FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms FREE PRESS VOL. XXXX NO. 285 | INDORE | FRIDAY | MARCH 22, 2024 | PAGES 16 r Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2021-2023; `3 r RNI No. 38281/83 QUALITY AT VALUE www.freepressjournal.in - ‘THE FIRST FEELING IS I AM HAPPY THAT I AM ALIVE’ SPORTS EDIT CONGRESS TICKETS GO A-BEGGING WEATHER EDITIONS: INDORE, BHOPAL, UJJAIN, MUMBAI, PUNE 32.60c. 19.00c Sunrise : 06.30 Sunset : 06.37 PYAALA CHHALKA WRAPPED IN SUNSHINE CINEMA 12% CUT: THE CASE AGAINST KEJRIWAL Arrested by ED, Delhi CM’s cup runneth over GAURAV VIVEK BHATNAGAR NEW DELHI Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal has the dubious distinction of being the first sitting chief minister to be arrested in the history of Independent India. In a seismic development, just weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha election, Kejriwal has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in the alleged liquor policy scam. His deputy is already languishing in the prison in the case without bail. The arrest was preceded by his questioning for two hours by an ED team at his official residence, the denial of relief by the Delhi high court earlier in the day and a midnight knock at the portals of the Supreme Court which came to naught. He was denied an urgent night-time hearing and the matter is likely to find a mention in the Supreme Court on Friday . The first of the jolts came when the Delhi High Court refused to grant Kejriwal interim relief from any coercive action with the two- FIRST SITTING CM TO BE ARRESTED IN FREE INDIA Kejriwal's plea against arrest likely to be heard in SC today judge bench observing that “at this stage, we are not inclined (to pass any order’’). The Delhi CM had filed a petition in the court challenging the summons issued to him by the Enforcement Directorate. He had until then failed to respond to nine of them. In a clear statement of intent, the Aam Aadmi Party said minutes after Kejriwal was arrested that he will continue as the Delhi Chief Minister and discharge his duties from jail. "Arvind Kejriwal is and will remain the Chief Minister of Delhi... there are no two ways about it," said AAP's Atishi, who is currently his Number 2 in the government. "We made it clear from the beginning that he will work from jail if need be. There is no law that stops him from doing so. He has not been convicted," she added. Calling the arrest a "political conspiracy", she said in two years, they have not been able to recover a single rupee, even though more than 500 officers were on the case. Incidentally this is the 16th , arrest in the case and those arrested thus far include former Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia, AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and Bharat Rashtra Samiti leader K. Kavitha. ED sources said the reasons for the arrest were divulged to Kejriwal and his wife, Sunita, as per procedure. He was taken to the ED headquarters later in the night and will be produced in court on Friday . Soon after news of ED team’s raid and Kejriwal’s arrest spread, a large number of AAP workers and leaders converged near his house and started raising slogans. A large contingent of Delhi police personnel and Rapid Action Force personnel was deployed around his residence to prevent any untoward incident. Delhi minister Atishi charged that the arrest was part of a political conspiracy hatched by the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. ‘‘If there is any leader that Modi fears it is Kejriwal and so they have arrested him.” CONTD. ON P8 Diggy likely to contest CJI raps from Rajgarh, Yadav TN Guv from Guna AGENCIES NEW DELHI NEWS BRIEF Gold touches new high NEW DELHI: Gold prices surged by Rs 1,130 to hit an all-time high of Rs 67,450 per 10 grams in the local market here following strong global trends. The precious metal had closed at Rs 66,320 per 10 grams in the previous trade. Silver also zoomed by Rs 1,100 to Rs 77,750 per kg on increased demand. It had settled at Rs 76,650 per kg in the previous close. Sadhguru making steady progress NEW DELHI: Spiritual leader Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, who underwent an emergency brain surgery at a private hospital here after suffering "lifethreatening" bleeding in the skull, is recovering well and making steady progress, the Isha foundation said on Thursday. In an Instagram story posted on Wednesday, Sadhguru's daughter Radhe Jaggi wrote. Bhuria may be fielded from Ratlam OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in Former chief minister Digvijaya Singh may contest election from Rajgarh seat, Kantilal Bhuria from Ratlam and Arun Yadav from Guna-Shivpuri seat, the Congress' Central Election Committee has finalise Lok Sabha poll candidates for Madhya Pradesh in a meeting held, in New Delhi on Thursday . The ex-CM Singh contested the election from Bhopal seat in the year 2019 and have lost it to the BJP candidate Pragya Singh Thakur with around 3.64 lakh votes. The meeting of the CEC was attended by former T alking to media Patwari in New Delhi after meeting, he said that the names for the elections has been decided unanimously, "We had stated that we will give more than 50 per cent tickets to youth. We have kept that in mind and the decisions have been taken unanimously. It will be declared tonight or tomorrow." "All big leaders with chances of winning are contesting the election," he said Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, party general secretary K C Venugopal and other members of the panel. From the state MP, the state president Jitu Patwari, leader of opposition Umang Singhar, in-charge of state Jitendra Singh finalised the names of the candidates. CONTD. ON P8 The Supreme Court today came down heavily on Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi for his refusal to re-induct a DMK leader as minister despite a pause on his conviction. In strong remarks, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said the Governor was "defying the Supreme Court" and asked the Centre, "If the Governor does not follow the Constitution, what does the government do?" The bench, also comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, has now given the Governor a day's time till tomorrow to appoint DMK's K Ponmudi as minister. The MK Stalin government has approached the Supreme Court after Ravi refused to re-induct Ponmudi into the state cabinet, saying it would be against Constitutional morality. Mr Ponmudi was disqualified as an MLA after the Madras High Court recently reversed his acquittal in an assets case. Thereafter, the Supreme Court paused his conviction and the sentence of a two-year jail term. CONTD. ON P8 Twin setbacks for Centre in one day STOP SENDING ‘VIKSIT BHARAT’ MESSAGES: EC POLL BODY had received several complaints NEW DELHI Taking a strong step to ensure compliance with the model code of conduct, the Election Commission has directed the Union government to "immediately halt" Viksit Bharat messages being sent over WhatsApp. The poll panel has also instructed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to immediately submit a compliance report. Thursday's action by the Election Commission comes after it received several complaints about the model code being violated by MeitY sending the messages. In response, the ministry had informed the panel that the messages, which contain a letter from the Prime Minister, were sent out on March 15 - before the model code of conduct (MCC) came into force and that some of them could have been delivered with a delay because of "system architecture and network limitations". CONTD. ON P8 SC STAYS FACT CHECK UNIT NOTIFICATION THE IT rules gave power to Centre to identify fake news about itself NEW DELHI The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the March 20 notification of Fact Check Unit by the Centre government under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules 2023 (IT Amendment Rules 2023). A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra put on hold the notification till the Bombay High Court finally decides the challenges to the IT Rules Amendment 2023. The bench stayed the notification till third judge of Bombay High Court gives its verdict after completing hearing on legality of Rules setting up FCU. Earlier, the Bombay High Court had delivered a split decision. The third judge is hearing the case after split verdict from a division bench of High Court on validity of FCU. CONTD. ON P8 What is it that Enforcement Directorate wants to know from Kejriwal? GAURAV VIVEK BHATNAGAR / NEW DELHI The Delhi liquor policy case, in which chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has been summoned multiple times by the Enforcement Directorate, has thus far led to the arrest of 15 people and has seen the agency conduct nearly 250 searches across the country . While Aam Aadmi Party and some other opposition parties have termed it a witch-hunt, the fact remains that so far most of the accused – including former Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh -- have not been GRILLED FOR TWO HOURS BY TEAM OF 12 ED SLEUTHS able to secure bail in the case. The case pertains to the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22. It was alleged that licences were granted to liquor traders in a way that they allowed cartelisation and favoured certain dealers who had allegedly paid bribes. Though the policy was later scrapped, Delhi Lieutenant Governor V .K. Saxena had recommended a CBI probe, following which the ED had registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). CONTD. ON P8 Cash-strapped Pakistan seeks 24th bailout PM Sharif & IMF confirm AGENCIES Islamabad Pakistan would require another IMF bailout programme for its macroeconomic stability, the cashstrapped country's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Thursday, a day after Islamabad reached a staff-level agreement with the global lender on the successful completion of the existing short-term facility . Addressing a meeting of the Special Investment and Facilitation Council's (SIFC) Apex committee, Sharif asserted that the new tranche of the bailout package by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would likely be received in a few days, but signalled the need for a new programme by the Fund, the Dawn newspaper reported. CONTD. ON P8 ELECTORAL BONDS: Megha Engineering, Qwik Supply big donors for BJP NEW DELHI The BJP, the biggest beneficiary of electoral bonds with donations worth over Rs 6,000 crore in the last four years of the scheme, got funds from several corporates and individuals, including Megha Engineering, Future Gaming, and Reliance-linked Qwik Supply . Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering, which won several contracts for infrastructure projects, donated Rs 584 crore to the BJP, Qwik Supply Rs 395 crore, and Future Gaming Rs 100 crore, according to data released by the Election Commission on Thursday . The BJP also got Rs 346 crore from Keventers Food Park, MKJ Enterprises and Madanlal Ltd -- three firms with the same Kolkata address, Vedanata contributed Rs 226 crore, and Haldia Energy Rs 81 crore. Vedanta was also a key contributor to the Congress with donations worth Rs 125 crore. The opposition party also received funds from Western UP Power and Transmission, MKJ Enterprises and Yashoda Super Speciality Hospitals. The BJP also got donations worth Rs 80 crore from Western UP Power and Transmission Company, and Rs 42 crore from Welspun. CONTD. ON P8