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 ■ ■ SAMBALPUR l Saturday l march 16, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l CITY EDITION Palestinians perform the first Friday noon prayer of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan over the ruins of Al-Farouq Mosque in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip ED arrests BRS’ Kavitha US concern over CAA unwarranted: MEA after daylong Hyd raid Y e s h i s e l i @ New Delhi Taken to Delhi for questioning in an excise policy scam case Kejriwal’s bid to get out of ED case fails Express News Service @ Hyderabad K avith a K a l v a k u n t l a , daughter of BRS head and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on Friday at her residence in Hyderabad in a money laundering case connected to the Delhi liquor scam after hours of searches. After her arrest at 5.20 pm under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, she was shifted by the ED to Delhi from the Shamshabad airport. Her legal team is expected to challenge the arrest in the Supreme Court on Saturday . The arrest came as a surprise and happened while Prime Minister Narendra Modi was holding a roadshow in the other end of the city . Twelve ED officials, including two women officers, carried out the searches at her residence and seized five mobile phones before arresting her. Her husband D R Anil Kumar was informed in person about the arrest. ED sources said around 6 pm, around 20 people including lawyers, a person who claimed he was Kavitha’s brother, and others entered the premises and created a ruckus. They did not produce any identity proof when asked and violated rules by entering the house without permission, they added. Express News Service @ New Delhi BRS leader K Kavitha after she was arrested in connection with the Delhi excise policy scam in Hyderabad | PTI Kavitha’s brother and BRS working president K T Rama Rao, and her cousin and senior party leader T Harish Rao entered the residence around the time of the arrest. Rama Rao had an argument with ED Deputy Director Bhanu Priya Meena and claimed the agency officials did not have a transit warrant to move her to Delhi. He also alleged that the ED had undermined its undertaking given to the Supreme Court. “You are in serious trouble,” he was heard telling the officials. Speaking to TNIE, Kavitha’s lawyer, P Mohith Rao said that “the arrest is illegal, unwarranted and unconstitutional.” He said on September 16, 2023, when the SC was about to pass an order granting specific protection, Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the ED, made a statement saying no action would be taken. The statement was sought to be retracted on Friday in the SC, he added. A day before he is due to personally appear before a local court in connection with the Enforcement Directorate’s complaint against him for skipping summons in an excise policy scam, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal got no relief from a sessions court on Friday . The court refused to stay the proceedings in the money laundering case filed by the ED. As for exemption from personal appearance in the m a t t e r, t h e judge directed Kejriwal to approach the metropolitan magistrate. Kejriwal had moved the sessions court against the order passed by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra asking him to appear before her on March 16. The ED had filed two complaints seeking the CM’s prosecution for skipping multiple summonses. The second one pertained to him not honouring summonses 4 to 8 sent under the PML Act. India on Friday dismissed the US State Department’s concerns over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), whose rules have just been notified. On Thursday, State Department spokesperson Mathew Miller said the US is closely monitoring its implementation. “We are concerned about the notification of the CAA on March 11. We are closely monitoring how this Act will be implemented. Respect for religious freedom and equal treatment under the law for all communities are fun- damental democratic principles,” he said. India’s foreign office bristled at the “misplaced, misinformed and unwarranted” US concern, adding CAA is an internal matter of the country . “Lectures by those who have a limited understanding of India’s pluralistic traditions and the region’s postPartition history are best not attempted. Partners and well-wishers of India should welcome the intent with which this step has been taken,’’ said Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs caustically. India notified the CAA on Monday paving the way for grant of citizenship to undocumented Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhist, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who came into the country before December 31, 2014. “The CAA is about giving citizenship, not about taking citizenship. It addresses the issue of statelessness, provides human dignity and supports human rights,’’ Jaiswal added. Disclose unique codes of e-bonds: SC S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y Bank’s counsel was not present in court THE Supreme Court on Friday asked the State Bank of India to reveal the unique alphanumberic codes, which could be used to identify each donation and trace it to the political party that received it. Taking strong exception to SBI’s non-disclosure of this information, the five-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud said SBI was duty-bound to hand over the full details of electoral bonds, including the unique numbers, to the Election Commission of India as directed by the apex court in its March 11 order. The bench, also comprising judges Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, issued a notice to SBI to explain the reasons for not revealing the unique codes. The matter will be heard again on The bench wondered why SBI’s counsel was not present. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said the bank was not party to the present case. He said SBI’s representatives were there when it had filed an application, which was disposed of @ New Delhi March 18, by when SBI should also file its reply . Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, appearing for one of the petitioners, told the bench that its March 11 verdict was clear. “All the details had to be furnished by SBI,” he said. The ruling came while the apex court was hearing an urgent petition filed by the ECI on Thursday seeking return of the sealed covers containing data submitted by political parties regarding bonds encashed by them. The poll body said it had deposited the data with Su- preme Court registry in compliance with the court’s earlier orders. It needs the data back now to comply with the SC’s March 11 order to publish the full details on its website, it said. The ECI added it has not kept a copy of the data to uphold the confidentiality nature of the sensitive data. According to reports, the ECI had submitted over 500 sealed envelopes containing data on electoral bonds to the SC in 2019 and in 2023. In response to the poll body’s application, the bench directed the the Registrar (judicial) to return the original documents along with a copy in digital format to enable the ECI to upload the additional data on electoral bonds on its website. The registry will also keep a digital copy for its records, the bench said. It asked the Registrar to complete the digitisation process by 5 pm Saturday Once this is complete, . the originals shall be returned to the ECI, it added. India has reiterated that the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion to all its citizens. There are no grounds for any concern on treatment of minorities. Vote bank politics should not determine views about a laudable initiative to help those in distress, he added. “The Citizenship Amendment Act is an internal matter of India and is in keeping with India’s inclusive traditions and our long-standing commitment to human rights,” Jaiswal said. The Act, he added, grants a safe haven to persecuted minorities from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. express read Lok Sabha poll dates to be announced today New Delhi: The Election Commission will announce the schedule for the Lok Sabha polls and some state assemblies today at 3 pm. The term of the present Lok Sabha ends on June 16 and the new House has to be constituted before that timeline. The terms Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal, Sikkim and Odisha assemblies end in June | P9 Odisha bans selfies with scheduled animals Bhubaneswar: In a significant move, probably the first in the country, the wildlife wing of Odisha government on Friday declared taking selfies and pictures with scheduled wild animal species, their carcasses, body parts and trophies a punishable offence under Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The act is liable for punishment with imprisonment up to seven years | P2
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