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 ■ ■ HYDERABAD  TUESDAY  AUGUST 06, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 16  LATE CITY EDITION How Sheikh Hasina fled the Ganabhaban Ex-PM moved to safe house in Delhi-NCR Indian cultural centre, four temples attacked Train, air services to Dhaka suspended According to AFP’s Bangladesh bureau chief Shafqul Alam, Hasina wanted to record an address to the nation but her security team did not give time. She was rushed to the Old Tejgaon airport to fly out Sheikh Hasina was moved to a safe location within the DelhiNCR region, sources said. She wanted to fly to London, but her demand not to be tried in the UK for alleged rights violations, was not accepted Mob vandalised the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre located in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi area on Monday. Four Hindu temples were also targeted. The temples suffered minor damages, a community leader said Indian Railways supended all train services, including freight operations, between India and Bangladesh indefinitely. Air India and IndiGo cancelled scheduled flights to and from Dhaka with immediate effect TIMELINE 10-11 am: Protests begin in various parts of Dhaka 2 pm: Mobile internet restored 2.30 pm: A military chopper with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina takes off 3-3.30 pm: Protesters storm Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s official residence FLEES TO INDIA PEOPLE’S POWER PURGES HASINA Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi BANGLADESH’s longest-serving prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday resigned and fled the country amid violent protests against her government, bringing an end to her 15-year rule. The move came after around 300 people were killed in the past two weeks during clashes between protesters and security forces. Bangladesh Ar my Chief General Waqar-uz-Zaman said the Army has taken over and an interim government would be formed. According to sources, Sheikh Hasina, 76, left Dhaka on Monday afternoon on a chopper and reached Tripura’s capital Agartala. From there, an Indian Air Force aircraft took her to the Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad on the outskirts of Delhi. From Delhi, Hasina plans to reach Belarus or Finland on a chartered flight, it is learnt. However, she will stay back in Delhi for a day or two. Hasina is said to have made huge investments in Belarus. Soon after she landed in Hindon on Monday National Secu, rity Advisor Ajit Doval visited Hasina. Later, Doval attended a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and briefed him about the unfolding situation. The meeting was also attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Earlier in the day, unruly mobs in Bangladesh went on a rampage after news spread that Hasina resigned. Her official residence Ganabhaban, Parliament, the Supreme Court, and the offices of some media outlets were I’m taking all responsibility (of the country). Please cooperate — Bangladesh Army Chief General Waqar-uz-Zaman ransacked and looted. Even the police headquarters was not spared as violent mobs burned down the building, forcing the Police Commissioner to escape on a helicopter. In view of the volatile situation, India has issued an advisory for its nationals in Bangladesh and asked them to exercise caution. Meanwhile, the BSF has beefed up patrolling around the India-Bangladesh border. According to some political observers in Dhaka, the dramatic way with which the protests — which began as an agitation against a job quota scheme but quickly morphed into a mass movement demanding Hasina’s ouster — shows the involvement of a hand, probably the US. Hasina’s growing proximity to China may not have gone down well with the US, they argue. Meanwhile, reports say that some senior officials, including judges, have taken refuge in the Indian High Commission P7, 9 in Dhaka. The interim govt, with leaders from all political parties barring Awami League, will run the country for now – under army’s supervision Professor Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah Khaleda Zia released Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin ordered the release of opposition leader and former PM Khaleda Zia from jail Market crash wipes Cognizant plans out `15 lakh crore new unit in Hyd, CAPITAL GAINS A R S H A D K H A N @ New Delhi MIRRORING the meltdown in key markets worldwide, India’s equity markets on Monday fell sharply, wiping out investor wealth to the tune of `15 lakh crore. The overall market cap of the firms listed on the BSE slipped to `442 lakh crore from `457 lakh crore in the previous session. Several factors came into play in pulling down the Indian markets. These included concerns related to an appreciating Japanese Yen and its impact on the global economy, looming fears of the US sliding into a recession, rising tensions in West Asia, and India Inc giving below-par earnings results in the June quarter. On Monday, the BSE Sensex nose-dived 2,222 points or 2.74% to close at a month’s low of -12.4% -8.8% BIG FALL -2.74% -2.68% Nikkei Kospi (Japan) (S Korea) BSE NSE 78,759.40. At one point during the session, the index plunged more than 3% to hit the day’s low of 78,295. The NSE Nifty50, too, cracked 662 points or 2.68% to settle at 24,055. It plunged as much as 3.33% to hit the day’s low of 23,893. The broader market underperformed the benchmarks, with the Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 indices falling by around 3.55% and 4.57%, respectively . EXPRESS READ Sessions court issues notice to KCR on Medigadda Warangal: The Principal Sessions Court, Bhupalpally, on Monday issued notices to BRS president and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, former minister T Harish Rao and others in a case related to the damages caused to the Medigadda barrage. Nagavelli Rajalingamurthy, a resident of Reddy Colony in Bhupalpally, had filed the revision petition under Section 399 of CrPC, contending that the respondents (KCR, Harish and others) acted with undue haste in going ahead with the project and without proper testing so as to misappropriate huge public funds | P4 to create 15K jobs E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad GLOBAL IT giant Cognizant on Monday announced plans to set up a new one million sq ft facility in Hyderabad that will create an additional 15,000 new jobs. The global leader in IT services and consulting unveiled its expansion plans soon after its representatives met Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and IT and Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu in New York. The new facility will be able to accommodate 20,000 emAnand Mahindra ployees, Cognizant said. The foundations for this Mahindra to new agreement were laid head Skill earlier this year in Davos University during the visit of a deleThe Telangana gation led by Revanth. T he announcement govt on Monday came after a meeting be- appointed Anand tween the chief minister, Mahindra, the IT minister and a chairman of the high-level delegation of Mahindra & Cognizant led by the com- Mahindra Group, pany’s Chief Executive as chairperson of the Young India Officer Ravi Kumar S. The discussions high- Skill University | P3 lighted the strategic importance of Hyderabad as a growing hub for technology and innovation in India. “We are excited to expand our presence in Hyderabad, a city that continues to demonstrate its strengths as a technology and innovation CONTINUED ON P3 hub,” said Ravi Kumar. Cops suspended for torture of Dalit woman EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad A day after Cyberabad Police Commissioner Avinash Mohanty ordered an inquiry, six personnel of the Shadnagar police station, including detective inspector (DI) Ramireddy were , on Monday suspended for allegedly subjecting a Dalit woman to custodial torture. “Further departmental action will follow,” Mohanty said. On Sunday, the victim had told the media that the Shadnagar police took her into custody along with her husband suspecting their involvement in a theft case. The suspended cops allegedly stripped the victim and tortured her for nearly five hours. She alleged that the police thrashed her husband and sent him away and then stripped her, beat her with sticks and even tried to pour candle wax on her. “I begged them not to punish me for something that I did not do. I told them I would rather beg than resort to stealing,” she said and added that despite telling the cops that her leg was broken, they did not believe her and kept beating her. “Then, they advised me to walk, suggesting that my legs may otherwise get crippled,” she alleged. Following her allegations, an inquiry was initiated. Later on Sunday, Mohanty sent an official intimation that pending an inquiry into the incident, Ramireddy was attached to the Cyberabad headquarters. CPI demand CPI on Monday demanded that the cops be booked under the SC, ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act The victim and her husband were suspected of stealing jewellery and cash from a resident of Farooqnagar 3.25 pm: Hasina has resigned, says Bangaldesh Army chief Waker-uz-Zaman 4 pm: Awami League’s Dhaka office set on fire Bangladesh protesters celebrate Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation in Dhaka on Monday | AP 5.36 pm: Plane carrying Hasina lands at Hindon Air Base, near Delhi Uncertainty rules FIRST PERSON A N I N D O B A N E R J E E @ Dhaka T HE situation was turning volatile as the day began. From my accommodation in an upscale Dhaka locality, I could see thousands of youths thronging the streets since morning. They stormed Ganabhaban, the prime minister’s residence, and took their spoils of war with whoops of joy . Others projected the war outwards and took on everything that came their way, looting shops and ransacking houses — their own country became like Rome to the Vandals. The only certitude was that the regime had collapsed, otherwise uncertainty reigned. Even at the basic level of the idea of Bangladesh: protesters were, after all, even going for the statue of its architect, ‘Banga Bandhu’ Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, with hammer blows. Is history being rewritten — or even unwritten — for this small nation, no stranger as it is to juntas and assassinations? I could see a strange irony playing out: a moment of joy for a whole mass of people out there, and yet streaked through with contrary emotions like despair and doubt. The Army chief says he has spoken to all parties, barring the deposed Awami League, and his words signal at an interim government. Yet, perhaps he too has little clarity about how events will unfold. I have been in Dhaka — the city of mosques and muslin — for one-and-half years. Of late, the city has resembled a northern Indian city of the early ’90s, roiled by the anti-Mandal Protesters vandalise the statue of Mujibur Rahman in Dhaka on Monday agitation. This too started as an anti-quota protest. But its joyous climax has descended ominously into chaos — which comes in to fill the gap at all points when authority collapses. On Sunday, more than 100, including cops, had died across the country. Monday being the ‘Long March’ day , I was afraid a lot of blood would be spilt on Dhaka streets. Fortunately that didn’t happen.