BENGALURU FRIDAY MAY 17, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 38 LATE 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 Within a couple of years of making his debut against Pakistan, the forward very quickly became the heartbeat of the side before becoming skipper MAN FOR THE BIG MOMENTS ■ ■ 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 | P13 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 HEARING TODAY Total turnout 66.95% so far, says poll panel M U K E S H 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 that the updated voter turnout in the fourth phase 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 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 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. WITH THIS ISSUE CITY’S BEST WEEKEND GUIDE 38 PAGES, INCLUDING 24 OF INDULGE (TABLOID) FIR filed against Kejri aide Bibhav Maliwal says she was slapped and punched, claims the CM was at home and knew about it U J W A L J A L A L I @ New Delhi 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 she was sitting at the drawing room of the CM house when Bibhav Kumar came and started abusing her without any provocation. She alleged that he slapped her, used abusive words in Hindi, and threatened to kill her. Maliwal accused him of then hitting her on her chest, stomach and even lower part of the body. She somehow escaped from the clutches of the attacker, came out and dialled the police for help. She broke down while recording her statement. Maliwal also alleged that Kejri- The police team at Maliwal’s house and (inset) Bibhav | PTI wal was present in the house at the time of the assault and was in complete knowledge of the incident. The police then registered an FIR against Bibhav Kumar, based on Maliwal’s complaint. The FIR was registered Ticketless traveller stabs rail staffer to death, injures three EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Belagavi A passenger travelling without a ticket stabbed a railway coach attendant to death and injured three others, including a travelling ticket examiner (TTE), on board Chalukya Express near Londa railway station in Belagavi district on Thursday evening. After the attack, the unidentified passenger jumped off the train near Khanapur railway station and escaped. According to a police officer, the coach attendant died on the Can Omar Abdullah ‘Engineer’ Baramulla? F AYA Z W A N I @ Srinagar ILLUSTRATION: MANDAR PARDIKAR 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 PDP-BJP 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 political force in north Kashmir with former legi s l at o r s, m o s t ly from PDP joining Sajad Lone (left) and Omar Abdullah the party P9 . EXPRESS READ City records 172 dengue cases in 13 days Bengaluru: With the city recording 172 dengue cases between May 1 and 13, the BBMP has swung into action to contain the spread of the disease. Teams comprising primary healthcare officers and ASHA workers, among others, have been formed to prevent the disease from spreading in high-risk areas | P3 train. The TTE and two others were rushed to a hospital in Belagavi. They are out of danger. Police sources said the passenger went on a stabbing spree when the TTE asked him to show his ticket. Belagavi Police Commissioner Lada Martin Marbaniang said the passenger suddenly pulled out a knife and attacked the TTE. When the coach attendant intervened, the passenger stabbed him to death. He then attacked the TTE and two others, Martin added. The police have launched a manhunt for the assailant. 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 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 complaint. 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 fourand-a-half hours to record her statement. Later in the day, Maliwal was taken to the AIIMS for medical examination. 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 is goAn ing on in the country Swati Mal, iwal 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 a joint press conference he addressed with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow. 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 ESPIONAGE CASE NIA arrests key accused in Mysuru EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Mysuru IN a significant breakthrough, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Nuruddin alias Rafi, a proclaimed offender and a key accused in the high-profile Hyderabad espionage case, here on Wednesday . Nuruddin, who has been evading arrest after jumping bail, was apprehended at Rajiv Nagar in Mysuru during an intensive operation conducted by a team of NIA sleuths. The NIA had announced a cash reward of Rs 5 lakh to those providing concrete information leading to the arrest of Nuruddin. The sleuths seized several mobile phones, a laptop, pen drives, and a drone from Nuruddin’s house. Nuruddin was released on bail on stringent conditions in August 2023. He was supposed to regularly report to the NIA authorities. When he failed to appear before the NIA special court in Chennai, a non-bailable warrant was issued against him. The case revolves around a terror conspiracy with international ramifications implicating key figures, including Muhammed Sakir Hussaien from Sri Lanka and Pakistani national Amir Zubair Siddique, who was employed at the Pakistan High Commission in Colombo. The plot, uncovered by NIA, involved plans to plant bombs at the US Consulate in Chennai and the Israeli Embassy in Bengaluru in 2014. Investigations revealed that Nuruddin was involved in financing espionage activities, using high-quality fake Indian currency notes provided by Siddique. Tongue for a finger! Doc botches up kid’s surgery EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ 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 John, son 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 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 Superintendent of Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode 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. 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.
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