Vol. 67 No. 172 | FRIDAY | APRIL 19, 2024 | 28 Pages | `5 & for Pune `6 only Quality at Value www.freepressjournal.in MEMBER: AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATION JANUARY TO DECEMBER 2023 EDITIONS: MUMBAI*, Pune, Nashik, Konkan, Indore, Bhopal, E-paper PRATIK GANDHI’S NEXT Actor opens up about his experience of working on Do Aur Do Pyaar EDIT POLLS FREE AND FAIR, SO FAR MKTS END LOWER FOR 4TH STRAIGHT SESSION ALL IN THE HANDS OF VOTERS VIRENDRA KAPOOR NEW DELHI It is over to the voter now. Election 2024 gets underway today with polling , scheduled in 102 Lok Sabha constituencies. For the outcome, however, we will have to wait till June 4 when the votes are to be counted. Keeping the country in a state of suspension this long, and governments across the land bound down by the restrictive model code of con- duct, wasn’t a particularly bright idea of the Election Commission. In the run-up to the first round of the seven-phase poll, there have been no major violations of the model code, though rival parties rushing to the EC with complaints against one another is par for the electoral course. Suffice to say notwithstand, ing the habitual complainers, the elections today are far better conducted, and far more fair and transparent Mcap of BSE-listed companies diminishes by Rs 9,30,304.76 cr in four days 0 0 34 c. 29 c. Sunrise : 06:22 am Sunset : 06:53 pm than at any time in the early 50s through the 70s. In this context, instead of appreciating that we have stolen a march on some of the more advanced nations in conducting polls through EVMs, the professional ‘PILwallahs’ continue to indulge their contrarian tendencies. Without doubt, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as expected, spearheaded the BJP campaign in the pursuit of what the party calls ‘ b ki baar A 400 paar’. CONTD. ON NATION Plot to kill Kejriwal: Atishi BJP bets on Rane as Shinde sulks GAURAV VIVEK BHATNAGAR NEW DELHI SC RESERVES EVM VOTE TALLY RULING OUR BUREAU / NEW DELHI The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on a score of pleas seeking 100 per cent verification of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) votes with their Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips. At present, five EVMs are randomly verified against VVPAT slips in every Assem- bly segment. A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta reserved its judgment following the Election Commission’s response to the petitions. The petitioners additionally sought the reversal of the Election Commission’s 2017 decision seeking to replace the transparent glass on VVPAT machines with an opaque glass, allowing voters to view the slip only when a light is activated for seven seconds. The ECI told the bench that the manufacturer of the EVM does not know which button is going to be allotted to which political party or which machine will be allotted to which constituency or state. CONTD. ON NATION `98 crore worth Raj PIC: SALMAN ANSARI Kundra assets seized ASHISH SINGH/ MUMBAI Immovable and movable properties worth Rs 97.79 crore belonging to Ripu Sudan Kundra, also known as Raj Kundra, were provisionally attached by the Mumbai Zonal Office of the Enforcement Directorate under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The attached properties include equity shares in his name, a residential flat in Juhu which is registered in the name of his wife, actor Shilpa Shetty and a residen, tial bungalow in Pune. The ED action stems from an investigation triggered by multiple First Information Reports (FIRs) lodged by the Maharashtra and Delhi police against M/s Variable Tech Pte THE FP BULLETIN INDIAN FEMALE CAPTIVE BACK A nn Tessa Joseph, the sole woman cadet among the 17 Indian crew members of an Israellinked container vessel that was seized by Iran's military on April 13, was released on Thursday following "concerted efforts" by the Indian mission in Tehran and the Iranian government. Ann hails from Thrissur in Kerala. Attached properties include a residential flat in Juhu registered in the name of actor Shilpa Shetty, and a residential bungalow in Pune Ltd, the late Amit Bhardwaj, Ajay Bhardwaj, Vivek Bhardwaj, Simpy Bhardwaj, Mahender Bhardwaj, and several MLM (multi-level marketing) agents. It has been alleged that they had collected huge amounts of funds in the form of bitcoins (worth Rs 6,600 crore in 2017 itself) from the public, with false promises of a 10 per cent monthly return in the form of bitcoins. CONTD. ON NATION NESTLE IN SOUP OVER SUGAR Swiss organisation, and the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN). T he Centre has taken cognizance of charges made against multinational food company Nestle of adding sugar to infant food products in India. Nestle’s baby food product Cerelac has been found to contain an average of nearly 3 grams of sugar per serving in India, despite stringent guidelines by the World Health Organization (WHO) banning added sugars in baby food products, according to the investigation by Public Eye, a BRIJ BHUSHAN’S OVERSEAS ALIBI A Delhi court is likely to pronounce on April 26 its order on whether to frame charges against former Wrestling Federation of India chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in a sexual harassment case lodged by six female wrestlers against him. In his submission, Singh has claimed he was not in India on There is a conspiracy to kill Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal in jail, party leader and Delhi minister Atishi alleged on Thursday evening. Kejriwal, the Delhi minister, was being denied insulin in jail, as part of this conspiracy and attempts were being , made to deny him home cooked food also, so that something could be mixed in the food and fed to him. Atishi’s statement came just hours after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) claimed in court that Kejriwal, who is getting home cooked meals in Tihar Jail, was deliberately having sweets and mangoes to raise his sugar level so that he could get bail on medical grounds. HC nod to pre-arrest bail of Pednekar URVI MAHAJANI / MUMBAI The Bombay High Court on Thursday confirmed the prearrest bail given to former Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar in connection with an alleged scam in the purchase of body bags for Covid victims. The confirmation of the bail by the court came after the State said it had no objection to it as she has been cooperating with the investigation. Justice NJ Jamadar, while confirming Pednekar’s pre-arrest bail, directed her release on furnishing a personal bond of Rs30,000 in case of arrest. The EOW of Mumbai police had registered an FIR against Pednekar under various sections of IPC for cheating and criminal conspiracy . CONTD. ON NATION the date of one of the incidents, when he allegedly harassed a female wrestler at the WFI office. AAP MLA KHAN HELD IN SCAM L ess than a month after arresting Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the liquor policy case, the Enforcement Directorate has taken an AAP MLA, Amanatullah Khan, into custody in connection with alleged irregularities in the Delhi Waqf Board, the party has claimed. LAST WORD HC will not interfere in Vadhavan port URVI MAHAJANI / MUMBAI The Bombay High Court has refused to interfere with the permission granted to establish and develop a Greenfield Port at Vadhavan in Dahanu in Palghar district, observing that Dahanu Taluka Environment Protection Authority (DTEPA) has considered all “relevant aspects” before approving the revised plan. With that, the court has dismissed all pleas challenging the permission granted to establish the port. While adopting a hands-off approach, the high court reasoned that it has to “consider whether a balance has been struck between sustainable development, on the one hand, and environmental protection with necessary safeguards, on the other.” In this context, the court noted that “the complexion of the project had undergone a substantial change in view of re-location of the port at a distance of about six kilometres from the shore area.” Moreover, the “aspect of mangrove protection” too has been considered. “The off-shore area was found to fall beyond the area of Dahanu Taluka and within the domain of the Central Government,” the bench noted in a detailed 53-page judgment. It further added that the Dahanu Taluka Environment Protection Authority has considered all relevant aspects and also proposed mitigation measures by constituting a Monitoring Committee. A committee has also been constituted for vetting the grievances of all stakeholders as well as all those concerned with the project. The judges also emphasised that the “court does not possess such expertise so as to sit in appeal over the decision of the Environment Protection Authority”. The bench headed by Justice AS Chandurkar also observed that before granting permission, the Environment Authority had considered all relevant aspects, including the Central Pollution Control Board circular. CONTD. ON NATION FPJ POLITICAL BUREAU NEW DELHI “For the past many days Kejriwal’s sugar level has been constantly over 300. He has been asking the Tihar Jail authorities for insulin as his sugar level is high but they have not been provided him with it,” Atishi countered. “What is this conspiracy that you are refusing insulin to a person, who has been diabetic for 30 years, even when the sugar levels have crossed 300? Are you trying to kill him?” she asked. “If you think that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will save you, remember it can do so today but it , won’t be able to save you from God,” she cautioned the ED. Lies are being spread by ED and BJP because they want to stop the supply of home cooked food to Kejriwal, Atishi said. “Once that would happen, then no one would know what and when he is being fed in Tihar jail,” she contended. BJP has outsmarted Eknath Shinde-led formulation by pocketing the Ratnagiri Sindhudurg constituency – traditionally a citadel of the undivided Shiv Sena – and awarding it to its nominee -Union minister Narayan Rane. In the region, the BJP’s lone legislator is Nitesh Rane, who is incidentally Narayan Rane’s son; he represents the Kankavli assembly constituency Ratnagiri . and Sawantwadi, meanwhile, are represented by the Shinde Shiv Sena, Kudal and Rajapur by Shiv Sena UBT and Chiplun by Ajit Pawar-led NCP . By nominating Narayan Rane, the BJP is betting big and putting all its eggs in the Ratnagiri basket; the party is doing so smug in the belief that Narayan Rane is in a position to turn the tide in its favour by taking on Uddhav Thackeray and whittling down the sympathy factor working in Uddhav’s favour since the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. BJP fancies that Rane, who as a Congress nominee tasted defeat twice in assembly elections against the Shiv Sena (undivided) in 2014 and 2018, would be in a position this time to win the election, riding on the Modi guarantee and also with the Shinde faction and the Ajit Pawar faction rallying behind him. CONTD. ON NATION