chennai l friday l may 24, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 38 l late city EDITION Kaamya Karthikeyan youngest Indian to scale mount Everest The 16-year-old mountaineer is also the second youngest girl in the world to climb Mt Everest from the Nepal side, the Western Naval Command said Accompanied by naval commander father Kaamya was accompanied by her father, Commander S Karthikeyan of the Indian Navy, during her journey to the world’s highest peak. The duo, along with their team, reached Nepal’s capital Kathmandu on April 6. After acclimatisation and several days of planning, her summit climb began on May 16 from the Everest Base Camp. She and her father reached the summit at 8,848 metres on May 20 Class XII on a mission to conquer the seven peaks ■ With the Everest climb, Kaamya has now completed six milestones in her mission to summit the highest peak of all seven continents. She is aiming to climb Mt Vinson Massif in Antarctica this December ■ Her Himalayan journey started at the age of seven with a high-altitude trek to Uttarakhand’s Chandrashila peak in 2015 student of Navy Children School, Mumbai 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 MEA ‘processing’ Google to manufacture Pixel phones, drones in TN request to cancel 1 Prajwal passport 4 2 C S h i v a k u m a r @ Chennai Return immediately, says Deve Gowda, warns grandson of isolation from family if he doesn’t Express News Service @ New Delhi / Bengaluru The Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday that it has received a request from the Karnataka government to revoke the diplomatic passport of Prajwal Revanna, the suspended Janata Dal (Secular) MP who is an accused in multiple cases of sexual abuse. “A request made by Karnataka government to cancel Prajwal Revanna’s passport is being processed under the provisions of the Passports Act of 1967,” said an official. The MEA’s reaction came after Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah shot off a second letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to do the needful to cancel Prajwal’s diplomatic passport. The Karnataka CM had written to Modi on May 1 as well. The 33-year-old grandson of JD(S) chief and former PM H D Deve Gowda is reportedly holed up in Germany after slipping out of India on April 26 using his diplomatic passport. Once the passport is revoked, he will not be able to fly through the normal channels. If he tries to use the revoked passport, he will be held and deported. “If he wants to come back, he will have to approach the nearest Indian embassy for a travel document that would enable him to return to India,” said an official. Meanwhile, Deve Gowda debt trouble Five of family found dead in Virudhunagar Express News Service @ Virudhunagar In a t r a g i c i n c i d e n t a t Thiruthangal in Virudhunagar, five members of a family, including a two-month-old baby, were found dead inside their house around Thursday noon. Police suspect that Lingam (45) and his wife L Palaniammal (47), both government schoolteachers, may have died by suicide after poisoning daughter B Anandavalli (27), son L Aditya (13), and Anandavalli’s twomonth-old daughter Sasthika. Though no suicide note was found, the baby had froth in the mouth, police said, hinting at possible poisoning. According to preliminary investigation, the couple had taken the extreme step due to debt of more than `3 crore. At 12.30pm, Thiruthangal police received a call from the neighbours of the family about the incident and a team rushed to the spot. “The neighbours grew suspicious as the family members had not stepped out of their house since Thursday morning. The couple were also not responding to the phone calls from their relatives. Some of the neighbours, who later went inside to check on them, found all of them dead,” sources said. The bodies were sent to the Government Medical College in Virudhunagar for autopsy. Preliminary probe revealed that Lingam had debt trouble since 2014. P7 W ITH THIS ISSUE CHENNAI’S BEST WEEKEND GUIDE 38 PAGES, INCLUDING 24 OF INDULGE (TABLOID) Legal question Prajwal travelled to Germany on his diplomatic passport without political clearance, which is a violation of rules. According to the MEA, it can revoke the passport only if a court orders it to do so asked his grandson to return to India immediately and surrender before police. “This is not an appeal... it is a warning. If he does not pay heed to this warning, he will have to face my anger and the anger of all his family members. The law will take care of the allegations against him, but not listening to the family will ensure his total isolation. If he has any respect left for me, he has to return immediately Gowda said. ,” Reacting to Siddaramaiah’s second missive to PM Modi, Union minister Pralhad Joshi said the Centre is ready to cooperate but there is a process to cancel the diplomatic passport. Earlier, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said that the process to revoke passports, including diplomatic ones, involves a court order. In a shot in the arm for the state’s efforts to become an advanced technology manufacturing hub, Google is likely to manufacture Google Pixel phones and drones in Tamil Nadu. Though some reports claimed that Google may invest billions of dollars for the project, there is no clarity on the quantum of investment or the number of jobs that could be created. Google may initially manufacture high-end Pixel 8 Pro phones at the Foxconn unit at Kancheepuram near Chennai, sources said. The move comes in the wake of several top technology companies, including Apple, shifting their production from China. Big global manufacturers are looking to diversify their supply chain beyond China amid geopolitical tensions and are considering India as an option. It is also learnt that Alphabet, Google’s parent company, may also commence drone manufacturing through its subsidiary Wing LLC, in Tamil , Nadu. The tech giant currently offers drone delivery services to businesses across the United States, Europe, and Australia, utilising a fleet of lightweight Other key recent investments EV manufacturer VinFast is investing $2bn for setting up integrated electric vehicle facility in Thoothkudi Tata Motors to invest $1bn to set up plant to manufacture Jaguar Land Rover cars in Ranipet 3 Key Apple supplier and gorilla glass maker, Corning, is investing `1,000 and autonomous delivery drones. Wing’s flagship drone is designed to handle payloads of crore to set up a cover glass mfg facility at Pillaipakkam near Kancheepuram Foxconn has signed an agreement with TN to invest ` 1,600 crore in a new mobile component mfg unit 5 Tata Electronics is planning to invest `7,000 crore for the expansion of its existing plant in Hosur up to 2.5 pounds (1.13kg). The new drones, however, can handle up to five pounds (2.26kg) without sacrificing range. The Seven more Maoists shot dead in their core turf in Chhattisgarh area E J A Z K AISER @ Raipur Security forces on Thursday shot dead seven armed Maoists in their core stronghold area along the forested terrain of inter-district border of Naraya n p u r- B i j ap u r i n s o u t h Chhattisgarh. The series of encounters against the Left-wing extremists is part of the strategy to free the conflictridden Bastar zone from the influence of the banned CPI (Maoist). The bodies of seven Maoists in uniform were recovered from the encounter site, officials said. Besides, five weapons and items of daily use were also seized. In all, 115 Maoists have been eliminated by the security forces since December, when aggressive operations were launched across Bastar. “Security personnel belonging to the District Reserve Guards from three districts — Narayanpur, Dantewada and Jagdalpur — along with Bastar Fighters and the Special Task Force launched an operation based on intelligence inputs. The Maoists opened fire and the forces swiftly retaliated from different directions after taking positions atop the hilly terrain. Intermittent firing still continues. Full details will be available after the forces return to their respective camps,” the police in Bastar said. Unconfir med reports claimed that several Maoists sustained injuries in the gunfight. This is the second major success achieved by the forces in Bijapur this month. On May 10, the forces killed 12 Maoists at Pedia village of Gangapur area in Bijapur. Security forces had specific inputs about the presence of Maoists from Platoon number 16 and Indravati Area Committee in the encounter area, which is normally considered a safe haven for the Maoists. The operation was meticulously planned to corner the rebels from different directions so as to block their exit. Union home minister Amit Shah had recently said the Maoist problem would be eliminated within the next two to three years. Strategic shift in tactics Water flow in Tamil Nadu’s Amaravathy river may fall if the check dam is built on Silandhi river in Kerala | Express Every summer between March and June, Maoists normally launch most of their attacks against the forces. For the first time, security forces have turned the tables and are attacking the Maoists in summer to take the psychological advantage over the rebels EX P RESS NE W S SERVICE @ Chennai Poll-bound Nandigram on edge as BJP worker killed S u l a g n a s e n g u p ta @ Kolkata Nandigram in West Bengal’s Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency was on the boil days ahead of the sixth phase of voting there on May 25 after a female BJP worker was killed and several others suffered injuries in an attack by a group of unknown persons. The BJP workers, alleging that the Trinamool Congress-backed criminals were responsible for the death of Rathibala Ari, blocked roads and torched shops. Police were deployed in large numbers to quell the unrest. There were reports of lathi-charge in the Sonachura area of Nandigram. Personnel from the paramilitary Central Ar med Police Force were also deployed. investment is happening after a Tamil Nadu delegation led by industry minister TRB Rajaa and other officials met Google executives in the United States a few weeks ago, sources said. There’s no official confirmation from Google or Foxconn yet on the projects. The DMK government has brought `8.61 lakh crore worth of investments to the state in its three-year rule, sources said. Google’s decision to localise production in India underscores its strategic effort to capitalise on the growing smartphone market in the region. The local BJP leadership said party supporters periodically conduct night patrolling in the Sonachura area during elections to deter anti-social elements. In the wee hours of Thursday when a patrol was go, ing on, a group of unknown men came in motorcycles and attacked the patrolling team with sharp weapons, local BJP leader Meghnad Pal said. “In that attack, Rotibala was killed. We strongly believe these unknown miscreants were linked to Trinamool Congress,” Pal said. The incident comes days after Mamata vowed to take revenge for her 2021 Assembly elections defeat in Nandigram. The Election Commission has sought a report from district administration. CM asks Pinarayi to stop check dam work on Silandhi Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday wrote a letter to his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan, urging the Kerala government to suspend the work on construction of a check dam across the Silandhi river. To uphold the friendly relationship between Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the check dam work must be suspended until a solution can be found for the issue, the CM said in his letter. Referring to the reports about the Kerala government constructing a check dam across the Silandhi river, which is part of the Pambaru (Amaravathy) sub-basin, Stalin said there is an apprehension among the farmers of Tamil Nadu that the proposed check dam may drastically reduce the flow of water in Amaravathy river. Stalin also urged the Kerala CM to provide the present status of the check dam at Silandhi river and the Master Plan for Bhavani and Amaravathi (Pambaru) sub-basins to Tamil Nadu since this information has not been submitted either to the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) or to the Tamil Nadu government. Stalin pointed out that the Tamil Nadu water resources secretary had already sought this information from the officials of the Kerala irrigation department. CONTINUED ON P7 e x p r e s s r ea d Tirunelveli Cong president death case transferred to the CB-CID Mumbai factory blast kills 8 Firefighters try to extinguish a fire that broke out due to a boiler blast in a chemicals factory at Dombivli in Thane district on Thursday. At least eight workers died and 60 others were injured in the explosion | PTI Chennai: The case of suspicious death of Tirunelveli East District Congress president KPK Jeyakumar Dhanasingh was transferred to CB-CID on Thursday, based on DGP Shankar Jiwal’s orders. Jeyakumar’s body was found at his farm at Karaisuthuputhur near Thisaiyanvilai in Tirunelveli on May 4, two days after he went missing | P4 Mehbooba battling for honour, PDP redemption on her home turf F aya z W a n i @ Srinagar Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti, 65, is facing the toughest of electoral battle in her political career spanning over three decades. She is contesting from the newly carved out AnantnagRajouri Lok Sabha seat, which goes to the polls on May 25. It’s a must-win duel for her to enhance her political stature and revive the fortunes of her party ahead of the Assembly polls due before September this year. The stakes are very high since she is contesting on her home turf, which once was a bastion of the Muftis and the PDP . The PDP has been weak- ened considerably by desertions since the fall of its coalition government with the BJP in June 2018. Mehboob a ’s p o p u l a r i t y Illustration: Mandar Pardikar Mehbooba Mufti, Mian Altaf and Zafar Manhas dived when her party forged an alliance with the BJP in 2014 after contesting as rivals. Her handling of the 2016 unrest in the Valley, too, drew widespread criticism. Mehbooba is pitted against the National Conference’s (NC) Mian Altaf and Apni Party’s Zafar Manhas. She is campaigning extensively in both the border districts of Poonch and Rajouri as well as Anantnag, Kulgam and Shopian in south Kashmir. While Mehbooba is fighting on her own, Altaf ’s NC is supported by the Congress, and Man- has is banking on the tacit support of the BJP . To shake off the taint of aligning with the BJP, Mehbooba took a hard line against the Centre’s decision to read down Article 370 of the Constitution. The dominant sentiment in the Valley is still in favour of restoring Article 370, which gave the erstwhile J&K state special status. In the newly carved out Anantnag-Rajouri constituency Mehbooba is banking on her , traditional support base in Anantnag, Kulgam and Shopan districts while also reaching out to the Gujjars, Bakerwals and especially the Pahari community (which was recently granted Scheduled Tribe sta- tus) in Poonch and Rajouri. Poonch and Rajouri were added to the erstwhile Anantnag parliamentary constituency after the delimitation exercise. Both Poonch and Rajouri districts have sizable populations of Gujjars, Bakerwals and Paharis. It has led to parties realigning their strategies. The NC’s Altaf is a prominent Gujjar leader in Poonch and Rajouri districts while Manhas is a Pahari leader. NC vice president Omar Abdullah snubbing the PDF by ruling out any alliance with it could go in her favour if the PDP can channelise the slight to drum up support and fire up the cadre.
Express Network Private Limited publishes thirty three E-paper editions of The New Indian Express newspaper , thirty two E-paper editions of Dinamani, one E-paper edition of The Morning Standard, one E-paper edition of Malayalam Vaarika magazine and one E-paper edition of the Indulge - The Morning Standard, Kolkatta.