KYIV TARGETS MOSCOW WITH 34 DRONES Russia said it downed 34 Ukrainian attack drones targeting Moscow, the largest attempted attack on the capital since 2022. It forced the temporary closure of three airports. The picture on the left shows a car damaged in the attack. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia launched 145 drones at Ukraine overnight | AFP | P9 BHUBANESWAR  MONDAY  NOVEMBER 11, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 12  LATE 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 EXPRESS READ Centre to bolster CRPF’s anti-terror squad in J&K New Delhi: Amid a surge in terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, the Centre has decided to further strengthen the CRPF’s Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) by adding 100 young personnel to the squad already deployed in the union territory (UT), officials said on Sunday | P7 JUSTICE SANJIV KHANNA TO TAKE OVER AS CJI TODAY Justice Khanna will succeed Justice D Y Chandrachud, who retired on Sunday. He will be the 51st Chief Justice of India and his tenure will end on May 13, 2025 | P7 After ministry nudge, FCI starts probe into paddy recycling in state B I J O Y P R A D H A N @ Bhubaneswar THE Food Corporation of India (FCI) has begun a joint physical verification of paddy by associating teams of the state government in major rice mills in western Odisha districts where alleged massive recycling of custom milled rice has been reported to the central government. The order for joint physical verification came in the wake of a direction from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. The ministry acted upon a complaint about massive corruption in physical verification of paddy at millers’ points without taking photographic evidence of the stock for custom milling. The informant is stated to have claimed that `15 crore exchanged hands for the recycling deal which runs into The informant has claimed that `15 crore exchanged hands for the recycling deal which runs into thousands of tonnes of rice and involves several rice mills Sources thousands of tonnes of rice and involves several rice mills. Alleging fictitious purchase of paddy was shown for recycling rice into the PDS system, the complainant requested the food ministry for a joint verification by including the CBI. The FCI purchases custom milled rice (CMR) from states at `29 a kg for the central pool. The central government reimburses the entire food subsidy of the state for rice supplied to ration card holders under National Food Security Act and other sche- matic programmes including mid-day meal. In an official communication to the general manager of Odisha region on November 8, 2024, a copy of which was accessed by The New Indian Express, executive director of the FCI zonal office, Kolkata said, “Joint PV (physical verification) should start immediately by associating teams of the state government. Joint PV of paddy should be conducted under videography with geotagging of the proceedings.” As a measure of super check, at least three teams headed by category-I officers from regional office should be constituted and they may take up verification of at least 10 per cent of mills of the revenue districts having reasonable quantum of CONTINUED ON P5 paddy . Army officer killed during encounter in Jammu F AYA Z W A N I @ Srinagar A Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) of the Indian Army was killed during an encounter with terrorists in Jammu’s Kishtwar district on Sunday . “Based on specific intelligence input regarding the presence of terrorists, a joint operation was launched by security forces in Bhart Ridge, Kishtwar. Contact was established and fight ensued,” the Army’s Jammu-based White Knight Corps said in a post on X. During the gunfight, JCO Rakesh Kumar of 2 Para (SF) was killed and three para commandos were injured, Army officials said. “A group of three to four militants are trapped in the area. It is the same group that had abducted and killed two village defence guards in Kishtwar two days ago,” an official said. More troops have been rushed to the area to strengthen the siege. Forces are using drones and other surveillance equipment to track down the terrorists hiding in the dense forest. In all, three encounters took place in Jammu and Kashmir since Saturday night. In another incident, security forces and terrorists exchanged fire in the forest area of Zabar- wan in Ishber Nishat in Srinagar. The gunfight erupted after terrorists fired indiscriminately at a search party comprising police, CRPF and Army personnel, an official said. The security agencies suspect two or three terrorists are hiding in the forest area of Zabarwan. Earlier, a terrorist was killed in an overnight encounter with security forces in the Rajpora area of Sopore in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district. Nijjar’s aide Arsh Dalla arrested by Canadian police Dalla, designated as a terrorist by India, nabbed over a shooting incident in Ontario by Halton Regional Police, along with another person. CANADIAN police have deMeanwhile, the Punjab Police tained Arshdeep Singh Gill ali- said on Sunday that they have as Arsh Dalla, a close aide of arrested two members of Dalslain Khalistani terrorist Hard- la’s Canada-based gang in Moeep Singh Nijjar, in connection hali for their alleged involvewith a shootout case, sources ment in the murder of a Sikh said on Sunday. The Union activist last month. home ministry had designated The Delhi Police had said last Dalla as a terrorist year that Dalla had Wanted under the Unlawful links with internain India Activities Prevention tional terror outfit Act last year. The Punjab Police Lashkar-e-Taiba and Government sourcPakistan’s Inter-Servsaid preliminary es said New Delhi ices Intelligence. He investigations would not seek his ex- revealed Arsh Dalla was a key member of tradition as ties with e x t re m i s t g ro u p s tasked Navjot Canada are cold after Singh alias Neetu, Khalistan Tiger Force the latter’s accusation and the International a resident of of India’s involve- Kharar, Punjab, to Sikh Youth Federament in the killing of tion. Sources said he target Gurpreet Nijjar, who was shot lives in Surrey in Singh Hari Nau, dead last June. “ExCanada’s British Cowho runs a tradition is going to YouTube channel lumbia province with be tough, as under the under the name of his wife and a minor present situation it is daughter. Hari Nau Talks going to be almost imIn a Facebook post, possible. And also, the Canadi- Dalla had taken responsibility an authorities have not arrested for the murder of an electrihim so far, only detained him,” cian, Paramjeet Singh, from an official said. Punjab’s Jagraon. His associAccording to intelligence of- ates had shot dead Manohar ficials, information related to Lal, a Dera Sacha Sauda followDalla’s detention in Ontario er in November 2020. He was came shortly after reports of also involved in hatching a conhis involvement in a shootout spiracy to kidnap and kill one on October 28. He was detained Shakti Singh. M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi Trump wins all seven US swing states, bags 312 electors in all AGENCIES US President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday added Arizona to the list of states he won. With that, the Republican has beaten his Democratic rival Kamala Harris in all seven battleground states. The seven battle g round states in this election cycle were Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia. The victory in Arizona took Trump’s electoral college tally to 312 against 226 of Vice President Harris. Arizona holds 11 electoral college votes. In 2020, President Joe Biden became the first Democrat to win Arizona since Bill Clinton in 1996. Trump has now flipped it back. Arizona is the sixth state Trump has flipped from Biden’s Electoral College victory in 2020. He campaigned heavily on border security, immigration and crime committed by illegal immigrants on the trail, all issues that resonated in the state with a record influx of migrants last year. Trump pledged mass deportations, promoted hiring an additional 10,000 border agents to patrol the US-Mexico border and promised to use some of the military budget for border funding.