KANNUR l thursday l September 26, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION India engaging Russia and Ukraine to help end war, says Jaishankar India has been holding talks with both countries to see if there is something it can do to initiate negotiations between them, the minister said talks exploratory, no peace plan India uniquely placed to facilitate talks Jaishankar said India does not have a peace plan or any suggestions on how to end the conflict. Rather, it is having conversations about ending the conflict with each of the two sides and keeping each apprised of what the other side is saying. He said to end the war there must be serious negotiations between the two, and these talks aim to initiate that ■ ■ Highlighting India’s unique position, the external affairs minister said there are not many countries that have the ability or the willingness to engage both Moscow and Kyiv at the same time India has not taken sides in the war. Instead, it has been engaging both countries, urging them to end the conflict through negotiations Zelenskyy says he has already invited India to the second peace summit 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 Lokayukta police to probe MUDA dirt against Siddu Special court directs the SP to register a case under land grab law Yat h i r a j u @ Bengaluru A day after the Karnataka High Court allowed investigation against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the alleged Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam case, a special court directed the Lokayukta police to probe the allotment of 14 compensatory sites to his wife Parvathy B M. The Lokayukta police has been asked to submit its report within three months. The special court in Bengaluru, which exclusively deals with criminal cases against sitting and former MPs and MLAs, also directed the Superintendent of Police, Mysuru Division of Karnataka Lokayukta, to register a case under the provisions of the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act and the Karnataka Land Grabbing Prohibition Act. This is in addition to provisions under Indian Penal Code sections 120B (conspiracy), 166 (disobeying law), 403 (misap- Siddaramaiah ‘Not scared of probe’ Siddaramaiah said he is ready to face any probe and will continue the legal fight. “We are not scared of investigation and are prepared for the legal fight. I said it yesterday and am reiterating it today,” he said propriation), 406 (breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 426 (mischief), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery of an electronic record), 340 (wrongful confinement), 351 (use of criminal force) and oth- er relevant sections of the IPC, under Section 9 (bribing public servant) and 13 (criminal misconduct) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. In his order, Special Court Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat ordered registration of a private complaint against Siddaramaiah, his wife, brother-inlaw Mallikarjuna Swamy, and one Davaraju J, among others, in connection with the MUD’s illegal allotment of the compensatory sites. The case pertains to 14 sites worth `56 crore being allotted illegally in an upscale Vijayanagar 3rd Stage for the land acquired at Kesare village, a down market area on the outskirts of Mysuru, due to alleged undue advantage taken by Siddaramaiah when in power. On Tuesday, the Karnataka High Court had upheld Governor Thawarchand Gehlot’s approval to conduct a probe into the MUDA case and the allegedly illegal allotment of 14 sites to the CM’s wife. Phase II done, heartening to see Kashmiris casting their votes, say foreign diplomats F aya z W a n i @ Srinagar The second phase of polling for 26 assembly seats in J&K on Wednesday recorded a healthy 56.05% tur nout, which could go up further. While brisk polling took place in five districts, there were no long queues in Srinagar, where the poll percentage for eight seats stood at 29.24%. However, 4.41% more voters turned up to vote in Srinagar as compared to the Lok Sabha polls in April-May when the percentage was 24.83%. A team of foreign diplomats visited a few polling stations and found it “heartening” to see Kashmiris casting their votes after 10 years. US Deputy chief of Mission Jorgan K Andrews, who was among the visiting diplomats Foreign diplomats after visiting a polling booth in Srinagar, for a first-hand assessment of the assembly elections in J&K on Wednesday | Zahoor Punjabi said, “It has been excellent and fascinating to see how India organises its elections and how thorough the preparations are. It has been very inspiring.” It looks very healthy and democratic, he added. The turnout was good in the three violence-hit districts in the Jammu region Reasi (74.14%), Poonch (73.78%) and Rajouri (69.84%) Even Ganderbal (62.63%) and Budgam (61.31%) in the Kashmir re- HC questions Dileep’s objection to illegal card access investigation unauthorised access to the memory card and pen drive while it was The Kerala High Court on Wednesin the custody of the Judicial First day sought to know why actor Class Magistrate Court, AngaDileep, the eighth accused in the mali, and the Principal Sessions 2017 actor abduction and sexual asJudge, Ernakulam. She also resault case, is objecting to an invesquested that the investigation be tigation into the illegal access of a headed by an officer not below the Dileep memory card while it was in the rank of an Inspector General of custody of the trial court. The HC Police and carried out under the noted that the state government supervision of the court with pedoes not have any objection to the riodic reports. What is your investigation. During the argument, the court (Dileep’s) “What is your (Dileep’s) objec- objection? This asked, “Does the petitioner have a tion? This is a matter purely becase that you (Dileep) are the one is a matter tween the court. A document pro- purely between who tampered with it?” duced in the court has been Advocate Philip T Varghese, the court. You are only an tampered with. Somebody has counsel for Dileep, told the court committed a crime. You are only intervener, you that the attempt is to place the an intervener, you can just submit can just submit blame on him without directly the matter the matter,” the HC said. saying so. The counsel for the survivor arThe petitioner said the inquiry HC gued that an investigation is esby the district and sessions judge, sential to identify the culprits and as directed by the High Court, had determine the extent of the transmission found that three persons — a former Anof the allegedly leaked video. gamaly court magistrate and two court The court considered the survivor’s pe- employees — accessed the memory card tition seeking a probe by a special investi- containing the visuals of the 2017 assault ● More on P4 gation team by registering an FIR on the and rape of the actor. E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Kochi In Comrade’s memory Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, CPM state secretary M V Govindan, senior leaders S Ramachandran Pillai and M A Baby, and KC MLA Mons Joseph at the Sitaram Yechury commemoration at Ayyankali hall in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday | B P Deepu Supreme Court tells lower courts to avoid misogynistic remarks S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @New Delhi The Supreme Cour t on Wednesday warned courts across India against making remarks that could be construed as “misogynistic” or directed towards a certain “gender or community”. “Courts, therefore, have to be careful not to make comments in the course of judicial proceedings which may be construed as being misogynistic or for that matter prejudicial to any segment of our society,” a five-judge bench said while closing the suo motu proceedings over Karnataka High Court judge Justice V Srishananda’s alleged objectionable comments during his one of his court hearings. The bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandarchud advised judges to conduct pro- 50 drugs Including paracetamol tablets and pan d fail regulator’s quality test ceedings conscious of the wider impact of casual observations on the community . In video clips that went viral on social media, Justice Srishananda was seen making some objectionable comments against a woman lawyer when she intervened in an ongoing hearing. The bench said it refrained from any further proceedings against Justice Srishananda considering that he had apologised, and to maintain the dignity of the judicial system. On Justice Srishananda’s remarks calling an area in Bengaluru as ‘Pakistan’, the bench said, “No one can call any part of India as Pakistan. It is fundamentally against the territorial integrity of the nation.” It also rejected demands by various sections of the Bar to halt the live streaming of Karnataka HC proceedings. The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation issued a ‘Not of Standard Quality’ alert for over 50 medicines. Telma H, Glimepiride and Shelcal C are among them | P7 Govt succumbs, orders probe into ADGP-RSS rendezvous narayi Vijayan government succumbed to pressure from inIn a curious move, the police side and outside the ruling LDF on Wednesday issued notices to and instructed the DGP to probe RSS pracharak A Jayathe ADGP’s meetings. kumar and others in Ajith had met two connection with the RSS national leaders on meetings that ADGP separate occasions and (Law & Order) M R during those meetings, Ajith Kumar had with he was reportedly acleaders of the Sangh companied by the fountainhead, includSangh’s state leaders. ing general secretary The meetings of the M R Ajith Kumar Dattatreya Hosabale, ADGP, who oversees in May last year. The the day-to-day functionnotices have been issued to the ing of the local police force, with persons who were with the senior RSS functionaries set off ADGP during the meetings for a huge political controversy, recording their statements. with the UDF alleging they were Earlier in the day, the Pi- held at the behest of the chief E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @T’Puram minister and Ajith played the messenger’s role. LDF ally CPI too has been critical of the meetings and questioned the ADGP’s intention. The CPM, however, has been downplaying the episode saying it was a personal matter. The CM, on the other hand, has been treating Ajith with a kid’s gloves and refused to remove him from the powerful post despite other serious allegations against him, including that of corruption and maintaining ties with gold smuggling rackets. The meetings had turned controversial especially following the disr uption of the Thrissur Pooram this ● More on P4 year. On run in rape case, Siddique moves SC for anticipatory bail P R a m d a s @Kochi Actor Siddique, who is facing arrest for the alleged rape of a young actress in 2016, approached the Supreme Court on Wednesday in an attempt to evade arrest after the Kerala High Court rejected his anticipatory bail petition. Siddique contended that the HC denied him anticipatory bail on the ground that his custodial interrogation is inevitable for proper investigation of the crime, especially since his defence is in total denial of the incident and his potency test is to be done. The HC had also cited the prosecution’s apprehension that he may intimidate the witness and tamper with the evidence. As per the document filed by Siddique, which TNIE accessed, total denial of the alleged incident cannot be a ground for custodial interrogation. The accused has a “constitutional right to remain silent”, said the plea filed through Advocate Ranjeeta Rohatgi. ● More on P4 EXPRESS READ Cabin of Arjun’s truck, body found Kozhikode: After a 72-day search, the cabin of the truck of Kozhikode native Arjun, who went missing following a landslide in Karnataka’s Shirur, was recovered on from Gangavali River. Authorities confirmed a decomposed body, believed to be of Arjun, was found in the cabin. P5 Labourers die trying to clean waste tank Thrissur: Two labourers at a bakery died while trying to clean blockage in the pipe of a waste tank under the building at Aloor in Thrissur on Wednesday. The deceased are Sunilkumar, 52 and Jithesh, 45. P5 Panel for donating Lawrence’s body; Asha not OK ARU N M @Kochi After three days of uncertainty the advisory committee , set up by the Ernakulam Medical College Hospital (MCH) has recommended handing over the mortal remains of CPM leader M M Lawrence for medical research, even as his daughter Asha Lawrence, who wants to bury her father as per Christian rituals, has decided to move the High Court against the suggestion. The committee constituted under MCH principal Dr Prathap Somnath made the recommendation after its hearing on Wednesday. Sources said it will take two to three days to complete the proceedings to hand over the body . At the hearing, M L Sajeevan, Lawrence’s son, presented two witnesses -- Rajan Sunny Pollayil and Abi Lazar -- saying his father had Asha lodges complaint with commissioner Asha Lawrence has lodged a complaint with the Kochi city police commissioner, alleging that she and her son were assaulted during the public homage to her father on Monday. The complaint names her brother M L Sajeevan, CPM district secretary C N Mohanan, and her brother-in-law Boban Varghese, among others. gion did well. “The Shri Mata Vaishno Devi seat in Reasi district recorded the highest voter turnout of 79.95%,” informed J&K Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) P K Pole. In Srinagar, which has remained a hot bed of separatist politics, people came out to vote for first Assembly polls without any poll boycott or militant threat. “It is first time that I am casting a vote. There are no jobs, power bills are very high and youth are falling to drugs. We hope that the elected government will provide some relief to the population,” said Javed Ahmed, a resident of Nowhatta area of Srinagar. Nowhatta was once a stronghold of militants and separatists where stone pelting used to take place every Friday . expressed the desire to hand over his body for medical research in their presence. Rajan is the son of Lawrence’s brother-in-law Sunny and Abi Lazar , is the son of Lawrence’s elder brother M M Lazar and an employee of CPM mouthpiece Deshabhimani. The committee found the witnesses’ statements were reliable. Moreover, Sajeevan had lawful possession of his father after his death, a report of the ● More on P4 committee said. Amid Rahul poser, Kangana eats her words on farm laws H a r p r ee t B a j w a & P r ee t h a N a i r @ Chandigarh/ New Delhi A day after BJP member of Parliament Kangana Ranaut’s statement that the three controversial farm sector reform laws repealed in 2021 should be reinstated made her party squir m and the Opposition go ballistic, the actor was forced to to eat her words. “I withdraw Kangana Ranaut my remarks. I have to keep in mind that I am not just an artist, but a party worker of the BJP. My opinion should not Rahul Gandhi be personal and my actions should align with the party’s stand. I regret and take my words back,” she said. Earlier in the day, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi sought to put the government on the mat, demanding an explanation from Modi whether he was opposed to the comments or is he “up to some mischief ”.
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