HYDERABAD  FRIDAY  DECEMBER 02, 2022  `9.00  PAGES 28  LATE CITY EDITION NOVEMBER GST MOP-UP GROWS 11% YEAR-ON-YEAR TO `1.46 L CR This is the ninth month in a row that the indirect tax revenues have remained above the `1.4 lakh crore mark COLLECTIONS 4% LOWER THAN OCTOBER FIGURE MANUFACTURING PMI AT THREE-MONTH HIGH However, this was 4% lower than October’s festival-driven GST mop-up of `1.52 lakh crore. The gross GST revenue collected in November 2022 is `1,45,867 cr, of which Central GST is `25,681 cr, State GST `32,651 cr, Integrated GST `77,103 cr (including `38,635 cr collected on import of goods) and Cess is `10,433 cr (including `817 cr on import of goods) | P10 ■ ■ Meanwhile, manufacturing activities in India touched a threemonth high in November as new orders and exports expanded, another set of data released on Thursday showed The S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index stood at 55.7 in November, up from 55.3 in October `1.68 lakh cr THE HIGHEST EVER GST COLLECTION, RECORDED IN APRIL 2022 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 Not afraid of being jailed: Kavitha MLC alleges that BJP uses ED, CBI to unnerve its rivals in States where elections are near EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE TRAINS GUNS ON MODI @ Hyderabad INCENSED over the Enforcement Directorate (ED) naming her in the remand report of the Delhi liquor scam, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MLC and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter Kalvakuntla Kavitha on Thursday said she was not afraid of going to jail. “Do you want to put me in jail? Then do it. It is the maximum that you can do. I am not afraid. But whatever you do, I will not stop working for the people of Telangana,” she asserted. The MLC said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was up to its old tricks again. “In any State where elections MEGA MODI ROAD SHOW Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an election campaign roadshow in Ahmedabad on Thursday. Spanning over 30 km, it covered 13 constituencies in Ahmedabad city and Gandhinagar-South | PTI District Narmada Navsari Porbandar Rajkot Surat Surendranagar Tapi Valsad Junagadh Kachchh Morbi Navsari Amreli Bharuch Bhavnagar Botad Dang Dwarka Gir Somnath Janmnagar Vote 73.02% 65.91% 53.84% 57.68% 59.55% 60.71% 72.32% 65.29% 56.95% 55.54% 67.65% 65.91% 57.06% 63.08% 57.81% 57.15% 64.84% 59.11% 60.46% 56.09% 61% turnout in Gujarat first phase The first phase of Gujarat polls on Thursday witnessed 61% turnout, 7% less than in 2017 AVERAGE VOTER TURNOUT 2002 2007 2012 2017 2022 Phase 1 seats 60.91% 60.62% 70.73% 66.95% 61% EVM snag in a few places Polling was largely peaceful across all 89 seats that went to polls in the first phase. Voting was halted in a few places due to malfunctioning of EVMs as well as control units and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPATs) but the faulty units were replaced and the process resumed 2 hurt as thieves open fire at Hyd jewellery shop EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad A jewellery shop owner and another man who had brought some gold to the store were injured in a shooting when unidentified shoplifters opened fire and escaped with gold worth `25 lakh from Mahadev Jewellers in Snehapuri Colony of Chaitanyapuri on Thursday . According to the police, the two injured have been identified as the owner, Kalyan Chowdary, 42, and Sukaram, 23, who hails from Vanasthalipuram. Two unidentified thieves barged into the jewellery shop pretending to be customers. They downed the shutters and demanded gold while opening fire at Kalyan. Neighbouring shop owners were i m m e d i at e ly alerted and they rushed to open the shutter. Meanwhile, the duo escaped on a bike. It is suspected that they came from Vanasthalipuram. Police sources said that the thieves may be known to Sukaram or are previous offenders who plan their heists by following a victim who is carrying gold. The value of the stolen gold is approximately `25 lakh. Police are inquiring if the thieves were aware about the transaction and followed Sukaram to the jewellery shop. Shop owners nearby say that they heard three rounds of fire and when they opened the door, the duo ran away . CONTINUED ON P2 HEINOUS ACT MLA’s PA, two others booked for raping SC woman EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hanamkonda IN yet another horrifying incident, Hanamkonda police on Thursday arrested Vemula Shiva Kumar, the personal assistant of Warangal East MLA Narendar Nannapuneni, and two others on charges of raping and criminally intimidating a woman who was staying in a private hostel. The accused were also booked under relevant sections of the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Police identified the other two accused as hostel owner Vemula Shoba and her relative Vemula Vijay Kumar, who runs a medical shop in the city . CONTINUED ON P3 Kavitha dared PM Narendra Modi to first explain what he had done for the people of Telangana before trying to defame the political rivals by including their names in scams in which they had no part. “If you think you can get away by using the CBI and the ED against us, you are mistaken because these arm-twisting tactics will not work in Telangana,” she said. are due, it is the ED that enters first to unnerve the BJP’s rivals. Then Modi enters to capitalise on the groundwork that the ED has done. As elections are scheduled for next year in Telangana, the ED and the CBI are in the State trying to scare ministers, MLAs and other TRS leaders,” Kavitha charged. The ED, in the remand report submitted with a Delhi court after the arrest of accused businessman Amit Arora, mentioned Kavitha’s name along with two others as being part of the ‘South Group’ that paid `100 crore to Vijay Nair of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as kickbacks in the Delhi liquor scam. “The 12% Poachgate: 3 accused get conditional bail E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad JUSTICE Chillakur Sumalatha of the Telangana High Court on Thursday granted conditional bail to the three accused in the TRS MLAs’ poaching case — hotelier Kore Nanda Kumar, priests Ramachandra Bharati and Simhayaji — who are now lodged in Cherlapally Central Jail. The accused were ordered to provide a `3 lakh personal bond and two sureties for like sums each and told to hand over their passports to the Special Investigation Team (SIT). They were also asked to not involve themselves in any unlawful activity apart from being asked to provide all assistance for the proper investigation of the case. The court also asked them not to tamper with the evidence in any manner, and should not by way of inducement, threat or promise, dissuade any person who is acquainted with the facts of the case, from disclosing them to the court or to police. Asked to appear before SIT every Monday Apart from that, they were barred from leaving the country without the court’s permission and asked to appear before the SIT every Monday between 10.30 am and 12 noon till the chargesheet is filed. The petitioners had to file separate affidavits before the court concerned disclosing the contact number, mail address and residential particulars. In case there is any change in the aforementioned details, the petitioners shall intimate the court concerned by giving separate fresh affidavits duly men- POCSO ACCUSED FORCED TO SERVE JAIN: PROBE PANEL A M I T M U K H E R J E E @ New Delhi A S H I S H S R I VA STAVA @ New Delhi ‘CLAIMS OF EX-JAIL SUPERINTENDENT FALSE’ After the video of jailed AAP minister Satyendra Jain getting a massage in the prison was circulated on social media, the AAP claimed he was actually receiving physiotherapy as part of treatment.“This massage was not voluntarily or out of love & affection, as claimed by the then Superintendent Jail but was in the nature of leisure for enjoying lavish lifestyle in jail by Satyendra Jain,” the committee noted. tioning the change, the HC said, adding that they should continue to do so till the filing of the final report. Any deviation from the above conditions would entitle the respondent to take appropriate steps for cancellation of the bail granted, the bail order read. During the hearing, Justice Sumalatha questioned L Ravichander, senior counsel representing one of the accused, about the basis for his request for release to which he responded by saying that no notice under Section 41A of the CrPC has been given by the police. The three accused were detained on October 26 but their remand was rejected by the Additional Special Court for ACB matters on October 27. Subsequently on the court’s order, the , three were detained once again on October 29, and this time they were remanded to judicial cusCONTINUED ON P4 tody . Live-streaming Korean YouTuber molested, 2 held E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ Mumbai MUMBAI Police on Thursday arrested two men for allegedly molesting a South Korean woman YouTuber while she was livestreaming from Khar area of Mumbai. Police swung into action after a Twitter user shared the video of the disturbing incident. The two accused, Mobeen Shaikh (19) and Naqeeb Ansari (21), were produced before a court, which sent them to oneday police custody . The video shows a man trying to forcefully kiss the woman, who protests and walks away Later, . the man along with his friend on a bike can be seen approaching her again. The Twitter user, who shared the video, said, “ streamA er from Korea was harassed by these boys while she was livestreaming in front of a 1000+ people. This is disgusting and some action needs to be taken against them.” In response, the YouTuber said, “Last night on stream, there was a guy who harassed me. I tried my best not to escalate the situation and leave because he was with his friend.” WITH THIS ISSUE CITY’S BEST WEEKEND GUIDE 28 PAGES, INCLUDING 16 OF INDULGE (TABLOID) SHOW YOUR FACE, CATCH YOUR FLIGHT VVIP SERVICE IN JAIL the AAP claimed he was actually receiving physiotherAT least five Tihar inmates, apy as part of treatment. two of them accused in POCHowever, Rinku clarified SO cases, were pressured by that he never got any trainthe Tihar administration to ing in physiotherapy and provide “special servthat his main profesices” to jailed AAP sion was to provide minister Satyendra mare services for Jain, said an inquiry marriage functions. panel that is looking “This massage into allegations of was not voluntarily VVIP treatment givor out of love & affecen to Jain in jail. tion, as claimed by The committee unthe then SuperinSatyendra Jain derlined that a retitendent Jail but was nue of jail officials was in- in the nature of leisure for volved in the service of Jain. enjoying lavish lifestyle in Tihar inmate Rinku, ac- jail by Satyendra Jain,” the cused of raping a minor, al- committee noted. legedly gave a massage to Meanwhile, another POCJain whose videos created a SO accused, Manish, was political storm a few days found to be involved in proago. “I have provided the viding fruits and outside massage to him (Jain) at the food to Jain. “Jail warden instructions of jail officials. used to deposit money in my Now I am being threatened. jail account card. By using I have not even taken a drop my card, I used to purchase of water from the cell of fruits from jail canteen for Satyendra Jain for giving Satyendra Jain. He depositthe massage,” the report ed money in my jail account said quoting his recorded card 3-4 times and each time confession. he deposited `6,900... I did After the video of Jain get- not provide services to Jain ting a massage in jail was willingly the report quoted ,” circulated on social media, Manish as saying. profit margin to the wholesalers was devised to extract half of it as kickbacks to the AAP leaders. As per the investigation carried so far, Vijay Nair (the key accused), on behalf of the leaders of AAP has at least received kickbacks to the tune of `100 crore from a group called South Group,” the report read. The TRS leader, addressing the media at her residence, said that neither she nor TRS ministers or MLAs were afraid of the Central investigation agencies. “Let them come and ask whatever questions they want to ask. We will give replies. We will cooperate with them,” she said, but described using the investigation agencies as the most heinous method to break political CONTINUED ON P4 rivals. Argentina go over Pole Argentina keep alive their hopes of claiming a third World Cup while Belgium’s Golden Generation are ousted Morocco players toss head coach Walid Regragui into the air to celebrate their win against Canada on Thursday. The team qualified for the last 16 for first time since 1986 | AP | P11 NEXT GENERATION COME ALIVE Forward Julian Alvarez, part of La Albicelete’s next generation, scored on a night Messi missed his penalty. Midfielder Alexis Mac Allister had scored the opener POLAND GO THROUGH ON NIGHT OF DRAMA Poland may have lost but they still went through on account of a better goal difference compared to Mexico, who beat Saudi Arabia BELGIUM ELIMINATED The Red Lions, who reached the semifinals in 2018, were ousted by Croatia. They needed a win to give their ageing golden generation another chance but only drew Today’s 8.30pm: South Korea vs Portugal, Ghana vs Uruguay matches 12.30 am (Sat): Serbia vs Switzerland, Cameroon vs Brazil REMEMBER Ethan Hunt in the Mission Impossible series? He simply shows his face to get access to his high security office. You could soon have a similar feeling in select airports in India for your domestic flight. From now, three airports in the country will offer the Digi Yatra service that allows domestic fliers enter the departure zones by just looking into a lens. “A static stare into a digitally wired lens is required to pass the security check,” a ministry official said. The service was launched by Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on Thursday . Digi Yatra is an app-based service based on facial recognition technology (FRT).The system allows travellers to pass through various checkpoints via a paperless and contactless process using facial features, captured in the form of digital contours and structure, to establish the identity which is linked , to the boarding pass. To use this facility a one-time registration , on the Digi Yatra app is required, using Aadhaar-based validation and a self-image capture. The data, Scindia said, is saved in an encrypted format at the airport using blockchain technology Infor. mation sourced from passengers’ phones and stored the airport will be purged 24 hours after the journey he added. , The service is at present being rolled out for domestic flights. In the first phase, it will be launched at seven airports, including the three where it began in Thursday — Delhi, Bengaluru and Varanasi. The other four are Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune and Vijayawada where the launch is expected by March next year. Fake CBI officer case: Granite firm owners summoned E X P R ESS N E WS S E RV I C E @ Hyderabad IN the case of Kovireddy Srinivas Rao, who was arrested for impersonating a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official, sleuths have discovered that the accused made deals with several businesspersons, including the granite business owners who were raided by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials recently. They have been summoned by the CBI to appear for questioning in New Delhi on Friday . Sources said that Srinivas met with the granite businessmen at a community (Kapu) meeting about 10 days ago. Four persons from Hyderabad had approached Srinivas asking the latter to resolve their cases pending with the CBI, said sources, adding that two other persons connected to granite businesses in Karimnagar had also met him over the recent searches by ED. It is reported that the business persons — Melapati Chen- chu Naidu, Uday Bhaskar, Srinivas Rao Penupotula, Jetti Srinivas and Satyanarayana — gave him `2 crore and an additional `25 lakh in form of jewellery to influence their pending cases before the CBI and other central agencies. Min, MP appear before CBI State Civil Supplies Minister Gangula Kamalakar and Rajya Sabha MP Vaddiraju Ravichandra appeared before the CBI for questioning in the fake CBI of- ficer case as witnesses. They were reportedly questioned from 11 am to 8 pm on Thursday Addressing the media later, . Kamalakar said that he met Srinivas Rao at the Munnuru Kapu Samavesham where the latter introduced himself as an IPS officer working with CBI. Kamalakar said he had taken a few photos and exchanged contact details during the event. “I have not committed any offence and shared everything with the officials,” the minister added.