vijayawada l tuesday l march 16, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Beyonce breaks records as women rule Grammys 2021 Women artistes emerged big winners in the usually male dominated top categories at the 63rd Grammy Awards R&B singer H.E.R. Most awarded female artiste in history ‘i can’t breathe’ is song of the year With 28 Grammy wins in all, Beyonce broke the record of veteran singer Alison Krauss. She trails only classical conductor Sir George Solti, who still holds 31 Grammys. She was nominated in nine categories and won in four, including best rap song with Megan Thee Stallion for Savage remix, Best R&B performance for Black Parade and best music video for Brown Skin Girl ■ ■ R&B singer H.E.R. won song of the year for I Can’t Breathe, which quotes the last words of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man who died while being arrested by police in Minneapolis last year Canadian YouTuber Lilly Singh turned up on the red carpet wearing a mask displaying “I stand with Farmers” (pic far left) BTS The popular korean boy band lost to lady gaga and Ariana Grande | P9 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 3 districts put on alert with spurt in Covid cases Chandrababu faces FIR heat in amaravati scam CID books TDP chief, former minister Narayana over alienation of assigned lands allegedly in violation of the law; summons issued to both G S Vasu NARA Chandrababu Naidu is in the dock. The three-time chief minister has been linked to what has now come to be known as the ‘ maravati A land scam’, which involved aggregation of thousands of acres for the proposed capital of the divided state of Andhra Pradesh. The Crime Investigation Department (CID) of Andhra Pradesh is learnt to have registered an FIR against Naidu for various procedural irregularities with regard to decisions taken in relation to the capital city project. As chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Naidu held dual capacity as he was also the Chairman of the AP Capital Region Development Authority . The case, which throws up a completely new angle in the Amaravati land scam, has been registered under Section 120 B (conspiracy) and Sections 166, 167 and 217 of the IPC, read with Prohibition of Assigned Lands Alienation Act of 1977 and the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. A former minister in Naidu’s Cabinet, P Narayana, has also been named in the FIR and summons to appear before the CID have been issued to both. Naidu served two terms as chief minister of the undivided Andhra Pradesh and the third as CM of the divided AP after bifurcation from 2014 to 2019. One of the major charges against Naidu pertains to alienation of “assigned lands”, which form part of the aggregated 25,000-30,000 acres. According to the investigations done thus far by the AP government agen- Expanding scope tied to more probe Whether the scope of the FIR against Naidu will be enlarged to invoke provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act will depend on further investigation cies, approximately 500 acres of assigned land had been purchased by different persons after the announcement of the capital city The crux of . the charge in this case is that the AP government later issued a GO granting one-time exemption allowing alienation of such lands purchased by non-assignees for the capital project. Thus, they would stand to gain from the model prepared by the Naidu government under which 1,450-1,500 sq yards of developed commercial and residential plots would be given for every acre surrendered. The “returnable plots” have also been allotted to those who purchased and surrendered the assigned lands, primarily given to SCs and STs. It is understood that even a formal sanction of the Cabinet has not been obtained before the GO in question was issued. File notings by bureaucrats that such a decision would be in contravention of law were reportedly ignored. “It is possible that those in power take certain decisions with bonafide intentions, even if they are proved wrong. But, in this case, the end beneficiary is known prior to grant of exemption. Hence, the conspiracy a source explained. ,” The Amaravati land scam hit national headlines in September last year after the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) filed an FIR against the former advocate general of AP Dam, malapati Srinivas, in which daughters of the second senior most judge of the Supreme Court, Justice N V Ramana, have also been named. Within hours, the AP High Court imposed a gag order on publication of the details of the FIR and also suspended further investigation into the scam. The Supreme Court subsequently lifted the gag order but is yet to pass an order on the plea of AP government for lifting the stay on the investigation. The previous FIR was essentially about purpress clusive chase of land prior to the capital’s announcement. It alleged that Dammalapati Srinivas “entered into a criminal conspiracy” with various purchasers, including the judge’s daughters, and bought lands in different mandals of Vijayawada and Guntur with “clear knowledge that they would fall within the capital region”. The transactions allegedly took place between August and December, 2014. Delhi court hands death sentence to Batla House encounter convict Ariz S a n a S h a k i l @ New Delhi Ariz Khan, convicted in the killing of a police officer in the 2008 Batla House encounter in Delhi, was sentenced to death on Monday by a Delhi court, which said it is the most appropriate punishment for ‘dreaded terrorists’ like him. “Nature of offence and manner of committing the crime caused extreme indignation to the society in this case,” Additional Sessions Judge Sandeev Yadav said, declaring that there was no doubt that Ariz and his accomplices fired at police officials “without any provocation”. The encounter between the Delhi Police and a bunch of Indian Mujahideen members holed up in a flat in South Delhi had led to the death of Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma while two others sustained injuries. The court also imposed a total fine of `11 lakh on Ariz, of which `10 lakh counterpunch RS raises issue of British racism E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi Days after a tell-all interview of Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle and the controversy over Indian-origin Rashmi Samant, who was forced to resign as president of the Oxford University Students Union, the issue of racism in the UK figured in the Rajya Sabha on Monday . Just last week, the UK Parliament had debated the ongoing agitation against the new farm laws in India and criticised the alleged violation of human rights of protesters. The Centre hit back sharply calling it an “unwarranted and , tendentious” debate. Ariz Khan Fits rarest of rare yardstick The court put the case in the “rarest of rare” category while agreeing with Additional Prosecutor A T Ansari that this was not just any killing but a murder of a law enforcement officer who was a defender of justice was ordered to be given to the family of Sharma, who was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra and many gallantry awards. Judge Yadav also sought to put an end to the allegations of the September 2008 police operation being a fake encounter. He held that police officials had no intention to kill the occupants of the flat, stating that some members of the raiding team were not even carrying arms. “It is obvious that convict Ariz Khan along with his accomplices fired at police officials without being challenged, instinctively the judge ...” said. “Deadly weapons like AK-47 and two pistols were retrieved from the flat where the shootout took place.... Considering the nature of devastation these weapons can cause, it will be safe to conclude that there was were kept in the flat with a view to indulge in terrorist and anti-social activities,” the court ruled. The case will now go to the Delhi High Court for confirmation of the capital punishment. YSRC may select BC women for Vizag, Vijayawada mayoral posts E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Visakhapatnam/Vijayawada After the YSRC clean sweep in the Urban Local Body elections, all are curious about the mayoral candidates of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) and the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC). A strong competition is on the cards as aspirants are lobbying hard to get selected for the coveted posts by YSRC chief and Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy . Unlike Opposition TDP, which announced its mayoral candidates before the elections, the YSRC did not do so. Now, there are several contenders for the top posts. In the GVMC, the YSRC won 58 seats and got the requisite majority to win the mayoral post, which is reserved for BCs (General). YSRC city president Vamsi Krishna Yadav is the frontrunner for the post. He has been associated with the party since its inception. He even ‘sacrificed’ the party ticket for Visakhapatnam East Assembly segment in 2019 elections, when the YSRC leadership decided to field Akkaramani Vijayanirmala, who eventually lost. Vamsi is now pinning hopes that the party leadership will select him for the mayoral post as in one of the meetings ahead of elections, YSRC MP V Vijayasai Reddy announced that he is P5 a probable candidate for it.  E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Vijayawada Students and staff undergo Covid test at a Mandal Parishad Upper Primary School in Malikipuram of East Godavari district on Monday | Express viral watch one 22,604 1,443 Death 147 New cases Recoveries 103 New samples tested 8,92,008 Total cases Active cases 1,45,57,366 Total samples tested 8,83,380 Total recoveries With the spike in Covid-19 cases in East Godavari, Guntur and Krishna, medical and health officials of the three districts have been put on high alert. Taking stock of the situation on Monday Deputy Chief , Minister (Health) Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas (Nani) spoke to the DM&HOs of the three districts and directed them to take all measures to curb the spread of coronavirus. In Malikipuram of East Godavari district, at least 12 students of a Mandal Parishad Upper Primary School tested positive for Covid in the past four days. According to sources, three school teachers tested positive initially Later a cook, . who serves the mid-day meal to children, also contracted the virus. As a precautionary measure, the medical and health officials conducted tests on 160-odd students of the school and 12 of them tested positive. All those who tested positive, were put under home quarantine and the area was declared a containment zone. The entire school was sanitised. In Amalapuram, a man who returned from Hyderabad on March 11, tested positive for the P4 virus. E-management system for temples launched E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada CM Jagan Mohan Reddy felicitates Union Bank of India MD and CEO Rajkiran Rai G at the launch of the temple management system at Tadepalli on Monday | Express To ensure transparency in the administration of temples run by the Endowments Department, the State government on Monday launched the temple management system bringing all the temples under it. The system includes temple information, online services for dev- otees, temple profiles, asset management, calendar, details of income and expenditure. ehundi is one of the major features of the new system. Henceforth, devotees can log into the e-hundi of the temple management system and donate funds to any temple of their choice and the transactions will be monitored by the P4 CMO for transparency  .