hyderabad l saturday l april 13, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l late city EDITION govt asks Indians not to go to Israel, Iran amid rising tensions Caution AGAINST tRAVEL WITHIN iSRAEL In its advisory, the Ministry of External Affairs urged Indians residing in Iran and Israel to exercise utmost precautions about their safety and restrict their movements to a bare minimum. The US embassy in Israel has also curbed movement of its staff and their families “out of an abundance of caution” in view of a potential revenge attack by Iran on Israel MEA’s advisory comes amid escalating tensions in West Asia following Israel’s strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria on April 1 48 hours Iran’s threat is ‘real & viable’, says u.s. ■ The strike on Iran consulate in Syria killed 7 members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, including two generals. Tehran has vowed to avenge the attack saying no Israeli mission anywhere in the world will be safe from now on ■ “We deem the potential threat by Iran to be real, to be viable,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Friday iran may hit israel in a matter of hours, Wall Street Journal reported on Friday 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 NIA nabs B’luru bomber, mastermind in Bengal Alleged bomber Mussavir Hussain Shazeb and mastermind Adbul Matheen Taha were staying in a lodge under false identities B a l a Cha u ha n & M UKES H R A NJ A N @ Bengaluru/ New Delhi The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested two accused in the Bengaluru Rameshwaram Cafe blast — the alleged mastermind Adbul Matheen Taha and bomber Mussavir Hussain Shazeb — from West Bengal in the wee hours of Friday . The two were staying in a lowbudget lodge in Kanthi — a small town about 180 km from Kolkata in the state’s Purba Medinipur district. As per NIA, liquor case Kavitha in CBI custody till April 15 express news service @New Delhi A Delhi court on Friday sent BRS MLC K Kavitha to CBI custody till April 15 in the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. Special judge Kaveri Baweja passed the order after hearing arguments of the CBI as well as Kavitha’s counsel. Kavitha was arrested by the CBI in Tihar jail, where she was lodged after her arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), on Thursday in a money laundering case linked to the alleged excise policy scam. The investigating agency told the court that she was not cooperating in the investigation. “During her questioning, she didn’t give satisfactory replies regarding her role and she was evasive. Her replies were contrary to the documents re covered by the CBI during the investigation. Kavitha is concealing facts which are exclusively in her knowledge. Earlier too she did not join the investigation though she was issued summons. We need her custody for five days to unearth the conspiracy the CBI argued. ,” The CBI also stated that a liquor businessman of the “South Group” met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and sought his support for business in the national capital. “Kejriwal assured him of support... We have sufficient material, WhatsApp chats and statements of co-accused,” the CBI told the court. they were staying in the lodge under false names. The agency, in an official release, acknowledged the cooperation of central intelligence agencies and state police agencies of West Bengal, Karnataka, Telangana and Kerala in the professionally coordinated joint operation to nab the two terror accused. The NIA special court in Kolkata, where the accused were produced, granted three days transit remand to the agency to take them to Bengaluru. Taha’s arrest is a breakthrough for the NIA as his name Accused being taken to NIA court in Kolkata on Friday| PTI figured prominently as an accused in several terror-related cases in Karnataka since 2019. The NIA announced a bounty of `10 lakh on credible information leading to the arrest of Taha and Shazeb. The two belong to Thirthahalli in Shivamogga district. “It was Taha who also worked on the escape plans of the duo and managed to evade arrest all these weeks,” a senior NIA official informed. In May 2020, the NIA had announced a reward of `3 lakh for information leading to Taha’s arrest in the Al-Hind Bengaluru module case. The module is said to be behind the murder of a Hindu leader in Tamil Nadu. The Rameshwaram Cafe blast on March 1 in the IT hub of Bengaluru injured nine persons. Shazeb allegedly kept the bag containing the IED near the hand wash area of popular cafe. He was spotted de-boarding a bus before entering the cafe with the bag. On March 28, the NIA arrested Muzammil Shareef, an alleged key conspirator, from Bengaluru after massive raids across 18 locations in three states; 12 in Karnataka, 5 in Tamil Nadu and one in UP. Sitting at a juice shop opposite Mecca Masjid near Charminar on Eid-ul-Fitr day Noor Mohammed, a , businessman and resident of Moghulpura, lamented the lack of b a s i c a m e n i t i e s a n d c iv i c infrastructure in Hyderabad’s Old City—bastion of the All India Majlise-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). “ Fo r t wo d e c a d e s, [Asaduddin] Owaisi has been the MP from here. But the dingy lanes, traffic snarls, potholed passages and inundation of streets are testimony to the bad conditions in most areas under the constituency,” Noor remarked, drawing a comparison with Cyberabad and Secunderabad. Nevertheless, the 52-year-old businessman said the AIMIM supremo wins because he voices the concerns of the Muslim community on a nationwide platform and noted, “Earlier, we have witnessed a period of communal disharmony .” The Hyderabad LS constituency, which has a Muslim majority, has been an AIMIM stronghold for four decades since Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi first won as an independent in 1984. After six consecutive victories, son Asaduddin took over in 2004. Aiming for a fifth successive term, he began his door-to-door campaign in the constituency on Friday In 2019, he defeated his near. est rival — the BJP’s Bhagavanth Rao — by over 2.8 lakh votes. Notably, the polling percentage (44.84) in 2019 was the second lowest in the segment since 1957 when it amounted to 41.1 percent. Six of the seven Assembly segments falling under Hyderabad are represented by AIMIM legislators. One, Goshamahal, is with the BJP, with T Raja Singh winning for the third time in 2023. With Feroz Khan, who contested from Hyderabad in 2019 on a Congress India relocates diplomatic staff from Sittwe to Yangon E x p r e s s N e w s s e r v i c e @ New Delhi IN view of the precarious security situation in the Myanmarese city of Sittwe, India has relocated its staff from its consulate there to Yangon. According to reports, several parts of Myanmar have been witnessing intense fighting between the military junta and resistance forces, which have already captured several towns, including military bases. “We have temporarily relocated our staff at CGI (Consulate General of India) Sittwe to Yangon. Our Consulate in Mandalay remains fully functional,” Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs, said on Friday. He added that India is closely monitoring the ongoing conflict between the military junta in Myanmar and the ethnic armed organisations. Jaiswal said the security situation in Myanmar remains “precarious” and is deteriorating. “Necessary steps have been taken to ensure the safety of our citizens,” he said at his weekly media briefing. ticket recently indicating that dosti has been forged between the AIMIM and the grand old party — the ruling party in the state is yet to even announce its candidate from the segment — Asaduddin’s main opponent will be the BJP’s newly minted firebrand K Madhavi Latha. Madhavi was arguably more popular outside the segment, at least till a recent TV interview. “I came to know about her only from Aap ki Illustration: Mandar Pardikar lMastermind Taha belongs to a self-proclaimed terror outfit ‘Al Hind IS’, which was formed in B’luru in 2019 lHe is said to be the common thread in almost all terrorist activities in Karnataka ever since 2019 Adalat,” said a person at Alijah Kotla, one of the many singing Madhavi’s praises. “She spoke well and presented her views with confidence. I enjoyed listening to her,” said Ronith (31), an IT employee from Gowlipura. Her interview even won Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stamp of approval. The 49-year-old chairperson of Virinchi hospitals, who is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer, told TNIE that the entire neighbourhood — Secunderabad and Cyberabad — has gone much ahead. “Hyderabad segment has not even remained stagnant, it has fallen back in time,” she said and asked, “Most of the people here are poor. Is there one thing they are happy about?” Madhavi, who is making her debut in politics, joined the BJP only after her candidature was announced. Long-time BJP workers are said to be unhappy with her candidature, with Raja Singh not even taking part in the campaign till now. continued on p5 express read BRS supremo names Sudheer Kumar as Warangal Lok Sabha candidate Hyderabad: BRS president and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday named Hanamkonda ZP chairman Marepally Sudheer Kumar as the pink party’s candidate for Warangal Lok Sabha segment. Sudheer belongs to the Madiga community and has been with KCR since the launch of Telangana movement. A dramatic situation prevailed before the BRS chief’s announcement as former deputy CM T Rajaiah expected the party ticket, with some news channels confirming his candidature | p5 KRMB to release 8.5 tmcft of Krishna water to Telangana, 5.5 tmcft to Andhra Hyderabad: The Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) on Friday decided to release 8.5 tmcft of water for Telangana and 5.5 tmcft for Andhra Pradesh to meet the drinking water needs in summer. The available water in Krishna river is 14 tmcft. The total available water was distributed between the sibling states. The threemember committee of the KRMB, which met here, took a decision to this effect | p6 Radha Kishan helped channel `1 cr to BRS Medak candidate PRI YA R AT H N A M @Hyderabad Former officer on special duty (OSD) for the Task Force P Radha Kishan Rao confessed that he helped the ruling BRS on several occasions and also deputed Task Force team to transport `1 crore cash and hand it over to former IAS officer and now Medak Lok Sabha BRS candidate P Venkataram Reddy The money was . transported during Assembly elections held in November. He confessed that all the postings in the Task Force were based on caste equations. During elections, Radha Kishan, according to the remand report, transported huge amounts of money from Yashoda Hospital to various locations utilising Task Force vehicles. The remand report highlights the confessions from two inspectors and a sub-inspector, alongside Radha Kishan’s detailed admission of his ac- tions. On November 4, 2023, it was reported that while Praneeth Rao destroyed hard disks in the SIB logger room, Radha Kishan proceeded to format his two mobile phones, which were subsequently confiscated by the authorities for data retrieval. According to the remand report, Radha Kishan confessed that he used Task Force vehicles to ferry cash to hoodwink Flying Squad Teams (FST) and Static Surveillance Teams (SST) deployed by the Election Commission of India during the Assembly elections. He admitted that he assigned the task of carrying cash to Sai Kiran, a sub-inspector working in the Central Zone Task Force, on two separate occasions in a government vehicle from different locations to be delivered to Divya Charan Rao, a retired police officer associated with Yashoda Hospital. On one occasion, the SI was asked to meet an associate of Charan Rao at Ranigunj to collect `1 crore and deliver it to Charan Rao at Yashoda Hospital. Similarly, another operation involved collecting and transporting similar amount from Afzalgunj. Radha Kishan facilitated the movement of funds for BRS MLC Venkataram Reddy amidst the general elections because of duo’s personal relationship. He disclosed providing a new iPhone and a SIM card to the SI for the exclusive purpose of conducting these covert operations. Venkataram Reddy, along with his brothers — who are notably associated with Rajapushpa Constructions — sought his assistance in the secret deals. This request was made as both Rao and Reddy were childhood friends, the remand report said. Subsequently, Radha Kishan instructed the SI to liaise with Shiva Charan Reddy, a neighbour of the MLC, for coordinating the money transport operations under the guise of helping citizens for an emergency purpose. This operation involved two other transactions entailing the collection and delivery of `1 crore each time to Shiva Charan Reddy at different locations. SI SUSPECTED EX-OSD’s ORDERS SI Sai Kiran remained in the dark about the intention of Radha Kishan behind cash transportation. He, however, realised the true intent only after the removal of Radha Kishan by the Election Commission due to his suspected partiality towards the BRS. Inspector Gundu Venkat Rao, who had worked in the SIB, confessed about the unauthorised surveillance based on the instructions of Prabhakar Rao, chief, SIB and Praneeth Kumar, DSP , SIB and spoke about the involvement of Radha Kishan. continued on p6 Small dip in food and fuel prices helps cool inflation 5.51 5.89 5.34 5.45 4.78 big catch Despite anti-incumbency, Owaisi is frontrunner A j ay T o ma r @ Hyderabad A little comfort Combd Total 5.66 mar 2023 Combd Total Figures in % Rural 4.14 Urban Combd 5.09 4.85 4ta Feb 2024 Mar 2024 (final) (provisional) Retail inflation moderates to 4.85% in March M o n i k a Ya d a v @ New Delhi INDIA’s annual retail inflation declined to 4.85% in March, down from 5.09% in February according to government data released on , Friday. The consumer price based inflation has remained within the RBI’s target range. The data showed that food and beverage inflation fell a wee bit to 7.68% in March from 7.8% recorded in February. Fuel inflation stood at -3.24%, a decrease from -0.77%. Cooking oil prices witnessed an 11.72% decline in March, while the price rise in spices slowed to 11.4% from 13.28% in February. The inflation in pulses decreased to 17.71% from 20.47% in January . However, vegetable prices shot up 28.34% in March, disturbing the kitchen budget of households. Cereal prices also rose 8.37% during the month. According to ICRA, the food & beverages inflation will remain above the 7% mark in April. It warns that the impending heatwave may push prices of perishables, heightening the criticality of a favourable monsoon in 2024 to keep food inflation in check. Meanwhile, another set of data showed India’s industrial production growth accelerated to a four-month high of 5.7% in February . Infrastructure and intermediate goods grew at 8.5% and 9.5%, respectively while consum, er durables contracted 3.8%. floating pump For the first time in the state, the HMWSSB has set up a pontoon with pumps on the Himayatsagar surface to extract water. The Water Board’s plan is to draw water not from the reservoir’s bottom sluice at 1,730 feet but from the top surface to a depth of below one metre | p3
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.