Vol. 67 No. 173 | SATURDAY | APRIL 20, 2024 | 33 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 REVIEWS THIS WEEK Check out our verdict on film releases EDIT MARKETS STAGE REBOUND AFTER 4 DAYS OF SLUMP POLITICS AND THE CLIMATE QUESTION 1st class turnout on 1st day Overall, nearly 63% turnout against 69.43% in 2019 l More than 70% turnout recorded in Tripura, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Meghalaya. Bihar dips to 48.5% (at 7 pm) OUR BUREAU / NEW DELHI State at 55.35%, Nagpur lowest In the first phase of polling in 102 constituencies in 21 states and union territories, an average of 62.37 per cent voter turnout was recorded as voters braved the heat in many parts and the pouring rain in other areas. The Election commission termed the turnout as “high” and the voting process as “largely peaceful.” There were stray reports of sporadic violence, booth capturing, and EVM malfunctioning. The voting percentage is likely to go up when reports from all polling stations are obtained, as polling is on till 6 PM in many constituencies. Final figures will be known on Saturday the EC said. , Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Meghalaya, T he voter turnout in in Nagpur, Ramtek, BhandaraGondiya, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli-Chimur in Maharashtra's Vidarbha region was 55.35 per cent (at 9 pm), according to the poll panel. The final figures will be updated by Saturday. The lowest voting was recorded in Nagpur, where Union minister and BJP heavyweight Nitin Gadkari is pitted against Congress' Vikas Thakre, at 51.20 per cent, an official said. CONTD. ON NATION Nagaland, Mizoram, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territories of Puducherry Andaman , and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep completed their voting process in the singlephase election. According to estimates released by the EC at 1900 IST, the highest turnout of 79.90% was recorded in Tripura, followed by 77.57% in West Bengal, 73.25% in Puducherry 72.02% , in Tamil Nadu, 71.38% in As- THE FP ARYAN KHAN CASE OFFICER REMOVED A TRIPATHI NEW NAVAL CHIEF V ice Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi will be the new Navy Chief; he is succeeding the incumbent, Admiral R Hari Kumar, who retires on April 30. Vice Admiral Tripathi is currently serving as Vice Chief of the Naval Staff. Born on May 15, 1964, Vice Admiral Tripathi was commissioned into the executive branch of the Indian Navy on July 1, 1985. A communication and electronic warfare specialist, he has had a long and distinguished service spanning nearly 30 years. He has commanded INS Vinash. BRAHMOS FOR PHILIPPINES I ndia delivered a lethal cargo of BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles to the Philippines on Friday, as part of a $375 million deal signed in 2022. The weapon system was transported by an Indian Air Force aircraft. This is the first time that India is delivering the BrahMos missile to a foreign country. Philippines is The taking delivery of the missile systems at a time when tensions between them and China have escalated owing to frequent clashes in the South China Sea. India will increasingly be exporting defence equipment. VEHICLE WITH EVM SINKS A n SUV carrying an electronic voting machine (EVM) partially sank into a river after the water level rose suddenly, washing away a mechanised boat that was ferrying the vehicle in Assam on Friday, officials said. The driver of the SUV and the polling officer managed to get out before water gushed into the car in Lakhimpur constituency of the state, an official said. The SUV was on its way to Amarpur area in Sadiya to replace an EVM after a technical glitch was detected as polling commenced in the morning, the official said. An EVM that was destroyed at Imphal SEXUAL ASSAULT IN Bhujbal out of Nashik race MALL’S LADIES’ LOO BULLETIN controversial Narcotics Control Bureau official in the Cordelia Cruise drug bust case, who gave Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan a clean chit, got the marching orders on Friday morning. By an uncanny coincidence, the 1999 Himachal cadre IPS and NCB Deputy Director General Gynaneshwar Singh was removed as Chief Vigilance Officer by the Ministry of Home Affairs after the government accepted the resignation of another NCB DDG, Sanjay Kumar Singh, who has opted for voluntary retirement. sam and 70.26% in Meghalaya. While 68.62% of the electorate exercised its franchise in Manipur. 68.06% voted in Sikkim, 65.46% in Arunachal Pradesh, 63.41% in Chhattisgarh, 63.33% in Madhya Pradesh, 57.61% in Uttar Pradesh, 56.77% in Nagaland, 55.29% in Maharashtra, 54.18% in Mizoram, 53.64% in Uttarakhand, 50.95% in Rajasthan, and 47.49% in Bihar. CONTD. ON NATION Mkts rebounded in 2nd half of session on value-buying in banking shares KALPESH MHAMUNKAR / MUMBAI started groping her. In retaliation, she punched and A 21-year-old man has been kicked him. He soon ran away arrested for allegedly attempt- from the washroom. ing to sexually assault a 35The woman immediately year-old woman inside the approached the Azad Maidan ladies’ washroom of a shop- police station to register a forping centre in South Mumbai. mal complaint. A team of poAccording to police, the lice reached the spot and along woman is a lawyer in a pri- with the woman, they scanned vate law firm. On April 18, CCTV camera footage to trace she went to the washroom at and identify the victim. The a shopping centre shopping centre in south Mumbai. The offender is authorities conThe accused, idenfirmed that the asa security tified as Sandeep sailant Pandey was Pandey was al, a security guard guard who ready sitting inwho worked in the frequently side the washroom neighbourhood. when she entered. used the ladies Pandey was alAs soon as she washroom. legedly a frequent spotted him, she visitor to the questioned his washroom, where presence inside a ladies he would bathe. The authoriwashroom. Pandey scared, ties were unaware of the fact , immediately ran outside. that he sometimes used the When she emerged from ladies washroom, instead of one of the stalls, once again, going to the gents’ for this she spotted Pandey waiting purpose. near the main door, which he The police added that withhad locked from inside. in an hour of registering the Alarmed, the victim started FIR, they zeroed in on Pandey to scream to seek help but by and arrested him. then Pandey had allegedly CONTD. ON NATION AISHWARYA IYER / MUMBAI Kejriwal insulin matter in court GAURAV VIVEK BHATNAGAR NEW DELHI The issue of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal not being allowed to take insulin by the authorities of Tihar Jail, where he is lodged following his arrest in the liquor policy case, on Friday reached the court of Special Judge Kaveri Baweja which is hearing the matter. After Delhi minister and AAP leader Atishi had charged on Thursday evening that there was a conspiracy to kill Kejriwal in jail and he was being denied insulin by the jail authorities despite his sugar level being over 300, his counsels Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Ramesh Gupta on Friday raised the issue of his health before the Special Judge. Following the hearing, the court said it would examine if Kejriwal was following the court-approved diet chart and if the home-cooked meals being provided to him in judicial custody conformed to the approvals. Kejriwal had through an application demanded that insulin be administered to him and he be allowed consultation with his doctors through video conferencing for 15 minutes every day in view of his diabetes and fluctuating blood sugar level. He had also demanded that his wife, Sunita, be allowed to remain present in these video calls to the doctor. The Delhi CM, AAP leaders have claimed, has been diabetic for nearly 30 years. CONTD. ON NATION The OBC face of Ajit Pawar's party -- Chhagan Bhujbal – has opted out of the contest for the Nashik Lok Sabha seat, ostensibly owing to the delay in the announcement of the candidate. In a way Bhujbal’s exit will , clear the decks for the MahaYuti partners to reach an understanding on the seat. In particular, the Shinde group has been angling for the seat. However, the move is a set- Yes Bank founder out of jail back for Ajit Pawar as Bhujbal is the founder of the Samata Parishad which has a strong hold on the OBC community . Since OBCs constitute about 33 per cent of the state’s population, the decision to pull out may impact both the NCP and the MahaYuti, as the perception within the community would be that its tallest leader has been victimised. "I am withdrawing from RAINA ASSAINAR / NAVI MUMBAI N avi Mumbai, famous as the ‘flamingo city’, has once again slipped up in protecting its flamboyant visitors. Quite a few of them have lost their lives so far this year. Early on Friday one of , the pink birds died after being hit by a cab on Palm Beach Road. “I saw a bird being hit by a cab going towards Belapur via the service road at NRI Junction on Palm Beach Road. It was around 1.30am and I could not get through to any wildlife association. We were forced to call the NRI police, who took away the carcass. At first, the bird was dazed by the hit, only to fall unconscious. There was another flamingo on the road, at the same time. I hope that bird is safe,” said Hamraj Khurana, a cinematographer and a resident of NRI. Khurana had posted about the incident on his Instagram profile. Former corporator Bharat Jadhav posted a video showing two dead flamingos in the Seawoods NRI area. “It is bizarre that the flamingos emerged from their wetland habitat and landed on the road,” said NatConnect Foundation director B N Kumar, calling for an investigation by the environment department. Dr Rahul Khot, deputy director of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), said this was the first time that he heard about flamingos landing on the road. CONTD. ON NATION SC seeks reply on CAA plea PTI / NEW DELHI A handout image grab made available by the Iranian state TV, shows what the TV said was a live picture of the city of Isfahan early on April 19 The Supreme Court has sought replies of the Centre and the Assam government on a plea challenging the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024, meant to operationalise and regulate the process of grant of Indian citizenship to nonMuslim migrants who came from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan before December 31, 2014. A bench of CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala on Friday took note of the submissions of a lawyer representing petitioner Hiren Gohain, a Guwahati resident, and issued notices to the state government and the union ministries of Home Affairs and External Affairs. CONTD. ON NATION ISRAEL ATTACKS IRAN MILITARY BASE The base hosts a nuclear facility which the US said has not been hit FPJ NEWS SERVICE TEL AVIV/TEHRAN The Israeli military launched a drone attack on Iran on Friday -- by an uncanny coincidence on its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's 85th birthday . The drones were targeted at a military base near the Iranian city of Isfahan, close to a nuclear facility which was not hit. The United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, also said there was no damage to Iran's nuclear sites after the in- cident. This is the first time Israel has retaliated in response to Iran’s attack last weekend. However, the scope of the attack, at least initially appeared , to be limited, said the New York Times. The initial reaction in both Israel and Iran was muted, with news media in both countries appearing to play down the attack, in what analysts said was a sign that the rivals were seeking to de-escalate tensions, adds NYT. For nearly a week, world leaders have urged Israel and Iran to avoid igniting a wider war in the region. The Israeli military declined to comment though a senior U.S. official said that Israel had notified the United States at the last minute through multiple channels shortly before the attack. The explosions came less than a week after Iran fired more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel — nearly all of which were shot down — in response to an April 1 strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria that killed seven Iranian officials. That attack brought the decades-long shadow war between Israel and Iran into the open. President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran had warned that “the tiniest act of aggression” on his country’s soil would draw a response. But in the hours after Israel’s strike, there have been no public calls for retribution by Iranian officials. The apparent attack also briefly spooked energy markets, sending benchmark Brent crude above USD 90 before it fell again in trading Friday . DUBAI RAIN MARS PARIS OLYMPICS PROSPECTS Andamans’ Shompen cast vote, a first For the first time in history the Shom, pen tribes of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands participated in the voting process in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. This year, seven Shompen tribes people exercised their democratic right. The Shompen people are among the least studied Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in India; residing in the dense tropical rainforests of Great Nicobar Island, they form a distinct tribal community within the archipelago. The Shompen live in the extreme south of the Great Nicobar Island, the last Indian landmass in terms of geog- Sunrise : 06:18 am Sunset : 06:58 pm Several of the flamboyant visitors have lost their lives in the current migratory season CHARUL SHAH JOSHI/ MUMBAI Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor was granted bail by a special court on Friday in connection with the case registered for alleged discrepancies in the loan sanctioned to Avantha Group and the alleged illegal gratification received by Kapoor through his family members. As per the court’s orders, he walked out of the prison in the evening. Special Judge M G Deshpande, who is hearing all eight cases linked to Kapoor, granted him bail noting that it would be a long time until the conclusion of the trial in the case. After having been arrested in connection with the DHFL-Yes Bank deal case in March 2020, Kapoor was booked in other cases, too. He remained in prison for four years until he was granted bail by the special court on Friday in the last pending case. The detailed order, however, was not available and the same was expected to be uploaded subsequently . Kapoor’s lawyer Rahul Agarwal had contended that Kapoor was never arrested by the CBI in this case and that his client had already spent four years in prison. CONTD. ON NATION 0 Has Navi Mumbai lost its flaming love for flamingos? Netanyahu acts in defiance of Biden LAST WORD SANJIB KUMAR ROY / PORT BLAIR this fight. It's taking longer than I thought it would,’’ Bhujbal said, while addressing a press conference on Friday . He claimed that NCP leaders Ajit Pawar and Praful Patel had told him that BJP leader Amit Shah has suggested his name for the Nashik seat. Despite this, the combine had not taken a call on his candidature. 0 34 c. 28 c. raphy .They are cut off from the main island processess and are a reclusive tribe and steer clear of the settlers and ex servicemen who inhabit parts of the island. It is unclear how much of the political processess they understand or even participate in. They speak a separate tongue. There are no schools for them. But the staff of the Adim Janjati Vikas Samiti (AAJVS) helps others to communicate with the tribal members. The Chief Electoral Officer of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Parliamentary Constituency, Shri B. S. Jaglan, IAS, told the Free Press Journal that at the Shopem Hut polling station, seven individuals from the Shompen tribe "enthusiastically participated in the electoral process." Among the Shompen tribe, a total of 84 were eligible voters, out of which only seven have exercised their franchise.As per the 2011 census the population of the CONTD. ON NATION Shompen was 229. The Shompen live in the extreme south of the Great Nicobar Island, the last Indian landmass in terms of geography. They are cut off from the main island processess and are a reclusive tribe and steer clear from the settlers and ex servicemen who inhabit parts of the island. Wrestlers miss key weigh-in FPJ NEWS SERVICE / MUMBAI Despite their unwavering dedication and tireless efforts, Indian wrestlers Deepak Punia and Sujeet Kalakal may fail to secure a spot at the Paris Olympics. And all this just because they arrived later than the scheduled time for the weighin at the Asia Olympic Qualifiers in Bishkek, a pivotal event which determines eligibility for the upcoming Games slated for June. The unfortunate turn of events commenced with a delay in their flight, a conse- File picture of wrestler Deepak Punia, an Olympics medal aspirant quence of adverse weather conditions wreaking havoc in Dubai. This delay culminated in their late arrival in the capital of Kyrgyzstan, marring their prospects at the qualifier. The weigh-in is a mandatory prerequisite for participation in the competition. CONTD. ON NATION