vijayawada l saturday l march 23, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Many feared dead as gunmen open fire at moscow concert Several gunmen in camouflaged outfits burst into a big concert hall in Moscow on Friday and fired automatic weapons at the crowd Massive blaze speards through building video shows people shot at point-blank Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed there were deaths in what he called a “terrible tragedy”, but no further details were given. According to an eyewitness, attackers opened fire upon entering the Crocus City Hall building and threw a grenade, which caused a massive blaze that quickly spread through the building in western Moscow | P9 ■ ■ The attack took place as crowds gathered for a concert of Picnic, a famed Russian rock band. Videos posted online showed four men armed with assault rifles shooting people at point-blank range The US State Department has issued a warning to American citizens in Moscow to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours 6,000 the number of people the concert hall can accommodate 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 ED claims proceeds of crime used for AAP’s poll campaign in Goa ED gets custody of Delhi CM for 6 days in money laundering case S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi Arrested Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal got no relief from a local court here on Friday as it remanded him for six days in the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) custody, till March 28 in the Delhi excise policy scam. Three other leaders of his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) — Satyendar Jain, Manish Sisodia, and Sanjay Singh — are already under ED arrest in the same case. “The accused, Arvind Kejriwal, be remanded to six day ED custody till March 28,” Spe, cial Judge PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) Kaveri Baweja, said in her order. Kejriwal was produced in the Rouse Avenue court around 2 pm amid heavy security The . ED sought his custody for 10 days, claiming he had to be interrogated in a “detailed and sustained manner” in the excise case. The court’s order is a big blow for Kejriwal as he was preparing to hit the campaign trail in the general elections to increase his party’s footprint. Earlier in the day, he withdrew a plea from the Supreme Court he had filed the previous day challenging his arrest. , Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, said he was withdrawing his plea from the SC and would argue the case in the lower court where he would be produced by the ED. As for the ED, it alleged in the Rouse Avenue court that Kejriwal is the kingpin of the Delhi liquor scam. “The CM demands kickbacks from South Group. It is a serious crime,” Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S V Raju told the court. The probe agency said that huge cash amounts were handed over to various people. The proceeds of crime in the case were used in the Goa polls, it added. Vehemently opposing the arguments, Singhvi said the power of arrest was not equal to the need to arrest. “If the ED has proof, then why custody? No necessity of his arrest. The ED has to show the necessity of his arrest. Why did you need custodial interrogation?” he questioned. voices I vehemently condemn the arrest. It’s outrageous that elected opposition CMs are being deliberately targeted Mamata Banerjee, TMC Where is democracy in this country? In Russia, (Vladimir) Putin got 88 per cent votes. They (BJP) are following Putin’s path Bhagwant Mann, AAP He got arrested due to his deeds... I had asked him to stay away from this (excise policy) issue. He didn’t Anna Hazare, activist S V i sw a n at h @ Vijayawada Minister Atishi with AAP workers being detained during a protest at ITO against the arrest of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in New Delhi on Friday | Parveen Negi ED: Kejriwal kingpin of excise scam U J W AL J ALALI @ New Delhi The Enforcement Directorate on Friday told the Rouse Avenue court here that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was intrinsically involved in the entire conspiracy to frame Delhi’s new excise policy in a way that certain private persons were favoured in a quid pro quo to get kickbacks. The ED alleged that the proceeds of the crime — as much as `45 crore — were used for the election campaign of AAP in Goa. Explaining Kejriwal’s role in the case, the ED said he is the ultimate in-charge of AAP and was directly involved in the formulation of the excise policy “This policy was being drafted con. sidering the favours to be granted to the South Group and was formed in collusion with Vijay Nair, Manish Sisodia, and members-representatives of the South Group,” the ED said in its remand application. The ED said Kejriwal’s role in the formulation of the policy was evident from the statement of C Arvind, the then Secretary of former deputy CM Manish Sisodia, and Butchibabu Gorantla, CA of K Kavitha. Arvind revealed that he was handed over the draft Group of Ministers (GoM) report by Sisodia at Kejriwal’s residence where former minister Satyendar Jain was also present. The document mentioned that wholesale licence should be given to private players and profit margin was fixed at 12%. As per ED, these points were never discussed in GoM meetings. Arvind prepared a draft and handed it over to Sisodia. war of words Drug haul sparks political blame game E x p r ess News S e r v i c e @ Vijayawada The seizure of 25,000 kilograms of inactive dried yeast, suspected to be mixed with cocaine, by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at Visakhapatnam Port has taken a political turn with the ruling YSRC and Opposition TDP pointing accusing fingers at each other. Claiming that the YSRC has direct links with Sandhya Aqua Exports, the consignee company the TDP alleged that Kunam , Veerabhadra Rao, MD of the firm and native of Eedumudi village in Santhanuthalapadu constituency, and his entire family support the ruling party . One of the three brothers of the MD, Kunam Purnachandra Rao, is a senior YSRC leader in Naguluppalapadu mandal, the TDP pointed out. Countering the TDP’s claims, YSRC general secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy alleged that BJP State chief D Purandeswari’s son Hitesh and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu share connections with Sandhya Aqua Exports. He claimed that Purandeswari’s son and family members hold positions in the company . Criticising the TDP and the BJP for politicising the ongoing investigations, Sajjala accused them of hindering the process with baseless allegations. P4 season 17: grand opening Music director AR Rahman (right), peforming alongside singers before the first match of 2024 IPL on Friday | ashwin prasath chennai high: Mustafizur rahman’s four wickets help csk post 6-wicket win in inaugural match against rcb Mustafizur makes a mark Return of Rishabh Rahman (4/29) made an impact as he instantly ran through the RCB top-order. A late fightback helped RCB to 173/6. CSK had a steady chase and an unbeaten 66-run partnership between S Dube and R Jadeja saw team home Almost a year-and-a-half since suffering a car accident, Rishabh Pant is all set to make a comeback in competitive cricket on Saturday. Declared fit as a keeper-batter, Pant will lead DC in their first game against Punjab Kings | p11 HC admits CBI plea against clean chit to Raja in 2G scam S UCHITRA K ALYAN M OHANTY @ New Delhi The Delhi High Court on Friday admitted the appeal filed by the CBI six years ago against the acquittal of all the 17 accused in the 2G spectrum allocation case, including former telecom minister Andimuthu Raja, DMK leader K Kanimozhi, and 15 other high-profile politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen including Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra. Granting the CBI ‘leave to appeal’, Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma said the ‘contradictions’ in the trial court’s judgment require a ‘deeper examination’. TDP names candidates for 13 LS seats, fields two YSRC turncoats “The court on the basis of material on record, and after going through the sworn testimonies, impugned judgment and the submissions made at bar by both the parties has reached on an objective satisfaction that there is a prima facie case which requires deeper examination and re-appreciation/re-appraisal of entire evidence,” Justice Sharma said. On December 21, 2017, special CBI judge OP Saini had acquitted all the accused saying the prosecution failed to produce ‘legally admissible evidence’ against the accused. The CBI then approached the Delhi HC on March 20, 2018 challenging the judgment. ‘Don’t deny justice to anyone’ While admitting the CBI’s plea, Justice Sharma said there were some contradictions in the trial court order. Refusing leave to appeal may mean such ambiguity remains buried, he said, adding it’s the court’s duty to ensure that justice is not denied to anyone The TDP on Friday announced candidates for 13 of the 17 Lok Sabha constituencies it will be contesting in the ensuing elections. Additionally the party also nominated candi, dates for 11 Assembly seats. So far, the TDP which will contest the polls , in an alliance with the Jana Sena and the BJP has announced contest, ants for 139 MLA segments. Andhra Pradesh has a total of 175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha constituencies. The party has fielded Kesineni Sivanath (Chinni) against his brother and YSRC leader Kesineni Srinivas (Nani) in Vijayawada Lok Sabha segment. Two leaders who had resigned from the ruling YSRC and joined the yellow party were also given tickets. Narasaraopeta MP Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayulu has been fielded from the same constitu- TDP third list Candidate LS segment Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu Srikakulam Mathkumilli Bharath Visakhapatnam Ganti Harish Madhur Amalapuram Putta Mahesh Yadav Eluru Pemmasani Chandrasekhar Guntur T Krishna Prasad TDP cadre celebrate the party’s decision to field Kesineni Chinni from Vijayawada Lok Sabha seat | Prasant Madugula ency, while V Prabhakar Reddy, a Rajya Sabha member, will contest from Nellore. While senior TDP leader Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy has been nominated for the Sarvepalli Assembly constituency, other senior lead- Bapatla Daggumalla Prasad Rao Chittoor Balusupati Nagaraju Kurnool Byreddy Shabari Nandyal BK Parthasarathi Hindupur ers, including K Kala Venkata Rao, Ganta Srinivasa Rao and Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao, could not find place in the third list as well. TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu posted the list of candidates on soP4 cial media platform X. express read TTD EO to submit report to Ram temple Tirumala: TTD executive officer AV Dharma Reddy will soon submit a detailed report with suggestions and important modifications for effective temple administration and crowd management at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. He will visit Ayodhya in the first week of April to submit the report to the Ram Janmabhoomi Theerth Trust. The report will also include suggestions on providing amenities at the temple | P3 Tax reassessment: HC junks Cong’s plea New Delhi: In a blow to the Congress, the Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed its plea challenging the tax reassessment proceedings initiated against it by the I-T Department. The court said the party had challenged the assessment proceedings—due to be completed by March 31—at a late stage and the tax authority has collated “substantial & concrete” proof warranting further scrutiny
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