maharashtra, the worst-hit state in the country on Sunday , recorded 7,074 infections, taking the total cases to over 2 lakh. Tamil Nadu reported 4,280 cases in the past 24 hours, while Delhi, Telangana, Karnataka, Assam and Bihar added a total of 7,935 cases. On the other hand, the number of recoveries is rising, too. As on Sunday, total recoveries stood at 4,09,082. While the total cases recorded are over six lakh, the active cases are only 2,44,814. “Sixty percent of patients have recovered so far,” an official said. Of the 613 deaths reporte, 295 are from Maharashtra, 81 from Delhi, 65 from Tamil Nadu, 42 from Karnataka, 24 from Uttar Pradesh, 21’ from Gujarat, 19 from West Bengal, 12 from Andhra, nine from Bihar, eight from J&K, seven from Rajasthan, five each in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab and Telangana, two each from Goa and Jharkhand and one from Himachal Pradesh.’ 2 PRISONERS GIVE 1 GUARDS THE SLIP T’Puram: In a major security lapse, two prisoners under observation at Covid first-line treatment centre at Akathumuri, near Varkala, escaped in the wee hours of Sunday by breaking the ventilation. 42 PASSENGERS Kanam counters CPM’s barbs over Jose; RSP lures CPI to UDF E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ T’Puram THE chances of political realignment in the state got brighter with CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran reiterating his strong opposition to welcoming the Jose K Mani faction of Kerala Congress (M) to the LDF despite CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan’s arguments favouring such a move and RSP inviting the second largest constituent of the Left front to the UDF. On Sunday, Kanam expressed his displeasure with inviting the Jose faction to the LDF for the third time, saying such drastic decisions would only weaken the front. However, the CPM feels that by bringing the Jose faction, their base in the Central Travancore belt can be widened and get the Christian votes of the KC(M) transferred to the LDF. But this is not going to be easy as the Catholic Church has not made its stand clear ever since the Jose faction decided to sever its ties with the UDF. Besides, the Church does not share the same equation with Jose as it did with the late K M Mani. Political analysts feel that Kanam is worried about losing the CPI’s second ● More on P4 place in LDF.  2 STILL BEING TRACED 30kg gold tumbles out of diplomatic consignment Thiruvananthapuram, the customs refused to name the country PERHAPS in a first-of-its-kind inci- and reveal details of the staffers, dent, a huge volume of gold smug- saying disclosure of details of the gled in using the diplomatic chan- smuggling at this point of time will n e l w a s s e i z e d a t t h e have a bearing on the diplomatic Thiruvananthapuram internation- relations between two countries al airport on Sunday The customs and affect the progress of the inves. de par tment seiz ed tigation. The accused, 30.24kg gold from a dipsources said, had put lomatic consignment pressure on the offithat arrived reportedly cials through MEA. from the UAE. The conSources confirmed signment had reached that a senior state govthe air cargo section in ernment officer is also a chartered flight three on the list of the acdays ago but customs, cused. Normally, the which received an diplomatic consignalert, withheld it and ments are not scanned wrote to the ministry in detail and the cusof exter nal af fairs toms officials inspect (MEA). them through a small The customs offiopening left on the box. cials opened the conThe gold was smuggled signment after secur- The gold bars seized from making use of this diping the mandatory the diplomatic consignment lomatic immunity . permission from the | EXPRESS Customs CommisMEA and found gold sioner Sumit Kumar worth `13.5 crore hidden inside in said the investigation is under way various shapes. The officials also and hopefully the department can took two former consular staff who reveal the details of the case poshave diplomatic immunity into sibly by Monday . custody Hesitant at first, they coop. Sources said many consignerated with the investigation and ments including Personal Protecthe consignment was opened in the tive Equipment kits are delivered presence of the consular officials. at the airport through diplomatic Though the consignment was channels. A foreign national, who meant for the office of the consu- has sent the consignment, has been late general of a foreign country in identified. Kozhikode: Among the 50 passengers who travelled in the KSRTC bus from which a Covid patient was caught by the district health squad, officials have only traced eight. E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ T’Puram KOTTARAKKARA 3 BUS DEPOT CLOSED GOING GETS TOUGH Ever since reaching Kochi a year ago, Anustha, a ragpicker from Salem in Tamil Nadu, has been riding a cart through the busy streets of the city with a baby on her shoulders, collecting waste materials to make a living. Lockdown made Anustha’s life difficult and with cases going up once again and several parts of the city being declared containment zones, she is staring at a bleak future | A SANESH Kollam District Collector has ordered the closure of the Kottarakkara KSRTC depot after it was declared a containment zone. Azheekal harbour was closed after a fisher tested positive. COVID FIGHT Amid spread, Lakshadweep remains an island RARE FEAT The islands, the country’s smallest Union Territory with a population of about 64,000 and lying about 380 km off Kochi, has the rare distinction of becoming the only region under the Indian jurisdiction where not even a single case of Covid-19 has been reported till now. R A J E S H A B R A H A M @Kochi AS India overtook Russia and became the nation with the third most number of Covid-19 cases, Lakshadweep, the archipelago of 36 islands, seems to have cracked the code to tackle the virus, at least for now. The islands, the country’s smallest Union Territory with a population of about 64,000 and lying about 380 km off Kochi, has the rare distinction of becoming the only region under the Indian jurisdiction where not even a single case of Covid-19 has been reported till now. The way Lakshadweep Islands resisted the pandemic -more than five months after India reported its first coronavirus patient -- is a story of meticulous tracking and executing a well-planned routine to the last detail. T Kassim, deputy collector, Kavaratti, said more than 1,000 people had gone to the mainland for treatment purposes, and their return was planned in a well charted-out manner. For instance, only the natives of Lakshadweep were allowed to return while the administration closed the doors on outsiders such as tourists. “Even for the residents, what we have done is strict quarantine for seven days at the government guest house in Kochi. After seven days, they will be tested for Covid. Only those testing negative will be allowed to board the ship (to the island),” said Kassim. On reaching Lakshadweep, the people will also be strictly monitored during the 14 days of home quarantine. “Since the population is small, we can manage this relatively easily,” ● More on P4 he said.