Buzz on Musk’s India visit for Tesla plant The Tesla CEO will likely visit India later this month and announce plans to set up a new EV factory in the country, according to Reuters. Elon Musk will meet Prime Minister Modi during his visit, says the report. He will be accompanied by other executives. Another report says Tesla has reached out to Reliance Industries for a possible JV to help build the manufacturing plant and allied ecosystem | P12 KOZHIKODE l thursday l april 11, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l city EDITION 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 Photo: Parveen Negi Actor assault: Report points fingers at judicial officer E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Kochi ‘Congress has been reduced to a fringe party’ D i pa k M o n d a l @ New Delhi THE Congress has been reduced to a fringe party along with , people who shout separatist slogans, and they’re happy to be there, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in an interaction with TNIE. She was responding to a question on the BJP’s limited presence in the southern states. An animated Sitharaman, who is known for her plain speaking, did not take kindly to the notion that BJP has not been able to make inroads into the South. She was quick to point out that the Congress, another national party, has been equally ineffective in southern states – especially in Tamil Nadu, where the Congress has been playing second fiddle to the DMK. Where is Congress in Tamil Nadu, where is it in Andhra (Pradesh) or Odisha, asked the Finance Minister, who is a Rajya Sabha A national party like Congress member from Karnataka. today is only On southern states like Kerala and Karsecond fiddling nataka moving the Supreme Court over the state parties. fund transfers from the Centre, she said the India needs a Centre has not meted out differential treatgood solid ment to but opposition-ruled states are ponational party liticising a non-issue. and Congress is Kerala has moved SC against the Cenfailing this tre’s cap on its borrowing capacity, while country on that Karnataka has accused the Centre of not Nirmala Sitharaman transferring drought relief fund. On Kerala, the FM said changes in the borrowing rules were brought in after the CAG raised concern over non-budgetary borrowings by certain states, and that the Supreme Court has taken note of this. On Karnataka, she said the funds would be released once the Election Commission gives a go-ahead. She also sought to demolish the argument that states contributing higher to the tax pool are getting only a fraction of that in return from the Centre. “These are separatist kinds of arguments,” said the FM. Despite the criticism of electoral bonds after the recent apex court judgment, she said electoral bonds were an improvement over the past system of electoral funding. P9 Three persons — a former Angamaly court magistrate and two court employees — accessed the memory card containing the visuals of the 2017 assault and rape of an actor, an inquiry into the allegation that the card was accessed without authorisation and its contents copied and transmitted has revealed. The details of the inquiry report were produced by the survivor before the Kerala High Court along with a petition to quash the report and order a court-monitored probe by a special investigation team of the police. The plea said Leena Rasheed, Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha constituency is witnessing a high-voltage contest between the families of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar, both Vokkaligas. Karnataka’s Congress heavyweight Shivakumar’s brother Suresh is taking on JDS supremo Gowda’s sonin-law and noted cardiologist Dr CN Manjunath, who is contesting on a BJP ticket. While the BJP-JDS alliance is trying to wrest the only seat that Congress won in Karnataka in 2019, Shivakumar is leaving no stones unturned to retain hold over his home turf. The constituency has a large number of Vokkaligas and both sides are trying to woo them. T h e C o n g re s s i s banking on guarantee schemes while BJP will be hoping to ride the Modi wave and Dr Manjunath’s clean image. Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha Constituency is a mix of urban and rural voters, totalling 27.53 lakh, the second-highest in the state after Bangalore North. In 2009, in the first election after Bengaluru Rural constituency’s formation the previous year, former CM H D Kumaraswamy had won with a lead of 1.4 lakh votes. After Kumaraswamy resigned as MP, DK Suresh won the bypolls in 2013. The BJP has been winning all three LS seats in Illustration: Mandar Pardikar memory card and the pen drive in their personal custody for months and years without any valid reasons,” the survivor alleged. A forensic examination had earlier revealed that “the memory card was accessed on the night of January 9, 2018, and December 13, 2018, at 9.58pm and 10.58pm, respectively. The third access was on July 19, 2021, from 12.19pm to 12.54pm.” Survivor’s allegations Custody of pen drive, memory card with then magistrate Leena Rasheed is highly suspicious, needs in-depth investigation Inquiry authority believed Mahesh Mohan and Thajudeen who said the phones they used for “illegal access” had been destroyed/lost Based on this, the HC had directed the Ernakulam district and sessions judge to conduct a fact-finding inquiry into the alleged illegal access and file a report. Citing the report, the survivor said the access on January 9, 2018, was by Leena. The survivor said Leena magistrate kept the pen drive and memory card in her custody for no justifiable judicial need or reasoning. “It is evident from the report that misuse of the pen drive and memory card started from the JFMC, Angamaly, and I painfully realise that it was on the part of the then judicial officer,” said the survivor. However, the findings in the report said “if it was accessed, it was by the magistrate.” The survivor alleged this was a deliberate attempt to protect the magistrate who kept the drive and card in her custody for “about one year.” Saying the inquiry was ordered to maintain the purity of the judicial system, the survivor stated, “But it is painfully submitted that it occasioned in demonstrating that there exists impure element which requires to be dealt with the iron fist of law.” She alleged the sessions judge’s report gave a vague reason that “the magistrate has taken the records in this case to her residence for verification.” ● More on P6 SC junks Ramdev apology, Delhi AAP minister on ED radar steps down, roasts Uttarakhand govt labels party corrupt Says message must go out about consequences of flouting court order SUCHI T RA KALYA N M OHA N T Y @ New Delhi T HE S u p re m e C o u r t o n Wednesday refused to accept the affidavits of apology filed by yoga guru Ramdev and Patanjali Ayurved’s managing director Balkrishna over issuing ‘misleading’ advertisements in violation of the apex court’s directions, saying a message must go out to society at large about the consequences of violating the apex court’s order. A bench of judges Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah also blasted the Uttarakhand government for its failure to take action against Patanjali Ayurved and its subsidiary Divya Pharmacy The bench said . it looked like the state’s licensing authorities were “hand in glove” with Patanjali. “What did the officers do apart from pushing files... we will not take it lightly We will . rip you apart on bona fide,” said the bench in an unusually stern rebuke. The bench was hearing a petition filed by the B’lore Rural all set for titanic clash between DKS, Deve Gowda families A s h w i n i M S r i pa d @ Bengaluru former magistrate of Angamaly judicial first class magistrate court, Mahesh Mohan, a senior clerk attached to then principal and sessions judge – now a judge in the Kerala High Court – and Thajudeen, then sheristadar (similar to a registrar) of the trial court, Ernakulam, accessed the card. “A mere reading of the inquiry report indicated that several persons, including the judicial officers, had kept the Bengaluru — South, North, and Central for years, but it has never won Bangalore Rural since its formation in 2008. However, BJP candidates have always secured a decent number of votes. In 2019, former BJP MLC Ashwathnarayana Gowda got 6.7 lakh votes, while Suresh, then a Congress-JDS alliance candidate, won with 8.7 lakh votes. Now with the JDS as partner, the BJP is trying to make inroads here. Union Home Minister Amit Shah started his campaign in the state from Bangalore Rural and slammed Suresh for his remarks on the “demand for a separate state” for South India over alleged injustice. Dr Manjunath was the longest-serving director of the Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences & Re s e a r c h i n Bengaluru. Congress describes him as a “white-collar candidate” while projecting Suresh as a grassroots leader. a n u p v e r m a @ New Delhi Yoga guru Ramdev arrives at Supreme Court to attend hearing on Wednesday | pti Indian Medical Association that Patanjali was spreading misinformation through advertisements claiming its products cure certain diseases including blood pressure and diabetes. “The apologies that are on record are on paper. We think that having been caught on the wrong foot and noticing that their back is actually against the wall and having gone to town saying all kinds of things on the very next day of the order passed.... we don’t accept this affidavit” the bench said. It also pointed out that both of them attempted to “wriggle out of their personal presence” by moving applications seeking exemption claiming they were travelling abroad on that date. The applications were filed on March 30 but the flight tickets produced were booked on March 31, it noted. When senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for Ramdev and Balkrishna, said “people make mistakes in life”, the bench retorted: “Even after our orders? Then they suffer.” The court fixed the matter for hearing on April 16. A day after the Delhi High Court rejected Arvind Kejriwal’s plea against his arrest by the ED in connection with the liquor policy case, the Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday suffered another setback when Cabinet Minister Raaj Kumar Anand stepped down from the city government as well as primary membership of AAP . Anand, who was holding over half-a-dozen portfolios, said the APP was formed on anti-corruption plank but has now mired in the “same quicksand of graft”. He also alleged that the party has no place for Dalits. “This party doesn’t respect Dalit legislators, councillors and ministers. Dalits feel that they are cheated in the party he said. ,” Taking a swipe at Kejriwal, he said: “He had once said that the country would change once politics changes. The politics hasn’t changed, but the politician in him has changed.” Anand, 57, is under scanner SC agrees to list Kejriwal’s plea soon CJI D Y Chandrachud said he will look into Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s request for an early listing of his plea against a high court order upholding his arrest. He asked Kejriwal’s lawyer to send an email. Earlier in the day, Kejriwal moved the Supreme Court against the April 9 judgement of the high court of the Enforcement Directorate and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence in an alleged money laundering case. In November last year, the ED had conducted searches at 13 places, including Anand’s premises. The ED alleged that evidence relating to his investments and hawala payments sent to China in 2023 was found from some of his employees. According to AAP leaders, Anand was threatened by the ED. “It appears that he was under pressure. He was given a script and he had no choice but to read it,” AAP’s Sanjay Singh said. EXPRESS READ ED to interrogate CMRL officers in pay-off case ‘Declare Wayanad drought-affected’ Govt sidelines guv, forms VC search panel Veteran film producer Gandhimati Balan dies Kochi: The ED has issued a notice to Cochin Minerals & Rutile Ltd (CMRL) to interrogate its officials as part of a probe into the firm’s dubious transactions with various persons and firms, including CM’s daughter Veena T. The ED has asked CMRL’s officials to appear at the ED office in Kochi. P2 Kalpetta: The Wayanad principal agricultural officer has submitted a report to the district collector recommending the district be declared droughtaffected. It said there has been widespread crop damage in Wayanad and that 90% of local self-government institutions there are facing drought. P2 T’Puram: Opening a fresh battlefront with Arif Mohammed Khan, the state government has issued an order setting up a search committee to select a permanent VC in APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU), bypassing the governor. Conventionally, it is the governor who constitutes the panel. P2 T’Puram: Veteran film producer Gandhimati Balan, who paved the way for many classic Malayalam movies, passed away on Wednesday. He was 66. Balan produced and distributed over 30 films, including Adaminte Vaariyellu, Panchavadi Palam, Thoovanathumbikal, Moonnam Pakkam, among others. P2 Stalin: AIADMK a foe, BJP ideological enemy T M u r u g a n a n d h a m @ Chennai Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said the DMK’s main competitor in the electoral arena for the Lok Sabha polls is the AIADMK, but the BJP is the ideological enemy of the DMK-led INDIA bloc. “BJP is not just DMK’s enemy it’s the enemy of the people , as a whole,” the CM said. In an exclusive interview to The New Indian Express, the DMK president said while the BJP, by using its power as the ruling party at the centre and through media propaganda, was trying to create an image that it was gaining ground in Tamil Nadu, the people’s verdict will show its real standing in the state. Terming the Lok Sabha polls as a second freedom struggle that is being fought to save democracy, Stalin said the election is about deciding who should not continue as the Prime Minister. Dismissing opposition claims about the anti-incumbency mood prevailing in the state against his government, the CM said the state government has fulfilled most of its electoral promises and even implemented schemes that were not promised by the party. He blamed the mismanagement of previous AIADMK government and denial of funds by the union government for the delay in fulfilling all the promises. The CM also said there is a tacit understanding between the AIADMK and the BJP in facing the Lok Sabha elections as separate fronts as they are aware that if they contest together, they will not win the election. “Both parties will join hands after the elections,” he said. “The BJP’s attack against opposition on corruption is laughable,” Stalin said. “The BJP government in Karnataka was voted out mainly because of corruption. Also, electoral bonds and CAG reports have exposed the BJP’s corruption record,” the Dravidian advocator said. Refuting the charges on Katchatheevu, Stalin said the BJP is spreading falsehood on the issue and the PM is shedding crocodile tears without doing anything to retrieve the islet P6 from Sri Lanka.
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