DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE `5.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 FIFTH LIST OF 111 TAKES BJP CANDIDATES COUNT TO 402 wishes its readers A Happy Holi We are closed today. There will be no edition of the newspaper on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 INSIDE Pradhan, Prasad, Kangana, ex-HC judge in latest BJP LS list; Varun, VK Singh out Naveen Jindal among 3 handed tickets the day they joined party LIZ MATHEW NEW DELHI, MARCH 24 ISLANDS, FORESTS: SPECIAL POLLING STATIONS IN EC FOCUS IN GUJARAT JDU, BSP RELEASE LIST OF LOK SABHA CANDIDATES PAGES 3,4 UNION MINISTER Dharmendra Pradhan, former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, actor Kangana Ranaut, former CalcuttaHighCourtjudgeAbhijit Gangopadhyay, Shibu Soren’s daughter-in-law and former JMM MLA Sita Soren were among111LokSabhacandidates named by the BJP in its fifth list released Sunday night. Industrialist and former CongressMPNaveenJindal,who announced his resignation on X Industrialist Naveen Jindal at the BJP office in Delhi, Sunday. PTI; apart from Jindal, others in the BJP list are (clockwise from top) Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, party MP Ravi Shankar Prasad, former Calcutta HC judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay and actor Kangana Ranaut shortly before he joined the BJP Sunday, has been fielded from Kurukshetra. Two others who joined the party Sunday and have been handed Lok Sabha tickets are Haryanaminister and independent MLA Ranjit Singh Chautala (Hisar) and former YSRCP MP and MLA Velagapalli Varaprasad Rao (Tirupati). Omissions included Minister of State General V K Singh (retired) who announced before the release of the list that he would not be contesting — the party choice for Ghaziabad this time is MLA and former UP minister Atul Garg; in Pilibhit, MP Varun Gandhi makes way for UP minister Jitin Prasada — there is buzz that Varun may contest as Will consider restoring trade ties with India: Pak Foreign Minister Dar RUSSIA MOURNS CONCERT HALL SHOOTING VICTIMS PAGE 13 PAGE 1 ANCHOR PAGES 3, 4, 6 NEW DELHI, MARCH 24 ISLAMABAD, MARCH 24 THE WORLD RELATED REPORTS DIVYA A SAJJAD HUSSAIN CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ASI to remove 18 ‘untraceable’ monuments from its list of protected sites Pak Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar PAKISTAN WILL “seriously” consider restoring trade ties with India that remained suspended since August 2019, Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar has said, indicating a potential shift in diplomatic stance towards the neighbouring nation. DarmadetheseremarksduringapressconferenceinLondon followinghisparticipationinthe Nuclear Energy Summit in Brussels, Geo News reported. Hehighlightedtheeagerness of cash-strappedPakistan’sbusiness community to resume trade activities with India. “Pakistani businessmen want trade with India to resume,” Dar said Saturday. Pakistanwillconsiderrestoring trade ties with India, he said. “Wewillseriouslylookintomattersof tradewith India,”Darwas quoted as saying by the Express Tribune newspaper. Pakistan downgraded its diplomatic ties with New Delhi after the Indian government abrogated Article 370 of the an independent; in Uttara Kannada, MP Anantkumar Hegde, whose controversial statements kicked up a row, has been dropped; in Meerut, veteran leader Rajendra Agrawal hasbeenreplacedbyArunGovil, known for his role of Lord Ram in the Ramayan television serial. Kangana Ranaut will be the BJP face from Mandi, for long consideredaCongressbastionin Himachal Pradesh. Justice Gangopadhyay, who resigned from the Calcutta High Court and joined the BJP earlier thismonth,hasbeenhandedthe party ticket from Tamluk constituency in West Bengal. Kerala BJP president K SurendranwillbethepartycandidateagainstCongressleaderRahul GandhiinWayanadconstituency. HOLI WITH FORCES Defence Minister Rajnath Singh celebrates Holi with soldiers in Leh on Sunday. Singh was earlier supposed to visit soldiers in Siachen, but his visit was cancelled due to inclement weather. PTI RELATEDREPORT,PAGE7 26 firms facing agencies’ heat bought bonds, 16 of them after knock on door IN THE first such largescale exercise in decades, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has put out a list of 18 centrally protected monuments whichitwantstodelistas,according to the central agency, they no longerholdnationalimportance. Incidentally, the list has been drawn up from a list of 24 “untraceable” monuments, which the Union Ministry of Culture submitted to a parliamentary committee last year. The monuments facing delistingincludeKosMinarNo.13 at Mujessar village in Haryana; BaraKhambaCemeteryinDelhi; Gunner Burkill’s Tomb at Rangoon in Jhansi; Cemetery at Gaughat in Lucknow; and Telia NalaBuddhistruins,whichform part of a deserted village in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Delisting of the monuments effectively means the central CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Bonds worth `5,179 cr bought by the 26 firms; BJP got 37%, TMC 18%, Cong 12% ANJISHNU DAS NEW DELHI, MARCH 24 OF 26 companies that bought the electoral bonds and have faced action by investigative agencies, 16 donated to political parties through bonds only after they came under the radar of these agencies. Further, the donations of another six companies surged after these agencies started cracking down on them. A scrutiny of the 26 companiesbyTheIndianExpressreveals the parties that benefited includedtheBJP,whichrulesatthe Centre, and got 37.34% of the bonds purchased by these companies, and other ruling parties EXPRESS NETWORK MEGHA ENGG TOP DONOR FOR BRS TOO, GAVE POLL BONDS WORTH Rs 185 CR PAGE 7 in states likethe TMC got 18.29%, DMK 11.35%, BJD 4.48% and BRS 8.59%.TheCongress,whichrules in three states, got 11.97%. Overall, between April 2019 and February 2024, these 26 companies bought Rs 700.65 crore in bonds before facing agencies’ actions and Rs 4,479.6 crore after. Ten of these companies donated a total of at least Rs 100 crore each. For instance, the top donor FutureGaming,ownedby“lottery king”SantiagoMartin,didnotpurchaseasingleelectoralbonduntil ayearafteritfacedanEDprobeon alleged money laundering charges.Subsequently,theCoimbatore-based company bought bondsworthRs503croreinfavour of the DMK, the ruling party in Tamil Nadu, and Rs 542 crore to theTMC,whichrulesWestBengal. TheBJPgotRs100crore. In the case of Haldia Energy, itspurchaseof pollbondssurged 16-foldinvalueafteritcameinto the central agencies’ radar. The company purchased Rs 22 crore worthpoll bondsinfavourof the BJP (Rs 16 crore) and TMC (Rs 6 crore). But after it faced central action, it bought bonds worth Rs 355 crore, including Rs 175 crore totheTMC, Rs65crore to theBJP and Rs 15 crore to the Congress. A closer look at the top nine companies, which donated more than Rs 100 crore each through electoral bonds: Future Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt Ltd ■BondspurchasedbeforeED action 0; after action Rs 1,365 cr ■Redemptions: TMC (Rs 542 crore),DMK(Rs503crore),YSRCP (Rs 154 crore), BJP (Rs 100 crore), Congress(Rs50crore),SKM(Rs11 crore),SDF(Rs5crore) InJuly2019,theEnforcement CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘Both Prime Ministers want a FTA...Aasaan nahi hai, negotiations abhi baaki hai, mere dost’ ALEX ELLIS OUTGOING BRITISH HIGH COMMISSIONER PAGE 12 Kejriwal sends first direction to his govt from ED custody, Opp rally on Mar 31 Told us to resolve water scarcity and prepare for summer: Minister Atishi Delhi Minister Atishi with other INDIA bloc leaders at a press conference in Delhi. Abhinav Saha RELATEDREPORTS,PAGE5 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, MARCH 24 IN HIS first “direction” to the Delhi government after being sent to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate until March 28, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has asked Water Minister Atishi to resolve water and sewer-related issues in various parts of the Capital. “Take help from Lieutenant Governor if needed, he will definitely help you,” Atishi Sunday quoted Kejriwal as saying, adding,“Heisinjailbutthework for Delhi people will not stop... Even in jail, he is thinking about the people of Delhi.” Meanwhile, leaders of the Opposition INDIA bloc announced they would hold a joint rally at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi onMarch31toprotestKejriwal’s arrest and display solidarity against “authoritarianism” and “suppression of democracy”. Kejriwal was arrested last Thursday by the ED in connection with its probe into the Delhi BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY excisepolicycase.Theagencyobtained his custody Friday evening,hoursafterittoldaDelhi court that he was the “kingpin” of the“scam”underinvestigation —achargeKejriwal’slawyersrejected. The ED also alleged that kickbacks received following changesintheexcisepolicywere usedtofundAAP’sAssemblypoll campaign in Goa. At a press conference, Atishi, quoting the “written directions” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Over 50 per cent govt proposals cleared within 72 hrs during poll code: EC 2018 data DAMINI NATH NEW DELHI, MARCH 24 THE MODEL Code of Conduct (MCC) has often been cited by the ruling BJP as hindering development and governance. However, the only dataset collated by the Election Commission (EC), at the request of the Law Commission during its feasibility study on simultaneous polls in 2018,revealedthat more than half of the government references were cleared by the poll watchdog within 72 hours of receipt during the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections in 2017, and one-third during the Karnataka Assembly elections in 2018. Documents accessed by The IndianExpressundertheRightTo Information Act show that the EC, in a meeting held with the Law Commission on May 16, 2018, was requested to share data on the time taken to reply CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW E AN XPRESS RTI APPLICATION E E X P L A I NE D MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES The case against ● MCC THE RULING BJP has repeatedly underlined that imposition of MCC each time a poll is announced impedes governance and comes in the way of development work. This is one of its key arguments in favour of simultaneous polls. It has also been highlighted by the panel on ‘One Nation One Election’ led by former President Ram Nath Kovind. Horror novel, black magic, 2 killings: Kerala double murder unravels SHAJU PHILIP THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MARCH 24 HIS MALAYALAM novel Mahamanthrikam, about a sorcerer who gets close to a landlord’sfamilyandwoosthedaughter, has been read by more than 50,000 people on an online platform. In hundreds of comments, his readers praise the horror novel — serialised in six parts — and urge him to give them more. Nitheesh P R (31) has garnered quite a following for himself on the multilingual digital storytelling platform Pratilipi, wherehisserialisednovelbegan appearing from October 2018. The story had all the ingredients of a hit horror flick — revenge, witchcraft, ghosts, and demons. However, the writer, a selfproclaimed black magic practitioner,isnowalsoaccusedintwo murders spanning over eight years in a case that police stumbled upon during an investigationintoarobbery.Furtherinvestigations revealed a twisted tale that had uncanny similarities with the plot of his 2018 novel. Also known as Puthenpurackal Nitheesh, he was arrested in the early hours of March 2 along with Vishnu (27) from Kattappana town in Kerala’s Idukki district during an attempted robbery at an automobile workshop. Whileinvestigatingthetheft, police came across evidence pointing to two murders that they allegedly committed — of a newborn baby, allegedly Nitheesh’s, and Vishnu’s father N G Vijayan (65). It started with the police’s search of the rented house that the two lived in at Kakkatukada village under Kanchiyar panchayat near Kattappana town to see where the stolen items were kept. During the search, the policefoundtwowomenlockedin- Nitheesh P R’s online novel has been read by more than 50,000 people side a room. They were Vishnu’s mother and sister. The women were found to be in a mentally unstable condition. Subsequently,thepolicecontacted the relatives of the family, who indicated that Vijayan, the head of the family, had been missing since last September. Further investigation found thatNitheesh,whohadattached himself to the family years ago in the guise of perfoming black magic for them, allegedly impregnated Vijayan’s daughter and that she delivered a child in July 2016. The newborn was allegedly killed four days after birth, with both Vijayan’s and Vishnu’s help, according to police. It was also found that in August 2023, Vijayan was allegedly killed and buried under the floor of one of the rooms at their rented house. Inspector N Suresh Kumar, whoisinvestigatingthecase,said Nitheesh’s serialised novel had many similarities to the first crime.“There are a lot of similarities between the story and the sequenceof eventsthatledupto the first murder. He had developed a close relationship with VIjayan’s family under the guise of performing black magic for them. Vijayan was interested in black magic and Nitheesh reached out to the family, exploiting their belief in superstition,” he said. According to the police, Nitheesh studied up to class 12 and later started working as a black magic practitioner. After the killing of the newborn, the police said, the whole family came further under Nitheesh’sinfluence.“Theyacted as per Nitheesh’s directions. He had even sexually abused Vijayan’swife,andforcedVishnu to engage in theft,” the inspector said. This eventually led to a dispute between Vijayan and Nitheesh,which,theofficersaid, led to Vijayan’s murder in 2023. Before getting embroiled withNitheesh,Vijayan,amiddle class farmer, was leading a quiet life in Kattappana in a house he owned.Nitheeshalsolivedinthe same town, not far away from Vijayan’sfamily.Nitheesh’sfather had abandoned his family years ago and his mother worked as a house help. A local resident said, “VIjayan’sfaithwasrootedinsuperstitions. Nitheesh had exploited it and there were regular poojas at his home. Vijayan even believedthathishousewasunfit forresidence.Nitheesh’sinvolvementatthehouseslowlyturned Vijayanintoanintrovert.Hesold his house for Rs 94 lakh a few yearsago(afterthemurderof the newborn).” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad