Vol. 67 No. 203 | SATURDAY | MAY 25, 2024 | 32 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 AN ACT OF FAITH, NOW BETRAYED? FOREX RESERVES SOAR TO LIFETIME HIGH OF $648.7 BILLION This is the third consecutive week during which India's forex kitty has expanded 0 0 34 c. 29 c. Sunrise : 06:01 am Sunset : 07:10 pm HANDS OFF, IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO POLL IS ON T Strange bedfellows – AAP, Cong – take on BJP in sixth round GAURAV VIVEK BHATNAGAR / NEW DELHI SC REFUSES TO DIRECT EC FOR RELEASE OF FINAL TURNOUT DATA OUR BUREAU / NEW DELHI The Supreme Court has refused to entertain a plea by an NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms, seeking directions to the Election Commission to disclose final authenticated data of voter turnout in all polling stations, including the number of votes polled in the Lok Sabha elections 2024, within 48 hours of polling. The court refused to grant any interim relief saying a hands-off approach is needed in the midst of polls. "We are also responsible citizens and we must have a hands-off approach,"  bench remarked. the The court, therefore, ordered that the matter be listed for hearing by a regular Bench after the ongoing polls. The vacation bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma also stated that it would be challenging for the Election Commission to arrange the necessary manpower at this stage, as five phases of polling are already over, with only two remaining. "We should also keep in mind the ground realities and not overburden the EC during the elections and that too by changing the process midway the Bench said. ," The Bench also noted that the plea in the application appears to be similar to that in the main petition, which has been pending since 2019 on the same issue. CONTD. ON P17 UN court tells Israel to halt Rafah assault AP / THE HAGUE T he top United Nations court on Friday ordered Israel to immediately halt its military operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Israel is unlikely to comply with any such order, but the order by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will ratchet up the pressure on the increas- ingly isolated country . Criticism of Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza has been growing, even from its closest ally the US, which , warned against an invasion of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought shelter from fighting elsewhere. This week alone, three European countries announced they would recognise a CONTD. ON NATION he seven Lok Sabha seats of Delhi and the 10 in Haryana, all of which were swept by the BJP in 2019, go to polls in very different circumstances on Saturday Sample this: . In New Delhi constituency, in which Rahul Gandhi resides at Tughlaq Lane and Sonia Gandhi at 10 Janpath, the seat is being contested by AAP’s former Delhi minister Somnath Bharati. As such the two Gandhi family members are expected to cast their vote in favour of an AAP candidate. On the other hand, Arvind Kejriwal, as chief minister of Delhi, resides in a bungalow allotted to him in Civil Lines, which falls under the Chandni Chowk constituency Under the pact between . the two parties, the Chandni Chowk seat is this time being contested by a Congress candidate – former MP and former Delhi Congress president J.P. Agarwal. So, Kejriwal and his family are expected to vote for the Congress. The common change that has occurred in both Haryana and Delhi is that the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party are together taking on the might of the saffron party Both these parties . are part of the INDIA bloc of opposition parties and had sewn a seatsharing pact in February this year. Under the agreement, in Delhi the AAP would be contesting the four seats of New Delhi, South Delhi, East Delhi and West Delhi while the Congress gets to contest the three seats of Chandni Chowk, North East Delhi and North West Delhi (SC reserved). CONTD. ON NATION ‘Honey-trapped’ & butchered ARITRA SINGHA / KOLKATA The West Bengal CID on Friday arrested a butcher from Bangaon area (border area of India and Bangladesh) for virtually making mincemeat of the Bangladesh MP Anwarul Azim Anar after he had been throttled to death. Earlier, the MP was ‘honey trapped’ before being killed. The butcher, identified as Jihad Hawladar, who hails from Khulna, Bangladesh, was reportedly living illegally in Mumbai for many years and had arrived in Kolkata with the specific task of hacking Azim Anar’s body into little pieces, so as to facilitate their easy disposal. A CID officer disclosed that the “MP’s close friend Akhtaruzzaman who is a US citizen is the murder master- The butcher, an illegal Bangladeshi immigrant, was living in Mumbai for years. Murder ‘mastermind’ goes missing even as woman who honey-trapped’ the MP is detained in Dhaka; search continues for hacked body parts mind. Jihad, the man who has confessed that he is a butcher by profession and had entered India illegally admitted that, , as per Akhtaruzzaman’s bid- ding, he and four other Bangladeshi nationals had smothered and killed the MP , the police said. While the ‘mastermind’ has gone missing, the police said the butcher confessed that the body parts were disposed of at various parts of Kolkata, including a lake in Krishnamati village in Bhangar area, following which divers and drones were pressed into service to salvage the remains. “ Akhtaruzzaman (the missing ‘mastermind’) had a flat in Srijon Heritage Complex in New Town area and the butcher had been staying there for the last couple of months. Circumstantial evidence suggests that after strangling the Bangladeshi MP to death, he was deskinned, a skill that the butcher was apparently adept in. Thereafter, the flesh was separated from the bones, which were chopped into little pieces. CONTD. ON NATION Cheers! You can drink after results are out URVI MAHAJANI / MUMBAI The Bombay High Court on Friday permitted the sale, distribution and consumption of liquor in Mumbai city after the declaration of the Lok Sabha election results on June 4. The ban imposed by the collector on sale of liquor by hotels, restaurants, bars and permit rooms “shall cease to have an effect” upon declaration of the results, said a vacation bench of Justices Nitin Borkar and Somasekhar Sundaresan. The collector for Mumbai suburban district has already issued a letter modifying the earlier notification which had declared June 4 as a dry day additional government , pleader Jyoti Chavan informed the bench. In a lighter vein, Justice Somasekhar said, “So suburbs can drink, beyond Bandra.” “Let's work it out. There has to be some parity the ,” bench, however, said. The bench was hearing two petitions filed by the Association of Owners of Hotels, Restaurants, Permit Rooms and Bars (AHAR) challenging the orders passed by the Mumbai city and suburban collectors declaring June 4 as a 'dry day'. They contended that sale of liquor should be permitted once election results are declared. Advocate Veena Thadani, appearing for the petitioners, said they had approached the collectors at end of April, urging them to review their decision to declare the entire day as dry day . CONTD. ON NATION