bhubaneswar l saturday l april 13, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late CITY EDITION govt asks Indians not to go to Israel, Iran amid rising tensions Caution AGAINST tRAVEL WITHIN iSRAEL In its advisory, the Ministry of External Affairs urged Indians residing in Iran and Israel to exercise utmost precautions about their safety and restrict their movements to a bare minimum. The US embassy in Israel has also curbed movement of its staff and their families “out of an abundance of caution” in view of a potential revenge attack by Iran on Israel MEA’s advisory comes amid escalating tensions in West Asia following Israel’s strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria on April 1 48 hours Iran’s threat is ‘real & viable’, says u.s. ■ The strike on Iran consulate in Syria killed 7 members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, including two generals. Tehran has vowed to avenge the attack saying no Israeli mission anywhere in the world will be safe from now on ■ “We deem the potential threat by Iran to be real, to be viable,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Friday iran may hit israel in a matter of hours, Wall Street Journal reported on Friday 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 NIA nabs B’luru bomber, mastermind in Bengal Alleged bomber Mussavir Hussain Shazeb and mastermind Adbul Matheen Taha were staying in a lodge under false identities B a l a C h a u h a n & MUK E SH RA N JA N @ Bengaluru/ New Delhi The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested two accused in the Bengaluru Rameshwaram Cafe blast — the alleged mastermind Adbul Matheen Taha and bomber Mussavir Hussain Shazeb — from West Bengal in the wee hours of Friday . The two were staying in a lowbudget lodge in Kanthi — a small town about 180 km from Kolkata in the state’s Purba Medinipur district. As per NIA, they were staying in the lodge under false names. The agency, in an official release, acknowledged the cooperation of central intelligence agencies and state police agencies of West Bengal, Karnataka, Telangana and Kerala in the professionally coordinated joint operation to nab the two terror accused. The NIA special court in Kolkata, where the accused were produced, granted three days transit remand to the agency to take them to Bengaluru. Taha’s arrest is a breakthrough for the NIA as his name Servitors to stand guard at Srimandir doors to stop entry of non-Hindus D i a n a S a h u @ Bhubaneswar IN the wake of frequent instances of non-Hindus entering the Shree Jagannath temple at Puri in recent days, the servitors have decided to take the matter into their own hands and guard the shrine’s doors to prevent such occurrences. Secretary of a servitor body Pratihari Nijog, Ram Narayan Gochikar said beginning ‘Pana Sankranti’ on April 14, two Pratihari sevayats (servitors) of the temple will stand guard at the ‘Singhadwara’ or Lions Gate to prevent entry of nonHindus into the temple. In the first phase, they will do so twice a day - once during ‘Dwara Phita’ ritual in the morning and then again during ‘Sandhya Arati’ in the evening. The Shree Jagannath Temple Act, 1955, prohibits entry of non-Hindus into the shrine. A proposal was earlier submitted by the Pratihari servitors to the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) which has been accepted. It is, however, yet to be vetted by the temple managing committee and the Chhatisha Nijog. As per the record of rights of express read 444 UTPs lodged in jails despite bail: OSLSA to HC Cuttack: The Odisha State Legal Services Authority (OSLSA) informed the Orissa High Court on Friday that 444 under-trial prisoners (UTPs) were in jails of the state despite being granted bail by courts.The court was hearing a PIL on overcrowding and other problems in the prisons. The PIL was filed by Krushna Prasad Sahoo in 2006 | P3 Former minister Kamala Das passes away at 79 Bhubaneswar/Balasore: Former Health and Family Welfare Minister and three-time MLA Dr Kamala Das passed away while undergoing treatment for lung infection at a private hospital in Cuttack on Friday. She was 79.Das was initially admitted to a private hospital in Bhubaneswar after she was diagnosed with lung related ailments a fortnight back. She was later shifted to a hospital in Cuttack and had been on ventilator for the last couple of days | P2 Shree Jagannath temple, Pratihari servitors have been assigned Singhadwara Pratihari Seva under which they are responsible for managing the crowd in the temple, keeping a watch on movement of devotees and maintaining guard during movement of ‘bhoga’ from the temple kitchen to the sanctum sanctorum, among other things. The seva was discontinued over a decade back owing to various reasons and currently, police maintain a vigil on the crowd entering the shrine. Besides, Jatri Sahayaks/Pandas (servitors engaged to assist devotees inside Srimandir) are used to identify non-Hindus in the temple. “Despite these arrangements, non-Hindus have been able to enter the temple on many occasions this year. Pratihari sevaks have been traditionally guarding the temple against such devotees and we had proposed to resume the Singhadwara Pratihari Seva recently. The SJTA has approved it,” said Gochikar. In the subsequent days, the number of Pratiharis to be deployed for the purpose and at other gates of the temple will be increased, he said. Sources said there are 120 categories of sevayats in Srimandir of whom, the majority are Suara, Maha Suara and Pratihari. Last month, nine Bangladeshi nationals were caught while entering Srimandir unaware of the fact that only Hindu devotees can enter the temple. Subsequently , two more such incidents have been reported. Accused being taken to NIA court in Kolkata on Friday| PTI figured prominently as an accused in several terror-related cases in Karnataka since 2019. The NIA announced a bounty of `10 lakh on credible information leading to the arrest of Taha and Shazeb. The two belong to Thirthahalli in Shivamogga district. “It was Taha who also worked on the escape plans of the duo and managed to evade arrest all these weeks,” a senior NIA official informed. In May 2020, the NIA had announced a reward of `3 lakh for information leading to Taha’s arrest in the Al-Hind Bengaluru module case. The module is said to be behind the murder of a Hindu leader in Tamil Nadu. The Rameshwaram Cafe blast on March 1 in the IT hub of Bengaluru injured nine persons. Shazeb allegedly kept the bag containing the IED near the hand wash area of popular cafe. He was spotted de-boarding a bus before entering the cafe with the bag. On March 28, the NIA arrested Muzammil Shareef, an alleged key conspirator, from Bengaluru after massive raids across 18 locations in three states; 12 in Karnataka, 5 in Tamil Nadu, and one in UP. A little comfort Decline in food and fuel prices helps cool inflation 5.51 5.89 5.34 5.45 4.78 Figures in % Rural 4.14 Urban big catch lMastermind Taha belongs to a self-proclaimed terror outfit ‘Al Hind IS’, which was formed in B’luru in 2019 lHe is said to be the common thread in almost all terrorist activities in Karnataka ever since 2019 Combd Total 5.66 mar 2023 Combd Total Combd 5.09 Feb 2024 (final) 4.85 4ta Mar 2024 (provisional) Retail inflation moderates to 4.85% in March M o n i k a Ya d a v @ New Delhi I.N.D.I.A will destroy N-arsenal, says Modi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday alleged that the I.N.D.I.A alliance leaders harbour such disdain for the country that they are purportedly plotting to dismantle India’s nuclear arsenal | P10 lighting up Loka Seva Bhawan illuminated on the eve of Capital Foundation Day in Bhubaneswar | DEBADATTA MALLICK INDIA’s annual retail inflation declined to 4.85% in March, down from 5.09% in February according to government data released on , Friday. The consumer price based inflation has remained within the RBI’s target range. The data showed that food and beverage inflation fell a wee bit to 7.68% in March from 7.8% recorded in February. Fuel inflation stood at -3.24%, a decrease from -0.77%. Cooking oil prices witnessed an 11.72% decline in March, while the price rise in spices slowed to 11.4% from 13.28% in February The . inflation in pulses decreased to 17.71% from 20.47% in January . However, vegetable prices shot up 28.34% in March, disturbing the kitchen budget of households. Cereal prices also rose 8.37% during the month. According to ICRA, the food & beverages inflation will remain above the 7% mark in April. It warns that the impending heatwave may push prices of perishables, heightening the criticality of a favourable monsoon in 2024 to keep food inflation in check. Meanwhile, another set of data showed India’s industrial production growth accelerated to a four-month high of 5.7% in February . Infrastructure and intermediate goods grew at 8.5% and 9.5%, respectively while consum, er durables contracted 3.8%. Despite anti-incumbency, Owaisi is frontrunner A j ay T o m a r @ Hyderabad Sitting at a juice shop opposite Mecca Masjid near Charminar on Eid-ul-Fitr, Noor Mohammed, a businessman and resident of Moghulpura, lamented the lack of basic amenities and civic infrastructure in Hyderabad’s Old City, the bastion of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). “ Fo r t w o d e c a d e s , [Asaduddin] Owaisi has been the MP from here. But the dingy lanes, traffic snarls, potholed passages and inundation of streets are testimony to the bad conditions in most areas under the constituency,” Noor remarked, drawing a comparison with Cyberabad and Secunderabad. Nevertheless, the 52-yearold businessman said the AIMIM boss wins because he voices the concerns of India relocates diplomatic staff from Sittwe to Yangon E x p r e s s N e w s s e r v i c e @ New Delhi IN view of the precarious security situation in the Myanmarese city of Sittwe, India has relocated its staff from its consulate there to Yangon. According to reports, several parts of Myanmar have been witnessing intense fighting between the military junta and resistance forces, which have already captured several towns, including military bases. “We have temporarily relocated our staff at CGI (Consulate General of India) Sittwe to Yangon. Our Consulate in Mandalay remains fully functional,” Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs, said on Friday. He added that India is closely monitoring the ongoing conflict between the military junta in Myanmar and the ethnic armed organisations. Jaiswal said the security situation in Myanmar remains “precarious” and is deteriorating. “Necessary steps have been taken to ensure the safety of our citizens,” he said at his weekly media briefing. the Muslim community on a nationwide platform. The Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency, which has a Muslim majority, has been an AIMIM stronghold for four decades since Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi first won as an independent in 1984. After six consecutive victories, son Asaduddin took over in 2004. In 2019, he defeated his nearest rival — the BJP’s Bhagavanth Rao — by over 2.8 lakh votes. Notably, the polling percentage (44.84%) in 2019 was the second lowest in the segment since 1957 when it was 41.1%. Six of the seven Assembly segments Illustration: Mandar Pardikar falling under Hyderabad are represented by AIMIM legislators. One, Goshamahal, is with the BJP, with T Raja Singh winning for the third time in 2023. With Feroz Khan, who contested from Hyderabad in 2019 on a Congress ticket recently indicating that dosti (friendship) has been forged between the AIMIM and the grand old party — the ruling party in the state is yet to even announce its candidate — Asaduddin’s main opponent will be the BJP’s new firebrand Madhavi Latha. Latha was arguably more popular outside the segment, at least till a recent TV interview. “I came to know about her only from Aap ki Adalat,” said a person at Alijah Kotla, one of the many singing Latha’s praises. The 49-year-old chairperson of Virinchi hospitals, who is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer, told this newspaper that the entire neighbourhood — Secunderabad and Cyberabad — has gone Continued on: P5 much ahead.