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 ■ ■ 152 mangaluru l saturday l march 29, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION dead & counting as 7.7 quake flattens myanmar, Thailand a g en c i e s @ Bangkok A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighbouring Thailand on Friday, destroying scores of buildings, a bridge and a dam. At least 144 people were killed in Myanmar, where photos and video from two hard-hit cities showed extensive damage. At least eight died in the Thai capital, where a high-rise under construction collapsed. The 7.7 magnitude quake, with an epicentre near Mandalay Myanmar’s second largest , Money matters Polls in mind, Bihar gets added Cabinet attention 3,712.40 cr 6,282.32 cr Cost ( in L) Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approves construction of 4-lane greenfield and brownfield Patna-ArrahSasaram corridor in Bihar on hybrid annuity mode CCEA approves inclusion of Kosi Mechi Intra-State Link Project in Bihar under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana. Cost includes `3,652.56 crore Central assistance component `22,919 cr Cost Electronics component manufacturing scheme approved for making India Atmanirbhar in the electronics supply chain. Projected to attract investment of `59,350 crore; production of `4.5L crore worth of goods; generate 91,600 jobs city struck at midday and was , followed by a strong 6.4 magnitude aftershock. The full extent of deaths, injury and destruction was not immediately clear — particularly in Myanmar, one of the world’s poorest countries. It is embroiled in a civil war and infor mation is tightly controlled. The head of Myanmar’s military government said in the televised speech on Friday evening that at least 144 people were killed and 730 others were injured. Photos from Naypyidaw showed multiple buildings used to house civil servants destroyed, and rescue crew pulling victims from beneath the rubble. Myanmar has declared a state of emergency . Near Bangkok’s popular Chatuchak market, a 33-storey building under construction, with a crane on top, crumpled into a cloud of dust, with onlookers screaming and running in a video posted on social media. The sound of sirens echoed throughout central Bangkok and vehicles filled the streets, leaving some of the city’s already congested streets gridlocked. The elevated rapid transit system and subway shut down. While the area where the quake struck is prone to earthquakes, they are usually not so big and it is rare for them to be felt in the Thai capital, which sits on a river delta and is at moderate risk for quakes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “India stands ready to offer all possible assistance.” P9 An aged couple died by suicide as they were unable to bear the mental torture by cyber criminals at Bidi near Khanapur on Thursday night. Diego Santana Nazareth, 82, slit his throat, while his wife Flaviana Nazareth, 79, drank poison. According to Belagavi Super- earthquakes have hit myanmar since 1950 till the present day why are shallow quakes lethal? A videograb of onlookers near the 33-storey high-rise in Bangkok that collapsed on Friday after the earthquake | AP The earthquake that hit Myanmar and Thailand on Friday was shallow, as per the US Geological Survey. Shallow earthquakes are more dangerous than deeper ones due to their greater energy release closer to the Earth’s surface. Seismic waves from deeper quakes lose energy by the time they reach the surface. No FIR for now against Courts step up to save free speech interim bail Justice Varma, says SC Supreme Court quashes FIR HC grantsKunal Kamrato against Imran Pratapgarhi comedian Says CJI can take call after inquiry Bar body upset ews J Nedumpara, Hemali Suresh Kurne, Rajesh Vishnu Adrekar and Mansha Nimesh CALLING it “premature”, the Mehta had submitted that their Supreme Court on Friday re- plea pertained to a larger pubjected a PIL seeking Delhi Po- lic interest and sought a direclice to register an FIR against tion from the court for registraDelhi High Court’s Justice tion of an FIR. Yashwant Varma over the alA fire at Justice Varma’s ofleged discovery of burnt wads ficial residence on March 14 led of cash from his official resi- to the alleged discovery of dence on March 14. wads of burnt cash in A bench of Justices an outhouse of the Abhay S Oka and Ujjal judge’s residence. JusBhuyan said an intice Varma was not in house inquiry was in New Delhi at the time prog ress and there of the fire, and has dewould be several opnied all charges. tions open to the Chief Subsequently, CJI Justice of India after Sanjiv Khanna formed Yashwant Varma the probe’s conclusion. a three-member inThe bench, therefore, house panel, consistrefused to examine the plea of ing of Justice Sheel Nagu, advocate Mathews J Ne- Chief Justice of the High Court dumpara and three others. of Punjab and Haryana, Jus“We have seen the prayers. tice G S Sandhawalia, Chief After the in-house inquiry is Justice of the High Court of over, several options are open. Himachal Pradesh, and Anu SiIf the report indicates some- varaman, Judge of the High thing is wrong, the chief jus- Court of Karnataka. The panel tice (of India) can direct the has been mandated with an inregister of the FIR or refer the quiry into the allegations matter to the Parliament after against Justice Varma, the secexamining the report,” the ond senior-most Judge of the court said. Petitioners Math- HC of Delhi. s u c h i t r a kalyan mohanty @ New Delhi ‘Allahabad HC turned into dumping ground’ Allahabad HC Bar Association president Anil Tiwari said they will boycott Justice Varma’s swearing-in. “I don’t know what compelled the govet to issue this transfer notification.” Cash row: 1991 SC order back in focus The SC rejecting a plea for FIR brought into focus its 1991 verdict virtually granting immunity to judges. A bench in the K Veeraswami case directed no criminal case should be registered against a judge unless the CJI is consulted Online fraud: Aged B’gavi couple dies by suicide E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Belagavi 1,500 intendent of Police Bhimashankar Guled, the couple had transferred more than Rs 50 lakh to cyber criminals after getting threat calls from them in the past few days. They decided to take the extreme step when the cyber criminals started harassing them for more money . The fraudsters informed the couple that their IDs had been misused by some people, who committed a cyber crime in New Delhi. Later, they gave a phone number to the couple stating that it was the police crime branch from where they could get more details. When the couple dialled the number, they were threatened and forced to transfer money to some bank accounts online. They were forced to transfer money online several times, Diego Santana Nazareth, Guled said. Flaviana Nazareth Man from Kerala held for killing wife, in-laws, step-daughter in Kodagu E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ M a d i k e r i two in a row RCB’s Virat Kohli and his teammates celebrate the wicket of Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, on Friday. RCB defeated CSK by 50 runs in their second match of IPL | PTI express read Former state police chief Garudachar passes away Guv okays Mineral Rights Bill, sends it to President Bengaluru: Former state police chief BN Garudachar (96) passed away in Bengaluru on Friday. He is survived by Chickpet BJP MLA Uday Garudachar and two daughters. Garudachar, joined IPS in 1956 and was appointed as police commissioner of Bengaluru in 1976. He worked as DCP in Bengaluru for nearly eight years. Bengaluru: The state government, which was expecting to generate around Rs 4,700 crore by passing the Karnataka (Mineral Rights and Mineral Bearing Land) Tax Bill, 2024, might be disappointed. The Governor, who had earlier sent the Bill back to the government seeking clarifications, has now given his nod and sent it to the President | p4 Kerala Police arrested a man who allegedly murdered his wife, step-daughter and in-laws at a tribal settlement camp in Begur village of Ponnampet taluk in Kodagu on Friday morning. The accused has been identified as Girish, 35, who hails from Kerala. According to sources, Girish allegedly stabbed his wife Naagi, 30, five-year-old stepdaughter Kaveri and his in-laws Kariya and Gowri, both aged 70, to death with a knife and fled to Kerala. Investigations revealed that Girish was the third husband of Naagi and they got married a year ago. However, Girish suspected that Naagi continued to see her ex-husband. This is said to be the reason for Girish murdering them. Girish and Naagi were living in Kerala after their marriage. Kaveri was living with her grandparents at Begur and Naagi used to visit them frequently Naagi’s parents, who worked as . estate labourers, also owned a small piece of land where they planted coffee. Girish visited his in-laws’ house on Thursday . Superintendent of Police K Ramarajan visited Begur. Further investigations are on. S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi R SIV A K U M A R @ Chennai THE Supreme Court on Friday quashed the FIR lodged by Gujarat police against Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi over a poem in a video clip uploaded by him on social media. The 46-second video clip showed the Rajya Sabha MP being showered with flower petals as he walks, with the poem playing in the background. The FIR alleged it contained provocative lyrics that pitted communities against one another aside from hurting religious sentiments. A b e n c h o f j u s t i c e s A b h ay Imran S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said the poem Pratapgarhi had nothing to do with religion, caste, community, or any particular group, adding that the police must first understand the meaning of written or spoken words before lodging FIR in such cases. The court said it is important that people have the freedom to express through different forms of art including poetry drama, music, satire. , THE Madras High Court on Friday granted interim anticipatory bail till April 7 to comedian Kunal Kamra in a case registered against him by Khar police in Mumbai over his jokes on Maharashtra deputy CM Eknath Shinde. “The petitioner has satisfied this court as to why he is unable to approach the courts in Maharashtra immediately for protection,” Justice Sunder Mohan said in his order. In his petition, Kamra said he has been a resident of Tamil Nadu’s VilluKunal Kamra puram district since 2021 and that he fears physical harm if he travels to Maharashtra in response to the summons by Khar police. While granting interim protection, Justice Sunder Mohan directed Kamra to execute a bail bond before the judicial magistrate. Justice Mohan also issued notice to Khar police and posted the matter to April 7.