VISAKHAPATNAM TUESDAY APRIL 30, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 14 LATE CITY EDITION CENTRE TO PERMANENTLY DEPLOY CISF IN ED OFFICES IN SELECT CITIES The decision was taken in view of a threat assessment report by the Intelligence Bureau after the Sandeshkhali mob attack INITIAL DEPLOYMENT IN SEVEN CITIES SC’S POSER ON BENGAL GOVT’S PLEA The force will be deployed at the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) offices in Mumbai, Jalandhar, Kolkata, Jaipur, Ranchi, Raipur, and Kochi for now. Highlevel talks are on to weigh deploying them in more cities, sources in the Union home ministry said. A mob linked to a local Trinamool Congress leader attacked ED officers in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali on January 5 ■ ■ The SC on Monday asked the Bengal govt why it has come in as petitioner for “protecting the interest” of some private individuals in the Sandeshkhali case, alluding to the arrest of Shahjahan Sheikh It was hearing the state’s plea against CBI probe into allegations of crimes against women and land grabbing in Sandeshkhali 500+ CASES REGISTERED EVERY YEAR BY THE ED OVER THE PAST 10 YEARS 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 U.P. DIARIES KASHI: A DATE WITH THE PRESENT Antiquity aside, various modern ages seem to coexist SANTWANA here. Baba Vishwanath’s BHATTACHARYA temple has an expansive, spanking new, 21st century EDITOR corridor. Its high walls, with stone cut in rectangular patterns, also strangely remind VARANASI: In the mind of you of Soviet architecture. India, Varanasi or Kashi is The Banaras Hindu Univeran ancient space suspended sity exudes a century old in an unbroken continuum, Indo-Gothic charm. The Gynot a project under construc- anvapi mosque’s 17th cention. Its life is in the cultural tury architecture, of course, imagination, entwined with is often the subject of frontcenturies-old personal socio- page headlines. Negotiating religious histories—cycles its place under the scorchof birth and death—embed- ing sun, caught between ded far more deep than Ayo- Hindutva and high-rises, dhya. The locals breathe this Varanasi balances itself beair too. Real antiquity is a tween an old-world raison historical detour d’être and a newwhen you keep enfound VIP-ism, like countering the rea trapeze artist. frain: Paanch hazIt’s an uneasy aar saal purana cohabitation. The sheher. Navigating new tourism boom between those ‘five has steadily enthousand years’ and croached upon the FIRST OF A the five-year cycles old spiritual amof modern democ- FOUR-PART SERIES bience, which is racy is, then, the peslowly fading culiar fortune of Kashi. away Just like a lot of old In. It’s 2024, and elections to dia. In a 15-minute walk up the 18th Lok Sabha are ap- from Dashaswamedh ghat proaching. A different kind alone, about 300 new guestof continuity unfolds here houses have come up to catoo, of course—a prime min- ter to the new rush of reliister is going for his third gious tourists—a good win. A sense of assuredness number of young among spreads up from the ghats, them—from Pune, Rajkot, as it were, which stand like Meerut, Coimbatore, even watchful sentinels of a lived Seoul. Evening time, they experience. Lifted up into settle on plastic chairs to the city proper, you are witness a Gang a aarti thrown headlong into a bus- through bulb-lit bamboo tling desi lifescape in all its arches. This new spiritualicontemporary variety Here, ty is not quiet: mantras, . what you find is continuity bhajans and then the Maha in conversation with change Tandav Aarti ring out from a t m a n y t a l k a t i v e modern music systems. CONTINUED ON: P9 streetcorners. WaPost names former RAW official in Pannun assassination plot in US Report claims India-based official passed on the New York address of the Khalistani leader EX-RAW BOSS NAMED Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi THE Washington Post on Monday disclosed the identity of ‘CC-1’, the New Delhi-based Indian official who allegedly forwarded the details of Khalistani leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, including his New York address, to Nikhil Gupta, an alleged middleman who was enlisted to hire a contract killer. The Post named Indian intelligence official Vikram Yadav in the ongoing investigation in the US against the plot to kill Pannun. This is the first time the name is made public. “Yadav’s identity and affiliation, which have not previously been reported, provide the The report claims that ex-RAW chief Samant Goel was under “extreme pressure to eliminate... Sikh extremists overseas”. It says US agencies also assessed the role of National Security Adviser Ajit Doval but there was no proof most explicit evidence to date that the assassination plan — ultimately thwarted by US authorities — was directed from within the Indian spy service,” the report claimed. The US indictment unsealed in November 2023 had withheld the name of the Indian official who allegedly conspired to kill Pannun, referring to him as CC-1. “The assassination is a priority now,” the Post report quoted Yadav as saying to Nikhil. The US newspaper report also claimed that Yadav’s mission was approved by the then RAW chief Samant Goel. The report says Yadav was a CRPF officer who was deputed to RAW He was sent back to the . CRPF after the case unravelled. NDA suffers double whammy from rebels & common symbol E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Vijayawada IN a setback to the tripartite alliance, several rebel candidates of the TDP, BJP and Jana Sena remained in the poll fray as they did not withdraw their nominations. Allocation of the ‘Glass’ (JSP’s election symbol) to independent candidates in several constituencies came as another blow to the parties. This is expected to hinder the smooth transfer of votes between the alliance partners. With the Election Commission of India declaring the ‘Glass’ as a free symbol, several independent candidates vied for it as people are familiar with the poll symbol. Except in the 21 Assembly and two Lok Sabha seg- ments, from where the JSP candidates are contesting, the EC kept ‘Glass’ as free symbol in the remaining constituencies. Interestingly, some TDP rebels also got the Glass symbol. With time allocated for withdrawal of nominations ending on Monday, TDP rebels remained in the race in Undi, Vizianagaram, Madugula, Kavali, Amalapuram and some other Assembly segments. From Undi, Siva Rama Raju, who aspired for a TDP ticket refused to withdraw his nomination. He is expected to breach the vote bank of TDP candidate K Raghu Rama Krishna Raju to some extent. Subsequently, the TDP suspended six rebels who remained in the fray P4 defying the party line. PM’s visit deferred, Delhi police summon T’gana CM and five others in Shah video morphing case may campaign in EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad THE Delhi police on Monday summoned six Congress leaders, including Telangana Chief Minister and PCC president A Revanth Reddy to appear before , them at 10.30 am on May 1, for allegedly morphing the video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement on reservations and circulating the same on social media platforms. A Delhi police team reached the Gandhi Bhavan here on Monday and served the notices. A copy of the notice served to the CM is not available. The notices were served under Section 91 CrPC. The alleged morphed video portrayed the Union Home Minister as saying that the BJP would scrap reservations to SCs, STs and OBCs. The notices were served by inspector Neeraj Chaudhary of Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit of the Special Cell of Delhi. The IFSO sought production and information in connection with case FIR No 177/24 dated 28.04.2024 U/s 153/153A/465/469/171G IPC read with 66-C IT Act. Police also served notices to Manne Satish, the party’s social media in-charge, and others. They registered cases against Satish, Naveen, the social media coordinator, Siva Kumar Ambala, Congress state leader, and Asma Tasleem, state P5 Congress spokesperson. HEATWAVE RAGES ON Severe heatwave conditions are likely in 61 mandals across Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday. Additionally, 173 mandals are expected to experience a heatwave, as per APSDMA On Monday, Nandyal recorded the highest temperature of 450 C A total of 59 mandals A man feeds water to a bull on a hot sunny day while taking part in a political campaign in Visakhapatnam on Monday I G SATYANARAYANA experienced severe heatwave conditions on Monday | P3 State on May 7 and 8 E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Vijayawada PRIME Minister Narendra Modi’s proposed tour to Andhra Pradesh to campaign for NDA candidates has been postponed. Modi is likely to visit the State on May 7 and 8 as against the earlier proposed dates of May 3 and 4, sources said. According to party leaders, the Prime Minister’s Office has TDP-BJP-JSP given a new schedule manifesto and conveyed that today Modi cannot visit the State on the earlier Joint election proposed dates. Howmanifesto of the ever, the constituenTDP-BJP-JSP cies which Modi will alliance christened tour will be the same. ‘Praja Manifesto’ Sources said BJP will be released at leaders are planning the residence of to hold a public meetTDP supremo N ing at Vemagiri or Chandrababu Naidu some place near Raat Undavalli on j a m a h e n d r a v a m Tuesday which will be equidistant from Narasapuram, Kakinada, Eluru, and Amalapuram Lok Sabha constituencies. Par ty State unit chief Daggubati Purandeswari is contesting from the Rajamahendravaram Lok Sabha segment. Another public meeting is being planned at either Pileru or Kalikiri under Rajampet Lok Sabha limits from where former CM N P4 Kiran Kumar Reddy is contesting. When asked for comment, CRPF officials said there is nothing to comment on “an unconfirmed news report”, adding that deputation of security personnel in intelligence agencies is classified. The Post claimed the report is part of its investigation series about “a global surge in campaigns of cross-border repression.” It added that for the India story its reporters spoke , to various sources in New Delhi, Washington, Ottawa, London, Prague, and Berlin. The Washington Post report also says that the Joe Biden administration has so far refrained from pressing charges against Yadav. EXPRESS READ JDS to suspend sex scandal accused MP Bengaluru: JDS has decided to suspend its Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna from the party. A Special Investigation Team is probing allegations of his sexual abuse of several women, explicit videos of which have been making rounds for the past few days. Prajwal & his father HD Revanna, an ex-minister, have been named in the FIR | P5 Rahul may contest from Rae Bareli P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi THE Congress is likely to field Rahul Gandhi from Rae Bareli and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra may not contest in this year’s Lok Sabha elections, sources in the party said, amid continuing suspense over who would get the Rae Bareli and Amethi nominations. It was widely speculated that Rahul would contest from Amethi. However, sources said the party may field late Congress leader Sheila Kaul’s grandson in that seat. Kaul, a sister-in-law of Jawaharlal Nehru, was a fivetime MP and Union minister. Sources said who contests from Rae Bareli is important for the Congress as it has been a party bastion since 1951. After serving four consecutive terms as the Rae Bareli MP, Sonia Gandhi vacated the seat to become a Rajya Sabha MP. However, Priyanka’s unwillingness to fight the elections and the BJP’s constant attack on the Gandhis for turning away from the “family bastions” has put the party in a spot. “As Priyanka is unwilling to contest, the party has no other option than fielding Rahul Gandhi,” said a party leader.
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30-04-2024 of The New Indian Express-Vishakapatnam