The New Indian Express wishes its readers a Our offices will remain closed today. There will be no issue of the paper tomorrow KOLLAM l thursday l January 26, 2023 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l city EDITION Pay day, pay day: Women’s Premier League gets big The Indian cricket board (BCCI) announced on Wednesday that five WPL teams were sold for L4,669.99 crore Adani bid of L1,289 crore is the highest Board gets richer by L5,650.99 crore Having missed out on a chance to buy a men’s team, the Adani Group made the highest bid of D1,289 crore in the auction to secure Ahmedabad as one of the five franchises. Others include Mumbai Indians (D912.99 crore), Delhi Capitals (D810 crore) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (D901 crore). Capri Global (D757 crore) will be based out of Lucknow ■ ■ ■ After adding media rights value — sold for H951 crore — the BCCI has made H5,650.99 crore even before a ball is bowled at the WPL The average cost of a team — H933.99 crore — is 10 times more than the cost of what WNBA teams were sold for A total of 22 games will be played in the inaugural season A447.60cr Was Mumbai Indians’ bid in 2008. It’s K842 cr less than Adani’s buy 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 BBC docuseries row snowballs Jamia Milia Islamia thwarts students’ bid to show the film; Bengal univs plan screening ing of the documentary adding , that no permission has been A day after the Jawaharlal Ne- given for it. It also warned the hru University, University of students of strict disciplinary Hyderabad and a few campuses action if they fail to adhere to in Kerala screened the contro- the directives. versial BBC film on the 2002 Throughout the day, there Godhra riots, Left-afiliated stu- was heavy deployment of podent groups of Delhi’s lice in and around the Jamia Milia Islamia AK Antony’s university area. The tried to show the film police blocked around son quits but the administration party posts 1 km stretch of the and police thwarted road from both sides Congress veteran using anti-riot vehithe move. Hours before the A K Antony’s son cles and buses. scheduled screening, Anil quit all party Po l i c e h a d a l s o posts citing Delhi Police detained placed water cannons over a dozen students. ‘intolerant calls’ in front of the varsity and ‘abuses’ Deputy Commissioner gate to disperse protesfrom partymen of Police (southeast) tors in case of any over his tweet Esha Pandey said the ruckus, but it was not Jamia University ad- against the BBC used as the protest was ministration had in- documentary. P4 tackled immediately . for med police that Meanwhile, SFI said some students were creating it will screen the documentary ruckus on the streets following at Kolkata’s Presidency Univerwhich 13 students were de- sity on January 27 at an open tained, four of them SFI mem- air field. A separate group of bers, around 4 pm to ensure students said they will screen peace in the area. the documentary on February The action came after the 1 at the unversity. A similar university administration had event will be organised at the asked students not to partici- Jadavpur University by the All pate in any gathering or screen- India Students’ Association. UJ WAL JALALI @ New Delhi Biggest of Padmas to Mulayam, S M Krishna E x p r e ss N e ws Se r v i c e @ New Delhi FORMER Uttar Pradesh chief minister late Mulayam Singh Yadav, ex-foreign minister in the UPA government S M Krishna, tabla maestro Zakir Hussain and ORS pioneer Dilip Mahalanabis were among the luminaries selected for the country’s second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan. A total of 106 Padma awards were announced on Wednesday — six Padma Vibhushan, nine Padma Bhushan and 91 Padma Shri. No one has been named for EXPRESS READ Disqualified L’dweep MP gets HC breather Kochi: The Kerala High Court has suspended the conviction and sentence awarded to disqualified Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal in a case of attempt to murder Mohammed Salih, son-in-law of former Union minister P M Sayeed, during the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. Soon after the HC order, Faizal’s counsel approached the Lok Sabha Speaker seeking to withdraw the notification disqualifying him as MP | P5 16 pages, including 4-page pullout on Republic Day padma vibushan padma bushan padma shri Padma Shri for 4 Keralites Four Keralites are among the 106 honoured with Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honour. They are Gandhian V P Appukutta Poduval, Kalarippayattu exponent S R D Prasad, Cheruvayal Raman and historian C I Issac | P4 the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award. Eminent architect B V Doshi (posthumous), industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, educationist and social worker Sudha Murty, actress Raveena Ravi Tandon and noted singers Vani Jairam and Suman Kalyanpur were also on the list. Among the awardees are 102-year-old Mangala Kanti Roy the oldest living folk musi, cian of West Bengal, and expert snake catchers Vadivel Gopal and Masi Sadaiyan. Dr Ratan Chandra Kar was recognised for his exemplary work that brought Jarawa tribe from the verge of extinction during the measles epidemic in 1999 while 99-year-old V P Appukuttan Poduval, a freedom fighter from Payyanur in Kerala was honoured for his relentless efforts for the upliftment of the weaker sections of society for the past eight decades. Also among the Padma awardees is 81-year-old Ghulam Muhammad Zaz, the 8th generation Santoor craftsman from a family based out of Srinagar that is known for making the finest Santoors in Kashmir for the past 200 years. HC lawyer denies charges; experts call for comprehensive investigation P R a m d a s @Kochi The Kochi city police on Wednesday recorded the statement of Kerala High Court lawyer Saiby Jose Kidangoor who allegedly collected huge sums of money from clients to bribe judges for favourable verdicts. Meanwhile, legal experts and lawyers’ bodies called for a comprehensive probe into the matter. TNIE had on Monday published details of the scathing report by the HC vigilance wing that said Saiby collected lakhs from clients taking the names of Justice P V Kunhikrishnan, Justice A Muhamed Mustaque and Justice Ziyad Rahman A A. It is learnt Saiby on Wednesday denied the charges and said the money was collected as fees. The experts said the matter should not be brushed under the carpet. They said the allegations against Saiby will come within the pur- view of IPC Section 420 (cheating) and also attract offence under Section 12 (punishment for abetment of offences) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The Bar Council of Kerala can also suo motu initiate action against Saiby for professional misconduct, they said. “Advocates are not free to do anything they want. The bar council is bound to take action against the alleged misconduct of the lawyer,” said senior HC lawyer M R Rajen● More on P4 dran Nair.  Sania gets final call Playing her last Grand Slam tournament, Sania Mirza has a chance to win her seventh major title by reaching the Australian Open mixed doubles final with compatriot Rohan Bopanna on Wednesday The unseeded Indian pair knocked out third seeds Desirae Krawczyk and Neal Skupski 7-6(5) 6-7(5) 10-6 in the semifinal in one hour 52 minutes “I’m not a crier but I’m almost there right now, I feel the love for the last 18 years I have been coming here. It feels like home for me,” Sania said Sania-Bopanna will meet Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos of Brazil, who beat Olivia Gadecki and Marc Polmans 4-6, 6-4, 11-9