6,000 kg meth seized off andaman coast The Coast Guard seized a fishing vessel carrying 6,000 kg of Methamphetamine near Andaman and Nicobar Islands, an official said on Monday. The pilot of a Coast Guard aircraft noticed a fishing trawler making suspicious movements near Barren Island, 150 km from Port Blair and alerted the Andaman and Nicobar Command. The Coast Guard ships towed the trawler to Port Blair. Around 3,000 packets, each containing 2 kg of meth, were seized during a search hubballi l tuesday l november 26, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l 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 fir filed 3 officials receive bribe through ‘PhonePe’ E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Mysuru Lokayukta police have filed an FIR against three revenue officials for allegedly accepting money through ‘PhonePe’ as bribe. The accused are Srinivas, tahsildar of HD Kote taluk, Govindaraju, revenue inspector of Antharasanthe, and Nagaraj, village accountant of N Belattur village. The Lokayukta police filed the FIR on Sunday based on a complaint by BV Mamatha Kumari from HD Kote. In her complaint, Kumari stated that the accused demanded Rs 50,000 as bribe to change the records related to a piece of land bearing survey No 10 owned by her at Gandathur village. The case pertains to five acres and one gunta of land. The officials allegedly violated a court order and facilitated transfer and sale of land by altering the records pertaining to it. To restore the original status of the land, they demanded Rs 50,000 from her. Initially the of, ficials accepted Rs 5,000 as bribe through ‘PhonePe’. After receiving Kumari’s complaint, they were caught red-handed while another transaction was being made. Call taken on BJP leading new Mahayuti govt Name of chief minister to be announced in Mumbai; Shinde camp keeps up pressure Mukesh Ranjan and Sudhir S u r ya w a n s h i @ New Delhi/ Mumbai The leadership jigsaw of the new Maharashtra government remained unsolved on Monday though sources said the call on the BJP leading it had been made. The name of the new chief minister will be announced in Mumbai, they said. BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis continued to lead the race butincumbent Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was in no mood to yield. Both along with the third element in the Mahayuti trinity, breaka- way NCP’s Ajit Pawar, flew into Delhi to attend the marriage reception of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s daughter. While sources said no formal meeting of the trio has been scheduled with Union home minister Amit Shah, there was speculation that it could happen late on Monday night. With the tenure of the last assembly ending, Shinde is expected to submit his resignation on Tuesday and continue as caretaker CM till the final decision is taken. Though Ajit tried to tilt the scales in favour of Fadnavis, Fadnavis, Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar Shinde remained adamant. For, Shinde’s demotion as deputy CM would give the Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray he just decimated in the assembly polls, breathing space to revive itself. “Shinde should at least be made CM for the first 2.5 years of the new tenure. The next half can go to Fadnavis. After the big defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, Shinde took several cabinet decisions, including the Ladli Bahena scheme and changed the entire political landscape of the state. Therefore, the BJP should seriously consider him again as CM for at least the first half of the tenure. Else, it will send a wrong message to the allies,” said a close aide of the CM. On the other hand, the RSS and the state BJP are pitching for Fadnavis as CM, with one foot soldier threatening mass self immolation if it is decided otherwise. Manipur, Adani row paralyse House P r ee t h a n a i r @ New Delhi win down under Stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah celebrates after India crushes Australia by 295 runs in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Perth on Monday | AFP | P13 The winter session of Parliament was off to a stormy start on Monday with both Houses adjourned till Wednesday amid protests by the Opposition demanding discussions on Gautam Adani’s US indictment and the Manipur situation. Opposition members of Parliament including K C Venugopal, Manickam Tagore and Manish Tewari moved a motion in the Lok Sabha seeking suspension of the day’s listed business to hold a discussion on Adani indictment. But the Speaker declined, leading to protests and adjournment. In Rajya Sabha, chairman Jagdeep Dhankar rejected seven notices served under Rule 267, seeking a discussion on the billionaire’s indictment. T’gana won’t accept Adani’s donation Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday said that the state government will not accept the Rs 100 crore CSR donation committed by industrialist Gautam Adani for the Young India Skills University | P5 Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge expressed dismay over the Chair in both Houses disallowing the opposition to raise the Adani issue under Rule 267 and said the government should “let the truth come out” as the matter is affecting the country’s image. “Rule 267 is made only to raise such important issues. Else, that rule should not have been there. We want to be allowed to raise this issue under this rule,” he said. Kharge also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of spoiling the country’s image by “helping” some key businessmen get contracts abroad, and demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the allegations against the Adani Group. The BJP slammed the Opposition saying it was stalling Parliament proceedings in retaliat i o n fo r t h e i r d e f e at i n Maharashtra elections. During a meeting of the business advisory committee of the Lok Sabha, Speaker Om Birla asked political parties to avoid a ruckus in the House in the name of protests. He also flagged the issue of disruptions and urged Opposition leaders to convey their dissent in a constructive manner. P9 express read 1.3 lakh kids in K’taka are malnourished Bengaluru: Over 1.3 lakh children aged below five in Karnataka are malnourished. Of them, 11,674 are classified as ‘severely acute malnourished’, according to government data. This issue is compounded by a Rs 300-crore cut in the 2024 budget for the ICDS programme | P5 Centre extends ban on ULFA for 5 years New Delhi: The Centre on Monday extended the ban on the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) for five years for continuing to work with the objective to secede Assam from India and maintaining links with other insurgent groups for extortion and violence. The ULFA was first declared a banned organisation in 1990.