TUESDAY FBI OPENS CRIMINAL PROBE INTO U.S. BRIDGE COLLAPSE THAT KILLED 6 16 The criminal probe will target the crew of the container ship Dali that crashed into a major road bridge in Baltimore on March 26 APRIL, 2024 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard HUSH-MONEY JURY SELECTION FOR TRUMP TRIAL 30,000 Former US prez will answer to criminal charges that he sought to stifle stories about his sex life A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS PAGE 11 No interim relief, Kejriwal can sign 2 types of papers SC issues notice to ED, Tihar DG says CM can sign only legal or property documents S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y A N D U J W A L J A L A L I @ New Delhi INCARCERATED Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday got no interim relief from the Supreme Court on his plea challenging his arrest in the Delhi excise policy scam. A twojudge bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna merely issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate to file its reply on the CM’s plea by April 24. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, told the court that the ED hadn’t named the CM in its chargesheet, adding the objective was disable him from campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections. But the bench refused to yield. Later, a city court extended Kejriwal’s judicial custody in Tihar jail till April 23. At Tihar, Director General (Prisons) Sanjay Baniwal said Kejriwal can only sign two types of documents while in judicial custody, and they can’t be political in nature. “He or any inmate in judicial custody can only sign two types of documents, which can’t be political in nature,” Baniwal told this newspaper over phone. The two types of documents can be either a legal paper or some property related document, he added. His remarks came after AAP leaders reiterated that CM will continue to run the government from jail, and from next week he will call two ministers to Tihar every week and review their work. Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann accused Tihar officials of giving Kejriwal a terrorist-like treatment. “Kejriwal is given terrorist-like treatment in jail... There was a glass wall between me and him when we met today Mann said. But Tihar officials rebutted it, ,” saying “There is no distinction between a hardcore or a normal criminal.” P3 Can write to family, friends As per the jail manual, undertrial and civil prisoners shall be granted all reasonable facilities to interview or write letters only to their family members, friends and legal advisers. “Prisoners should also be allowed to correspond with the counsel handling their cases.” If it is found that the prisoner is corresponding with undesirable persons, such letters, both incoming and outgoing, shall be withheld,” the jail manual says ‘Money manager’ of Goa poll fund held, sent to ED custody UJWA L JA LALI @ New Delhi THE ED has arrested Chanpreet Singh, who allegedly managed AAP funds during the Goa assembly polls, in the Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case, official sources said on Monday . This is the 17th arrest made by the ED in the now-scrapped policy case. Singh was remanded in ED custody till April 18. Earlier, Chanpreet was also arrested by the CBI in the same case. The money laundering case stems from the CBI’s FIR. Sources said Chanpreet was a “freelance” AAP worker from around May to June 2021 until March 2022. In its remand application recently the ED stat, ed that a statement from an AAP candidate in the 2022 Goa Assembly elections was obtained, revealing that his poll expenditure was taken care of by the party’s Delhi office. As per ED, the proceeds of the crime to the tune of `45 crore were used in the AAP poll campaign for Goa. The ED had previously said that during the custodial interrogation of Arvind Kejriwal, he was shown evidence of hawala transfers to the tune of nearly `45 crore. This is allegedly corroborated by call detailed records and I-T seized data of a hawala firm in Goa. NEW DELHI J8.00 VEHICLES USED TO PLY OVER THE BRIDGE EACH DAY PAGES 14 FBI SUSPECTS CREW KNEW OF SHIP’S FAULTS FBI officials are presently conducting a court-authorised “law enforcement activity” aboard the ship which remains pinned beneath the wreckage. The agency will probe whether the crew knew the ship had serious systems problems and failed to report it. The ship lost power and rammed against a pillar of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing the bridge to collapse WEST ASIA SITUATION EXTREMELY SENSITIVE, NEED TO FIND WAYS OF DE-ESCALATION: EAM BA LA C H AUH A N @ Bengaluru EXTERNAL Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Monday that the situation in West Asia is “extremely sensitive”. He told reporters here that he has spoken to his counterparts in Israel and Iran to de-escalate tensions in the region, which is crucial for the global economy . “We also understand that they have concerns. For the rest of the world and definitely for India, we would like to find ways of de-escalating the situation there,” he said. “We have 90 lakh Indians living in this enormously sensitive region. A large part of our shipping passes through this region and also, our major oil sup- Amanatullah’s anticipatory bail petiton in Waqf case rejected SUC H I T RA KA LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court refused to grant anticipatory bail to Okhla MLA and AAP leader Amanatullah Khan seeking anticipatory bail in a money laundering case related to the alleged irregularities in the Waqf Board during his chairmanship. The SC ordered Khan to appear before the ED on April 18. “Arrest him in case there is material and in case there is no material, don’t arrest him. You will have to follow the procedure under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). We take it that you will not arrest him unless you satisfy yourself about Section 19,” an SC bench told Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the ED. Section 19 allows ED to arrest a person based on material in its possession that suggests the person has committed an offence punishable under the law. The bench took exception to some observations made in the March 11 verdict of Delhi HC about the merit of the case. Khan is accused of acquiring “huge proceeds of crime” in cash through illegal recruitment of staf f purchasing immovable assets in the name of his aides. The Delhi HC on March 11 rejected Khan’s plea seeking bail. The HC noted that he failed in his duty to appear before the ED despite six summonses in the money laundering case related to alleged irregularities in the Waqf Board during his chairmanship. plies come from here,” he said. On the release of 17 Indian crew members of a cargo vessel seized by the Iranian military near the Strait of Hormuz, Jaishankar said that he had spoken to his Iranian counterpart about it. He told him that the crew members from India should be released. Jaishankar said that there have been some follow up conversations between the Indian embassy and the Iranian authorities. “I want our embassy people to actually go there and meet these people. That will be my first point of satisfaction. Secondly, I would absolutely press for the peo- ple to come back to India as quickly as we can (get them) and my colleague in Tehran was quite responsive,” he added. The minister quipped that ‘Modi ki guarantee’ is overriding (protection) and is “effective inside and outside the country for all Indians.” This, he said, was demonstrated on several occasions; in the rescue operations of Indians, who were stranded abroad during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, in Sudan, etc., (Iran on Monday stated that it will permit Indian authorities to meet the 17 crew members following the conversation between Jaishankar and Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian). On the question of growing global instability because of the prolonged Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Palestine wars, and the latest offensive by Iran against Israel, Jaishankar admitted that the “coming years are going to be extremely difficult for the world” and added that it is “important to strengthen the hands of a strong global leader like PM Modi. He has the guts to make the right decisions.” On the safety of Indian students abroad, with some of them reportedly dying under mysterious circumstances, he said that such incidents are being analysed by the Indian embassies. Modi says people’s anger against DMK to help BJP in TN Lok Sabha elections When the people (of Tamil Nadu) were disappointed with the Congress, they moved to regional parties, now they are disappointed with these parties Narendra Modi RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR @ New Delhi A day after unveiling the BJP’s Lok Sabha election manifesto, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took aim at the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in an interview on Monday, saying Tamil voters’ resentment against the DMK will help the saffron camp in the upcoming elections. “Five generations of our party have been working in south India and the works are continuing. When the people of the state were disappointed with the Congress, they turned to regional parties. And now, the people are disappointed with these parties,” he told ANI in the interview. Amid this disappointment, Modi said the people of the state took note of the BJP model of government at the Centre and in the BJP-ruled states. “The Tamils who live across India went to their home and said this is happening in the state where we live. Naturally, people started comparing,” Modi said. He said the DMK used “to make fun of us calling Panipuri-wallah”. “But when the people of Tamil Nadu came and saw Kashi, they said this is not what they used to hear. There is a lot of progress. And because of that, anger against the DMK has increased,” he said. Attacking the Congress, Modi said, “there are parties that have the mission: of the family by the , family and for the family”. Had party state president Annamalai gone to the DMK, he would have become a big name, Modi said. “But he did not go there and instead joined the BJP. The people there think if Annamalai has joined the BJP, it is because he believes in the party’s ideology. So it has become a source of attraction. Our party gives opportunity to every small and big worker who is capable,” Modi said. He said the Congress must also be questioned about its ally’s stance against Sanatana Dharma. “The Congress where Indira Gandhi used to wear a Rudraksha mala around her neck. The question should be asked to the Congress. What is your helplessness? Why are you sitting with the people who have so much hatred against Sanatana?,” he asked adding that the DMK must have been born out of hatred of Sanatana. MORE REPORTS ON PAGE 5, 6, 7, 9 & 10 FIRING IN MUMBAI Jailed gangster Bishnoi’s role under scanner UJ WAL JAL AL I @ New Delhi A day after gunshots were fired outside Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s Mumbai residence and Anmol Bishnoi — brother of Delhi-based gangster Lawrence Bishnoi — claimed responsibility for it, Delhi Police on Monday launched a probe into the incident. “We have mounted technical and physical surveillance to get a lead regarding the accused,” official sources told this newspaper. One of the two shooters, whose image was captured on CCTV footage, has been identified as Vishal alias Rahul, a resident of Gurugram. Vishal has over six criminal cases, including murder, registered against him in Haryana and Delhi. As per police, the suspected shooter, Vishal, was recently involved in the killing of a bookie in Rohtak at the behest of incarcerated gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. On Monday, a team of Delhi Police’s Special Cell visited Vishal’s house in Gurugram and questioned his family, but they had no clue about his whereabouts. Notably, hours after the firing incident, Anmol claimed responsibility for the purported attack on a social media post, ominously saying that the incident was only a “trailer”. Sources say that the alleged attack was planned in the US and entrusted to another gangster named Rohit Godara, who also has a network of professional shooters spanning across the country. The incident has sent cops of Maharashtra, Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab into a tizzy . EXPRESS READ Ahead of polls in Bastar, 26 Maoists surrender in C’garh A total of 26 Naxalites, including five women and three teens, surrendered on Monday in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada, which is part of the Bastar Lok Sabha seat that will go to polls on April 19, police said. One of the surrendered, Joga Muchaki was head of ‘Korajguda panchayat janatana sarkar’ of the outlawed CPI (Maoists) and had a bounty of `1 lakh on his head. ED arrests 3 aides of former TMC leader Sheikh Shajahan 5 dead, 40 injured as bus en route to Kolkata falls off bridge The Enforcement Directorate on Monday said it has arrested three associates of suspended TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh as part of a probe into a money laundering case. Shib Prasad Hazra, Sekh Alomgir and Didar Boksh Molla were taken into custody on April 12. Meanwhile, a special PMLA court in Kolkata on Monday sent Sheikh to 14-day judicial custody in another case. At least five people, including a woman, died and around 40 others were injured after a Kolkata-bound bus fell from a bridge in Odisha’s Jajpur district on Monday evening, police said. The incident took place around 9 pm on Barabati bridge on National Highway-16, when the bus with 50 passengers was en route to Kolkata from Puri, they said. Above normal rains this year Sharmila struggling in cousin vs cousin joust J I TE NDRA CH OU BEY @ New Delhi THERE is a high probability that the country will get abovenormal rains this monsoon, the India Meteorological Department said on Monday . It said seasonal rainfall will be on the higher side of above-nor mal, with over 106% precipitation in the long-period average (LPA) of 87 cm. The weather office said favourable La Nina conditions, neutral Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD)—which occurs due to differential warming of the western and eastern sides of the equatorial Indian Ocean—and lesser snow coverage over the northern hemisphere have brightened chances of a bountiful monsoon. Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, IMD director general said La Nina conditions are likely to develop in the second half of the monsoon season. “El Nino conditions are pre- S N A G A R A J A R A O @ Kadapa What the data shows Data from 1951-2023 shows India experienced above-normal rainfall in the monsoon season on all the nine occasions when La Nina followed an El Nino event, said Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, the director general of IMD vailing at present. ENSO-neutral conditions are expected in the first half of the monsoon season. Thereafter, models suggest, La Lina conditions may set in by August-September,” Mohapatra said in a press conference here. Parts of the northwest, east and northeast India are expected to receive below-normal rainfall, he added. The normal monsoon range is between 96-104% of LPA. The range 104-110% of LPA is considered above nor mal and above 110% is excess rainfall. Similarly, ranging between 9096% is considered below normal and less than 90% is deficient rainfall. El Nino refers to the warming of ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastcentral equatorial Pacific, while La Nina refers to the periodic cooling of ocean surface temperatures. KADAPA is witnessing a legacy joust between two cousins of a politically influential family — one of whom is a first-timer — and a triangular contest in the Lok Sabha elections. Incumbent Y S Avinash Reddy belongs to the Y S Rajashekara Reddy family tree. He is the cousin of YSR’s son and Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, who floated his own YSR Congress. The Congress pitted Jagan’s sister Y S Sharmila Reddy against Avinash. Ever since 1989, when Rajasekhara Reddy won the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat, the contest here has only been about the YS family’s victory margin. This is the first time two members of the YS family are vying for the top honours. One of the backward dis- tricts in the Rayalaseema region, Kadapa witnessed a spurt in development after Rajasekhara Reddy became CM as he ensured a steady flow of funds for the family pocket borough. The only time the TDP won the seat was in 1984 when D Narayana Reddy wrested it at the height of the N T Ramarao wave. Like Sharmila, TDP’s candidate Chadipiralla Bhupesh Subbarami Reddy, too, is a first-timer. However, he hasn’t been suddenly parachuted into Kadapa like her. Subbarami Reddy has silently been preparing the ground for the past several months. The downside for Avinash Reddy is that he is an accused in the murder case of his uncle and for mer minister Y S Vivekananda Reddy But he has . the solid backing of Jagan. Avinash has stayed put in the constituency since the past several months to ensure there is no dent in his influence. His victory margin last time was over three lakh votes. Speaking to this newspaper, Avinash said spent his MPLADS (Members of Parliament ILLUSTRATION: MANDAR PARDIKAR Local Area Development Scheme) allocation and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) funds generated from various corporates for the development in all assembly segments falling under his constituency . “I also took the initiative to get funds from the state government for implementing various projects in all segments,” he said. As for Sharmila, she does not have any base here, as she has been living in Hyderabad all along. Hoping to wrest the Y S R l e g a cy, s h e claims her father was a tall Congress leader, but Jagan left it and floated his own regional party . However, the argument doesn’t seem to be cutting ice with the people. CONTINUED ON P5
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