thrissur l monday l December 06, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Actor Jacqueline stopped from leaving the country Officials stop Jacqueline Fernandez at Mumbai airport over a look-out notice on a L200-crore money laundering case A file image of Sukesh Chandrasekhar being arrested by Delhi Police | pti Recipient of conman’s expensive gifts? Nora mentioned in chargesheet too The Bollywood actor was named in an ED chargesheet filed on Saturday against smooth-talking conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar, who has a long record of duping the rich. The ED said the 32-year-old sent Jacqueline lavish gifts worth H10 crore, including a H52-lakh horse and a Persian cat valued at H9 lakh. On Sunday, Jacqueline was to fly to Dubai for a show ■ ■ The ED has charged Sukesh, a Bengaluru native, as well as his wife, actor Leena Maria Paul, for extorting H200 crore from a businessman’s wife while he was lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail Sukesh also sent gifts to actor Nora Fatehi. Recently, pictures of Sukesh and Jacqueline being casually intimate went viral online A1 crore worth of gifts that included a BMW car sent to Nora, reports say 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 Encounter goes horribly wrong in Nagaland, 15 civilians killed P r a s a n ta M a z um d a r @ Guwahati A blundered ambush by security forces on Saturday evening and its fallout led to the killing of 15 civilians in Nagaland’s Mon district, forcing the state government and the Army to order independent probes. Saturday’s civilian toll of 13 climbed after two others were killed when a mob of over 1,000 people attacked an Assam Rifles camp in Mon town, torching its canteen, gate etc. Several apex tribal organisations decided to withdraw from the state’s ongoing Hornbill festival in protest. Official sources said four of the six civilians injured during Saturday’s violence were admitted to a hospital in Mon while the remaining two were taken to Assam Medical College and Hospital in Dibrugarh. Local tribal organisations claimed 11 persons were injured and two were reported missing. Given the volatile situation and the likely breach of public peace and tranquility the state , government suspended mobile An Assam Rifles camp in Mon town of Nagaland on fire after a mob attack on Sunday, following the killing of civilians by mistake the previous day | Special arrangement internet/data service/bulk SMS in the entire Mon district. The district administration prohibited the gathering of more than five persons at a time in public under Section 144 of the CrPC. Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, who was in Delhi, rushed to Nagaland. Later in the evening, he chaired a meeting of his cabinet. He will visit Mon on Monday to attend the funeral. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “This is heart wrenching. GOI must give a real reply. What exactly is the home ministry doing when neither civilians nor security per- sonnel are safe in our own land?” In what looks like a total intelligence failure, defence personnel had ambushed eight daily wagers at Oting after mistaking them as militants. The victims were returning home in a pick-up truck from a coal mine on Saturday around 5 pm. Six of the civilians were killed and two others injured, a senior district official said requesting anonymity . When locals heard the sound of gunshots, they rushed to the area, leading to a retaliatory attack in which seven more civilians were killed. An Army jawan, who was g rievously injured, succumbed to his injuries. The locals also set ablaze vehicles of defence personnel. On Sunday morning, Nagaland’s Dimapur-based 3 Corps issued a statement stating that a specific operation was planned to be conducted in the area of Tiru in Mon based on credible intelligence of the likely movement of insurgents. “The cause of the unfortunate loss of lives is being investigated at the highest level,” it said, adding members of the security forces, too, suffered severe injuries. When pictures and videos of the slain civilians went viral on social media, it triggered a public outrage. People registered their protests out on the streets in some parts of the state. In commercial hub Dimapur, hundreds of them congregated outside the district magistrate’s office and staged a protest. The Naga Students’ Federation unfurled its flag at half-mast in protest against the killings. Insurgent group NSCN-IM, the key player in the Naga peace talks, described it as “black day” for the Nagas. P7 17 new Omicron cases push India’s tally to 21 E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur On a day the national capital reported its first Omicron case, Maharashtra had seven new cases and Rajasthan nine. All of Sunday’s cases were foreign returnees, mainly from Africa. With this, India’s tally has gone up to 21. The first person to test positive for the new coronavirus variant in Delhi had stayed in Johannesburg for week, before which he had travelled to Tanzania. Fully vaccinated and showing only mild symptoms, he has been admitted to the Lok Nayak Hospital — Delhi’s dedi- cated Omicron treatment centre. In Rajasthan, four of the nine Omicron cases are from the same family . Officials said they came from South Africa recently “They do . not have cough, fever, cold, soreness or other symptoms,” said Dr Ajit Singh, superintendent of the hospital where the patients are admitted. However, Jaipur authorities are worried as those infected with Omicron attended a marriage on November 28, two-three days before testing positive. Last year, some weddings were superspreader events for the virus. confusion over rising covid deaths in state Centre’s letter — urging state to control Covid situation — chose to ignore the fact that most of the recently-listed deaths are the ones previously left out | P2 Gag on health officials triggers row U nn i k r i s h n a n S @T’Puram The health department has issued an order restraining district-level officers from speaking to the media on crucial public health issues, including Covid management. The circular issued by Director of Health Services Dr V R Raju makes it mandatory for officers to take permission even if they have to share general information on crucial topics. The department chose to restrain the officers even as it says that several pieces of information that reach the public through various platforms are not credible. Meanwhile, several health activists have slammed the order saying the department should strive to build confidence and trust among people by bringing in transparency, instead of imposing curbs on senior officers involved in pandemic management in dis● More on P4 tricts.