Vol. 66 No. 79 | MONDAY | AUGUST 1, 2022 | 16 Pages | RAUT ARRESTED FPIs TURN NET BUYERS AFTER NINE MONTHS, INVEST RS 5K CR IN JULY After 9.5 hours of questioning and searches, the Enforcement Directorate arrested Sanjay Raut post-midnight in the Patra chawl case SANJAY JOG/MUMBAI The Shiv Sena, struggling to stay afloat after the recent rebellion in its ranks by Eknath Shinde and his supporters, received a major blow on Sunday after its MP and party spokesman Sanjay Raut was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after 9.5 hours of questioning and searches at his home, in connection with a money laundering case linked to the alleged irregularities in the Patra Chawl redevelopment project in Mumbai. Earlier in the day Raut was , taken to the ED office in Fort amid heavy police bandobast and CISF cover. A large number of Shiv Sena workers, who had gathered at Raut’s Bhandup residence, shouted slogans in his support and condemned the ED’s action. Raut, like the former NCP minister Nawab Malik, had been at the forefront when it came to taking the BJP head-on and now, both find themselves in the ED net. Raut tweeted, “Maharashtra and the Shiv Sena will continue to fight. False action. False evidence. I will not leave Shiv Sena. Even if I die, I will not surrender. Jai Maharashtra.” In another tweet, he said, “You cannot beat the person who never gives up! Won’t bow down! Jai Maharashtra!” “Long live Shiv Sena!!! Will keep fighting,” he added. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE FROM THE STATES 1ST MONKEYPOX DEATH IN KERALA T he country’s first suspected monkeypox fatality has been reported from Kerala. A 22-year-old man, who died on Saturday at a Thrissur hospital from the infection, had tested positive while he was abroad. But the information was provided to the hospital authorities by the dead man’s relatives only after his death. The state government has decided to set up a high-level panel to enquire into the death, Health Minister Veena George announced. –K. RAVEENDRAN THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ADHIR FIR FOR PREZ REMARKS A n FIR has been registered in Madhya Pradesh against Congress Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury for his controversial remark about President Droupadi Murmu on a complaint lodged by a BJP leader, a police official said on Sunday. In his complaint, the BJP leader has claimed Chowdhury’s remark had hurt the sentiments of tribals. Chowdhury has already apologised for the statement, which caused a huge uproar inside and outside Parliament. METRO BIT WETTEST JULY SINCE YR 2005 A ccording to the Indian Metrological Department, in terms of rainfall across the country, the month of July this year has been the wettest July for the country since 2005. The rainfall recorded this month was 327.7mm which is 16.9% above normal. Also, the IMD has indicated that there has been good rainfall across the country so far, except inr some parts of north and northeast India. QUOTE OF THE DAY MONEY NOT MINE T he money is not mine. Soon people will come to know the whole story, says former Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee when asked to explain the huge cash seizures at his associate Arpita Mukherje’s residences. Asked further if anybody was conspiring against him, he said, “You will get to know when the time comes.” EDITIONS: MUMBAI*, Pune, Nashik, Konkan, Indore, Bhopal, E-paper EDIT TIME FOR A REBOOT IN VOLATILE KARNATAKA Spotlight on Dadar, Alibaug properties SOMENDRA SHARMA/MUMBAI Tracing the money trail in the Patra Chawl redevelopment case, Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers are going to interrogate Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut extensively about a flat in Dadar, owned by his wife Varsha and eight plots of land at Alibaug, jointly held by Varsha Raut and Swapna Patkar, the estranged wife of Raut aide Sujit Patkar. The ED’s probe had revealed that in 2010, part of the proceeds of crime, amounting to Rs 83 lakh, were received by Varsha Raut directly/ indirectly from Madhuri Raut, the wife of Pravin Raut (already arrested in the case). This amount was allegedly utilised by Varsha Raut to purchase a flat at Dadar. Interestingly ED offi, cers have claimed that after the initiation of ED investigation, an amount of Rs 55 lakh was transferred by Varsha Raut to Madhuri Raut. The ED has initiated investigation under the PMLA on the basis of an FIR registered against M/s Guru Ashish Construction Pvt Ltd (GACPL), CONTD. ON NATION PAGE KAMAL MISHRA  MUMBAI In his balcony The Sena leader doesn’t have to be scared of anything if he has done nothing wrong – CM Eknath Shinde Shameless conspiracy to break Shiv Sena and its relationship with Thackerays. – Uddhav Thackeray `11.50L SEIZED A fresh summons was issued to Sanjay Raut by ED. He has not been arrested as of now. Some property documents have been taken into custody by ED, but those documents are not related to Patra Chawl. Rs 11.50 lakh cash has also been seized by ED during the searches. – Vikrant Sabne, Sanjay Raut’s lawyer The then Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey tried to save Raut when Maha Vikas Aghadi was in government in the state. He became Raut’s partner. It is my prayer that Raut and Nawab Malik will be now neighbours. – Former MP Kirit Somaiya LAW KUMAR MISHRA/ ARITRA SINGHA PATNA/KOLKATA of a conspiracy to make the state government fall. The Congress party has further alleged that the BJP had offered Rs 10 crore to each MLA. A Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee func- tionary has even filed an FIR against the three MLAs accusing them of plotting to topple the government. The three MLAs – Irfan Ansari, Rajesh Kaschap and Viman Viksal -- who were 55 new cases in July alone; 2021 tally of 308 reached in just 7 months this year cause chronic hepatitis, which can lead to complications including cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer. Hepatitis is a silent epidemic, killing thousands each year. The inclusion of HBV vaccination in the expanded programme of immunisation has been essential to reducing the HBV carrier frequency and disease burden in India. Much more awareness and screening of hepatitis is the need of the hour.” Patients of acute hepatitis present with fever, malaise, fatigue, loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhoea and abdominal pain. Last year, there were 308 hepatitis cases and one death reported in Mumbai. This year, however, in just seven months, this number has been reached, according to BMC records. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE Covid, swine flu and, now, hepatitis looms large SWAPNIL MISHRA MUMBAI Amid the surge in swine flu and Covid cases in the city, more than 100 hepatitis cases have surfaced in the last two months, the highest in the last three years. According to data from the civic health department, around 55 new cases of hepatitis were reported in July. Hepatitis A and E are liver inflammations caused by several viruses (viral hepatitis), chemicals, drugs, alcohol, or certain genetic disorders. They could also be caused by an overactive immune system mistakenly attacking the liver, termed autoimmune hepatitis. Depending on its course, hepatitis can either be chronic or acute. In cases where hepatitis is critical, it can flare up at constant intervals, while chronic hepatitis is generally a long-term condition resulting in progressive liver damage. Anand K, CEO, SRL Diagnostics, said, “Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C virus (HCV) are known to The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking has decided to replace the meters of around 10.5 lakh of its electricity consumers with  smart meters. “The project will be completed in a phased manner, within two years. With smart metering in place,  consumers will be able to see their power consumption in real time through the app and will be SURESH GOLANI MIRA-BHAYANDAR An Indian Navy personnel fell prey to cybercrime, losing more than Rs. 1.18 lakh when he went to buy a pair of trousers from a shop in Mira Road and paid for it using his father’s debit card. Two days later, however, the account/ cardholder had the shock of his life when he received twelve SMSs on his mobile phone about fraudulent withdrawals amounting to Rs 1,18,276 from his savings bank account, reportedly due to card cloning. The victim’s father also serves in the Navy Notably, 11 of the 12 withdrawals . were for the same amount—Rs. 10,023, 12 fraudulent withdrawals from debit card in two days, without OTP or PIN from the account linked to the ATM card, without a one-time password (OTP) or personal identification number (PIN), indicating a card-cloning racket in operation in the twin-cities. Based on a complaint registered by the Navy personnel’s able to operate the gadgets in their home or office remotely ,” said an official, adding that BEST electricity consumers would also benefit as they will get information on supply interruption timings and can control their power consumption with smart meters. “BEST has decided to fasttrack its smart meter project. Under this project, an app will be made available to consumers within a span of six months. Apart from that, the replacement of meters too will CONTD. ON P13 LIFT FREE FALL IN HIGH RISE ABHITASH SINGH THANE A lift had a free fall at a highrise apartment on Saturday at around 9:40pm; thankfully, there  were no casualties. However, a Swiggy delivery boy Anil Thate (41) was trapped inside the lift and had to be extricated with the help of the disaster management cell and Fire Brigade personnel. The incident took place at Verraton Olivia Apartment, Neelkant Woods, Manpada, in Thane (West). Thane Municipal Corporation’s Additional Commissioner Sandeep Malvi stays in the same complex.  Speaking to FPJ about the lift’s freefall,  Malvi said, “The apartment is built by a well-known builder and such an incident should not have happened,  but unfortunately it did. The PWD has been in- overnight in detention at Panchal police station, have been formally arrested. The West Bengal police had seized Rs 48 lakhs of unaccounted cash from the vehicle of Irfan. JMM spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya claimed nine legislators of the ruling alliance were under surveillance as they were suspected to be part of a plan to pull down the elected government. Mobile phones of five of them were still switched off. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE NIA ISIS SEARCHES IN STATE STAFF REPORTER MUMBAI The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday carried out searches at Kolhapur and Nanded districts as part of a nation-wide operation in a case pertaining to activities of ISIS. The case was registered suo motu by the NIA on June 25 this year. NIA had recently taken over a case related to the death of a Kolhapurbased chemist who was allegedly killed by a group of radicals in June this year. On June 21, between 10 pm and 10:30 pm, the chemist Umesh was allegedly attacked by three men. He later died during treatment at hospital. A probe had revealed that the crime had been committed in retaliation for his post on social media in support of Nupur Sharma. –SEE NATION New trousers, pocket lightened by `1.18L LAST WORD Sunrise: 06:14 am Sunset : 07:16 pm Smart meter Operation Lotus wilted in Jharkhand? The three Congress MLAs of Jharkhand, who were caught with a pile of cash by the West Bengal Police on Saturday night, were suspended by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday morning for antiparty activity . Tariq Anwar, the AICC general secretary has alleged that , the seizure was allegedly linked to the BJP and the payoff to the three MLAs was part 310c. 260c. route for BEST Sanjay Raut used to spoil our every morning. Now, his morning has been spoiled. – Nitesh Rane I will not leave Shiv Sena even if I die, will not surrender. – Sanjay Raut IT WAS SIMPLY GREAT TO SHARE SCREEN SPACE WITH AAMIR KHAN: NAGA CHAITANYA mother, the unidentified cyber crooks were charged with an offence under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code against at the Naya Nagar police station on Friday . Further investigations are underway . The twin-cities have been witnessing an alarming rise in cyber fraud cases in the past couple of months. Apart from the recent spate of frauds related to calls and messages to consumers with fake warnings about the disconnection of their electricity supply due to unpaid bills, cyber crooks have been devising novel ways to siphon off funds from bank accounts and digital wallets of people. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE 59-yr-old jumps from ninth floor St. Regis eatery AISHWARYA IYER MUMBAI The Thane apartment block and the Swiggy delivery boy formed about it and they will be carrying out an audit. If the audit reveals it’s the liftservice provider’s fault, then we will look into the matter. “ The S1 lift in the building fell from P1 to the ground floor. It was also catering to the P2 and the 31st floor of the apartment. Avinash Sawant, the Thane Regional Disaster Management Cell chief said, “When we received information about the lift crashing, we rushed to the spot along with Manpada police station and the Fire Brigade personnel. TMC additional commissioner Sandeep Malvi was also present at the spot.’’ The S1 lift has been sealed with security tape for safety reasons, he added. A 59-year-old resident of South Mumbai committed suicide after jumping from the 9th floor of one of the restaurants at the St. Regis hotel in Lower Parel on Sunday morning. According to the DCP Balsing Rajput, Mumbai Police spokesperson,  the deceased has been identified as Saurabh Khandelwal. According to a statement of family members, he was suffering from mental illness and receiving treatment at the Masina Hospital since 2005. The deceased was alone and took a taxi from his south Mumbai residence to arrive at St Regis at 11.20 am; he took the extreme step at 1.06 pm. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE