source: x dharmapuri l Wednesday l march 13, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l city EDITION HUge drug haul from Pakistani boat off the Porbandar coast In a joint operation, narcotics worth `480 crore was seized from a Pakistani boat with six crew on the Arabian Sea, 350 km off Porbandar coast It was a sea-air coordinated operation 60 packets of methamphetamine seized Following specific intelligence inputs, the Indian Coast Guard, Narcotics Control Bureau and the anti-terrorist squad coordinated their efforts on March 11-12 night. With the Coast Guard’s ships strategically positioned in the Arabian Sea, its Dornier was deployed to spot the Pakistani boat. The boat tried to scoot, but was chased, forced to stop and boarded ■ ■ The boat, crew and drug seized are being taken to Porbandar coast for further investigation. Gujarat ATS Superintendent of Police Sunil Joshi said nearly 60 packets of methamphetamine were seized This is the second major anti-narcotics operation carried out at the Arabian Sea, off the Porbandar coast in the last one month 80 kg of narcotics seized in the drug bust at Arabian sea 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 Manufacturing drags IIP growth to 3.8% in Jan Court gives life terms to 10 for Hapur mob lynching MON I KA YADAV @ New Delhi N a m i ta b a j pa i @ Lucknow A local court in Hapur on Tuesday sentenced 10 accused to life imprisonment for lynching a meat trader to death over rumours of cow slaughter. Qasim Qureshi, 45, was killed by the mob in June 2018. Another victim, Samaydeen, 62, was injured in the mob attack. The victims had not sought death penalty for the convicts saying they did not have any personal enmity against them. The court convicted the accused persons under Sections 302 (murder), 149 (unlawful assembly), 307 (attempt to murder), 149, 147 (rioting), 148 (being ar med with a deadly weapon) and 153A (promoting enmity between dif ferent groups on grounds of religion) of the Indian Penal Code. The court also slapped a penalty of `58,000 on each of the convicts. In 2018, Samaydeen had moved the Supreme Court seeking a thorough probe into the attack after the police sought to give a motorcycle accident angle to the lynching, in its first information report. The SC then directed the Inspector General of Police, Meerut range, to ensure the probe is in consonance with the guidelines issued in the Tehseen Poonawallah case judgment relating to mob lynching and hate crimes. The crime had created a nationwide buzz after pictures purportedly showing the victims being dragged on the ground in the presence of cops went viral on social media. Later, the UP police posted an apology, adding its personnel who were present at the spot but did nothing to save the victim would be proceeded against. The main accused, Rakesh Sisodia, had boasted saying he was not scared of going to jail. When he walked out of custody on bail, he bragged on camera that he was accorded a warm welcome. He also claimed that the police were on his side. Videograb of Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya (R) administering the oath of office to BJP leader Nayab Singh Saini as chief minister of Haryana, on Tuesday | PTI Khattar makes way for Saini as new Haryana CM INDIA’s industrial output growth, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), slowed to 3.8% in January this year from 4.2% in December 2023 owing to poor show by the manufacturing sector. According to government data released on Tuesday, the manufacturing sector grew at 3.2% in January compared with 4.5% in December 2023. The data also shows that the December IIP was revised upwards to 4.2% following a revision of core sector growth to 4.9% from 3.8%. The eight core industries are coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement, and electricity. These sectors constitute 40% of the IIP and serve as a key indicator to industrial growth trends. In January 2023, industrial output had grown 5.8%. In January this year, mining and electricity production rose Nayab Singh Saini was on Tuesday sworn in as the new chief minister of Haryana, hours after the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) walked out of the ruling coalition led by BJP’s Manohar Lal Khattar. It gave the BJP a shot at spring cleaning ahead of the general elections, as the uncharismatic Khattar, 69, made way for his loyalist Saini, 54, who is an OBC leader. Despite the coalition’s collapse, Saini claims he has the support of seven Independents. “We have asked the Speaker to conduct the floor test tomorrow as we have support of 48 MLAs,’’ he said. Saini represents Kurukshetra in Parliament and was named the Haryana BJP president in October last year. His appointment as CM is meant to d e f l e c t a n t i - i n c u m b e n cy against Khattar, who ruled Haryana for nine-and-a-half years. Sainis constitute around 8% of the total population in Haryana. The community is influential in Haryana’s north, including districts like Ambala, Kurukshetra and Hisar. The coalition collapsed as the JJP chief and outgoing deputy chief minister Dushyant Chau- Air Force authorities said the Tejas fighter jet was manned by a lone pilot, who successfully ejected moments before the crash. He was promptly evacuated to the Army Hospital Fire, explosion trigger panic After the crash, the jet caught fire and there was an explosion, which triggered panic in the vicinity. Local residents immediately alerted the fire brigade and the blaze was brought under control Party positions Haryana Lokhit Party: 1 INLD: 1 Independents: 7 Total seats: 90 Cong: 30 BJP: 41 JJP: 10 tala demanded that his party be alloted two of Haryana’s 10 Lok Sabha seats. The constituencies his party was intent on contesting from were Hisar and Bhiwani-Mahendragarh. Dushyant had won the Hisar Lok Sabha in 2014. Just two days ago, BJP’s Hisar MP Brijendra Singh resigned from the party as he anticipated that his seat would go to the JJP . The JJP is a breakaway faction of the Indian National Lok Dal. It appears to be in trouble as five JJP MLAs stayed away from a legislative party meeting in Delhi. These lawmakers are likely to form a breakaway group and could support BJP . As for Khattar, he could get a Lok Sabha ticket from Karnal. And sitting Karnal MP Sanjay Bhatia could be appointed the new Haryana BJP president, sources said. A Tejas aircraft in flames after it crashed near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan on Tuesday. (Inset: The pilot who ejected safely before the crash) | pti RAJES H ASNAN I & MAYANK S I NG H @ Jaipur / New Delhi IN the first such incident since its maiden test flight in 2001, a Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) of the Indian Air Force crashed near a residential colony in Jaisalmer around 2 pm on Tuesday during an operational training sortie. The pilot successfully ejected from the aircraft before the crash. There were no casualties. A court of inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident, the IAF said. The accident happened when the indigenously built fighter jet was returning to the Jaisalmer air base after taking part in the Bharat Shakti military exercise in Pokhran, which was witnessed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top military brass. Jaisalmer is roughly 100 km away from the exercise venue in Pokhran. Sources said the aircraft crashed into a five-room hostel for the Bhil community in Jawahar Nagar near Jaisalmer. There were three students in the hostel compound at the time of the crash but they were unhurt as the fighter jet damaged one of the rooms. LCA Tejas, which took to the air on January 4, 2001 holds significance for the IAF as it is set to replace the ageing squadrons of MiG fighter jets and become the mainstay of the force in the coming E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Chennai M Kamalesh S Monish G Ravichandran EXPRESS NEWS SERV I CE @ Chennai Four college students riding footboard were crushed to death when the bus on which they were travelling brushed against a container lorry parked on the roadside on the Tiruchy-Chennai highway near Sirunagalur village of Chengalpattu on Tuesday Police said the driver, who . realised late that the bus may crash against the stationary truck, tried to veer off the vehicle sharply but the students who were travelling on the rear entrance footboard got crushed between the lorry and the bus and died in the impact. Four others were also injured but police said they were out of danger. A case has been registered and an inquiry is on. Police said a case has been booked against the drivers of the vehicles and the bus conductor, but the conductor has gone underground. According to the Melmaruvathur police, the deceased were identified as M Dhanush (18) of Mogalvadi, M Kamalesh (19) of Ramapuram, S Monish (18) of Sothupakkam, and G Ravichandran (19). They were all students of a private college in Madurantakam. A police officer said, “Around 8.45am, several people, including college students, boarded a private bus heading to Madurantakam from Melmaruvathur. Some of the students, including the four deceased, were standing on the footboard. As the bus was travelling along the Tiruchy-Chennai Highway near Sirunagalur village, the driver tried to swerve to his right to avoid ramming into a container lorry that was parked on the roadside.  A day after the union government notified the rules for implementing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday asserted that CAA would not be implemented in Tamil Nadu. The Act is against Constitution, minority communities, Sri Lankan Tamils living in rehabilitation camps, and the diverse and secular nature of the country the CM said. , In a statement, Stalin said the BJP government has notified the Act in haste when the Lok Sabha polls are around the corner. “The CAA is against three killed as truck falls on van in erode Three people died and three others were injured when a sugarcane truck keeled over on to a van on the Dhimbam ghat road in Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve on Tuesday. The accident happened when the lorry driver tried to take a turn at a hairpin bend.  P5 First-ever crash of Tejas fighter jet in Jaisalmer, pilot safe years. The IAF has a sanctioned strength of 42 combat squadrons but it has come down to around 30. A squadron comprises 16-18 aircraft. Currently, the IAF has two operational Tejas squadrons. The first IAF Squadron to induct the Tejas was No 45 Squadron, the Flying Daggers, in July 2016. Flying Bullets, raised in 2020, is the second Squadron. Manufactured by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics, the aircraft is a potent platform for air combat and air support missions. Reconnaissance and anti-ship operations are its secondary roles. In February 2021, the Cabinet Committee on Security approved procurement of 73 LCA Tejas Mk-1A fighter aircraft and 10 LCA Tejas Mk-1 Trainer aircraft at a cost of `45,696 crore. In November 2023, the Defence Acquisition Council cleared the purchase of an additional 97 LCA-Mk 1As at a cost of `65,000 crore. The LCA Mk-1A will have updated avionics — Active Electronically Steered Radar, updated Electronic Warfare suite, and a Beyond Visual Range missile capability The . new variant will be capable of firing a number of weapons from increased stand-off ranges. Once this order is completed in the stipulated 15 years, IAF will have 40 LCA in initial configuration, over 180 LCA Mark-1A and at least 120 LCA Mark-2 planes. CAA is against people of India, won’t implement it in TN, says CM Stalin 4 students riding footboard die as bus hits parked truck M Dhanush Food inflation, which constitutes as much as 45.9% of the CPI basket, is still on the higher side as it came in at 8.66% in February compared with 8.3% in the previous month. Last year, it was recorded at 5.95%, data showed. “The key risk to inflation outlook remains from food prices which have been volatile, due to successive supplyside shocks,” said Guara Sen Gupta, economist at the IDFC First Bank. Pilot ejects before crash Alliance with JJP collapses; trust vote today H a r p r e e t B a j w a @ Chandigarh 5.9% and 5.6%, respectively, compared with 5.2% and 1.2% in December 2023. According to Aditi Nayar, chief economist of ICRA, the IIP growth is likely to remain at 3-4% in February . Meanwhile, the retail inflation, also known as consumerprice-based inflation (CPI), remained unchanged at 5.09% in February this year compared to 5.1% in January It was record. ed at 6.44% in the same month of the previous year. Members of the Students Federation of India (SFI) of Madras University holding a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act on Tuesday | P Ravikumar The Citizenship Amendment Act is against the Constitution, minority communities, Sri Lankan Tamils living in rehabilitation camps, and the diverse and secular nature of the country M K Stalin, Chief Minister the basic tenets of the Constitution and the welfare of the people of India who live in unity amid differences in language, race, and religion,” he said. A few hours after his statement, Stalin, in his tweet with the hashtag #NOC AA I n T a m i l N a d u , said, “The DMK has been consistent in its opposition to the CAA. We opposed CAA when it was in draft form. When it became law, the DMK protested against it. After coming to power, the party passed a resolution in the State Assembly demanding the withdrawal of the Act. When the union home sarath Man held for months-old human sacrifice merges party aismk with bjp Explaining his decision to merge his All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi with the BJP, actor Sarathkumar, who is likely to be given a key post in the state unit of the BJP, said he wanted to serve people by joining hands with the BJP | P4 Express News Service @ Coimbatore Five months after the Karamadai police began a probe into an alleged human sacrifice case, the suspect, G Muthu (43) of Puliyakulam near Ramanathapuram in Coimbatore, was held in Nilgiris on Monday . The suspect has confessed to killing the man as part of human sacrifice and performing rituals, police said. The identity of the victim, an elderly male, is yet to be established. According to police, Muthu worked as a labourer in a farm where the body was found in Coimbatore. He was living with his wife, mother and two daughters. After his wife and daughters broke their relationship with him a few years ago, he took to black magic and started performing rituals. On October 8, 2023, Karamadai police received information about a decapitated and decomposed male body found buried in a private farmland at Devanapuram near Thekkampatti. Blood stains were seen near the spot where the body was buried, and police initially thought that they could belong to some animals. Police thought the body could have been dragged to the spot by stray dogs and over a period of time soil got deposited over it. But after forensic tests revealed that it was human blood, police began investigating the human sacrifice angle. continued: p5 minister said CAA would be implemented, I said CAA will not be allowed in TN. Now, after the notification of CAA, I say this again firmly — the DMK will not allow enforcement of CAA in Tamil Nadu.” On Febr uary 12, through the customary address of Governor RN Ravi, which he refused to read, the DMK gover nment asserted that it would not permit the implementation of the CAA in the state. “There is an apprehension that the BJP-led union government has effected this law just for ‘electoral politics’, the CM said. express read DMK allots seats to Left parties, CPM loses Kovai Chennai: The DMK has allotted Tiruppur and Nagapattinam constituencies to the CPI and Dindigul and Madurai seats to the CPM for the LS poll. Sources said the DMK took away the Coimbatore seat and gave Dindigul to the CPM as the BJP is keen on fielding a strong candidate in Coimbatore. Sources said the DMK felt it must directly fight the saffron party to ensure victory in the constituency and hence the party retained it | P4