DHARMAPURI l friday l may 17, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION An INDIAN legend bids farewell: Chhetri set for final match Sunil Chhetri, one of India’s finest footballers, announced that he would be retiring after the World Cup qualifier against Kuwait on June 6 Only behind Ronaldo and Messi In terms of the most goals scored by active international footballers in the men’s game, the forward is only behind Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. While the Indian forward has scored 94 goals, Ronaldo has 128) and Messi 106 A totemic figure MAN FOR THE BIG MOMENTS Within a couple of years of making his debut against Pakistan, the forward very quickly became the heartbeat of the side before becoming skipper ■ ■ Chhetri has had big moments but the first one that sort of announced his presence on the national stage was the AFC Challenge Cup final in 2008 when he scored a hat-trick in the final against Tajikistan That win helped India qualify for the 2011 Asian Cup, the first time India had reached the continental event since the 1980s | P11 150 Appearences so far. He is India’s most capped player 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 FIR filed against Kejri aide Bibhav hearing today Total turnout 66.95% so far, says poll panel Maliwal says she was slapped and punched, adding the CM knew about it and was at home U J W A L J A L A L I @ New Delhi MUKESH R A N J A N @ New Delhi The Election Commission of India on Thursday put the cumulative turnout in the four phases of Lok Sabha elections at 66.95%. The poll panel in a statement said the updated voter turnout in the fourth phase of polling on May 13 was 69.16%, which was 3.65% higher than the corresponding phase in the 2019 general elections. This is the only phase where the turnout graph went up. In the third phase, the updated turnout was recorded as 65.68%, about 3% lower than 2019’s data of 68.40%. Likewise, the second phase recorded 66.71% polling as against 69.64% in the 2019 polls, down by about 3%. And the first phase turnout was 66.14% as against 69.43% in 2019, a drop of 3.3%. As many as 45.10 crore voters out of the total 97 crore on the poll rolls in 379 seats across 23 states and Union Territories have voted in the first four phases of elections. Three more phases are due with the last day of polling on June 1. The statement also listed the measures taken to encourage them to vote in good numbers. The Supreme Court will on Friday hear a plea of the Association for Democratic Reforms, an NGO, seeking a direction to the Election Commission to upload polling station-wise voter turnout data on its website within 48 hours of conclusion of polling for each phase of the Lok Sabha elections. Chennai and several districts received moderate rainfall on Thursday | P Ravikumar Rain gives TN heat respite, red alert for ghat areas on May 20 Ex p r e s s N e w s S e r vic e @ Chennai In a respite from the sweltering heat, several districts including Chennai received light to moderate showers on Thursday Red alert (isolated heavy to . very heavy rain and extremely heavy rain) has been issued for one or two places in the ghat areas of Coimbatore, Nilgiris, Dindigul, Theni, Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli and Tenkasi districts on May 20. The maximum temperature is likely to fall gradually by 3-4°C at many places across the state during the next five days and it will be below normal to normal in most parts. While the intermittent overnight rain on Wednesday that resumed on Thursday brought cheer to Chennai residents, several regions of Tamil Nadu, including delta areas of Thanjavur and Tiruvarur and Sivaganga in the southern part of the state, too, received moderate to heavy showers. Pattukottai (Thanjavur) received the highest of 16cm rainfall and Singampunari (Sivaganga) recorded 14cm and Mannargudi (Tiruvarur) 13cm during the 24-hour period that ended at 8.30am on May 16. The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) in Chennai on Thursday issued an orange alert (heavy to very heavy rain) for isolated places in Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli, and Tenkasi districts till May 19. It also issued orange alert for Thoothukudi and Theni districts on Friday; Theni, Coimbatore and Nilgiris on Saturday and Sunday; and Dindigul district on Sunday . Continued on p5 Can Omar ‘Engineer’ Baramulla? F AYA Z W A N I @ Srinagar HEADS turned when former Jammu and Kashmir CM chief and National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah chose Baramulla over his comfort zone Srinagar. Omar, 53, is pitted against Peoples Conference (PC) chairman Sajad Gani Lone, who has the backing of the BJP . Baramulla is a stronghold of the National Conference but Omar or his father Farooq Abdullah has never contested from here. The Abdullahs have always preferred Srinagar, given their party’s hold in central Kashmir. Since 1971, NC has won Baramulla nine times, the Congress twice, and the PDP once. In 2019, NC’s Mohammad Akbar Lone won by over 30,000 votes, beating PC’s Raja Aijaz Ali, who polled over 1 lakh votes. The stakes are high this time as the LS poll outcome will set the tone for the Assembly polls later this year. Also, the political scenario has changed considerably since Article 370 was read down in 2019. Both Omar and Sajad are pitching for restoration of 370. Baramulla covers four districts—Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora (north Kashmir), and Budgam (central Kashmir)—covering 18 Assembly segments. Omar enjoys support in all four districts as NC has cadre everywhere, while Sajad’s support base is primarily in Kupwara. Sajad, 57, is a militancy victim as his father Abdul Gani Lone was assassinated. He was a minister in Mehbooba Mufti’s PDPBJP coalition government on the BJP quota. After that government’s fall in June 2018 and the abrogation of Article 370 a year later, Sajad’s Peoples Conference emerged as a strong po- Sajad Lone (left) and Omar Abdullah litical force in north Kashmir with former legislators, mostly from PDP joining the party Be. sides, Sajad has got the backing of Apni Party which has clout , in north Kashmir. Sajad also has got the support of some former legislators including ex-PDP patron Muzaffar Baig and the Pahari community leaders. Paharis are a linguistic minority who were granted Scheduled Tribe status in February this year. Apart from Paharis, Sajad will be banking on the support of Shias, whose leader Imran Ansari is in his good books. “My victory is not as important as the defeat of Omar. It will mark a new dawn for Kashmir if he loses,” he says. As for Omar, he is pitching the party’s Shia leader and Srinagar candidate Aga Ruhullah to counter Imran Ansari’s influence on Shia voters. However, what could tilt the scales is the entry of former MLA Engineer Rashid, who is currently in Tihar Jail following his arrest by the NIA in an alleged terror funding case. Rashid is a former member of PC and could end up cutting Sajad’s votes. And that could benefit Omar. AAP parliamentarian Swati Maliwal on Thursday gave her statement to the Delhi Police over her physical assault by Bibhav Kumar, close aide of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, at the latter’s residence a few days ago. Top official sources told this newspaper that Maliwal said Bibhav Kumar slapped her multiple times and also punched her belly She also al. leged that Kejriwal was present inside the house at the time of the assault and was in complete knowledge of what happened. The police subsequently registered an FIR against Bibhav Kumar, based on Maliwal’s complaint. The FIR was registered under sections 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (Criminal intimidation) and The police team at Maliwal’s house and (inset) Bibhav | PTI 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code at the Civil Lines police station. On May 13, Maliwal had alerted the Delhi Police after her assault but did not file a formal com- plaint. However on Thursday a , two-member police team, which included a senior officer from the Special Cell and an Additional DCP-rank woman officer, went to her residence and took around four-and-a-half hours to record her statement. Later in the day Maliwal was , taken to the AIIMS for medical examination. Parallely Bibhav , Kumar has been summoned by the National Commission for Women to appear in person before it on Friday at 11 am. Maliwal, who remained silent after the assault, finally posted on X that the last few days were very “difficult for her”. She was sarcastic about those who tried to assassinate her character and accused her of doing it on the behest of some other party . “ important election An is going on in the country Swati , Maliwal is not important, the issues of the country are important. There is a special request to BJP people to not do politics on this incident,” she said. As for Kejriwal, he kept mum on the assault at the joint press conference he addressed with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow and abruptly ended it. And his party colleague Sanjay Singh indulged in whatabouteary . Earlier in the day, the BJP stepped up its attack on Kejriwal after a purported video of Bibhav Kumar with him at the Lucknow Airport on Wednesday went viral. “Bibhav, who is accused of assaulting Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal, was last evening spotted with Arvind Kejriwal and Sanjay Singh at the Lucknow Airport.’’ What happened to me was very bad. I have given my statement to the police. I hope that appropriate action will be taken. The last few days have been very difficult for me — Swati Maliwal Tongue for Another road accident in Chennai a finger! Doc leaves four dead and 20 injured botches up kid’s surgery Truck axle snapped E X PRESS NEWS SER V I C E @ Kozhikode IN a bizarre incident, a doctor at the Government Medical College Hospital in Kozhikode, Kerala, operated on the tongue of a four-year-old girl, who was brought to the hospital for a surgical procedure to remove her sixth finger. According to the girl’s family the child , was brought to the hospital on Thursday morning for the finger surgery After an . hour-long procedure in the operation theatre, the child was brought to the ward, when the parents noticed cotton stuffed in her mouth. And her sixth finger hadn’t been touched. The parents immediately flagged the error to a nurse, who allegedly mocked them. The family then escalated the matter and also lodged a police complant. The hospital authorities initially tried to settle the issue with the family The . doctor who led the surgery, Dr Bijon Johnson of the paediatric department, also apologised to them and another surgery was conducted to remove the child’s sixth finger. The controversy forced Kerala health minister Veena George to order a probe by the director of medical education. The doctor was suspended, pending investigation. After news of the botched-up surgery spread, the hospital authorities came up with an explanation, and sought to defend the doctor. “After the surgery of the four-year-old girl, there was a procedure scheduled for a child with a tongue-tie. When the first child cried in the operation theatre, the surgeon noticed the tongue-tie in her mouth. So, he proceeded to operate on it. But we failed to communicate it to the child’s relatives. However, we will investigate the complaint,” said hospital’s superintendent. However, the family clarified that the child didn’t suffer from any kind of speech impediment. Meanwhile, the Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights filed a case against hospital authorities and sought a report on the incident. Illustration: Mandar Pardikar express read Form panel to monitor cops to end drug menace, HC tells TN Xi, Putin hint at political settlement to end Ukraine war SC adds a layer of safety in arrests under PMLA Madurai: The Madras High Court on Thursday directed the chief secretary, home secretary, and the DGP to constitute a secret panel to monitor police officials who are suspected to be hand-inglove with drug offenders. A two-judge bench said the materials placed before it suggest that the state has taken effective steps to curb movement of drugs but the court felt that the menace can be eradicated only if police exercise more vigilance | P2 Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday hinted at a political settlement to end the Ukraine war, shortly after his talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Beijing. “China hopes peace and stability will return to European continent at an early date, and stands ready to play a constructive role to this end,” Xi said at a joint press conference with Putin. The two vowed to counter any US attempt to hinder their strategic ties | P9 The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the Enforcement Directorate cannot arrest an accused under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act after a special court takes cognisance of the complaint of money laundering. The ED will have to apply to the concerned court to get his custody, the bench said, adding another layer of safety to the draconian law | P7 Minutes after the truck laden with granite slabs got stranded on the middle of GST Road after its axle got snapped, a private bus crashed into the right side of the vehicle while trying to drive past the truck at 3am on Thursday Ex p r e s s N e w s S e r vic e @ Chennai Four people died and 20 others were injured in a road accident when a private bus broadsided a truck that broke down on the middle of the Tiruchy-Chennai highway (GST Road) at Pukkathurai near Madurantakam in Chengalpattu district around 3.20am on Thursday . While police identified three of the dead as V Dhanalakshmi (53) of Kodungaiyur, A Praveen (24) of Butt Road in Chennai, and S Rajesh (30) of Agili vil- lage in Chengalpattu district, identity of one more woman is yet to be ascertained. A Chengalpattu police official said a truck loaded with granite got stranded on the middle of GST Road after its axle got snapped. The driver and helpers immediately got down from the vehicle and tried to divert traffic on either side of the vehicle. They were soon joined by police. But minutes later, a Tiruchy-Chennai bus crashed into the right side of the truck while trying to drive past the stranded truck. P5
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