Vol. 65 No. 315 | MONDAY | MAY 9, 2022 | 14 Pages | EDITIONS: MUMBAI*, Pune, Indore, Bhopal, Konkan, E-paper MVA won’t let Ranas off the hook GOVT TO INVITE FINANCIAL BIDS FOR SCI SALE BY SEPT EDIT VENDETTA POLITICS SINGES POLICE OF THREE STATES ACTOR AKSHAY KUMAR UNVEILS TRAILER OF PRITHVIRAJ TODAY 330c. 270c. Sunrise: 06:07 am Sunset : 07:04 pm BETWEEN THE LINES TO CHALLENGE COUPLE’S BAIL, CITING  CONTEMPT OF COURT SANJAY JOG MUMBAI After the scathing attack by MP Navneet Rana against Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and the state government -- after being arrested and coming out on bail in the Hanuman Chalisa row case -- the Maha Vikas Aghadi government is expected to  file a contempt of court plea against Rana and her husband, MLA Ravi Rana, for having violated the conditions of their bail order.  While granting them bail, the court had said, “The accused shall not address the press on any subject related to the Hanuman Chalisa recital case.”  Special Public Prosecutor Pradeep Gharat said the state government would move court for the cancellation of the bail granted to the Ranas. Gharat informed that the petition to cancel the bail would be submitted to the Sessions Court on Monday The Ranas . walked out of jail a day after being granted bail on May 4. MP Navneet Rana spoke to the media after being discharged from the Lilavati Hospital. She said, “I challenge Uddhav Thackeray to contest elections from any constituency and I will contest against you and show you what woman power is.” Similarly, Ravi Rana also criticised the state government and alleged that his  wife Navneet Rana was not attended to when she complained of health issues and requested Body of woman, 20, found in Swaraj Express washroom ANOTHER DARE: WIN AGAINST ME KAMAL MISHRA MUMBAI Thackeray to contest an election against her. She also claimed that Lord Ram and the people of ‘my Maharashtra’ would teach him a lesson at the polls for the atrocious treatment meted out to her. Reacting to this remark, former Mayor Kishori Pednekar dubbed Rana an ‘immature Babli’. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE The body of a 20-year-old woman from Bihar, who has been identified as Arti Kumar on the basis of her Aadhaar card, was found near the washroom of the S4 coach of Swaraj Express, which runs between Bandra Terminus and Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra (SVDK) in Jammu & Kashmir on Sunday morning. “The woman was found with a cloth around her neck, lying on the floor, as the train staff opened the latch,” said an official, adding that on getting information through the railway control room, RPF Sub-Inspector Sudhakar Singh entered the train with other railway and on-duty GRP staff and found a female aged about 20, with a dupatta tied around her neck lying near the washroom of the S4 coach and recovered an Aadhaar card in the name of ‘Arti Kumari, daughter of Mithilesh Mandal, resident of Margujan Nipaniya Purniya, Bihar’. “The train had left Bandra Terminus at around 11am and the victim had entered the toilet after it left Borivli The graffiti seemed even more ominous when seen against the backdrop of an announcement by the banned outfit – Sikhs for Justice – that it will hold a 'Khalistan' referendum on June 6 in Himachal Pradesh.  The hill state lost no time in stepping up the security In. terstate borders and barriers have been sealed and strict vigil of hotels and other com- mercial accommodation has been ordered. Disposal Squad and quick response teams are on alert. US-based Gurpatwant Singh Pannu of the Sikhs for Justice has been named as main accused. It is understood that an intelligence alert issued on April 26 claiming that the chief of Sikhs for Justice, Gurupatwant Singh Pannu, had issued a letter to the Hi- machal Pradesh Chief Minister stating that a flag of Bhindranwale and Khalistan would be hoisted in Shimla. Political observers in Himachal are as flummoxed as anybody since the Sikh population in Himachal was never known to have hosted any Khalistani elements even at the height of terrorism in Punjab. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE ELENA BECATOROS & JON GAMBRELL ZAPORIZHZHIA backed separatists have been fighting since 2014 and occupy some territory The largest Eu. ropean conflict since World War II has developed into a punishing war of attrition due to the Ukrainian military’s unexpectedly effective defense. Ukrainian leaders have warned that attacks would only worsen in the lead-up to Victory Day the May 9 holiday , when Russia celebrates Nazi Germany’s defeat in 1945 with military parades. Russian President Vladimir Putin is believed to want to proclaim some kind of triumph in Ukraine when he addresses the troops on Red Square on Monday Ukraine’s president . is set to hold talks with G7 leaders - including US President Joe Biden and the UK’s Boris Johnson - via video conference later in the day . EU ambassadors will also meet in Brussels on Sunday to discuss the sixth round of economic sanctions against Moscow. ALL SET: MP Navneet Rana, after being discharged from hospital KALPESH MHAMUNKAR MUMBAI Independent MP from Amravati Navneet Rana, currently out on bail after her arrest by Khar Police for threatening to recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s private residence Matoshree last month, has challenged Khalistan flags: Himachal on high alert FPJ NEWS SERVICE SHIMLA Flags with ‘Khalistan’ symbols were found tethered to the main gate of the Himachal Pradesh legislative complex at Tapovan in Dharamsala on Sunday morning. Also scrawled on the walls were separatist slogans. All this was done in the dead of the night. CYCLONIC STORM TO BECOME MORE SEVERE A Cyclonic storm Asani (wrath) – the name given by Sri Lanka – in Bay of Bengal has intensified, packing wind speed of more than 75 kmph, and is expected to get stronger; however, it is expected to fizzle out next week without making landfall. There are also chances of the storm re-curving and move towards northwest Bay of Bengal off Odisha coast. The coastal areas of Bengal will receive heavy to very heavy rainfall from May 10 to 12 and fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea from May 10. In the morning, the storm lay centred over southeast Bay of Bengal, 380 km west of Port Blair in the Andaman Islands, the weather office said. – Aritra Singha, Kolkata Dozens feared dead as school is bombed Dozens of Ukrainians were feared dead on Sunday after a Russian bomb destroyed a school sheltering about 90 people in the basement, as Moscow’s invading forces kept up their barrage of cities, towns and villages in eastern and southern Ukraine. The governor of Luhansk province, one of two areas that make up the eastern industrial heartland known as the Donbas, said the school in the village of Bilohorivka caught fire after Saturday’s bombing. Emergency crews found two bodies and rescued 30 people, he said. “Most likely , all 60 people who remain under the rubble are now dead,” the governor wrote on the Telegram messaging app. Since failing to capture Ukraine’s capital, Russia has focused its offensive in the Donbas, where Moscow- Modi is template for a national leader AMIT SHAH WRITES IN THE BOOK MODI@20 DREAMS MEET DELIVERY AGENCIES NEW DELHI Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now the template for what it means and takes to be a “national leader”, Home Minister Amit Shah has said, asserting that the label was earlier handed out to even politicians of no proven merit and only capable of winning election from one or two safe Lok Sabha seats. While national leaders were identified in the immediate aftermath of the independence movement by their “name recall” across regions because of their participation in the freedom struggle, in the latter decades, notably at the height of the coalition era, the expression came to be much abused, he said, adding that Delhi media generously distributed the status to its “friends and favourites”. Writing in the book “Modi@20 Dreams Meet Delivery”, brought out by Rupa Publications and to be launched on May 11, Shah said such “facile and insincere manufacturing of national leaders” was shown up for what it was after Modi led the BJP to its biggest Lok Sabha win in 2014 before repeating the feat with a bigger margin in 2019. A confidant of the prime minister for over three decades, Shah wrote that the best teacher for a leader is “travelling to ordinary places, meeting ordinary families, sharing ordinary experiences, and doing all this by ordinary means.” CONTD. ON NATION PAGE and did not come out, so the passengers complained to the Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) and the train was given an unscheduled halt at Dahanu Road station in Palghar district at 1.09pm after the alarm chain was pulled,” said Naresh Randhir, senior inspector, Government Railway Police (GRP), Palghar. “The TTE and the passengers banged on the door of the toilet but there was no response as it was latched from the inside,” said Randhir. “After the train halted at Dahanu, we broke open the door latch and found the woman lying on the floor with a cloth around her neck, apparently motionless and not responding,” he further said. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE hospitalisation. “If reciting Hanuman Chalisa is a crime, then I am ready to be in jail for fourteen years,” she said. “This one woman will stand in front of you and will respond to your unfair fight. My voice won’t be suppressed,” Navneet Rana Providing details of her said.  current health condition, Rana said, “I was made to suffer atrocities. My back injury has become a major issue. It was I who  requested the doctor to discharge me today (Sunday) but the doctor didn’t want me to get discharged.” Shiv Sena spokesperson and the former mayor, Kishori Pednekar, lashed out at Navneet Rana claiming that her attack against the CM was meant to create a riot-like situation in Mumbai. “Without criticising Uddhav Thackeray, Aaditya Thackeray and Sharad Pawar she knows she cannot get publicity,” observed Pednekar. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE Gyanwapi case twist: petitioner backs out RASHMI SHARMA LUCKNOW In the Gyanwapi MosqueShringar Gauri temple legal tussle, one of the five petitioners has decided to withdraw. The petitioner in question, one Rakhi Singh, said on Sunday that she was pulling out. Rakhi’s uncle and chief of Sanatan Vedic Sangh, Jitendra Singh Bisen, explained that an application seeking to withdraw would be submitted in the court on Monday . Rakhi Singh, a resident of Delhi, had filed her petition along with four other women demanding permission to offer prayers at Shringar Gauri temple inside the mosque premises. Since Rakhi is based in Delhi, her uncle Jitendra Bisen was pursuing the case on her behalf. The other four women petitioners in the case have said that Rakhi’s withdrawal would have no impact on their case. Rakhi and the four other women had filed a plea in the Varanasi court seeking permission for regular prayers in the temple located inside the Gyanwapi mosque and contended that there are idols of Lord Ganesha, Hanuman and Nandi on the wall, which should be restored. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE JILL BIDEN IN UKRAINE U S first lady Jill Biden made an unannounced visit to western Ukraine on Sunday, holding a surprise Mother’s Day meeting with the nation’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, as Russia presses its punishing war in the eastern regions. Biden travelled under the cloak of secrecy, becoming the latest high-profile American to enter Ukraine during its 10week-old conflict with Russia. “I wanted to come on Mother’s Day,” Biden told Zelenskyy. “I thought it was important to show the Ukrainian people that this war has to stop and this war has been brutal and that the people of the United States stand with the people of Ukraine.” US-RETURNED COUPLE KILLED A couple in Chennai, who returned from the United States on Saturday, has been murdered by their domestic help who stayed with them. The police have recovered Rs 5 crore worth of jewellery including nine kilograms of gold, looted from them. Two people have been arrested in the case. The couple was identified as 60year-old Srikanth and his 55year-old wife Anuradha. Srikanth was a Chartered Accountant by profession.