Lakshya Sen COIMBATORE l thursday l august 1, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late CITY EDITION Lakshya and Kusale victories headline India’s day at the Games Shuttler Lakshya Sen overpowered Indonesia’s world number 3 Jonatan Christie while Swapnil Kusale entered 50 m rifle 3 positions final Chance for another medal in shooting Laskhya, Sindhu enter Round of 16 India’s third medal at Paris Olympics could also come in shooting with Swapnil Kusale qualifying for the finals of 50m rifle 3 positions. While Aishwary Pratap Tomar missed out, Kusale has a chance to add to India’s tally in the final on Thursday. Meanwhile, boxer Lovlina Borgohain (75 kg) advanced to the quarterfinals and is one win away from securing a medal ■ ■ Despite being in a must-win position, Lakshya Sen was not flustered. That he was up against World No 3 Jonatan Christie didn’t matter. In a contest that lasted less than an hour, Sen cruised past the reigning All England and Asian champion 21-18, 21-12 to enter the pre-quarters P V Sindhu, beat Kristin Kuuba 21-5 21-10 to reach last 16 | P11 2nd Consecutive gold for New Zealand women in Rugby sevens event 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 Infy gets `32K cr GST notice shock U m a K a n n a n @ Bengaluru An aerial view of Chooralmala, part of which was wiped off in Tuesday’s landslides; rescue workers could be seen looking for signs of life beneath the slush | Infosys, the second largest IT services company in the country has been slapped with , `32,403 crore GST evasion notice by the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI). The pre-show cause notice is for non-payment of GST from July 2017 to March 2022 towards expenses incurred by its overseas branch offices. The company in a BSE filing said Karnataka State GST authorities first issued a notice. Subsequently, Infy received a notice from DGGI. According to the notice viewed by this paper, “Infosys Ltd, Bengaluru is liable to pay IGST (Integrated Goods and Services Tax) under reverse charge mechanism on supplies received from branches located outside India to the tune of `32,403.46 crores for the period 2017-18 (July 2017 onwards) to 2021-22.” S Senbagapandiyan 249 and counting 1,500 rescued so far; 240 people still missing Almost 90% of houses in Mundakkai destroyed toll could go up as time runs out for rescue M a n o j V i s w a n at h a n @ Chooralmala FLATTENED houses, mangled vehicles, huge boulders, uprooted trees, and mud and slush everywhere. The twin Wayanad villages of Chooralmala and Mundakkai resemble graveyards after two landslides ripped through them in the early hours of Tuesday . According to sources, the toll has touched 249. And around 240 are missing. Their relatives wait in anguish as scores of rescue workers continue wading through knee-deep slush searching for signs of life. In Mundakkai, around 90% of the houses have been destroyed; they are filled with heaps of mud. The villagers were asleep when the mountains came crashing down, bringing torrents of mud, water and boulders. They didn’t have a chance to escape. The debris crashed into houses and buried them. The village, which was known for its scenic beauty and the green canopy is now , filled with mud. There is no trace of any greenery . The feet sink as one steps into the courtyards of houses. There are many open wells in the area that have been filled with mud, caution rescue workers. Death lurks around every corner and one reckless step can be costly . The Army, Navy, National Disaster Response Force, Coast Guard, Fire Force, Police, Civil Defence Force, and volunteers of NGOs are risking their own lives as they search for survivors in the slush. On Wednesday, the rescue workers brought 19 people who were stranded at a resort in Mundakkai to the relief centre and retrieved five bodies. In all, 1,500 people were saved from landslide-hit areas. However, their job is not over as many are missing and the task gets tougher as they reach remote areas. The rescue workers, most of them volunteers, are fighting inclement weather and hostile terrain. “My wife and eight other family members are missing,” said Soman of Mandapathil house in Mundakkai. “The house lies buried,” he said. “We are removing the debris of collapsed houses to search for missing persons. Trained dogs of the K9 squad have helped identify four spots,” said ADGP M R Ajithkumar. Hamas’ political chief Haniyeh assassinated Agencies Ismail Haniyeh Twin strikes 27 July: A rocket strike in Israelannexed Golan kills 12 children 30 July: Israeli strike on Beirut targets Hezbollah leader blamed for Golan attack 31 July: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh killed in Israeli attack on Tehran, says Iran In the most significant blow to Hamas since the start of the ongoing war in Gaza, its political chief Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran on Wednesday . Iran said Israel was behind the predawn airstrike that killed him. Israel is yet to comment. Just a day earlier, Haniyeh had attended Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s inauguration in Tehran. The assassination follows an Israeli attack on Beirut targeting a Hezbollah commander, who is said to have ordered a rocket attack that killed 12 children in Golan Heights. The attacks on two regional capitals have heightened fears of a wider conflict. “We consider it our duty to seek revenge for his blood,” Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said. There are also concerns that the attack may derail Gaza ceasefire talks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a meeting of his security cabinet on Wednesday to discuss potential blowbacks, The Times of Israel reported. As political head, Haniyeh played a key role in shaping Hamas’ foreign policy, but was less involved in its military affairs, Michael Milshtein, a Hamas expert, told AFP.  Full coverage: P11 Wayanad got 7% of its seasonal rain on July 30 J ITENDRA C HOUBE y @ New Delhi Kerala govt ignored our alerts: Shah The Centre had sent multiple warnings about floods and landslides, starting as early as July 23, but the Kerala government ignored them, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Wednesday in Parliament There was no warning: Pinarayi Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said only an orange alert was issued and the actual rainfall was much higher than forecast. He said a red alert was issued after the landslides Wayanad received extreme rainfall in the few days prior to Tuesday’s landslide, according to data released by India Meteorological Department. An analysis of the data shows that the district received as much as 7% of its entire seasonal rainfall in 24 hours (from Monday morning to Tuesday morning) and 21% of the total seasonal rainfall in the past two weeks. The district, which had been facing deficient rainfall since the arrival of the Southwest monsoon, dramatically jumped to the ‘normal rainfall’ category due to the extreme rainfall in the 24 hours between July 29 (Monday) and July 30 (Tuesday). For example, on July 28 (Sunday), the district received only 9 mm rainfall, which was 73% lesser than that day’s normal (32.9 mm) rainfall. In contrast, on July 29, it received 141.9 mm of rainfall, which was 493% above the daily normal rainfall. Privilege notice to 18 DMK MLAs valid: HC R SIVAKUMAR @ Chennai The Madras High Court on Wednesday set aside a single judge’s orders quashing the breach of privilege notices issued to 18 DMK MLAs of the previous Assembly including Chief Minister MK , Stalin, for bringing gutka sachets into the Assembly as part of a protest in 2017. Passing the order on appeals filed by Assembly secretary and the then privileges committee against the single judge’s ruling, a bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and C Kumarappan remitted the matter back to the speaker and the privileges committee for a final decision. Negating the arguments of senior counsel NR Elango, representing the DMK MLAs, that the privilege proceedings pending in an Assembly die with the dissolution of the Assembly, the bench said the very purpose of privileges granted to MLAs would become ‘meaningless’ if that was the case. “Utter chaos may ensue, every member will be motivated to not take the privileges seriously, thereby leading to breaches...,” said court, adding, , “Issues such as breach of privileges cannot be washed away after the dissolution of each and every Assembly These issues must be deliberated . to arrive at the conclusions in the best interests of the Assembly representing the people.” In its filing, Infosys said, “The Company believes that as per regulations, GST is not applicable on these expenses. Additionally, as per a recent Circular issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs on the recommendations of the GST Council, services provided by the overseas branches to Indian entity are not subject to GST.” Infosys paid all its GST dues, the company added. It cited a June 26, 2024 CBDT circular, which said that in cases where full input tax credit is available to the recipient, if the invoice is not issued by the related domestic entity with respect to any service provided by the foreign affiliate, the value of such services may be deemed as nil. Former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai, in a post on X said, “If this notice is correct this is Outrageous, a case of TaxTerrorism at its worst.” ISIL handlersU.N. in India recruiting lone actors: Top: A mother and daughter at a relief camp; Above: People searching for their belongings | A Sanesh / S Senbagapandiyan Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant — Khorasan is seeking to recruit lone actors through their handlers based in India, a report by the United Nations said