TIRUCHY l friday l may 17, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l LATE city EDITION An INDIAN legend bids farewell: Chhetri set for final match Sunil Chhetri, one of India’s finest footballers, announced that he would be retiring after the World Cup qualifier against Kuwait on June 6 Only behind Ronaldo and Messi In terms of the most goals scored by active international footballers in the men’s game, the forward is only behind Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. While the Indian forward has scored 94 goals, Ronaldo has 128) and Messi 106 A totemic figure Within a couple of years of making his debut against Pakistan, the forward very quickly became the heartbeat of the side before becoming skipper MAN FOR THE BIG MOMENTS ■ ■ Chhetri has had big moments but the first one that sort of announced his presence on the national stage was the AFC Challenge Cup final in 2008 when he scored a hat-trick in the final against Tajikistan That win helped India qualify for the 2011 Asian Cup, the first time India had reached the continental event since the 1980s | P11 150 Appearences so far. He is India’s most capped player 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 FIR filed against Kejri aide Bibhav Maliwal says she was slapped and punched, adding the CM knew about it and was at home U J W A L J A L A L I @ New Delhi AAP parliamentarian Swati Maliwal on Thursday gave her statement to the Delhi Police over her physical assault by Bibhav Kumar, close aide of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, at the latter’s residence a few days ago. Top official sources told this newspaper that Maliwal said Bibhav Kumar slapped her multiple times and also punched her belly She also al. leged that Kejriwal was present inside the house at the time of the assault and was in complete knowledge of what happened. The police subsequently registered an FIR against Bibhav Kumar, based on Maliwal’s What happened to me was very bad. I have given my statement to the police. I hope that appropriate action will be taken. The last few days have been very difficult for me — Swati Maliwal The police team at Maliwal’s house and (inset) Bibhav | PTI complaint. The FIR was registered under sections 354 (Assault or criminal force to wom- an with intent to outrage her modesty), 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (Criminal intimidation) and 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code at the Civil Lines police station. On May 13, Maliwal had alerted the Delhi Police after her assault but did not file a formal complaint. However on Thursday a two-member police , team, which included a senior officer from the Special Cell and an Additional DCP-rank woman officer, went to her residence and took around fourand-a-half hours to record her statement. Later in the day Maliwal was , taken to the AIIMS for medical examination. Parallely Bibhav Kumar has , been summoned by the National Commission for Women to appear in person before it on Friday at 11 am. Maliwal, who remained silent after the assault, finally posted on X that the last few days were very “difficult for her”. Rain alert for TN’s ghat areas on May 20 E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v ic e @ Chennai In a respite from the sweltering heat, several districts including Chennai received light to moderate showers on Thursday Red alert (iso. lated heavy to very heavy rain and extremely heavy rain) has been issued for one or two places in the ghat areas of Coimbatore, Nilgiris, Dindigul, Theni, Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli and Tenkasi districts on May 20. The maximum temperature is likely to fall gradually by 3-4°C at many places across the state during the next five days and it will be below normal to normal in most parts. While the intermittent overnight rain on Wednesday that resumed on Thursday brought cheer to Chennai residents, several regions of Tamil Nadu, including delta areas of Thanjavur and Tiruvarur, too, received moderate to heavy showers. Pattukottai (Thanjavur) received the highest of 16cm rainfall and Singampunari (Sivaganga) recorded 14cm and Mannargudi (Tiruvarur) 13cm during the 24-hour period that ended at 8.30am on May 16. The RMC in Chennai on Thur for isolated places in Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli, and Tenkasi districts till May 19. Continued on p5 F AYA Z W A N I @ Srinagar HEADS turned when former Jammu and Kashmir CM chief and National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah chose Baramulla over his comfort zone Srinagar. Omar, 53, is pitted against Peoples Conference (PC) chairman Sajad Gani Lone, who has the backing of the BJP . Baramulla is a stronghold of the National Conference but Omar or his father Farooq Abdullah has never contested from here. The Abdullahs have always preferred Srinagar, given their p a r t y ’s h o l d i n c e n t r a l Kashmir. Since 1971, NC has won Baramulla nine times, the Congress twice, and the PDP once. In 2019, NC’s Mohammad Akbar Lone won by over 30,000 votes, beating PC’s Raja Aijaz Ali, who polled over 1 lakh votes. The stakes are high this time as the LS poll outcome will set the tone for the Assembly polls later this year. Also, the political Illustration: Mandar Pardikar Can ex-chief minister Omar abdullah ‘Engineer’ Baramulla? Sajad Lone (left) and Omar Abdullah scenario has changed considerably since Article 370 was read down in 2019. Both Omar and Sajad are pitching for restoration of 370. Baramulla covers four districts covering 18 Assembly segments. Omar enjoys support in all four districts, while Sajad’s support base is primarily in Kupwara. Sajad, 57, is a mili- tancy victim as his father Abdul Gani Lone was assassinated. He was a minister in Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP-BJP coalition government on the BJP quota. However, what could tilt the scales is the entry of former MLA Engineer Rashid, who is currently in Tihar Jail following his arrest by the NIA in an alleged terror funding case. Total turnout 66.95% so far, says poll panel MUKESH R A N J A N @ New Delhi The Election Commission of India on Thursday put the cumulative turnout in the four phases of Lok Sabha elections at 66.95%. The poll panel in a statement said the updated voter turnout in the fourth phase of polling on May 13 was 69.16%, which was 3.65% higher than the corresponding phase in the 2019 general elections. This is the only phase where the turnout graph went up. In the third phase, the updated turnout was recorded as 65.68%, about 3% lower than 2019’s data of 68.40%. Likewise, the second phase recorded 66.71% polling as against 69.64% in the 2019 polls, down by about 3%. And the first phase turnout was 66.14% as against 69.43% in 2019, a drop of 3.3%. As many as 45.10 crore voters out of the total 97 crore on the poll rolls in 379 seats across 23 states and Union Territories have voted in the first four phases of elections. Three more phases are due with the last day of polling on June 1. The statement also listed the measures taken to encourage them to vote in good numbers.
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