The New Indian Express wishes its readers a Ugadi Our offices and press will remain closed today and there will be no issue of the paper on Wednesday HYDERABAD TUESDAY APRIL 09, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 18 LATE CITY EDITION COMBINED M-CAP OF BSE-LISTED COMPANIES HITS `400 LAKH CRORE The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms reached all-time closing high of `400.86 lakh crore on Monday amid a record rally in equities RECORDS 300% GROWTH IN A DECADE The combined market cap of BSE-listed companies zoomed 300% since March 2014 when it first crossed the `100 crore milestone. The `200 lakh crore mark was first touched in February 2021 and `300 lakh crore in July 2023—a mere nine months ago. During Monday’s trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 0.67% to settle at 74,742.50—up 3.4% year-to-date | P12 INVESTORS BETTING ON Q4 GROWTH HOPES ■ The unprecedented bull run in Indian equities comes amid rising retail participation as shown by sharp surge in the number of demat account holders from 36 million in 2019 to 151 million in 2023 ■ “Investors are betting big on Indian stocks on expectations of a strong growth momentum,” Prashanth Tapse of Mehta Equities said 266 STOCKS HIT THEIR 52-WEEK HIGH ON THE BOMBAY STOCK EXCHANGE ON MONDAY 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 Court rejects interim bail to Kavitha in excise scam Says prima facie material shows her involvement in alleged offence S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi EATALA RAJENDER TELLS TNIE KCR TAPPED EVEN HIS MINISTERS’ PHONES Full interview with BJP leader and LS candidate from Malkajgiri | P4 EXPRESS READ Ex-MLA’s son arrested in accident case Hyderabad: Over three months after he was named the main accused in a road accident case, Raheel, son of former Bodhan MLA Shakeel Aamir, was arrested by the Panjagutta police on Sunday night. A court remanded him to 14-day judicial custody on Monday | P2 IN a setback to BRS leader K Kavitha, a Delhi court on Monday denied her interim bail in the Delhi excise policy case. Rejecting the bail plea, special Judge Kaveri Baweja said the material presented by the Enforcement Directorate prima facie shows the Telangana politician is actively involved in the alleged money laundering offence, destruction of evidence, and attempting to influence witnesses in the case. Kavitha, the daughter of former Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao, had sought interim bail saying her 16-year-old son has exams and needs her ‘moral and emotional support’. The judge said there was no apparent reason why close relatives can’t provide moral support to the child, rejecting the argument that they can’t be a substitute for the mother to address the exam-related anxiety of the ward. The court noted that Kavitha, 46, can by no standards be conK Kavitha sidered a ‘vulnerable’ woman who could be made a scapegoat for committing the alleged offences, adding there is no compelling reason to grant her interim relief at this stage. Kavitha was arrested by the ED on March 15 and remanded in the probe agency’s custody till March 23, which was subsequently extended. Since March 26, she has been in judicial custody According to the ED, she is part of . the ‘South Group’ lobby, which allegedly paid `100 crore as kickbacks to AAP leaders in return for a big share of Delhi liquor licences. AAP cries foul as ED grills MLA, Kejri aide U J W A L J A L A L I @ New Delhi THE Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday questioned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s personal assistant Bibhav Kumar and Aam Aadmi Party legislator Durgesh Pathak in connection with the money laundering probe in Delhi excise policy case, evoking a sharp reaction from AAP that the BJP wants to stop it from campaigning in the Lok Sabha polls. Sources said Kumar was questioned to seek some clarifications on some documents in the excise probe, while Pathak was called in connection with the party’s 2021-22 poll campaign for the Goa assembly polls. Pathak was the A A P ’s i n - ch a r g e fo r G o a elections. Durgesh Pathak According to the ED, `45 crore from criminal activities were utilised in the electoral campaign of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for Goa. The ED had in its earlier chargesheets alleged that at least 36 accused, including former deputy CM Manish Sisodia and Bibhav Kumar, had destroyed, used or changed 170 phones to conceal evidence of ‘kickbacks’ worth crores in the alleged scam. According to the ED, Bibhav’s mobile phone IMEI number had been changed four times between September 2021 and July 2022. HAPPY KI OLID BANK KING S C SOLID BA Ugadi T&C Apply MORE PROGRESS WITH EXCEPTIONAL BANKING SUPPORT #SolidBankKiSolidBacking SBI Home Loans I Pre-approved Personal Loan Savings Account using video KYC I SBI Wealth I SBI Current Account and more To bank with SBI, visit: bank.sbi For assistance, call 1800 1234 | 2100 Follow us on Scan to know more Saudi push for India-Pak talks on J&K Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi THE issue of Kashmir figured in the talks visiting Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had with his Saudi Arabian counterpart Prince Mohammad bin Salman in Makkah. “The two leaders stressed the importance of dialogue between India and Pakistan to resolve the outstanding issues between the two nations, especially for the Jammu and Kashmir dispute to ensure peace and stability in the region,’’ their joint statement released on Monday read after the bilateral talks a day earlier. The two leaders also discussed the situation in Gaza and supported the peace process in accordance with the resolutions of UN Security Council C H A N G E S I N PA S T D E C A D E HC for roping in scholars to resolve row over celestial wedding at Bhadrachalam and the UN General Assembly and the Arab Peace Initiative “for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital”. New Delhi’s longheld position is that Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan and there is no question of any third party role. Diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan remain downgraded ever since 2019 after Article 370 that gave J&K special powers was read down. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished his newly elected Pakistani counterpart after the latter assumed power. Though things haven’t improved on the ground yet, the business community in Pakistan is pressing for resumption of cross-border trade with India. But New Delhi has always maintained that ties with Islamabad can improve only if it stop its terror factory . Recently, Pakistan denounced defence minister Rajnath Singh’s comment in a televised interview where he said India would track down and liquidate terrorists and even if they manage to cross the border. These comments came after Pakistan cited a Guardian report alleging that India had killed 20 people in Pakistan since 2020 as part of a broader plan to target terrorists residing in foreign soil. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE ated the presence of multiple religious irregularities concerning the celestial wedding, par ticularly emphasising changes made in the last decade. Murthy emphasised that the religious beliefs pertaining to Rama and Sita, as depicted in the Ramayana, cannot be disregarded. He argued against conducting the celestial marriage with the gotra and pravara of Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi, asserting that such actions would be a travesty of religious belief. @ Hyderabad JUSTICE NV Shravan Kumar of the Telangana High Court on Monday called upon senior counsels to propose the appointment of a scholar or a mutt to resolve the contentious issue surrounding the Ram Navami celestial wedding at the Bhadrachalam temple. The judge is presiding over a batch of writ pleas filed by one GTV Manindhar and others. Senior counsels DV Sitharam Murthy and Hariharan reiter- CONTINUED ON P6
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