HYDERABAD  THURSDAY  JANUARY 07, 2021  `7.00  PAGES 16  LATE CITY EDITION FUEL PRICE NEARS ALL-TIME HIGH AS OIL COS HIKE RATES Petrol price was hiked by 26 paise a litre and diesel by 25 paise, according to a price notification from oil marketing companies INCREASE IN TANDEM WITH CRUDE OIL PRICES The price change was effected by state-owned fuel retailers after a rise in crude prices. Brent crude rose to $53.94 a barrel on Wednesday on the back of Saudi Arabia’s decision to cut daily production by 1 million barrels. The highest petrol price in India was recorded on October 4, 2018 when one litre cost `91.34 in Mumbai. At that time, Brent was trading at $85.45 IMPACT ON INDIA’S IMPORT BILL ■ ■ ■ To cool prices, the government had in 2018 cut excise duty According to reports, every dollar per barrel increase in crude prices will raise India’s oil import bill by `10,700 crore Industry data show that US crude stockpiles fell last week, which further aided the surge in crude prices in the international market `87.57 THE PRICE OF ONE LITRE OF PETROL IN HYDERABAD ON WEDNESDAY 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 No stay on anti-love jihad law, but Apex Court to examine it TERRITORY WAR Centre on two petitions filed by advocate Vishal Thakre and Teesta Setalvad’s NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace. Thakre’s PIL said, “The Ordinance passed by the State of Uttar Pradesh and law passed by Uttarakhand are against the public policy and violates basic structure of the Constitution.” Senior advocate C U Singh, who appeared for Setalvad’s NGO, sought a stay on the UP ordinance, saying “This ordinance requires prior reporting of marriages and the burden of proof is on the individual.” E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi Former Andhra Pradesh Minister Bhuma Akhila Priya, wearing face mask, being taken to a Magistrate’s residence in West Marredpally, Secunderabad on Wednesday | VINAY MADAPU Bhuma Akhila arrested in kidnap case as land dispute turns ugly P I N T O D E E PA K @ Hyderabad HYDERABAD police on Wednesday arrested former Andhra Pradesh Tourism Minister Bhuma Akhila Priya and TDP leader AV Subba Reddy in connection with the kidnap of international badminton player Praveen Rao and his brothers Sunil Rao and Naveen Rao, who are believed to be relatives of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar said that they rescued the victims within three hours of the crime being reported. Subba Reddy, along with Akhila Priya and her husband Bhargava Ram, conspired and had the victims kidnapped in connection with a dispute over ownership of a 25-acre land at Hafeezpet near HiTec City. Police are on the lookout for Bhargava Ram. “Based on the complaint from the victims’ family, the accused have been identified. We have evidence against them,” the Police Commissioner said. During the investigation, police found that a parcel of But Praveen made it clear to her that he had honoured his end of the agreement and that she would have to settle the issue with Subba Reddy. However, Akhila Priya had been threatening him with consequences if Praveen did not part with the portion of land that was supposed to be transferred into her name. In the same issue, a criminal trespass case was registered against AV Subba Reddy and others at Miyapur police station of Cyberabad. Police also found that in the past both parties made several attempts to settle the issue, but they could not reach an amicable agreement. Akhila Priya and her husband then got the victims kidnapped by their henchmen. While stating that Srinivas Choudhary alias Gunturu Sreenu, Sai, Chanti and Prakash were involved in the kidnap, Anjani Kumar, said: “More people are involved in the offence and their details are being verified. We are deputing special teams to nab the others. We will take the help of AP police to nab them.” MORE REPORTS ON P3 Remanded to 14-day judicial custody Bhuma Akhila Priya has been remanded to 14-day judicial custody after she was produced before the Magistrate late on Wednesday. She was then shifted to the Chanchalguda Central Prison. Her counsel moved a bail petition, informing the court that she has no connection with the case. The Magistrate posted the hearing to Thursday land measuring about 25 acres in Hafeezpet was purchased by Praveen, the paternal uncle of the complainant. There were some issues over the land in which AV Subba Reddy and Akhila Priya’s late father Bhuma Nagi Reddy came to an understanding with Praveen. But, Subba Reddy, while settling Nagireddy’s share in the land, did not honour the terms of their agreement. After Bhuma Nagi Reddy’s death, Akhila Priya approached Praveen for a share in the land. THE Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to stay new laws introduced in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand to punish interfaith marriages based on religious conversion but agreed to examine them. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde issued notices to both state governments on petitions challenging the love jihad ordinance in Uttar Pradesh and the Freedom of Religion Act, 2018 in Uttarakhand. The court also issued notice to the 49 DEMOCRAT Warnock Ossoff 50 REPUBLICAN Warnock wins, Ossoff leads in runoff race; with House of Representatives already in his grip, Biden can push challenging legislative agenda easily Dems set to control Senate too EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE THE Democratic Party is on course to taking control of the Senate, which is crucial for United States President-elect Joe Biden to push his legislative agenda, with the Georgia elections tipping the balance in the party’s favour. Major US media outlets have already declared Pastor Raphael Warnock as the winner, while fellow Democrat Jon Ossoff is comfortably leading in the second seat over Republican Senator David Perdue. Warnock beat Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler to become the first African-American to represent Georgia — a slavery state in the US Civil War — in the US Senate. He is also the first Democrat to win the Senate race from Georgia in over 20 years. The election in Georgia is being rerun thanks to the state’s rule that a candidate must take KEY QUESTIONS Why the runoff? Georgia rules mandate that the winning candidate gets at least 50% of the votes polled, which did not happen in the November polls What is the situation now? Democrats are coursing towards creating a 50-50 tie with Republicans in the Senate, picking up one seat and leading in another Which party stands to gain? Democrats of course, since Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would hold the tie-breaking vote in the Senate 50% of the vote to win. In the November 2020 general election, none of the candidates could meet that threshold. As things stand now, Democrats would need to take both the seats in Georgia to gain full control of Congress, while the Republicans need to win just Since when will the Senate be in Democrats’ control? The Senate will be in Democrats’ control for the first time since 2014 What does it mean for Presidentelect Joe Biden? The Senate win will help him carry out his early legislative agenda since the House of Representatives is already in Democrats’ pocket What does it mean for Trump? He is already being blamed by Republicans for mess up, as he kept peddling baseless claims that Georgia’s electoral systems were rigged, turning off the voters one to retain the Senate. Ossoff has declared victory but no major news outlet has projected him as the winner. With the result of the Perdue versus Ossoff is yet to be called in, the 100-member Senate now has 50 seats for the Republican Party and 49 to the Democrats. At the time of going to press, Ossoff had 22,11,603 votes, over 17,000 more than Perdue. If elected, 33-year-old Ossoff will be the youngest member in the US Senate. If both Republicans and the Democrats end up having 50 seats each in the Senate, then Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in her capacity as the Vice Chairman who presides over the Senate meetings can cast the crucial vote in favour of the Democrats. Gaining control of the Senate will help Biden in what he intends to do as President with his party being in a comfortable position to set the legislative agenda. They will be able to have their say in Senate committees, call hearings, and decide which items get top priority . It will also help them push through the ambitious proposals addressing climate change and health care. ANOTHER U.P. HORROR AS WOMAN RAPED AND KILLED IN TEMPLE ORIGIN TRACING WHO rebukes China over blocking virus probe team N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE MONTHS after grandstanding at the World Health Organisation, saying it was ready allow an expert team to probe the origins of the deadly coronavirus, China denied them entry draw, ing a rare rebuke from WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Better known as China’s poodle, Tedros said, “Today, we learned that Chinese officials have not yet finalised the necessary permissions for the team’s arrival in China. I’m very disappointed with this news, given that two members had already begun their journeys and others were not able to travel at the last minute, but had been in contact with senior officials.” In what was seen as sharp line, given his pro-China leaning, Tedros said he had ‘made it clear’ that the mission was a priority for the WHO. Tedros had last year failed to take China to task for delayed reporting of the outbreak and kept dragging his feet on declaring it a pandemic, drawing international ridicule. Later in the day , China acknowledged that there could be some misunderstanding over granting timely permission to WHO’s experts, but gave no indication about when it will allow them in. 51 NEEDED FOR CONTROL CARING HANDS As part of HMDA’s beautification works, a sculpture is installed on ORR near Gachibowli in Hyderabad | S SENBAGAPANDIYAN THE badlands of western Uttar Pradesh saw yet another gangrape and murder, this time of a 50-year-old anganwadi worker in Badaun district, with horrific brutalities perpetrated on her in a reminder of the Nirbhaya case. The woman was allegedly raped and brutalised within a temple premises by three men, including the priest, and left to die outside her house on Sunday. While the priest, Baba Satyanarayan Das, is on the run, the other two perpetrators — Ved Ram and Yashpal — have been arrested. The incident was reported from a village in the Ughaiti police station area in The 50-year-old woman, who had gone to a temple on Sunday, was found dead under mysterious circumstances. Family members have accused the temple priest and his accomplices of raping and murdering her SSP Sankalp Sharma Badaun. The victim’s postmortem examination revealed grievous injuries in her private parts. Her left ribs and a leg were also broken while one lung had ruptured as it was apparently hit with a heavy object. A rod was inserted into her private parts causing fatal damage to her internal organs. To be but not to be: Sonia puts TPCC chief decision on hold V V B A L A K R I S H N A @ Hyderabad FOR the first time, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has put on hold the appointment of a new chief for the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC), owing to rivalry among the Telangana Congress leaders. This was after Sonia signed an appointment order anointing senior Congress leader and MLC T Jeevan Reddy as new TPCC president and Malkajgiri Lok Sabha member A Revanth Reddy as TPCC campaign com- mittee chairman on January 4 evening. She took the decision, acting on the report submitted by the AICC in-charge for Telangana, Manickam Tagore, party sources said. A communication to the media was scheduled to be released on January 5. Meanwhile, Tagore gave both Jeevan Reddy and Revanth Reddy hints about the high command’s decision. Revanth, who has been eyeing the post for a long time, reconciled himself to the inevita- bility. The same evening he appeared on a local news channel, where he said that leading the campaign committee was more up his alley since a PCC chief would have to confine himself to the four walls of Gandhi Bhavan, the party headquarters. The Congress leader said he would take up a State-wide padayatra to win the hearts of the voters and help the party regain its past glory as Campaign Committee chair- man. On January 5, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, another key aspirant for the TPCC chief post, reportedly threatened to quit the party Venkat Red. dy that he was a loyal and sincere Congressman and the party should look no further while appointing somebody other than him as president. A sulking Venkat Reddy reached out to senior colleague and former Minister K Jana Reddy and conveyed his dis- pleasure. He also informed Jana Reddy that the latter could face the risk of losing the Nagarjunasagar Assembly bypoll as a major repercussion of the decision. He prevailed upon Jana Reddy to write to the party high command and convey his anxiety over a likely bypoll loss if Jeevan Reddy took over as TPCC chief. This apart, there lay the risk of Venkat Reddy charting his own course in another party . CONTINUED ON P4 The autopsy said the woman died due to excessive bleeding. The villagers and the victim’s family alleged SHO Ravindra Pratap Singh did not reach the spot even after a complaint was lodged. Initial investigation revealed the victim’s body was sent for post-mortem on Monday afternoon, 18 hours after the incident. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered an inquiry into the incident by the Special Task Force of UP Police and directed the ADG of Bareilly zone to submit a detailed report. SHO Singh has been suspended. Four teams have been formed to nab the priest and a bounty of `50,000 has been announced on his arrest. EXPRESS READ No trace of bird flu in Telangana: Talasani Hyderabad: Stating that there is no prevalence of bird flu in Telangana, Animal Husbandry Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav said on Wednesday that the there is no cause for worry. He held an emergency meeting with the officials concerned | P2