BENGALURU  MONDAY  NOVEMBER 21, 2022  `9.00  PAGES 18  LATE CITY EDITION ELON MUSK RESTORES DONALD TRUMP’S TWITTER ACCOUNT The decision was taken on Sunday after Twitter users narrowly voted to reinstate the ex-US president’s account DON SAYS HE WOULD KEEP AWAY FROM IT OVER 15 MILLION TAKE PART IN MUSK’S POLL Trump, who last week announced his presidential bid, said he would stick to his own platform Truth Social, founded in 2021, and sees no point in returning to the Musk-run platform. Even if Trump is eventually lured back to Twitter, there will be constraints like the obligation to wait for six hours before reposting his content from Truth Social ■ ■ More than 15 million people – some 6% of daily Twitter users — voted on whether to reinstate the former president’s profile, with about 51.8% in favour and 48.2% against The controversial account appeared to be back online as of Sunday morning with the last tweet dated January 8, 2021 88 million USERS WERE FOLLOWING TRUMP WHEN HIS ACCOUNT WAS SUSPENDED 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 Grandest sporting carnival on the planet kicks off in Doha; hosts lose to Ecuador in inaugural match Ecuador bt Qatar 2-0 Mangaluru autorickshaw blast an act of terror, say police Perpetrator wanted to place cooker IED at targeted place in coastal city D I V YA C U T I N H O & B A L A C H A U H A N @ Mangaluru, Bengaluru Fireworks go off at the Al Bayt Stadium during the glittering Opening Ceremony of the 2022 FIFA World Cup on Sunday | AP QATAR OPENS TO WORLD  With American actor Morgan Freeman’s dulcet voice and an Arabian theme with camels, the opening ceremony began with a promise of “everyone is welcome”  No leaders of major Western countries were seen at the ceremony  The presence of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi shows how far Qatar has come since the boycott that saw its sole land border and air routes cut off for years as part of a political dispute CONTENDERS IN ACTION EURO BIG GUNS ENGLAND AND NETHERLANDS WILL BE IN ACTION ON MONDAY ALONG WITH AFRICAN CHAMPS SENEGAL. TALKING POINTS AHEAD OF MONDAY’S FIFA WORLD CUP MATCHES... ENNER SCORES TWO IN GROUP-A CLASH CAN ENGLAND GO ONE STEP FURTHER? MANE BIG MISS FOR SENEGAL Qatar became the first World Cup hosts in history to lose their opening game of the tournament on Sunday, crashing to a 2-0 defeat to Ecuador as the World Cup kicked off. Two first-half goals from veteran striker Enner Valencia sealed a deserved Group A victory for Ecuador as Qatar’s first-ever World Cup finals match ended in disappointment There’s no dearth of talent in the England squad and the hopes are high this time. In last year’s Euros, they reached their first major final in 55 years. They will be hoping that Harry Kane & Co can do a repeat of 1966. With France, Brazil & Argentina in the mix, that will be a difficult task but it will be unwise to rule them out Sadio Mane is a household in his country. A leader by definition, he was instrumental in the team’s success. In his absence, the team will be hoping youngsters like Krepin Diatta will step up. They will be tested from the word go as they face Netherlands Group B: England vs Iran | 6.30PM; Group A: Senegal vs USA vs Wales (Tue, 12:30AM). Netherlands (9:30PM). GAAL’S GALLANT FIGHT Voter data theft: Police arrest main accused EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru A special team from the Ulsoor Gate police station on Sunday arrested K Ravikumar, who is the founder-director of the NGO Chilume Trust that is allegedly involved in the voters list scam. Ravikumar went missing soon after an FIR was registered in the case on Friday and he was caught on Lalbagh Road. The Ulsoor Gate police earlier arrested a software engineer, who had developed the Digital Sameeksha app. A senior police officer said technical analysis experts are interrogating the engineer, who had uploaded a video on social media and explained how to update their details on voter ID lists. The application allows sharing of feedback about the MLA of each constituency . MORE ON: P3 Louis van Gaal has had a very traumatic year. In April, after his team the Netherlands, qualified for the World Cup, he revealed that he was suffering from an aggressive form of prostate cancer and that he had had chemotherapy sessions. But here at the World Cup, he wants to produce one last grand hurray before he fades from view in a sport that offers little time for reflection and emotion. Samindra Kunti, who has followed Dutch soccer closely, gives us a peek into the coach and his mission from Doha... FULL COVERAGE: PAGE 13 MODI SLAMS RAHUL FOR WALKING WITH MEDHA DILIP SINGH KSHATRIYA @ Ahmedabad PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday targeted the Congress for letting antiNarmada activist Medha Patkar take part in Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, alleging the grand old party wants to destroy Gujarat. Addressing a meeting as part of the BJP’s campaign for the upcoming Assembly elections, he questioned the moral ground on which the Congress can seek votes when its leader is walking should-to-shoulder with a person who stalled the state’s development for decades. While canvassing for BJP candidates in the day he ap, pealed to voters not to waste their votes on the Congress, which, he alleged, doesn’t have a roadmap for development. He added that other parties in the country were compelled to speak about development during elections thanks to the BJP’s development policies. Medha Patkar had joined the Yatra last week in Maharashtra and photos of Rahul speaking to the activist with his hand on her shoulder were tweeted by the Congress, drawing flak from the BJP . Earlier, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel also raised Patkar in the poll campaign, highlighting her association with the AAP . Gujarat will vote in two phases on December 1 and 5. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 8. A mysterious low-intensity blast in an autorickshaw in Mangaluru city on Saturday got a twist as the Karnataka police on Sunday confirmed that it was an act of terror and said the passenger in the vehicle is suspected to have terror links. The blast occurred around 4.40pm on Saturday near Naguri in Mangaluru in the moving auto. The accused, who is suspected to be H Mohammed Shariq (24), a resident of Thirthahalli in Shivamogga district, hired the auto to go to Pumpwell, as claimed by the autorickshaw driver. Just a few metres from the spot where the auto was hired, the blast occurred. Police sources said the accused was carrying a pressure cooker, in which an IED had been placed, when it exploded, injuring Shariq seriously The driver sustained mi. nor wounds. Material like an electric circuit, wires, nuts, bolts and batteries were found at the blast site, confirming it to be a terror incident. Director General & Inspector General of Police Praveen Sood tweeted, “The blast is an act of terror with intention to cause serious damage. Karnataka state police is probing deep into it along with central agencies.” He clarified that the accused had carried an Aadhaar card of one Premraj, who is a railway employee. “He (Premraj) is a victim of identity theft. It’s confirmed. He has nothing to do with this incident,” he tweeted. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai too confirmed it as an act of terror, while Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said central and state agencies are looking into the incident. An eyewitness said it sounded like a big cracker blast with smoke coming out of the auto. “We know the auto driver, Purushotham, as he is a local resident. Both the passenger and the driver had burn marks on their bodies and we thought it was a blast because of a gas leak. We immediately shifted A cooker with detonator, wires and batteries found at the blast site | PTI them to hospital and informed the police,” he said. Police sources said the impact was minimal as Shariq was carrying a low-intensity IED. He is also an accused in a case of painting provocative graffiti on the walls of Mangaluru some time ago. “ low-quality IED can A be made with quarry blast items and ingredients used for firecrackers. Maybe he is inexperienced and could not make a powerful IED. He might have wanted to plant it somewhere and it went off during transit,” said a police officer on condiP4 tion of anonymity . Tharoor’s stature rises in Kerala after ‘unofficial ban’ C Y N T H I A C H A N D R A N @ T’Puram EYEING the chief ministerial post in the 2026 Kerala Assembly polls, Shashi Tharoor on Sunday kicked off his Malabar tour. The move, coming close on the heels of his running for the AICC president’s post, has made him the central figure in the Congress in the state, and has started polarising party leaders and workers for and against him. Kozhikode MP M K Raghavan, who spearheads the Tharoor camp, urged the party leadership to order a probe into the “unannounced ban” on Tharoor by the state leadership. The Kozhikode district unit of the Youth Congress had announced a seminar to be held on Sunday on ‘Sangh Parivar and Challenges to Secularism’ with Tharoor as the main speaker. However, they backtracked on the programme on Saturday without citing any reasons. The Tharoor camp sees this as a result of the party leadership’s intervention. Sources said the Congress leadership, both at the national and state level, is peeved at Tharoor for creating a parallel setup within the organisation. Dalit youth drink water from tanks, decry untouchability EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Mysuru JUST days after members of an upper caste in Heggotara village of Chamarajanagar taluk cleaned a mini-water tank with gomutra after a Dalit woman drank from it, Dalit youth on Sunday went around the village, drinking water from all such min-reservoirs to decry the practice of untouchability and discrimination. The youth, accompanied by the police, were led by Chamarajangar Tahsildar Basavaraj A message being put up saying that the tank water is meant for all and Social Welfare Department Deputy Director Mallikarjun. The Also, a message was painted on the tanks, making it clear that they are meant for public use and anyone can drink water from them. The officers held a meeting with community leaders, who said the entire village should not be blamed for the misdeeds of a few people. The officials said based on a complaint filed by Giriappa, a case invoking the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act will be registered against Mahadevappa, who is an accused in the case. The officers told the leaders that there should be no communal disturbance in the village in the future, and the Dalit youth were made to drink water from the tanks to send out a strong message of social CONTINUED ON: P5 harmony . I have directed the deputy commissioner to probe the incident and take action against the culprits who were involved in the heinous crime. It is a regretful incident... V Somanna, District Minister Suspect visited TN, got SIM with Ooty man’s Aadhaar ID Did Shariq meet Mubeen in Kovai? A probe is on to find out whether Shariq met Jamesha Mubeen, who died in LPG cylinder explosion in Coimbatore on October 23, when he stayed for a few days in Coimbatore in September Ooty man shared room in dormitory Police are questioning Surendran of Ooty whose Aadhaar details were used by Shariq to purchase a SIM card. Surendran had shared a room with Shariq in a dormitory in Singanallur E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ Coimbatore H Mohammed Shariq (24) of Thirthahalli in Shivamogga, the prime accused in the autorickshaw blast that occurred in Mangaluru on Saturday, had visited Madurai and Coimbatore and had stayed for a few days at a dormitory in Singanallur in September, Coimbatore police said on Sunday . Police are probing whether Shariq met Jamesha Mubeen, who died in the car blast in Coimbatore on October 23, when he was staying in Coimbatore. Police are also questioning Surendran (28) of Thummanatty in Udhagamandalam whose Aadhaar details were allegedly used by Shariq to purchase a SIM card. Sources said Surendran works as a teacher in a private school near Singanallur and Shariq had shared the room with him in the dormitory . Commissioner of Police V Balakrishnan told TNIE on Sunday, “Shariq had visited Coimbatore in September and stayed for a few days in a dormitory along with the person from Nilgiris. We suspect Shariq may have come to Tamil Nadu to evade Shivamogga police who were searching for him for jumping bail in a case. We are also investigating if Shariq had met Mubeen.” According to sources, the Mangaluru East police had arrested Shariq and U Sadath Hussain (50) on December 3, 2020, under UAPA for writing — “Do not force us to invite Lashkar -e-Taiba and Taliban to deal with sanghis and manvadis. Lashkar Zindabad” — on the compound wall of an apartment complex with black spray paint. THE two came out of jail after getting conditional bail from Karnataka High Court on July 23, 2021. Shariq later went missing, sources said. The Shivamogga police on November 4, 2022, arrested Mohammed Yasin and Maj Muneer Ahamed for suspected links with ISIS, and were searching for Mohammed Shariq in that case too.