TUESDAY PROBABILITY FORECAST OF MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE FOR APRIL TO JUNE 2024 02 APRIL, 2024 ABOVE NORMAL NORMAL BELOW NORMAL epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard 35 45 55 65 75 White colour over land area indicates climatological probability X.com/TheMornStandard Enhanced rainfall likely to continue over Northeast India till April 7 LIBERAL LAW GERMANY LEGALISES USE OF MARIJUANA Adults over 18 allowed to carry 25 grams of dried cannabis and cultivate up to 3 plants at home A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS PAGE 11 Relief for Cong, govt puts off tax recovery till July NEW DELHI J8.00 CM SAYS EXCISE SCAM ACCUSED VIJAY NAIR HAD LIMITED INTERACTION WITH HIM Kejriwal evasive, claims ED; sent to Tihar by court I-T dept tells SC that it won’t take coercive action against the party till LS polls are over SUCHITRA KALYAN MOHANTY @ New Delhi Congress leader Vivek Tankha, who is also fighting the case for the party before the income tax authorities and the Delhi High Court, said the party can now expect a level-playing field U J W A L J A L A L I @ New Delhi ‘LEVEL- PLAYING FIELD’ IN a major relief to the Congress, the income tax department on Monday informed the Supreme Court that it would not take any coercive action against the cash-strapped party with regard to tax demands till the Lok Sabha polls are over. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the tax department, made the undertaking before a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Augustine George Masih, which was hearing an appeal by the Congress against a 2016 judgment of the Delhi High Court. In the appeal, the party had moved an interim application seeking a stay of the recent demand notices by the tax department. Mehta told the SC that the recent tax demand for `1,700 crore is based on the 2016 judgement, which is under challenge. “Since the election is going on, we would not like any problem to arise for any party and therefore, till the matter is heard after the election, we will not take any action for recovery of `1,700 crore,” he said. The SC bench recorded the SG’s undertaking and posted the matter to July second week for further hearing. According to the Congress, it has received multiple notices from the tax authorities for a total demand of `3,567 crore for discrepancies in income tax returns for previous years. It also accused the BJP government of resorting to ‘tax terrorism’ to financially cripple the principal opposition party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. The unexpected statement by the SG took Congress’ counsel senior advocate A M Singhvi by surprise, who acknowledged the gesture as “gracious”. “You (Congress) should not perceive negative about someone all the time,” Justice Nagarathna orally remarked. “I am rendered speechless and very few times I am,” Singhvi responded. Last month, the Delhi HC rejected the Congress plea challenging the I-T department’s decision to initiate reassessment proceedings against the party “There is no merit in the . petition filed by Congress. We dismiss it,” said an HC bench. The Congress had told the HC that reassessment proceedings are barred by limitation. Notice on full VVPAT slip count 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 Monday issued notices to the Centre and the Election Commission on a plea seeking a complete count of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips in polls as opposed to the current practice of verification of only five randomly selected EVMs through VVPAT paper slips. The petition filed by activist Arun Kumar Agrawal challenged the poll panel guideline that mandates that VVPAT verification be done sequentially, causing undue delay. The plea contended that if simultaneous verification is done, then complete VVPAT verification can be done in a matter of five-six hours. VVPAT is an independent vote verification system, which permits an elector to see whether his vote was cast correctly. The VVPAT generates a paper slip, which can be viewed by the voter and the paper slip is kept in a sealed cover. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at Rouse Avenue court on Monday | PTI LODGED IN JAIL 2, ACCESS TO VISITORS TWICE A WK U J W A L J A L A L I @ New Delhi CHIEF Minister Arvind Kejriwal was on Monday lodged at Tihar’s Jail No. 2 where 90% of the inmates are convicted criminals. Of the 650-odd inmates in Jail No. 2, nearly 600 have been convicted, well placed sources said. There are around 650 CCTV cameras in the central jail where Kejriwal has been lodged. He can watch television — except during designated prison activities — about 18 to 20 channels covering news, entertainment and sports. There will be no specialised services for the CM. He will have to sleep in his barrack either on the floor or a cemented platform. Technically, Kejriwal is not barred from functioning as the CM. But how he would be able to do so remains to be seen as he can have visitors only twice a week. A former Tihar official said that it would be extremely challenging for Kejriwal to run the government from jail. “There needs to be a dedicated support system for the CM. Currently, none of the 16 jails has the necessary infrastructure to accommodate a chief minister’s office,” he said. P3 Prison routine Kejriwal will have to follow the prison routine of breakfast at 7 am for which the menu is tea, biscuit, daliya (porridge) and bread. Lunch around 11 am. From 12 pm to 3 pm, the ward remains closed. Dinner around 6.30 pm usually comprises dal and one vegetable, roti or rice U J W A L J A L A L I @ New Delhi EIGHT people were injured after a leopard entered a house in north Delhi and attacked villagers in the early hours of Monday a police officer said. , The leopard was caught after a 4-hour operation that involved police, fire brigade and the forest department. Of the eight injured, three are identified as Mahender, Akash, and Rampal, all residents of Jagatpur village near Wazirabad. DCP (North) Manoj Kumar Meena said at 6.14 am, a PCR call was received at Wazirabad police station about a leopard entering a house at Gali No-3 in the village. Many officials from the forest and fire departments, along with the police were involved in the animal rescue operation. “The leopard was confined in a room, and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar at a press conference in New Delhi | PTI CONGRESS POSER The MEA under the watch of the then foreign secretary S Jaishankar said in 2015 in response to a RTI query on Katchatheevu, “This (Agreement) did not involve either acquiring or ceding of territory belonging to India since the area in question had never been demarcated. Under the Agreements, the Island of Katchatheevu lies on the Sri Lankan side of the India-Sri Lanka International Maritime Boundary Line.” Is he disowning the 2015 RTI response now, asks Congress leader Jairam Ramesh Kejriwal’s counsel moved applications seeking permission for the CM to have a special diet, medicines, books and a religious locket while at Tihar Jail. He sought three books — Bhagwad Gita, Ramayana, and How Prime Ministers Decide by senior journalist Neerja Chowdhury adding the latter used to report to AAP leaders Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj and not to him. But the ED said Nair stayed in a Cabinet minister’s bungalow and worked from the Camp Office of the CM. “It was also put to the arrestee to explain why would someone who reported to other leaders of the AAP, work from his Camp Office, which anyways is meant for the work of the CM of Delhi and not for the party the ED said. But Kejri,” wal claimed he was unaware of who all work at the CM’s Camp Office. During the ED’s custody, the CM was confronted with different WhatsApp chats showing the involvement of Nair in the excise policy scam. But Kejriwal questioned the authenticity of the digital evidence shown to him. then caught,” said the DCP. Panic gripped the village as the news about the leopard spread. The house where the leopard first entered belongs to Mahender Singh, a retired government employee. While the wild cat injured his two sons, Singh, his two daughters-in-law, and four grandchildren had a close shave. Naresh, who runs a dairy in Jagatpur, said the leopard first attacked his son, who is undergoing treatment. “My pet dogs started barking around 6 am. When I came outside, I saw the leopard right in front of me. I ran upstairs and the leopard entered my dairy he said. ,” “When we called the Forest Department, they kept asking us to send a video of the animal. My son was on the terrace and was attacked by the leopard,” Naresh said. ‘Worked to bring BRS to power for 3rd term in ’23’ Jaishankar holds Nehru, Indira and Karunanidhi responsible THE BJP on Monday continued to keep the pressure on the Congress and the DMK over the ceding of Katchatheevu in the palk Straits. External Affairs minister S Jaishankar accused Congress prime ministers Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi of being indifferent towards Tamil Nadu fishermen’s rights and giving it away to Sri Lanka. At a media interaction in the B J P h e a d q u a r t e r s h e r e, Jaishankar said, “For Pandit Nehru, Katchatheevu was a “little island of no importance”. That’s why he considered the Katchatheevu issue a “nuisance” and never wanted the issue being raised on the floor of Parliament again and again.” Jaishankar quoted Nehru as having said, “I attach no importance at all to this little island and I would have no hesitation in giving up our claim to it. I don’t like matters like this pending indefinitely and being raised again and CHIEF Minister Arvind Kejriwal was on Monday placed under judicial custody for 15 days by a city court and lodged in Tihar jail. The order came after the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) custody ended. It did not seek further remand but pressed for Kejriwal’s judicial custody in its application. Describing him as a highly influential person, the ED said there is every likelihood that he would influence the witnesses and tamper with evidence if he is released. Speaking to reporters before entering the court, the chief minister said, “Whatever the prime minister is doing (referring to his arrest) is not good for the country .” The ED’s lawyer S V Raju claimed that Kejriwal was not cooperating and was giving evasive replies. “Kejriwal did not also give the passwords of digital devices,” Raju said. In its application for judicial custody the probe agency , cited Kejriwal’s claim on Vijay Nair, ex-communications in-charge of the party, to assert that he was evasive and giving misleading replies. Kejriwal claimed he had “limited interaction” with Nair, Requests special diet, medicines, books 8 injured in leopard attack near Wazirabad KATCHATHEEVU RAJ ES H KU MAR T HAKU R @ New Delhi PAGES 14 150 BIG RESERVOIRS HAVE SEEN STORAGE DROP BELOW 10-YEAR AVERAGE THIS YEAR | P9 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad again in Parliament.” File picture of As for Indira Gandhi, the ispeople thronging the land was a little ‘rock’, JaisKatchatheevu to worship hankar said. at the Saint Anthony’s Responding to opposition shrine there | EXPRESS barbs on the timing of the controversy, Jaishankar said it is an ongoing issue. The TAMIL NADU ceding of KatKatchatheevu chatheevu has reDelft sulted in more than SRI LANKA 6,000 Indian fisherRam Setu men being detained and 1,175 fishing vesRameswaram sels being seized by Lanka in the last 20 years. Taking an aim at the DMK, the minister said the Congress AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa had kept the regional party in moved Supreme Court in her the loop over giving the island personal capacity for the away to Lanka. “The available island’s retrieval records exist of the then foreign secretary keeping the then Later, the Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu chief minister M government headed by her Karunanidhi fully informed of impleaded itself in the case the talks between the two counJaishankar says Jawaharlal tries. Ironically, the same peoNehru and Indira Gandhi ple who connived at all this are dubbed Katchatheevu as a today standing up and trying to “little island” and “little rock” pretend to be champions of fishermen,” he charged. P9 IN 2008 FORMER Task Force OSD Radha Kishan Rao, who is named “Accused No. 4” in the Telangana phone-tapping case, has reportedly confessed to having conspired with other accused with a common goal of ensuring that the BRS returned to power for the third consecutive time in the 2023 elections. To accomplish this, former chief of Special Intelligence Bureau T Prabhakar Rao (the then IGP of SIB) chose D Praneeth Rao to head a newly-created Special Operations Team at SIB. In his confessional statement, Radha Kishan revealed that the team was exclusively formed “for the sole purpose of surveillance over the targeted political leaders and their associates and dissidents within the BRS”. Radha Kishan said Praneeth’s team reportedly focused on inducing leaders from other parties to join BRS, which was against the SIB mandate. Speaking of the prime accused Prabhakar Rao, Radha Kishan said after the formation of the TRS (later BRS) govern- ACCUSED NO. 4 IN PHONE TAPPING CASE Former Task Force OSD Radha Kishan Rao, named “Accused No. 4” in Telangana phone-tapping case, has reportedly confessed to having conspired with other accused with a common goal of ensuring that BRS returned to power for the third consecutive time in 2023 polls. ment in 2014, Prabhakar was in 2016 chosen as DIG of Intelligence Department on “caste equations”. Prabhakar then handpicked his subordinates — Praneeth Rao, Bhujang a R a o, Ve n u g o p a l R a o and Thirupathanna — as they either belonged to his community or were well acquainted with him. On the recommendations of Prabhakar Rao and due to his caste, Radha Kishan was posted as DCP of Task Force in 2017 by the BRS chief so that he could “maintain a hold on Hyderabad city for political and other reasons”. Radha Kishan then recommended inspector Gattu Mallu to be posted in Task Force and later in SIB. SANATANA ROW SC: Udhayanidhi can’t be treated on par with media entities E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Monday told Tamil Nadu Sports Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin that he cannot compare himself with media personnel to seek immunity and relief like them regarding the clubbing of multiple FIRs filed against him in six states for his alleged “eradicate Sanatana Dharma” remark. “You (Stalin) have made the said statements voluntarily and you cannot claim immunity like them,” a twojudge bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said on Monday . The top court made the observations after hearing a petition filed by the Stalin scion seeking the court’s direction to club the FIRs registered against him. He sought the relief by relying on various judgments rendered by the Supreme Court in cases involving journalists such as Arnab Goswami, Amish Devgan, and Mohammad Zubair, and others. The bench listed the matter in the week commencing on May 6 giving the minister time to amend his plea in view of “legal issues”. Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Stalin, cited several cases including that of journalists and politicians like Nupur Sharma. EXPRESS READ Sheyphali Sharan at helm of PIB Sheyphali B Sharan, a 1990-batch officer of Indian Information Services, assumed charge as the Principal Director General of Press Information Bureau on Monday. In a career spanning over three decades, Sharan has looked after media publicity works for ministries such as finance, health and family welfare, and information and broadcasting, as a PIB officer. She has also served as the spokesperson of the Election Commission. No stay on Hindu prayers in Gyanvapi The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay Hindu prayers in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi. A bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, however, ordered to maintain status quo on the religious observances by Hindus in the mosque premises. It also said that Muslims can continue to enter and offer their prayers at the mosque from the northern side, while Hindus can enter from the southern entry for puja. P9 Two ‘First Ladies’ at Senegal prez palace In the closing moments of the electoral campaign, Senegal’s president-elect Bassirou Diomaye Faye stepped onto the stage holding the hands of both his wives Marie and Absa. It was an unprecedented sight in the national politics of the West African country and a clear choice by the first-round winner who promises radical change. Polygamy is a traditional and religious practice anchored in the culture of Senegal. P11
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