visakhapatnam l friday l may 24, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Kaamya Karthikeyan youngest Indian to scale mount Everest The 16-year-old mountaineer is also the second youngest girl in the world to climb Mt Everest from the Nepal side, the Western Naval Command said Accompanied by naval commander father Kaamya was accompanied by her father, Commander S Karthikeyan of the Indian Navy, during her journey to the world’s highest peak. The duo, along with their team, reached Nepal’s capital Kathmandu on April 6. After acclimatisation and several days of planning, her summit climb began on May 16 from the Everest Base Camp. She and her father reached the summit at 8,848 metres on May 20 Class XII on a mission to conquer the seven peaks ■ With the Everest climb, Kaamya has now completed six milestones in her mission to summit the highest peak of all seven continents. She is aiming to climb Mt Vinson Massif in Antarctica this December ■ Her Himalayan journey started at the age of seven with a high-altitude trek to Uttarakhand’s Chandrashila peak in 2015 student of Navy Children School, Mumbai 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 MEA ‘processing’ request to cancel Prajwal passport Return immediately, says Deve Gowda, warns grandson of isolation from family if he doesn’t No action against any candidate till June 6: HC The High Court directed the officials concerned not to arrest or take any action against Macherla MLA Pinnelli Ramakrishna or any other candidate either of the ruling & opposition parties till June 6 The Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday that it has received a request from the Karnataka government to revoke the diplomatic passport of Prajwal Revanna, the suspended Janata Dal (Secular) MP who is an accused in multiple cases of sexual abuse. “A request made by Karnataka government to cancel Prajwal Revanna’s passport is being processed under the provisions of the Passports Act of 1967,” said an official. The MEA’s reaction came after Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah shot off a second letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to do the needful to cancel Prajwal’s diplomatic passport. The Karnataka CM had written to Modi on May 1 as well. The 33-year-old grandson of JD(S) chief and former PM H D Deve Gowda is reportedly holed up in Germany after slipping out of India on April 26 using his diplomatic passport. Once the passport is revoked, he will not be able to fly through the normal channels. If he tries to use the revoked passport, he will be held and deported. “If he wants to come back, he will have to approach the nearest Indian embassy for a travel document that would enable him to return to India,” said an official. Meanwhile, Deve Gowda The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday issued interim orders granting conditional anticipatory bail to Macherla MLA Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy and directed the officials concerned not to arrest or take any action against him till June 6. The conditional anticipatory bail was also granted to TDP and YSRC candidates for Tadipatri Assembly constituency JC Asmith Reddy and Kethireddy Pedda Reddy respectively, YSRC nominee for Narasaraopeta Assembly constituency Gopireddy Srinivas Reddy and , TDP pick for Denduluru Assembly constituency Chintamaneni Prabhakar. All of them had filed anticipatory bail petitions in the High Court. While hearing their pleas, the court directed the officials concerned not to take any action against candidates of both the ruling and the Opposition parties till June 6. The police department was directed to file counters with full details in all the anticipatory bail petitions filed by the candidates. In the interim order, Justice Pratapa Venkata Jyothirmai directed the petitioners not to stay in the constituencies from where they have contested the elections till the counting is concluded. Further, they were in- weapons seized Seven more Maoists shot dead in C’garh E J A Z K A IS E R @ Raipur Security forces on Thursday shot dead seven armed Maoists in their core stronghold area along the forested terrain of inter-district border of Narayanpur-Bijapur in south Chhattisgarh. The series of encounters against the Left-wing extremists is part of the strategy to free the conflict-ridden Bastar zone from the influence of the banned CPI (Maoist). The bodies of seven Maoists in uniform were recovered from the encounter site, officials said. Besides, five weapons and items of daily use were also seized. In all, 115 Maoists have been eliminated by the security forces since December, when aggressive operations were launched across Bastar. “Security personnel belonging to the District Reserve Guards from three districts — Narayanpur, Dantewada and Jagdalpur — along with Bastar Fighters and the Special Task Force launched an operation based on intelligence inputs. The Maoists opened fire and the forces swiftly retaliated from different directions after taking positions atop the hilly terrain. Intermittent firing still continues. Full details will be available after the forces return to their respective camps,” the police in Bastar said. Unconfirmed reports claimed that several Maoists sustained injuries in the gunfight. This is the second major success achieved by the forces in Bijapur this month. On May 10, the forces killed 12 Maoists at Pedia village of Gangapur area in Bijapur. @ Vijayawada Prajwal travelled to Germany on his diplomatic passport without political clearance, which is a violation of rules. According to the MEA, it can revoke the passport only if a court orders it to do so asked his grandson to return to India immediately and surrender before police. “This is not an appeal... it is a warning. If he does not pay heed to this warning, he will have to face my anger and the anger of all his family members. The law will take care of the allegations against him, but not listening to the family will ensure his total isolation. If he has any respect left for me, he has to return immediately Gowda said. ,” Reacting to Siddaramaiah’s second missive to PM Modi, Union minister Pralhad Joshi said the Centre is ready to cooperate but there is a process to cancel the diplomatic passport. Earlier, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said that the process to revoke passports, including diplomatic ones, involves a court order. YSRC general secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna released videos in which alleged TDP activists attacked voters in Palnadu & urged the ECI to consider all instances of electoral indiscipline in a fair manner Two more teams were reportedly formed to nab Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy. They went to Tamil Nadu suspecting that the YSRC MLA might have escaped to Chennai E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e Legal question Court’s directives to contestants Justice Pratapa Venkata Jyothirmai directed all the petitioners not to make any attempt to influence witnesses or intervene in the investigation of the cases registered against them. structed not to move with more than four people and not to resort to any unlawful activity. The court said police are working under the Election Commission at present and have to constantly monitor the petitioners. Further hearing in the case was adjourned to June 6. Appearing for Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy, advocate Niranjan Reddy argued that the sections under which the case was booked were bailable, and hence the legislator should be granted anticipatory bail. Further, Niranjan Reddy pointed out that as per the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in Arnesh Kumar’s case, notices must be served to the accused under Section 41A in cases where punishment is less than seven years of imprisonment. Citing the ECI’s statement that Pinnelli will be arrested wherever he might be, the petitioner’s counsel said the poll panel was acting as if it were above the Supreme Court, which was never seen in the past. Stating that eight police teams from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were on the lookout for Pinnelli and his family members, the advocate urged the court to provide security to the MLA from arrest. He contended that if the candidate is arrested, he will not be able to appoint his agents on counting day and will suffer a loss. Similar arguments were made by the counsel of other petitioners too. Intervening, public prosecutor Nagi Reddy said if the petitioners are granted anticipatory bail, similar incidents of violence that were reported on May 13 might recur. Hence, conditions have to be set if the anticipatory bail is to be granted and petitioners have to be made responsible for any such incidents that might happen, he added. After hearing arguments from both sides, the High Court issued interim orders granting conditional anticipatory bail to the petitioners and adjourned the case hearing to June 6. Nandigram in West Bengal’s Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency was on the boil days ahead of the sixth phase of voting there on May 25 after a female BJP worker was killed and several others suffered injuries in an attack by a group of unknown persons. The BJP workers, alleging that the Trinamool Congress-backed criminals were responsible for the death of Rathibala Ari, blocked roads and torched shops. Police were deployed in large numbers to quell the unrest. There were reports of lathi-charge in the Sonachura area of Nandigram. Personnel from the paramilitary Central Ar med Police Force were also deployed. Several TDP leaders were put under house arrest after the party gave a call for ‘Chalo Macherla’ protest to console those who were injured in the poll-related violence CRACKDOWN IN PALNADU 54 9 It is suspected that some police staff or local officials might have leaked the video during investigation. Presiding officer & assistant presiding officer of Palavai Gate booth have been suspended Mukesh Kumar Meena, CEO The local BJP leadership said party supporters periodically conduct night patrolling in the Sonachura area during elections to deter anti-social elements. In the wee hours of Thursday when a patrol was go, ing on, a group of unknown men came in motorcycles and attacked the patrolling team with sharp weapons, local BJP leader Meghnad Pal said. “In that attack, Rotibala was killed. We strongly believe these unknown miscreants were linked to Trinamool Congress,” Pal said. The incident comes days after Mamata vowed to take revenge for her 2021 Assembly elections defeat in Nandigram. The Election Commission has sought a report from district administration. 74 ONE Arrested for Served with Persons vehicle electionnotices with seized related under CrPC bound over offences Section 41A cases Rowdysheets opened against FIVE persons Probe security failure at PM roadshow: MHA to DGP Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) directed Chief Secretary KS Jawahar Reddy & DGP Gupta to investigate into the failure of security for PM Modi’s roadshow | P4 ECI did not release clip of Macherla MLA: CEO E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Two days after a CCTV camera footage of Macherla MLA Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy destroying an electronic voter machine (EVM) surfaced, Chief Electoral Officer Mukesh Kumar Meena on Thursday clarified that the video was not released by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Poll-bound Nandigram on edge as BJP worker killed S u l a g na s en g u p ta @ Kolkata Police foil TDP’s Chalo Macherla protest HC relief for Pinnelli and four other candidates E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi / Bengaluru Sajjala: Treat all cases of poll indiscipline fairly Search for MLA takes cops to Tamil Nadu During an informal interaction with media on Thursday, Meena suspected that some police staff or local officials might have leaked the video when they were going through the footage as part of the investigation. The CEO further said the presiding officer and assistant presiding officer of Palvai Gate polling booth were suspended P4 for dereliction of duty . express read Mercury level likely to soar in State over the next five days Visakhapatnam: Andhra Pradesh is expected to experience an increase in daytime temperatures over the next five days due to the formation of a well-marked low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal. On Thursday, 40.9 degree Celsius was recorded in Renigunta of Tirupati district | P3 Rave party: Three Tollywood actors among 85 test positive for drugs Hyderabad: Eighty-six people, including three Telugu actors, have tested positive for doing drugs at a rave party in a farmhouse near Electronics City on Sunday night. Police said of the 73 blood samples of men, 59 tested positive, and of the 30 samples of women, 27 tested positive for drugs | P5 China starts military drills around Taiwan after Prez’s speech Mumbai factory blast kills 8 Firefighters try to extinguish a fire that broke out due to a boiler blast in a chemicals factory at Dombivli in Thane district on Thursday. At least eight workers died and 60 others were injured in the explosion | PTI Beijing: The Chinese military on Thursday launched a two-day “punishment drills” surrounding Taiwan in retaliation for “separatist acts” after the selfruled island’s new President Lai Ching-te rejected Beijing’s sovereignty claims over it. The drills involved the PLA, navy and air force | P9 Mehbooba battling for honour, PDP redemption on her home turf F ayaz Wan i @ Srinagar Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti, 65, is facing the toughest of electoral battle in her political career spanning over three decades. She is contesting from the newly carved out AnantnagRajouri Lok Sabha seat, which goes to the polls on May 25. It’s a must-win duel for her to enhance her political stature and revive the fortunes of her party ahead of the Assembly polls due before September this year. The stakes are very high since she is contesting on her home turf, which once was a bastion of the Muftis and the PDP . The PDP has been weak- ened considerably by desertions since the fall of its coalition government with the BJP in June 2018. Mehboob a ’s p o p u l a r i t y Illustration: Mandar Pardikar Mehbooba Mufti, Mian Altaf and Zafar Manhas dived when her party forged an alliance with the BJP in 2014 after contesting as rivals. Her handling of the 2016 unrest in the Valley, too, drew widespread criticism. Mehbooba is pitted against the National Conference’s (NC) Mian Altaf and Apni Party’s Zafar Manhas. She is campaigning extensively in both the border districts of Poonch and Rajouri as well as Anantnag, Kulgam and Shopian in south Kashmir. While Mehbooba is fighting on her own, Altaf ’s NC is supported by the Congress, and Man- has is banking on the tacit support of the BJP . To shake off the taint of aligning with the BJP, Mehbooba took a hard line against the Centre’s decision to read down Article 370 of the Constitution. The dominant sentiment in the Valley is still in favour of restoring Article 370, which gave the erstwhile J&K state special status. In the newly carved out Anantnag-Rajouri constituency Mehbooba is banking on her , traditional support base in Anantnag, Kulgam and Shopan districts while also reaching out to the Gujjars, Bakerwals and especially the Pahari community (which was recently granted Scheduled Tribe sta- tus) in Poonch and Rajouri. Poonch and Rajouri were added to the erstwhile Anantnag parliamentary constituency after the delimitation exercise. Both Poonch and Rajouri districts have sizable populations of Gujjars, Bakerwals and Paharis. It has led to parties realigning their strategies. The NC’s Altaf is a prominent Gujjar leader in Poonch and Rajouri districts while Manhas is a Pahari leader. NC vice president Omar Abdullah snubbing the PDF by ruling out any alliance with it could go in her favour if the PDP can channelise the slight to drum up support and fire up the cadre.
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24-05-2024 of The New Indian Express-Vishakapatnam