BENGALURU SATURDAY MAY 18, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 20 LATE CITY EDITION RELIEF FOR SPICEJET OVER REFUND TO SUN GROUP’S KALANITHI MARAN Delhi HC on Friday set aside a single bench order that upheld an arbitral award asking SpiceJet to refund `270 cr to its ex-promoter DISPUTE DATES BACK TO JANUARY 2015 TRIBUNAL HAD SET 18% INTEREST TO BE PAID The dispute between Maran and SpiceJet dates back to January 2015 when Ajay Singh, who used to own SpiceJet before Maran, bought it back from him. Maran reportedly transferred his 58.46% stake to Singh in return for redeemable warrants, which were allegedly not issued to him. Maran then approached Delhi HC for payout, which referred the matter to arbitration ■ The arbitral tribunal gave its order in July 2018 and ordered SpiceJet to refund `270 crore to Maran. The tribunal also asked the airline to pay interest of 12% per annum on the amounts paid towards warrants and 18% per annum on the sums awarded to Maran if the money is not paid on time ■ SpiceJet then moved the Delhi HC to challenge the arbitral order | P13 5.46% SPICEJET STOCK CLOSED AT `63 A SHARE ON BSE ON FRIDAY, UP FROM THURSDAY’S `59.74 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 Sonia hands Rae Bareli fight to son P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi Congress leader Rahul Gandhi greets his mother Sonia Gandhi during a public meeting in Rae Bareli on Friday, as his sister Priyanka looks on | PTI Supplementary ED chargesheet names Kejri, AAP Eighth chargesheet in the money laundering case linked to the excise policy scam so far Court, the ED had said it was contemplating to make AAP an THE Enforcement Directorate accused and invoke Section 70 on Friday filed a supplementary of the PMLA to probe the aschargesheet in the money laun- pect of “vicarious liability”. dering case linked to the Delhi Last month, the Delhi High excise policy scam in which it Court had suggested while named Delhi Chief Minhearing the case that a ister Arvind Kejriwal political party could and his Aam Aadmi be brought within the Party as accused. purview of the PMLA. The chargesheet was It said a political party filed before a special means “an associacourt here under varition” or “a body of inous provisions of the dividuals”, which falls Prevention of Money Accused in 2 within the ambit of L a u n d e r i n g A c t capacities Section 70 of the (PMLA). Special Judge Arvind Kejriwal PMLA. Subsequently, Kaveri Baweja is likely has been made an the ED had likened the to take it up for cogniAAP to a company and accused in the sance in the coming Kejriwal its director. case in his days. The federal agency personal capacity This is the eighth had arrested Kejriwal, as well as the chargesheet filed by the national convenor 55, also the AAP’s naprobe agency in the case of his Aam Aadmi tional convenor, from in which it has arrested his official residence Party under 18 people so far. Last various sections here on March 21. He week, a similar comis currently out of jail of the PMLA plaint was filed by the on interim bail. ED against BRS leader and The ED had labelled Kejriwal former Telangana chief minis- as the “kingpin and key conter Chandrashekar Rao’s daugh- spirator” of the Delhi excise ter K Kavitha and four others. scam. It alleged that he acted in On Tuesday, the ED had in- collusion with his ministerial formed the Delhi High Court colleagues, party leaders and that it will name the AAP as an other persons. accused in the case. ED’s lawThe case pertains to alleged yer had said there were con- corruption and money laundercerted efforts by the accused to ing in formulating and executdelay the process of framing of ing the Delhi government’s excharges in the case. cise policy for 2021-22, which Even before the Supreme was later scrapped. U J W A L J A L A L I @ New Delhi STRIKING an emotional chord with the voters in Rae Bareli, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi said on Friday that she is handing over her son to the people of Rae Bareli with the promise that her son won’t disappoint them. Addressing a joint election rally at the meeting at ITI ground in Rae Bareli, the former Congress chief asked the people to consider her son as their own. “Rahul will not disappoint you,” said Sonia, flanked by her son Rahul and daughter Priyanka on the stage. “Everything I have is given by you. So, brothers and EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hassan GIVING a new twist to the Hassan sex scandal case, BJP leader and advocate Devaraje Gowda on Friday alleged that DCM DK Shivakumar had offered him Rs 100 crore to accuse former CM and JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy of masterminding circulation of pen drives allegedly containing obscene videos of Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna. Disclosing this to reporters on the district court premises here before the local police handed him over to SIT sleuths, Gowda alleged that the plan was to defame Kumaraswamy and end his political career. “Shivakumar forced me to tar- RAIN BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR RCB A resurgent Royal Challengers Bengaluru will face five-time champions Chennai Super Kings in a do-or-die match that will decide the fourth and final team for the IPL playoffs in Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday. RCB’s fight will not just be with the Men in Yellow, but also with the Rain Gods as showers are forecast for Bengaluru on Saturday. RCB will need to win by at least 18 runs or chase the target with 11 balls to spare. A washout would mean CSK will sail to the playoffs. ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU THE Supreme Court on Friday sought the Election Commission of India’s response on a plea seeking directions to the poll body to upload polling station-wise voter turnout data on its website within 48 hours of polling for each phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. It gave the poll body a week to file its affidavit. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the petitioner, had sought the uploading of scanned copies of Form 17-C (record of the number of votes polled in a booth). A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y A Delhi-Bengaluru Air India flight, carrying 175 people, returned to the national capital on Friday evening after a fire warning from its auxiliary power unit. After the situation became apparent, a full emergency was declared at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport around 5:52 pm for the Air India flight AI807. The flight landed back safely at IGI Airport around 6.40 pm. “ Air India flight AI807 flying Delhi to Bengaluru air retur ned to Delhi this evening after a fire warning from its auxiliary power unit. After the pilots exercised necessary protocols, the aircraft made an uneventful landing and all passengers and crew deplaned at the aerobridge safely said an ,” P5 Air India spokesperson. Rahul Gandhi said if he wins, he would treat Amethi and Rae Bareli equally on development. “If `10 is spent in Rae Bareli, it would be the same for Amethi too,” he said DKS offered me `100 cr to name Hubballi murder accused HDK as mastermind: Devaraje stabs woman, jumps off SC seeks EC’s response on booth-wise turnout data @ New Delhi AMETHI PITCH tions are very deep,” she added. Sonia said the Gandhi family roots are deeply connected to Rae Bareli. “This relationship is as sacred as Mother Ganga is with the farmers of Awadh and Rae Bareli. It started with a movement and continues till today she said. ,” Sonia said Indira Gandhi, who was an MP from Rae Bareli, had a special place for the constituency in her heart. “I saw her closely while working. She had immense affection for you,” she said. Sonia was first elected as an MP from Rae Bareli in 2004 and represented the seat till she vacated it early this year after getting elected as a Rajya Sabha member. ESCAPE BID City-bound AI plane returns to Delhi after fire warning S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y sisters, I am giving you my son. Consider him yours,” she said. Sonia said she has taught her children the values that she learnt from her mother-in-law and former PM late Indira Gandhi and the people of Rae Bareli: To respect all, protect the weak, fight against injustice for the rights of people. “Don’t be afraid, because your roots of struggle and tradi- Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra asked ECI counsel Amit Sharma what was the difficulty in putting up the voter turnout details on the website. Sharma replied that it was time consuming. “But every polling officer submits data on the app by evening? So returning officer has data of full constituency by the end of the day the ,” bench asked Sharma. He replied, “No, not immediately .” In the morning, the ADR moved the application as part of its plea to tally Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with votes cast through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). FIGHT GETS NASTY Swati Maliwal leaves Kejriwal’s house. She had earlier recorded her statement on the assault by Kejriwal’s aide Bibhav | PTI | P9 Devaraje Gowda talks to the media from a police van in Hassan on Friday get Kumaraswamy as the mastermind behind the distribution of pen drives. Shivakumar threatened me that you will be safe only if you target Kumaraswamy in the pen drive case,” he alleged. Gowda said Shivakumar allegedly formed a ministers’ committee comprising Chaluvarayaswamy, Krishna Byre Gowda and Priyank Kharge to deal with the issue. Shivakumar also hatched a conspiracy to tarnish the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the NDA government by linking Prajwal to the sex scandal. “When I refused to obey his directions, the DCM sent former Congress MLC MA Gopalaswamy to a private club where I stayed to give me Rs 5 crore,” Gowda alleged. Former MLA LR Shivarame Gowda also became a mediator between him and Shivakumar, he alleged and added that he has an audio conversation of Shivakumar targeting Kumaraswamy and Modi. “I will release it at an appropriate time,” P4 he claimed. Orange alert as heavy rain forecast for 3 days in K’taka EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru INDIA Meteorological Department, Bengaluru, on Friday issued an orange alert, forecasting heavy to very heavy rain in parts of coastal and south-interior Karnataka from May 19 to 21. These places may see a dip in maximum temperature by 3 degrees Celsius. “Karnataka did not receive any rain from December 2023 to this April. However, Karnataka is expected to experience good rain in the next five days,” CS Patil, scientist and director, IMD, Bengaluru, said. He said light to moderate rain is expected across the state in the next five days. Orange and yellow alerts have been issued for Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Kodagu, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar and coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi. These districts are expected to receive 7 cm rain accompanied by thunder, lightning and strong surface winds ranging from 40 to 50 km per hour till May 21. IMD said more than 75% of southern and coastal Karnataka, and 25-50% of north interior Karnataka will receive rain. The maximum expected temperature will go down by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius in the coming days. Bidar, Kalaburagi, Raichur, Bagalkot, Vijayapura, and Yadgir districts will be unaffected by rain. train, near D’gere, caught G SUBHASH CHANDRA @ Davanagere PERSONNEL of the Government Railway Police (GRP) caught Girish Sawant alias Vishwa, accused in the Hubballi Anjali Ambiger murder case, near Mayakonda in Davanagere district on Thursday night. Girish, who had fled Hubballi to Mysuru after allegedly murdering Anjali, boarded the Vishwamanava Express train to Hubballi from Arsikere Junction. An eyewitness said Girish, who was travelling in the general compartment, fought with other passengers over a petty issue. Based on the passengers’ complaint, he was questioned by the GRP personnel at Chikkajajur Junction. After he pleaded innocence, the GRP personnel let him go. However, when the train re a ch e d H a nu m a n a h a l l i , Girish followed Lakshmi, a passenger, to the washroom and demanded that she give him the gold chain she was wearing. When Lakshmi refused and screamed for help, Girish stabbed her, causing a deep injury on her left hand. Meanwhile, hearing her screams, some passengers rushed to the spot and thrashed Girish, who jumped off the moving train. The GRP personnel, who received this information, caught Girish who was lying injured near the railway tracks at Mayakonda. They admitted him to the Chigateri district hospital, where he re- A senior police officer checks on an injured Girish Sawant in Davanagere on Friday vealed his identity. The GRP personnel immediately alerted the Hubballi police, who were after Girish. The Hubballi police arrived in Davanagere around 11 pm and took Girish into their custody and shifted him to the KIMS Hospital in Hubballi. Lakshmi from Gadag, who was admitted to the Chigateri district hospital, was shifted to the SSIMS Hospital, where she underwent a minor surgery on Friday . According to Lakshmi’s husband, they were returning home from Tumakuru after visiting the school run by Siddaganga Mutt, seeking admission for their son, when the incident occurred. He said the GRP personnel helped him shift Lakshmi to the Chigateri district hospital. After the surgery at the SSIMS Hospital, Lakshmi is doing P3 fine, he added. Clash of surprise picks in Mumbai North Central S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai MUMBAI North Central Lok Sabha constituency, home to several celebrities and spread across many posh areas including Bandra and Vile Parle, is witnessing a close contest between renowned lawyer Ujjwal Nikam of the BJP and Mumbai Congress president Varsha Gaikwad. Interestingly neither Nikam , nor Gaikwad was the first choice of their respective parties. The BJP denied ticket to sitting MP Poonam Mahajan and wanted to field its Mumbai city president Ashish Shelar, who declined to contest saying he is not ready to enter national politics. Then Nikam was picked at the last moment. As for the Congress, it was considering former Maharashtra minister Naseem Khan, who was very keen to contest from the constituency. That Mumbai North Central has around 4 lakh Muslim voters was also a factor favouring his candidacy. However, alliance partner Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) proposed the name of Varsha Gaikwad as the joint candidate saying Muslim votes alone won’t be enough to win the election. “If Marathi candidate Varsha Gaikwad is fielded, then Shiv Sena (UBT) will easily transfer its votes to Gaikwad in the fiercely contested battle. The calculation is that there are over 4 lakh Muslims, 1 lakh Christians, 1 lakh Dalits, and a consider- able number of Marathi and non-Marathi voters. The BJP won the last two elections because of support from the Shiv Sena. But the BJP does not have it this time; so, it will face an u p h i l l t a s k eve n though it has a highprofile lawyer as its candidate,” said a senior Shiv Sena (UBT) leader, who did not wish to be named. According to reports, Gaikwad herself was not expecting to fight from Mumbai North Central: her first preference was Mumbai South Cen- Ujjwal Nikam and Varsha Gaikwad ILLUSTRATION: MANDAR PARDIKAR tral, the constituency of her late father Eknath Gaikwad. However, Uddhav successfully pushed his party’s candidate Anil Desai for the Mumbai South Central seat. Nikam is a well known lawyer, having appeared for several high-profile cases including the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist case, 1993 Bombay bomb blast case, Gulshan Kumar case, and the sensational Pramod Mahajan murder case. The BJP hopes his popularity will help, on top of the Modi factor. “To win, the BJP needs to get Marathi votes in significant numbers. Otherwise, history will repeat like in 2009, when Congress candidate Priya Dutt trounced senior lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani of the BJP in the Mumbai North Central seat by nearly 1,75,000 votes,” said a political observer. Towards this strategy, the BJP is trying to breach the Sena’s traditional Marathi vote bank by arranging rallies by MNS chief Raj Thackeray .
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