Ruturaj takes over from Dhoni as CSK captain CHENNAI: In his 15th year with Chennai Super Kings, M S Dhoni (left) will feature just as a player in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League, which begins at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Friday. Ruturaj Gaikwad (right), who has been with the franchise since 2019, will take over the mantle from Dhoni as CSK skipper | ashwin prasath bhubaneswar l friday l march 22, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l jeypore 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 Spl court frames charges against BJD MP Mahtab for assaulting cop E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @ Cuttack A special court here on Thursday framed charges against Bhartruhari Mahtab, BJD’s Lok Sabha member from Cuttack, in a case related to allegedly assaulting a police officer on duty 13 years ago. Mahtab was present in the court during framing of the charges. Assistant public prosecutor Afroz Ahmed said the Court of Judicial Magistrate First Class, Cuttack, dealing with cases against MPs and MLAs, framed the charges against Mahtab and posted the case for trial from April 5, 2024. “The charges against Mahtab were framed under sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 506 (criminal intimidation),” the APP said. Official sources said sub-inspector Amitabh Mohapatra (now assistBhartruhari ant commissioner of Mahtab police) had lodged a complaint with Dargha Bazar police alleging Mahtab had assaulted him during a function on January 23, 2011. The charges were framed on the basis of chargesheet submitted after investigation into the complaint. The incident had taken place just after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik arrived at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Birthplace Museum Complex to inaugurate a special programme commemorating Netaji’s 114th birth anniversary . As per the complaint, Mahtab followed the chief minister into the museum complex. However, when his supporters were not allowed inside by the police, he returned to the gate and allegedly assaulted sub-inspector Amitabh Mohapatra, who was on duty at that time. Mahtab was not available for a comment on the matter. Fact-check unit notification stayed by SC S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the Centre’s notification setting up a fact-checking unit under the Press Information Bureau, saying its impact on freedom of speech and expression needs to be analysed. A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud set aside the March 11 Bombay High Court order refusing an interim stay on setting up of the factchecking unit under the amended IT Rules to identify fake news targeting the Centre. The bench said the stay shall operate till the Bombay High Court finally decides the challenge to the IT Amendment Rules, 2023. “The challenge to the validity of 3(1)(b)(5) (of IT Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code Rules 2021) involves serious constitutional questions and the impact of the rule on free speech and expression would need to be analysed by the high court,” the bench said. The court was hearing a special leave petition by comedian Kunal Kamra and the Editor’s Guild of India seeking a stay on setting up of fact-checking unit. BJP funds came via Qwik, Future & big corporates KEJRI ARRESTED eX P R E SS n E WS s E RVIC E @ New Delhi Bond list with alphanumeric numbers released E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi Big donations From Future Gaming, DMK got `509 cr; TMC `402 cr; YSR Cong about `154 cr; BJP `104 cr From Qwik Supply, BJP got `395 cr; Shiv Sena `25 cr Vedanta gave donations to BJP, Congress, BJD and TMC Bharti Airtel donated to BJP, RJD, SAD, Cong, JD(U) Muthoot donated to BJP, NCP Bajaj group donations went to BJP, AAP Apollo Tyres bonds went to Cong Keventers gave bonds to BJP and Cong Lakshmi Niwas Mittal donated to BJP Kiran Mazumdar Shaw donated to BJP, TMC, Cong Rungta Sons Pvt Ltd donated to Cong, BJP, TMC, Sikkim Krantikari Morcha Torrent pharma donated to BJP, AAP, Cong Natco Pharma gave bonds to BJP, TDP, TMC and BRS The DMK appeared to be the biggest beneficiary of the electoral bonds from lottery king Santiago Martin’s Future Gaming & Hotel Services as it received `509 crore, followed by the TMC `402 crore, YSR Congress `154 crore and the ruling BJP `104 crore, initial analysis of the data suggested. At `1,368 crore, Martin was the largest donor of electoral bonds to political parties. The full details of the donations were uploaded by the Election Commission of India in the evening after it received them from the State Bank of India. Qwik Supply Chain Private Limited, considered to be linked with Reliance Group, donated over `350 crore to the BJP while Hyderabad-based infrastructure firm Megha Engineering donated nearly `450 crore to the party. Western Power, a subsidiary of Megha Engineering, also donated `80 crore to the BJP. Kolkata-based Keventer Food Park Infra and its associated companies Madanlal Ltd and MKJ Enterprise gave BJP bonds totalling `383 crore. Qwik Supply also donated `35 crore to the Shiv Sena and the NCP . The fresh data includes alphanumeric numbers that can help match the purchasers of the bonds with the parties that redeemed them. The ECI in a statement said, “In compliance with the Supreme Court’s directions, SBI has provided data pertaining to electoral bonds to ECI today i.e. March 21, 2024. The ECI has uploaded it on its website as received from SBI on an ‘as is where is basis’.” Two sets of data — 552 pages of details of redemption by political parties and 386 pages of details of donors — cover electoral bonds purchased and redeemed from April 2019 until January 2024. The SC had directed SBI to disclose all electoral bond details, including the identification code. In his affidavit in the SC, the SBI chairman said the “prefix and the bond number is in fact the alphanumeric number”. Amid suspense, BJP-BJD alliance talks heading for an anti-climax! not take any decision against the wishes of party workers,” said a senior funcWith no progress from either side, the tionary of the BJP who wished not to be alliance talks between BJP and BJD named. Interestingly, a BJP delegation on seem to have reached a dead end. The first sign of disagreement seems Thursday met chief electoral officer NB to have emanated from the fact that the Dhal accusing the BJD of violating the , ruling BJD has got down to the serious model code of conduct. Similarly inducbusiness of candidate selection for Par- tion of leaders from rival camps has liamentary constituencies and Assem- gained momentum in both the parties. State BJP chief Manmohan Samal bly segments under each Lok Sabha afwho returned from Delhi in the ter a lull in negotiations. evening said Union Minister Though negotiations for a preAmit Shah has already clarified poll alliance had started more on the issue of alliance at a methan two weeks back, a day after dia conclave. “The candidates the visit of Prime Minister list for the state will be released Narendra Modi to Odisha on very soon,” he said. March 5, there is still a pregUnion Minister Shah had givnant silence from both sides as en enough indication in this dieveryone is waiting eagerly to rection during an interview hear what top two leaders of the with a private TV channel at parties have to say . As per Delhi on Wednesday by saying With no indication coming eiinformation that the BJP will prove poll punther from Prime Minister from Delhi, the Narendra Modi or Chief Minis- alliance chapter dits wrong after the upcoming is closed. We elections by significantly imter Naveen Patnaik, leaders of hope a clear proving its strength in the the two parties have started picture will state. murmuring that an alliance emerge in a “As per information from Delnow appears a remote possibilday or two hi, the alliance chapter is closed. ity as none of the them is ready We hope a clear picture will to compromise over seat sharBJP sources emerge in a day or two. The PM ing and other demands. “We do not exactly know is also available in the national what the BJD wants and what decision capital after cancellation of his Bhutan Prime Minister Narendra Modi will tour,” the sources added. take but the rank and file in the state Odisha election co-in-charges Vijay BJP are dead against an alliance with Pal Singh Tomar and Lata Usendi who the regional party The central leader- are in Delhi since March 18 are stated to . ship of the BJP are very much aware of be busy in finalising candidates for all it. We are confident that the party will Assembly and Lok Sabha seats. B i j o y P r a d h a n @ Bhubaneswar Delhi Police personnel removing an Aam Aadmi Party worker protesting against the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal | Praveen Negi YOU READ IT HERE FIRST on June 22, 2022 HOURS after the Delhi High Court refused to grant any interim protection from coercive action to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday night arrested him in connection with a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy . This paper was the first to break the story on June 22, 2022 that federal investigative agencies were looking into the Delhi excise policy scam. The ED will produce Kejriwal before a Delhi court on Friday and seek his custody for interrogation. The arrest came amid high drama and protests by Aam Aadmi Party w o rk e r s , w h o thronged the CM’s official residence shouting slogans against the ED. Besides Delhi Police personnel, Rapid Action Force and CRPF teams were deployed around the CM’s residence during the operation. Kejriwal had skipped nine summons by the probe agency , claiming the notices were illegal and politically motivated. AAP leader Atishi said Kejriwal will not resign as CM and will run the city government from jail, if need be. She said the party’s legal team has moved the Supreme Court seeking an urgent hearing. The apex court is likely to hear the matter on Friday morning. The case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped. The ED alleges the accused were in touch Kejriwal for tweaking the excise policy in such a way to bring undue benefits to them. In return, they paid kickbacks to the AAP it was alleged. , Prominent AAP leaders like Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are already in jail in connection with the scam.
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