Hamas confirms Sinwar’s death, says hostages won’t be released Hamas on Friday confirmed that Israeli forces killed its leader Yahya Sinwar. It added the Israeli hostages won’t be freed until there is a ceasefire. “Those prisoners will not return before the end of the aggression on Gaza and the withdrawal from Gaza,” said Khalil al-Hayya, who was Sinwar’s Qatar-based deputy. With Sinwar’s death, Al-Hayya is the seniormost Hamas leader and is among the probables who could head the outfit. In a video message broadcast by Al Jazeera, Al-Hayya said Hamas would continue its activities | P9 kalaburagi l saturday l october 19, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION 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 Lad: K’taka mulls cess on transactions of aggregators A s h w i n i M S r i pa d @ Bengaluru Labour Minister Santosh Lad said on Friday that the state government proposes to impose a cess on every transaction of aggregator platforms such as Swiggy Zomato, Dunzo and Ola, , and a welfare fund will be created for gig workers. The government is expected to place the draft Karnataka Gig Workers’ (Social Security and Welfare) Bill 2024 during the winter session in Belagavi in December. Lad told TNIE that the draft bill is likely to be discussed at the cabinet meeting next week. After this, it will be placed in both Houses during the winter session. Although sources said there is a proposal to impose 2% cess on each transaction, Lad said the government has not taken a decision yet. The government has no technology to keep track of the transactions and it will ask the aggregators to help it in P5 this regard.  Manipur Nineteen BJP MLAs in Manipur have reportedly written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking the removal of the state’s Chief Minister N Biren Singh | P8 Warrant against ex-RAW agent US court issues arrest warrant; 2nd unsealed indictment identifies him as Vikash Yadav Y e s h i S e l i & Ha r p r e e t B a j w a @ New Delhi/Chandigarh A day after the US said India had ‘removed’ a Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) agent Vikash Yadav for a murderfor-hire plot to eliminate Khalistani radical Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil, the Department of Justice has identified him as Vikash Yadav. On October 10, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Yadav by a New York court. The second indictment unsealed on Friday revealed the murder-for-hire and money laundering charges against Vikash Yadav, 39, also known as Vikas and Amanat. Yadav described himself as a field officer previously serving with CRPF and directed the plot from India. The indictment claims Yadav was the co-conspirator of Nikhil Gupta, 53, who was earlier charged and extradited to the US. “ alleged As last year (first indictment) we foiled an attempt by Vikas Yadav, an Indian government employee and his co-conspirator Nikhil Gupta to assassinate an American citizen on US soil. Today’s charges demonstrate that the Justice Department will not tolerate attempts to target and endanger Americans and to undermine the rights to which every US citizen is entitled,’’ Attorney General Merrick B Garland said. The FBI issued a wanted poster of Vikash Yadav and added him to their most-wanted list. The US Drug Enforcement Administration alleged that Yadav was the mastermind of the plot. “We charge that Yadav, an employee of the Indian government used his position of authority and access to confidential information to direct the attempted assassination of an outspoken critic of the Indian government _ here on the US soil,’’ it said. The indictment claims that on June 19, 2023, a day after the Nijjar murder, Gupta had told an undercover DEA agent — who he thought was the assassin-on-hire — that Nijjar was also their target and that they had many such hit jobs in the pipeline. Gupta added that there was no further need to wait to bump off Pannun. The charges, if proved, can carry a penalty of 10 years in prison for conspiracy and 20 years for money laundering. I n Ju l y 2 0 2 0 , P a n n u n was designated a terrorist by Union Ministry of Home Affairs. He is the founder of a US-based separatist group, Sikhs for Justice, which was declared a banned organisation five years ago under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. ED raids MUDA offices, seizes vital land records E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Mysuru In a significant development, sleuths of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) office and its Mysuru taluk office here on Friday morning. The raid was part of ED’s investigation into a land scam involving illegal transfer and allotment of plots to some people, including Chief Minist e r S i d d a r a m a i a h ’s w i f e Parvathi, under the 50:50 scheme for the land acquired from them for formation of residential layouts. express read Suspected black magic death in Nanjangud taluk mysuru: A 43-year-old man has allegedly fallen victim to black magic in Nanjangud taluk of Mysuru district. The deceased SadaP5 shiva hailed from Malkundi  Belagavi to host winter session from Dec 9-20 belagavi: The winter session of Karnataka legislature is likely to be held from December 9 to 20 at Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi, said Speaker UT Khader  P4 IA filed in SC to denotify 602 acres of forest land bengaluru: Karnataka filed an Interlocutory Application before the Supreme Court, seeking to denotify 602 acres in Survey No.1 in Gullahatti forest, Harohalli  P4 ED officials at the MUDA office in Mysuru on Friday | Udayashankar S The ED launched its investigation after a complaint by activist Snehamayi Krishna. Its sleuths examined numerous documents and seized some important ones. In his complaint, Krishna alleged that large-scale corruption and misuse of power had taken place in MUDA in land acquisition and allotment of sites. He also alleged that highranking officials were involved in the scam, which resulted in huge financial losses to the state government. The sleuths reportedly questioned several senior MUDA officials. A source in MUDA reve a l e d t h a t t h e s l e u t h s specifically questioned the officials about the sites allotted to Parvathi Siddaramaiah and sought original documents related to transfer of land.  P4 ‘Personal laws can’t stunt child marriage Act’ S U CHITR A K A LYA N M O H A NT Y @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Friday held that the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) cannot be stunted by personal laws and marriages involving children violate the free will to have a partner of choice. A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra issued a slew of directions to strengthen the legal framework to eradicate child marriages in the country These include set. ting up special courts to hear child marriage cases, empowering magistrates to pass injunction orders against reported violations, and formation of dedicated police units to prevent such crimes. Writing the judgement for the bench, CJI Chandrachud said child marriage violates the Slew of steps to prevent child marriages States, Union Territories to  appoint Child Marriage Prohibition Officers at district level; quarterly reports should be released Magistrates to focus on  ‘auspicious days’ known for mass weddings, to take proactive measures to prevent child marriages Create a designated portal for  online reporting of child marriages right to life and liberty ensured under Article 21 of the Constitution. “All children married as minors are denied their right to choice and autonomy, right to education, right to sexuality and the right to development of the child. Girls who are married as children are denied their right to health,” it said, adding that the children who are thrown into forced marriages are deprived of their right to development. While noting that the issue of whether the PCMA would prevail over personal laws was pending with Parliament for consideration, the bench suggested that the House may also consider outlawing child betrothals, which rob children of their free will to choose a partner. Keeping in mind the delicate socio-economic interplay in the matter, the bench emphasized on a community-driven approach for the success of the efforts to eradicate child marriage in the country “The law . will only succeed when there is a multi-sectoral coordination. Training and capacity building of the law enforcement officers needs to be there,” Chandrachud said.