HUBBALLI SATURDAY MAY 18, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 12 CITY EDITION RELIEF FOR SPICEJET OVER REFUND TO SUN GROUP’S KALANITHI MARAN Delhi HC on Friday set aside a single bench order that upheld an arbitral award asking SpiceJet to refund `270 cr to its ex-promoter DISPUTE DATES BACK TO JANUARY 2015 TRIBUNAL HAD SET 18% INTEREST TO BE PAID The dispute between Maran and SpiceJet dates back to January 2015 when Ajay Singh, who used to own SpiceJet before Maran, bought it back from him. Maran reportedly transferred his 58.46% stake to Singh in return for redeemable warrants, which were allegedly not issued to him. Maran then approached Delhi HC for payout, which referred the matter to arbitration ■ The arbitral tribunal gave its order in July 2018 and ordered SpiceJet to refund `270 crore to Maran. The tribunal also asked the airline to pay interest of 12% per annum on the amounts paid towards warrants and 18% per annum on the sums awarded to Maran if the money is not paid on time ■ SpiceJet then moved the Delhi HC to challenge the arbitral order | P10 5.46% SPICEJET STOCK CLOSED AT `63 A SHARE ON BSE ON FRIDAY, UP FROM THURSDAY’S `59.74 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 Sonia hands Rae Bareli fight to son P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi Congress leader Rahul Gandhi greets his mother Sonia Gandhi during a public meeting in Rae Bareli on Friday, as his sister Priyanka looks on | PTI Supplementary ED chargesheet names Kejri, AAP Eighth chargesheet in the money laundering case linked to the excise policy scam so far U J W A L J A L A L I @ New Delhi Court, the ED had said it was contemplating to make AAP an THE Enforcement Directorate accused and invoke Section 70 on Friday filed a supplementary of the PMLA to probe the aschargesheet in the money laun- pect of “vicarious liability”. dering case linked to the Delhi Last month, the Delhi High excise policy scam in which it Court had suggested while named Delhi Chief Minister hearing the case that a political Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam party could be brought within Aadmi Party as accused. the purview of the PMLA. It The chargesheet said a political party was filed before a spemeans “an associacial court here under tion” or “a body of invarious provisions of dividuals”, which falls the Prevention of within the ambit of Money Laundering Section 70 of the Act (PMLA). Special PMLA. Subsequently, Judge Kaveri Baweja the ED had likened the is likely to take it up AAP to a company and for cognisance in the Accused in 2 Kejriwal its director. capacities coming days. The federal agency This is the eighth had arrested Kejriwal, Arvind Kejriwal chargesheet filed by 55, also the AAP’s nahas been made the probe agency in the an accused in the tional convenor, from case in which it has arhis official residence case in his rested 18 people so far. personal capacity here on March 21. He Last week, a similar is currently out of jail as well as the complaint was filed by on interim bail. national the ED against BRS The ED had labeled convenor of his leader and former Tel- Aam Aadmi Party Kejriwal as the “kingangana chief minister pin and key conspiraunder various Chandrashekar Rao’s tor” of the Delhi exsections of daughter K Kavitha cise scam. It alleged the PMLA and four others. that he acted in colluOn Tuesday, the ED sion with his ministehad informed the Delhi High rial colleagues, party leaders Court that it will name the AAP and other persons. as an accused in the case. ED’s The case pertains to alleged lawyer had said there were con- corruption and money laundercerted efforts by the accused to ing in formulating and executdelay the process of framing of ing the Delhi government’s excharges in the case. cise policy for 2021-22, which Even before the Supreme was later scrapped. EXPRESS READ Three boys drown in Ramanagara pond Bengaluru: Three boys drowned in a pond at Achalu village near Ramanagara on Friday afternoon. The deceased have been identified as Rihan Khan (16), his brother Shabaz (14), and Sultan (13). Five boys, who went to the pond around 2.30 pm, were sitting on the bund when one of them slipped and fell into it. Two others jumped into the pond to rescue him. All three drowned. SC bids adieu to Justice AS Bopanna New Delhi: Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud on Friday bid farewell to Supreme Court judge Justice AS Bopanna, who will demit office on May 19, as he hailed the outgoing judge’s “authentic sense of justice”, punctuality and empathy. Born on May 20, 1959, Justice Bopanna enrolled himself as an advocate in 1984 and was appointed as an additional judge of the Karnataka High Court in 2006. STRIKING an emotional chord with the voters in Rae Bareli, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi said on Friday that she is handing over her son to the people of Rae Bareli with the promise that her son won’t disappoint them. Addressing a joint election rally at the meeting at ITI ground in Rae Bareli, the former Congress chief asked the people to consider her son as their own. “Rahul will not disappoint you,” said Sonia, flanked by her son Rahul and daughter Priyanka on the stage. “Everything I have is given by you. So, brothers and @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Friday sought the Election Commission of India’s response on a plea seeking directions to the poll body to upload polling station-wise voter turnout data on its website within 48 hours of polling for each phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. It gave the poll body a week to file its affidavit. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the petitioner, had sought the uploading of scanned copies of Form 17-C (record of the number of votes polled in a booth). A threejudge bench led by Chief Jus- AMETHI PITCH Rahul Gandhi said if he wins, he would treat Amethi and Rae Bareli equally on development. “If `10 is spent in Rae Bareli it would be the same for Amethi too,” he said deep,” she added. Sonia said the Gandhi family roots are deeply connected to Rae Bareli. “This relationship as sacred as Mother Ganga is with the farmers of Awadh and Rae Bareli. It started with a movement and continues till today she said. ,” Sonia said Indira Gandhi, who was an MP from Rae Bareli, had a special place for the constituency in her heart. “I saw her closely while working. She had immense affection for you,” she said. Sonia was first elected as an MP from Rae Bareli in 2004 and represented the seat till she vacated it early this after getting elected as a member of the Rajya Sabha. DKS offered me `100 cr to name Hubballi murder accused HDK as mastermind: Devaraje stabs woman, jumps off ESCAPE BID EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hassan GIVING a new twist to the Hassan sex scandal case, BJP leader and advocate Devaraje Gowda on Friday alleged that DCM DK Shivakumar had offered him Rs 100 crore to accuse former CM and JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy of masterminding circulation of pen drives allegedly containing obscene videos of Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna. Disclosing this to reporters on the district court premises here before the local police handed him over to SIT sleuths, Gowda alleged that the plan was to defame Kumaraswamy and end his political career. “Shivakumar forced me to target Kumaraswamy as the mas- WILL RAIN SPOIL RCB’S PARTY? A resurgent Royal Challengers Bengaluru will face five-time champions Chennai Super Kings in a do-or-die match that will decide the fourth and final team for the IPL playoffs in Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday. RCB’s fight will not just be with the Men in Yellow, but also with the Rain Gods as showers are forecast for Bengaluru on Saturday. RCB will need to win by at least 18 runs or chase the target with 11 balls to spare. A washout would mean CSK will sail to the playoffs. SC seeks EC’s response on booth-wise turnout Data S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y sisters, I am giving you my son. Consider him yours,” she said. Sonia said she has taugh her children the values that her mother-in-law and former PM late Indira Gandhi and the Rae Bareli had taught her: To respect all, protect the weak, fight against injustice for the rights of people. “Don’t be afraid, because your roots of struggle and traditions are very tice of India D Y Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra asked ECI counsel Amit Sharma what was the difficulty in putting up the voter turnout details on the website. Sharma replied that it was time consuming. “But every polling officer submits data on the app by evening? So returning officer has data of full constituency by the end of the day the bench ,” asked Sharma. He replied, “No, not immediately .” In the morning, the ADR moved the application as part of its plea to tally Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with votes cast through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). FIGHT GETS NASTY Swati Maliwal leaves Kejriwal’s house. She had earlier recorded her statement on the assault by Kejriwal’s aide Bibhav | PTI | P7 G Devaraje Gowda talks to the media from a police van in Hassan on Friday termind behind the distribution of pen drives. Shivakumar threatened me that you will be safe only if you target Kumaraswamy in the pen drive case,” he alleged. Gowda said Shivakumar allegedly formed a ministers’ committee comprising Chalu- varayaswamy, Krishna Byre Gowda and Priyank Kharge to deal with the issue. Shivakumar also hatched a conspiracy to tarnish the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the NDA government by linking Prajwal to the sex scandal. “When I refused to obey his directions, the DCM sent former Congress MLC MA Gopalaswamy to a private club where I stayed to give me Rs 5 crore,” Gowda alleged. Former MLA LR Shivarame Gowda also became a mediator between him and Shivakumar, he alleged and added that he has an audio conversation of Shivakumar targeting Kumaraswamy and Modi. “I will release it at an appropriate time,” P4 he claimed. Heavy rain forecast for next three days in parts of K’taka EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru INDIA Meteorological Department, Bengaluru, on Friday issued an orange alert, forecasting heavy to very heavy rain in parts of coastal and south-interior Karnataka from May 19 to 21. These places may see a dip in maximum temperature by 3 degrees Celsius. “Karnataka did not receive any rain from December 2023 to this April. However, Karnataka is expected to experience good rain in the next five days,” CS Patil, scientist and director, IMD, Bengaluru, said. He said light to moderate rain is expected across the state in the next five days. Orange and yellow alerts have been issued for Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Kodagu, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar and coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi. These districts are expected to receive 7 cm rain accompanied by thunder, lightning and strong surface winds ranging from 40 to 50 km per hour till May 21. IMD said more than 75% of southern and coastal Karnataka, and 25-50% of north interior Karnataka will receive rain. The maximum expected temperature will go down by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius in the coming days. Bidar, Kalaburagi, Raichur, Bagalkot, Vijayapura, and Yadgir districts will be unaffected by rain. train, caught near D’gere G SUBHASH CHANDRA @ Davanagere PERSONNEL of the Government Railway Police (GRP) caught Girish Sawant alias Vishwa, accused in the Hubballi Anjali Ambiger murder case, near Mayakonda in Davanagere district on Thursday night. Girish, who had fled Hubballi to Mysuru after allegedly murdering Anjali, boarded the Vishwamanava Express train to Hubballi from Arsikere Junction. An eyewitness said Girish, who was travelling in the general compartment, fought with other passengers over a petty issue. Based on the passengers’ complaint, he was questioned by the GRP personnel at Chikkajajur Junction. After he pleaded innocence, the GRP personnel let him go. However, when the train re a ch e d H a nu m a n a h a l l i , Girish followed Lakshmi, a passenger, to the washroom and demanded that she give him the gold chain she was wearing. When Lakshmi refused and screamed for help, Girish stabbed her, causing a deep injury on her left hand. Meanwhile, hearing her screams, some passengers rushed to the spot and thrashed Girish, who jumped off the moving train. The GRP personnel, who received this information, caught Girish who was lying injured near the railway tracks at Mayakonda. They admitted him to the Chigateri district hospital, where he re- A senior police officer checks on an injured Girish Sawant in Davanagere on Friday vealed his identity. The GRP personnel immediately alerted the Hubballi police, who were after Girish. The Hubballi police arrived in Davanagere around 11 pm and took Girish into their custody and shifted him to the KIMS Hospital in Hubballi. Lakshmi from Gadag, who was admitted to the Chigateri district hospital, was shifted to the SSIMS Hospital, where she underwent a minor surgery on Friday . According to Lakshmi’s husband, they were returning home from Tumakuru after visiting the school run by Siddaganga Mutt, seeking admission for their son, when the incident occurred. He said the GRP personnel helped him shift Lakshmi to the Chigateri district hospital. After the surgery at the SSIMS Hospital, Lakshmi is doing P5 fine, he added. Clash of surprise picks in Mumbai North Central S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai MUMBAI North Central Lok Sabha constituency, home to several celebrities and spread across many posh areas including Bandra and Vile Parle, is witnessing a close contest between renowned lawyer Ujjwal Nikam of the BJP and Mumbai Congress president Varsha Gaikwad. Interestingly neither Nikam , nor Gaikwad was the first choice of their respective parties. The BJP denied ticket to sitting MP Poonam Mahajan and wanted to field its Mumbai city president Ashish Shelar, who declined to contest saying he is not ready to enter national politics. Then Nikam was picked at the last moment. As for the Congress, it was considering former Maharashtra minister Naseem Khan, who was very keen to contest from the constituency. That Mumbai North Central has around 4 lakh Muslim voters was also a factor favouring his candidacy. However, alliance partner Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) proposed the name of Varsha Gaikwad as the joint candidate saying Muslim votes alone won’t be enough to win the election. “If Marathi candidate Varsha Gaikawad is fielded, then Shiv Sena (UBT) will easily transfer its votes to Gaikwad in the fiercely contested battle. The calculation is that there are over 4 lakh Muslims, 1 lakh Christians, 1 lakh Dalits, and a consider- able number of Marathi and non-Marathi voters. The BJP won the last two elections because of support from the Shiv Sena. But the BJP does not have it this time; so, it will face an u p h i l l t a s k eve n though it has a highprofile lawyer as its candidate,” said a senior Shiv Sena (UBT) leader, who did not wish to be named. According to reports, Gaikwad herself was not expecting to fight from Mumbai North Central: her first preference was Mumbai South Cen- Ujjwal Nikam and Varsha Gaikwad ILLUSTRATION: MANDAR PARDIKAR tral, the constituency of her late father Eknath Gaikwad. However, Uddhav successfully pushed his party’s candidate Anil Desai for the Mumbai South Central seat. Nikam is a well known lawyer, having appeared for several high-profile cases including the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist case, 1993 Bombay bomb blast case, Gulshan Kumar case, and the sensational Pramod Mahajan murder case. The BJP hopes his popularity will help, on top of the Modi factor. “To win, the BJP needs to get Marathi votes in significant numbers. Otherwise, history will repeat like in 2009, when Congress candidate Priya Dutt trounced senior lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani of the BJP in the Mumbai North Central seat by nearly 1,75,00 votes,” said a political observer. Towards this strategy, the BJP is trying to breach the Sena’s traditional Marathi vote bank by arranging rallies by MNS chief Raj Thackeray .
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