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 SATURDAY MAY 04, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 18 LATE CITY EDITION Closure report on Rohith puts TG govt in a spot Little-known Congman from Amethi N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow Cops cite ‘lack of evidence’ in suicide case; petitions disposed of by HC; DGP then seeks to reopen probe sure report before Telangana HC, stated the reasons for suicide are personal and no one THE Telangana police late on abetted it. “The deceased himFriday decided to file a peti- self was aware that he does not tion in the “court concerned” belong to Scheduled Caste. to permit further investigation This could be one of the coninto the Rohith Vemula suicide stant fears as the exposure of case. Earlier in the day, the the same would put him to loss Gachibowli police here filed a of his academic degrees,” the closure report bereport said. fore the Telangana Many were acHigh Court citing cused in the case, lack of evidence in including the then the case related to Union HRD Ministhe 2016 suicide of ter Smriti Irani, University of Hyformer Secunderaderabad PhD scholbad MP Bandaru ar Rohith and statDattatreya and the ed that he did not then VC of UoH belong to a Sched- ‘Did not belong to P Appa Rao. SC community’ uled Caste commuThe closure renity. The HC then port was filed in The police in their disposed of the March before the closure report filed writ petitions rejurisdictional before the court said lated to the case. court, four months that Rohith did not In a press note isafter the Congress belong to an SC sued on Friday came to power in community. “He was night, Telangana the state. After Roinvolved more in DGP Ravi Gupta student political issues hith died by suisaid, “As some cide in NRS hostel than in his studies,” doubts have been room on January the report said expressed by the 17, 2016, Congress mother ... of Rohit leader Rahul GanhVemula on the investigation dhi had visited the UoH hostel, conducted, it has been decided when protests were at the to conduct further investiga- peak. In 2023, the grand old tion into the case.” party said it would bring in a More than eight years after ‘Rohith Vemula Act’ to redress Rohith’s suicide in January discrimination faced by SC, 2016, which sparked wide- ST, OBC and minority students spread protests across the na- in educational institutions. CONTINUED ON P2 tion, the police, in their cloEXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad A section of University of Hyderabad (UoH) students protest inside their campus against the Telangana police’s closure report in the Rohith Vemula case on Friday EXPRESS READ Prabhakar Rao now A1 in phone-tapping case Hyderabad: In a major development in the phonetapping case, former Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) chief Prabhakar Rao has been named accused number one. A private news channel owner, Sravan Rao, was named accused number six. With this latest development, the number of accused in the case rose to six | P3 HC nixes Vittal Dande’s election to Council Hyderabad: Justice K Lakshman of the Telangana High Court on Friday nullified the election of BRS leader Vittal Dande as Member of the Legislative Council from the Adilabad’s Local Authorities constituency. The judge was dealing with an election petition filed by Pathireddy Rajeshwar Reddy, a Congress leader, contesting the validity of Dande’s election | P4 Congress leader Rahul Gandhi files his nomination papers for the Lok Sabha elections in Rae Bareli on Friday, as mother Sonia and sister Priyanka look on | PTI IN fresh trouble for Hassan NDA candidate Prajwal Revanna and his father H D Revanna, police on Friday filed a fresh FIR against H D Revanna based on a complaint filed in Mysuru. The father-son duo is facing criminal charges for sexually assaulting several women. The latest complaint was filed by the son of a victim. The complainant alleged that his mother, who had worked as a domestic help at H D Revanna’s house and farm house for six years, was kidnapped by the politician and his aide Sathish Babanna. He said Sathish Babanna visited his house on April 26, saying Revanna’s wife Bhavani had invited his mother to her house. His mother ENDING weeks of speculation, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination papers for the general elections from his family’s bastion Rae Bareli in the presence of his mother and former Rae Bareli MP Sonia Gandhi, sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and party chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday . This newspaper was the first to report on the buzz about Rahul entering the fray from Rae Bareli (April 30 edition). With Rahul opting for Rae Bareli, the party gave the Am- ethi ticket to family faithful Kishori Lal Sharma, 63. Little is known about him except that he is a low profile operative and an errand boy of the Gandhi family in Rae Bareli. He, too, filed his papers. Priyanka recalled her family’s long association with Sharma, adding: “He has been handling Amethi for a long time. When I had managed election for the first time in 1999, we had done it together. He knows every village and street of Amethi.” Rahul said, “I am happy that Kishori Lalji, who has been serving in the area for the last 40 years, will represent Amethi this time.” Apparently, Rahul opted out of Amethi because he did not want the polls to be framed as a rematch between him and the BJP’s feisty Smriti Irani, who had defeated him in 2019. But by fielding the foot-soldier, the party appears to have thrown in the towel. When the SP allotted Amethi and Rae Bareli to the Congress, the understanding was the Gandhi siblings would enter the fray from there. Sonia had represented Rae Bareli in the Lok Sabha since 2004 before she vacated it. Case against Shah, Kishan for ‘using kids’ in canvassing at Hyderabad roadshow EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad A case under Section 188 of IPC was re gistered by the Moghalpura police against Union Minister Amit Shah, Union Minister for Culture G Kishan Reddy, BJP MLA Raja Singh and party Hyderabad Lok Sabha candidate Madhavi Latha following a complaint lodged by G Niranjan, TPCC senior vice president and chairman of the party’s Election Commission Coordination Committee, alleging that they were engaging children in election campaigning. The complaint to Chief Electoral Officer Vikas Raj expressed concerns over the participation of children in campaign activities in violation of EC guidelines. The complaint alleged that during a recent rally from Lal Darwaza to Sudha Talkies in No coercive steps against Cong SM members: HC EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad JUSTICE B Vijaysen Reddy of the Telangana High Court on Friday directed the state as well as Delhi police not to take any coercive steps against Manne Sathish, Asma Tasleem (Congress spokesperson), Ambala Shiva Kumar (TPCC state secretary), Pettam Naveen (advocate), Koya Geetha and Pendyala Vamshi Krishna (TPCC social media state secretaries) who are accused of sharing a doctored video clip of Home Minister Amit Shah. The court directed Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad, and principal secretary (Home) and others, to file their FIR AGAINST REVANNA OVER KIDNAP PLAINT E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Mysuru May consider granting interim bail to Kejriwal due to polls: SC was then taken to Revanna’s house and sent back. However, on April 29, Babanna visited again saying Revanna had asked for his mother. She was then allegedly forcibly taken on a bike. On May 1, some villagers told the son about a video of alleged sexual abuse of his mother by Prajwal. Disturbed by this, he immediately contacted Babanna and asked him to bring his mother back. However, Babanna claimed the woman was involved in a case and she could not be sent back till she secured bail. The son then filed a complaint of kidnapping. The FIR names Revanna as accused No 1 and Babanna as No 2 under Sections 364(a), 365, and 34. response and adjourned the hearing for four weeks. The petitioners raised concerns over a case registered by the SHO, Special Cell, Delhi, on a complaint filed by one Shinku Sharan Singh, alleging morphing of and circulation of a video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah stating that reservations for STs, SCs and OBCs would be scrapped if the BJP retains power at the Centre. A similar case was registered by Hyderabad police on a complaint lodged by G Premender Reddy, BJP state general secretary . The petitioners also challenged the notices issued under Section 91/160 of CrPC by the Delhi police. CONTINUED ON P5 the Hyderabad parliament constituency, children were seen holding BJP flags and other party symbols on the dais alongside political leaders. The children were again found participating in the public meeting held at Sudha Talkies after the rally the complaint said. , Niranjan also enclosed purported photographic evidence showing Amit Shah, Raja Singh, Madhavi Latha and others sharing the stage with the children. This prompted the Moghalpura police to initiate a thorough investigation into the matter. SOCIAL MEDIA WARRIORS GET BAIL The Nampally City Court on Friday ordered the release on conditional bail of the five Congress “social media warriors” arrested for allegedly circulating a doctored video featuring Union Home Minister Amit Shah. According to the Cyber Crime Police, the five accused were allegedly involved in disseminating the doctored video on social media platforms. The police acted on a complaint filed by BJP state general secretary G Premender Reddy who claimed that the doctored video clip was uploaded on X from the official account of the TPCC | P4 People cover themselves from the sun with a stole in Karimnagar on Friday | Express City records season’s highest temp at 44.20C A A R T I K A S H YA P @ Hyderabad HYDERABAD recorded the highest temperature of this summer season yet on Friday amidst the prevailing heatwave conditions in the state for the past week. According to the Telangana State Development and Planning Society (TSDPS), Hyderabad witnessed the highest maximum temperature of 44.20C in Quthbullapur, marking a one degree rise from Thursday’s 43.20C. The IMD also reported a sharp rise in temperatures in the city and said the ongoing heatwave will persist for the next four days across Telangana. IMD officials, speaking to TNIE said, “Hyderabad recorded the highest temperature of the season on Friday. Maximum temperatures were higher compared to the last two years. Heatwave conditions are expected to persist in the state for the next four days, after which there will be a significant drop in temperatures. However, temperatures are expected to rise again towards the end of the month and continue until the start of June.” Maximum temperatures in the state nearly reached 470C, with four districts — Peddapalli, Suryapet, Jagtial and Khammam — recording a maximum temperature of 46.70C, followed by Mancherial and Nalgonda at 46.50C. As many as 29 districts were under a red alert for extreme temperatures, with the mercury crossing the 450C mark. Adilabad, Medak, Sangareddy and Hyderabad recorded temperatures above CONTINUED ON P6 440C, with an orange alert issued. Scindia’s fight to reclaim lost Guna glory A N U R A A G S I N G H @ Bhopal WHEN Jyotiraditya Scindia lost the royal family bastion Guna in Madhya Pradesh to his protégé-turned-rival KP Yadav in 2019, it was largely attributed to his arrogance. Then, Scindia was an influential Congress leader and Yadav had just switched sides to join the BJP to emerge as a giant killer. Cut to 2024, Scindia is fighting to reclaim his lost glory on a BJP ticket while the Congress has taken a leaf out of the BJP’s book by fielding Rao Yadvendra Singh Yadav, a former leader of the saffron party . Guna has been synonymous with Gwalior’s erstwhile royal Scindia family and Scindia has won four times – in 2002, 2004, 2009 and 2014 – on Congress ticket. According to party insiders, when Scindia’s candidature was announced on March 2, there was considerable unease among party workers as well as the dominant Yadav voters over the denial of ticket to sitting MP K P Yadav. “The Yadavs are clearly siding with Rao Ya dve n d r a Singh Yadav. To complicate matters, Yadav is the son of former BJP MLA Rao Deshraj Singh Yadav, a sworn adversary of the Scindia family. This makes Yadav acceptable even to nonYadav BJP voters,” said a senior BJP worker. While Yadav voters are still opposed to Scindia, the other castes, including Lodhis, Kirars, Raghuvanshis, Vaishya, Brahmin, Kshatriyas, and tribals are said to be backing the Union minister. Scindia has his work cut out. The scarcity of drinking water in many parts of the constituency, particularly in tribaldominated areas, also remains a concern for the Scindia camp. Recently, a video went viral which showed Scindia’s wife being confronted by women raising their water woes. Since his humiliating defeat in 2019, Scindia has been frequently crisscrossing the 18.83 lakh voters-strong constituency He visited Guna many times . after joining the BJP in March 2020 and also after becoming Union minister in the Narendra Modi government. According to analysts, the unique combination of Modi’s image and the royal family’s goodwill may work in favour of Scindia. Scindia has also got former BJP chief ministers Uma Bharti and Shivraj Singh Jyotiraditya Scindia Chouhan to campaign for him to ensure the support of LodhiYadvendra Singh Yadav Kirar castes to counter the opposition of Yadavs. ILLUSTRATION: MANDAR PARDIKAR
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