KALABURAGI  SUNDAY  OCTOBER 20, 2024  `12.00  PAGES 24  CITY EDITION HEZBOLLAH DRONE EXPLODES NEAR NETANYAHU’S HOUSE IN CAESAREA 1 DEAD, 4 HURT AS 180 ROCKETS FIRED AT ISRAEL In addition to the drone launched at Netanyahu’s private residence in the coastal town, Israel’s military said around 180 projectiles were fired in two separate barrages at northern Israel from Lebanon on Saturday. A 50-yearold man was killed after being hit by shrapnel while sitting in his car in northern Israel and four others were injured, Israel’s medical services said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the drone targeted the PM’s private residence; Netanyahu was not home at that time ■ 1,418 IDF POUNDS GAZA, AT LEAST 50 PEOPLE KILLED ■ ■ Hezbollah has not claimed responsibility for the drone attack but said it has launched several rockets at northern and central Israel | P9 Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Saturday continued to press ahead with its armed offensive against Hamas militants still operating from Gaza 50 people, including kids, were reportedly killed in Gaza in past 24 hours NUMBER OF PEOPLE KILLED IN LEBANON SINCE LATE SEPTEMBER, ACCORDING TO AFP 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 so as to act as a deterrent 2 Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) suggests five-year imprisonment for the culprits 3 Home ministry consults the law and civil aviation ministries to suitably amend the Aircraft Act Bomb threats to 30 more flights, regulator shifted DGCA appointed coal secy in fresh shuffle YESHI SELI AND SHEKHAR SINGH @ New Delhi HEALTH SCARE SM Krishna admitted to hospital, stable YA C O O B M O H A M M E D @ Bengaluru FORMER chief minister and senior BJP leader SM Krishna was admitted to a private hospital in the city on Thursday after he suffered a stroke, according to sources. The 92-year-old politician has been put on High Flow Nasal Cannula (HFNC) for oxygen support. However, the hospital denied these developments and maintained that Krishna came for a health checkup. He is stable and will be discharged by Monday . The sources said Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar visited the hospital on Saturday and inquired about Krishna’s health. The former CM is reportedly unconscious and is under the observation of a team of doctors. “Krishna is likely to be shifted to a ward soon,” said a source. The former chief minister was recently discharged from the hospital after a few weeks of treatment. AMID waves after waves of hoax bomb threats shaking up the aviation industry, the government on Saturday shifted the regulator out of the civil aviation ministry . Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) Vikram Dev Dutt was appointed coal secretary as part of a top-level bureaucratic reshuffle. A joint secretary level official is likely to take his place at the earlier, according to sources. The transfers happened on a day when fresh bomb threats forced over 30 flights, including those on international routes, to make emergency landings. The affected carriers included Air India, Vistara, IndiGo, SpiceJet, Alliance Air, and Akasa Air. “The Internet Protocol (IP) addresses from the threats today and the ones earlier this week have been traced to London, Germany Canada and the , US. However, it is possible the Virtual Private Networks (VPN) were used by some to hide their real locations,’’ a source said. In less than a week, hoax bomb threats have impacted close to 70 flights. On Saturday , officials from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) had a meeting with the CEOs of different airline operators in the civil aviation ministry . They were briefed about the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for tackling threats, which cause fear and inconvenience to passengers and losses for the airlines. The DGCA and the BCAS are expected to issue fresh guidelines to manage the situation. Sources said a note was found in the rest room of one of the airlines warning of a bomb in a flight. However, all the threats were fake. Sources said IndiGo, Akasa, Vistara, Air India, SpiceJet and Alliance Air received five threats each. The civil aviation ministry is reviewing regulations to introduce harsher penalties. The authorities are contemplating a five-year prison sentence and placing offenders on a no-fly list. At present, hoax bomb threats are dealt with under existing criminal laws. The government is exploring legal options to introduce a deterrent. Joshi’s brother, nephew arrested in cheating case E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Bengaluru ‘Joshi not involved’ Sunitha Chavan, wife of former JDS MLA Devanand Fulsingh Chavan, has denied the role of Union Minister Pralhad Joshi in the case. “He has a spotless character. He is a person of integrity,” she said UNION MINISTER Pralhad Joshi’s brother Gopal Joshi and nephew Ajay Joshi were reportedly arrested on Saturday in Maharashtra by Basaveshwaranagar police in the Rs 2 crore cheating case. A complaint in this regard was filed by Sunitha Chavan, 48, wife of former Nagthan JDS MLA Devanand Fulsingh Chavan, on Thursday . In the complaint, Sunitha stated that the accused had cheated her of Rs 2 crore by promising her family a BJP ticket to contest the recent Lok Sabha elections. Gopal Joshi was arrested from a lodge in Kolhapur, while his son Ajay from Pune and brought to Hubballi. On Friday Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara told re, porters that three people were arrested and a search was on for Gopal. Somashekar Nayak, a close acquaintance of the complainant and suspected to be the key conspirator along with Vijaya Kumari, who posed as Pralhad Joshi’s sister by calling herself as Vijayalakshmi, were arrested earlier in connection with the case. In a statement on Friday Pralhad Joshi said that he does , not have any sister and mentioning Vijayalakshmi as his sister in the FIR is highly nonfactual. He severed his relaCONTINUED ON P4 tionship with Gopal 32 years ago. OFFICIALS of Karnataka State Medical Supplies Corporation Ltd (KSMSCL) here have been allegedly hoarding huge quantities of essential medical supplies, particularly gloves, while misleading government hospitals into believing that they are in short supply . According to sources, officials, including a senior pharmacist of KSMSCL, withhold critical medical supplies and stock them in the warehouse, but make new indents for pur- PLUS 12 PAGES RESOLUTION SILENT ON RESTORATION OF A370 FAYA Z W A N I @ Srinagar PAVING the way for the restoration of statehood for Jammu & Kashmir, the Union territory’s Lieutenant Gover nor Manoj Sinha has cleared the resolution passed by the Omar Abdullah-led Cabinet in this regard. “The restoration of statehood will be the beginning of a healing process, reclaiming the constitutional rights and protecting the identity of people of Jammu and Kashmir,” a statement issued on Saturday read. It noted that the J&K Cabinet has passed a resolution urging the Union government to restore the statehood. The Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minis- The Omar Abdullah-led Cabinet’s resolution only mentions full statehood for J&K and does not talk about restoring Article 370, triggering protests from other J&K parties which accused the NC of reneging on its poll promise ter Omar Abdullah in Srinagar on Thursday, had passed a unanimous resolution for restoration of statehood in its original form. The Centre had on August 5, 2019 scrapped J&K’s special status and bifurcated the erstwhile state into two Union territories—Jammu and Kashmir (with legislature) and Ladakh (without legislature). “The Cabinet has authorised the Chief Minister to take up the matter with the Prime Minister and Government of India for restoration of statehood,” an official spokesman said. He said protection of Jammu and Kashmir’s unique identity and the constitutional rights of people remains the corner- MURDER-FOR-HIRE U.S. CHARGES BOGUS, CLAIMS VIKASH YADAV’S COUNSEL U J W A L J A L A L I @ New Delhi STAR TAIL Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas captured near Lingaraj Temple in Bhubaneswar on Friday night. It’s considered the brightest in over a decade | RAKESH KUMAR ROUL KSMSCL officials diverting med supplies elsewhere? K A R T H I K K K @ Mysuru The Sound of Music J&K statehood step closer with L-G nod CJI Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Saturday said the role of the Supreme Court as a people’s court must be preserved for the future, but it does not mean that it has to fulfil the role of an Oppn in Parliament| P7 WITH THIS ISSUE ADDING 1 Centre considers TEETH framing a punitive TO law to deal with LAW hoax bomb callers chase. They allegedly dispose of the withheld stocks through their agents and pocket huge sums of money . A highly placed source told The New Sunday Express that these officials show ‘no stock’ or ‘less stock’ of gloves in the ‘drugPRESS CLUSIVE w i s e s t o c k o n hand’ list. But in r e a l i t y, t h e s e stocks are kept in the warehouse even as government hospitals grapple with shortage of supplies. “Government hospitals are misled into believing that gloves are in short supply, di- Gloves allegedly hoarded in the warehouse | EXPRESS rectly af fecting frontline healthcare workers who have been tirelessly serving the public. The drug stock lists are ma- nipulated to cover up this unethical practice and divert the supplies,” said a source. Access to Karnataka State Medical Supplies Corporation Ltd records revealed 19 boxes of surgical gloves (NA 6.5) for May and June in the stock list for delivery, while more than 90 such boxes of gloves were hidden in the warehouse. When The New Sunday Express tried to contact the official in-charge of the warehouse and other senior officials at the office of KSMSCL in Jayalakshmipuram here, they were P5 ‘not reachable’. THE counsel of former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) officer Vikash Yadav on Saturday termed the charges brought against his client by the US law enforcement agencies as bogus and part of an international ploy to defame India. “He (Vikash Yadav) is being deliberately framed. It appears that all this is an international plot to defame India and the country’s top intelligence agencies,” advocate R K Handoo told this newspaper. Yadav, a former government officer, was indicted by the US authorities for his alleged role in a foiled murder-forhire plot against Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on US soil. In a completely unrelated case of ex- CLEAN tortion, Yadav was arrested by the Delhi RECORD Police in December last year and lodged The interim bail in Tihar Jail for four months till he got order by a Delhi regular bail. The extortion-cum-kidnap- court referred to ping case was registered by the Special Yadav as “an Cell of the Delhi Police on the complaint ex-government of a businessman in Delhi’s Rohini. employee having The FIR said Yadav demanded money clean antecedents” in the name of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, forced the victim to sign a blank cheque, took `50,000 from his cafe and deleted all CCTV recordings there. As for the US indictment, advocate Handoo denied all allegations and said that if anyone reads the charges from a proper perspective, they would understand that all of them are fallacious. “As I understand being his lawyer, Vikash is a decent, well-read, and well-cultured man. I cannot fathom that he can be involved in any such activity Handoo said. ,” EXPRESS READ BJP picks Bommai’s son Bharat for Shiggaon MoS Bandi Sanjay detained in T’gana Bengaluru: BJP on Saturday announced former CM and MP Basavaraj Bommai’s son Bharat Bommai as its candidate for Shiggaon bypoll and party’s ST Morcha president Bangara Hanumanta from Sandur Assembly segment | P4 Hyderabad: Hundreds of Group-I aspirants marched towards the Telangana Secretariat on Saturday, seeking rescheduling of exams. The day saw police detaining several persons, including BJP leader and MoS Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay. stone of the newly elected government’s policy . According to the spokesperson, the CM would be proceeding to New Delhi in the coming days to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Union ministers in this regard. Before assuming power, Omar had suggested that the first cabinet meeting should pass a resolution on restoration of statehood and hand over the draft of the resolution to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and other ministers. Omar’s National Conference had contested the Assembly polls on the plank of restorat i o n o f A r t i cl e 3 7 0 a n d statehood. Health insurance premium: GoM moots GST relief D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi THE Group of Ministers (GoM) constituted by the GST Council to look into the demand for lower rates on health and life insurance premium recommended a complete GST waiver on health insurance premium for senior citizens. Sources said the GoM, headed by the Bihar DyCM Samrat Choudhary also , recommended that no GST be levied on health insurance premium where the sum insured is up to `5 lakh. For all other health insurance policies, the GoM has proposed 18% GST. As far as life insurance policies are concerned, most panel members favoured complete waiver of GST on term insurance premium. Term insurance policies offer a sum assured only at the death of the policyholder. The GoM on GST rate rationalisation, too, met and recommended a three-slab structure instead of the existing four-tier tax structure—5%, 12%, 18%, and 28%. Sources said the slabs will be based on pricing with high-value items attracting GST at higher rates. The panel also decided to lower tax rates on 20-litre packaged drinking water bottles, bicycles, and exercise notebooks to 5% from 18%. The proposals include cutting GST on bicycles costing under `10,000 to 5% from 12%. The panel has also suggested higher GST for some luxury items. According to one of the members, this would help the government mop up `22,000 crore more, thus making up for the revenue losses due to reduction in GST rates on health and life insurance premiums.