DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 2024, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 PM: Terror spreads in weak govts, Modi govt enters homes of terrorists & kills JUNE 15-16: INDIA INVITED Ukraine:Swiss planJunemeet, Russiapresence ‘soonerorlater’ AVANEESH MISHRA DEHRADUN, APRIL 11 DESCRIBING PAST Congress-led government as “weak and unstable”whichfailedtocheckterror, Prime Minister Narendra ModisaidThursdaythat“Modi’s stronggovernment”was“killing terrorists after entering their homes (aatankwadiyon ko ghar mei ghus kar mara jata hai)”. He also said that because of his strong government, the Tiranga (Tricolour) was now a guarantee of safety even in war zones. Addressing a BJP rally in Rishikesh in Uttarakhand which will vote in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections on April 19, Modi attacked the Congresssaying the “Delhi royal family” — he wasreferringtotheGandhifamily — comes first for leaders of the party, followed by their own THE WORLD MaybenotonDayOnebutRussiahas tobethere,saysSwissForeignMinister families. “This is the Congress tradition. But for Modi, you and allof Indiaaremyfamily,”hetold the crowd. “Whenever we had a weak and unstable government in the country,ourenemiescapitalised on it. Whenever we had a weak CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, APRIL 11 ‘EID MUBARAK EVERYONE’ Actor Shah Rukh Khan greets fans gathered outside his residence on the occasion of Eid, in Mumbai on Thursday. PTI As Gandhis stall on Amethi, Raebareli, voters warn: ‘Time gone when you could wave, win’ BJP’s newly built offices buzz, Congress struggling to keep up momentum O J SIMPSON DIES AT 76 AFTER BATTLE WITH CANCER TRUDEAU RAKES UP NIJJAR ISSUE AT HEARING ON POLLS PAGE 10 EXPRESS NETWORK 6 STUDENTS KILLED AS SCHOOL BUS OVERTURNS, POLICE SAY DRIVER DRUNK PAGE 6 VOTE SHARE MANOJ C G AMETHI, RAEBARELI, APRIL 11 IT IS a Sunday afternoon. Sitting with two colleagues and scrollingthrough DECISION his social media 2024 feed,Amethidistrict Congress president Pradeep Singhal says heisconfidentRahulGandhiwill againcontestfromtheseat.And, five years after he lost the family seat to the BJP's Smriti Irani, Singhal says: “He will win.” Barring the three, the district Congress committee office — more like a re-fashioned shop space—atGauriganjinAmethiis empty. There is a larger central Congress office next to it, but it isdeserted,justoveramonthbefore Amethi votes in the fifth (in %) Raebareli (2019) NEW DELHI, APRIL 11 APPLE HAS sent a fresh round of threatnotificationstosomeof its users in India, along with 91 other countries, warning that theiriPhonesmayhavebeenpotentiallyattackedby“mercenary spyware” like the Israeli NSO Group’s controversial Pegasus malware. Apple has not attributed the attacks to any stakeholder, and, in fact, has also diluted the language of the notification. In the past, the company would alert users that “state sponsored” attackers may be targeting their iPhones. But, according to a changeinitspolicy,thecompany has now termed these attacks as “mercenary spyware” instead of “state-sponsored”. Last October, it had sent a similarnotificationtoOpposition leaders across parties — from Congress’s Shashi Tharoor to AAP’s Raghav Chadha to TMC’s Mahua Moitra — warning of a “potential state-sponsored spyware attack” on their iPhones. After pressure from the government,thecompanylaterclarified that it “does not attribute the threat notifications to any specific state-sponsored attacker”. On Thursday, the threat notification emails were sent at about 12.30 am IST to impacted users in India. The company declined to specify details on how many people received the notification. The email mentions the NSO-Group’s Pegasus spyware, saying tools like those are being used to target people on an ongoing basis globally. “Alert: Apple detected a targetedmercenaryspywareattack CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Bengal police file FIR in GTA teacher hiring ‘scam’, name Binay Tamang, TMCP leader Sonia Gandhi (Cong) 55.8 Dinesh Pratap 38.36 Singh (BJP) Amethi (2019) Smriti Irani (BJP) 49.71 Rahul Gandhi (Cong) 43.86 BJP has built new offices in Amethi (above), Raebareli. Manoj C G phase, May 20. Singhal suddenly stops his social media scrolling as he chances upon the “massive turnout” for the nomination filing by a candidate in Banswara in Rajasthan. “Look at the crowd!” he exclaims. “He (the candidate) is on a camel.” HiscolleagueSarveshKumar Singh hesitatingly points out that the candidate Singhal mistook for the Congress nominee belongs to “some Adivasi party” (the Bharat Adivasi Party’s Rajkumar Roat). The two reluctantly return to the Amethi campaign. To questions as to why Rahul has not been declared the candidate yet, Singh says the announcement will come as soon as voting in Wayanad — the constituency in Kerala from where the Congress leader won in 2019 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘Pegasus-like spyware’: In recent BJP turf Cooch Behar, Apple warns users in it’s Modi’s vs Mamata’s schemes India, 91 more countries Sitting MP Pramanik constantly brings up Sandeshkhali, SOUMYARENDRA BARIK New Delhi at the table SHUBHAJIT ROY PM Narendra Modi with Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami in Rishikesh on Thursday. ANI TMC’s Basunia talks about Mamata’s steps for Rajbongshis RAVIK BHATTACHARYA & ATRI MITRA COOCH BEHAR, APRIL 11 THERE IS a distinct similarity in the respective pitches of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and BJP as they square up for the Lok Sabha elections in North Bengal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made their stump speeches on April 4 and set the tone for the local representatives of the two parties as they make their final push in the three constituencies in the Dooars — Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar — which vote on April 19. The Cooch Behar fight is essentially between sitting BJP MP Nishith Pramanik and the TMC's Former GTA chief Binay Tamang, TMCP chief Trinankur Bhattacharya EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, APRIL 11 TWO DAYS after the Calcutta High Court ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to carry out a preliminary probe into alleged irregularities in teachers’ recruitment in schools undertheGorkhalandTerritorial Administration (GTA) in the hill districtsof WestBengal,thestate policeonThursdayregisteredan FIRagainstformerGTAchairperson Binay Tamang, former state education minister Partha Chatterjee, and state president of Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) Trinankur Bhattacharya among several others. The Bidhannagar Police registered the FIR on a complaint lodged by the state School Education Department on Wednesday. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY BJP MP Nisith Pramanik and TMC candidate Jagadish Chandra Basunia campaign in Cooch Behar. Partha Paul Jagadish Chandra Burma Basunia — who lost from Sitai in the 2021 Assembly polls. Nitish ChandraRoyof theForwardBloc (FB) is also in the race, in a “friendly fight” with ally Congress’s Pia Roy Chowdhury. Barring Chowdhury,allthree others are Rajbongshis. Since at least 2019, the BJP has held the upper hand in this CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ALMOST THREE months after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked Switzerland to do so, the Swiss government Thursdayannounceditproposes to host a conference, at the level of heads of state, that “aims to provide a platform for a highleveldialogueonwaystoreacha comprehensive, just and lasting peaceforUkrainebasedoninternationallawandtheUNCharter”. The proposed dates are June 15and16attheBürgenstockhotel above Lake Lucerne in central Switzerland. This is timed to ensure maximum attendance — the G7 leaders’ summit will be held on June 13-15 in Borgo Egnazia in Apulia, Italy. Indiahasalsobeeninvitedfor the peace conference. The first outreach took place when Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis visited New Delhi on February 5, met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and sounded out Delhi on the conference and India’s participation. This was followed up by Zelenskyy’s phone conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March and a visit by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to convey an invitation to India to attend the THE SWISS want India to be part of the peace process and Delhi will have to take a quick call on its participation at the highest level immediately after the June 4 poll results. India would want to be in the room — irrespective of the level of participation. The war and its course in the next two months will also determine India's next step. conference. The Swiss government said, “During President Zelenskyy's visit to Bern on January 15, 2024, Switzerland and Ukraine discussed the next steps towards a comprehensive, just and lasting peaceinUkraine.AtUkraine'srequest, Switzerland agreed to hostahigh-levelconference…In June 2024, Switzerland will probably offer an opportunity to discuss different approaches to peace in Ukraine.” The statement added: “(The summit) aims to create a common understanding of the framework conducive to this goal and a concrete roadmap for CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PROTEST AT INDIAN HIGH COMMISSION UK attack: Of 15 lookout notices, NIA withdraws 3 over ‘mistaken identity’ MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL INSIDE NEW DELHI, APRIL 11 MONTHSAFTERzeroinginon15 suspects,publiclyreleasingtheir photographs, and issuing lookout notices for them for alleged involvement in the violence at the Indian High Commission in London during a protest on March 19 last year, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has now determined that at least three persons from Punjab were wrongly identified. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had issued Look Out Circulars (LOCs) against 15 people, who were identified from fivevideosof theviolence.These videos were procured by an NIA team during its visit to the UnitedKingdominMaylastyear to investigate the incident and a suspected terror link involving Pakistan’s ISI. In the videos, people can be seen gathering outside the Indian High CommissioninLondonandsubsequently indulging in violence. Upon the team's return to India, the NIA shared the videos UK CYBER SECURITY CHIEF IS ITS NEW ENVOY TO INDIA PAGE 6 and photographs of 45 suspects in public domain, along with an appealtohelpidentifythem.The agency, sources said, received around850callsinresponse;the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and the immigration departmentalsohelpedwiththe identification. The latter is learnt to have helped identify some of the 15 individuals with the help of face recognition technology, and LOCs were then issued against them. Accordingtosources,ofthe15 suspects,threeweredetainedrecentlyandhandedovertotheNIA. Butafterathoroughinvestigation, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 IPL rivalry gets deadly, behind fan’s killing: ‘Rohit out, Mumbai will lose’ PAGE 1 ANCHOR MIHIR VASAVDA HANMANTWADI (KOLHAPUR), APRIL 11 A WOMAN’S wail pierces the narrow lane at the end of which sit two houses separated only by a thin wall. The front door of one shack is bolted. Inside the adjacent house, a young man — head shaven, eyes moist and legs folded — sits on the floor in silence. In a room, village elders console his weeping mother. It’s Padwa, the first day of the New Year, but inside their modesthome,andonthestreetsoutside, they are still mourning the passing of Bandopant Tibile. The 65-year-old died on March 30 — three days after he was seriously injured in a fight with his neighbour, 70-year-old Balwant Jhanjge, while watching an Indian Premier League (IPL) match on TV from their small Maharashtra village. Tibile’s son, Vijay, fights back tears as he says: “They were watching a match. The argumentbrokeoutbecauseof anincident in a match. The biggest lesson is to not get too involved emotionally in cricket. When will we treat sport as sport?” It’s a question many have been asking lately. Since the start of this IPL season, social media has witnessed toxic battles between fans of Hardik Pandya and Rohit Sharma, the new Mumbai Indians captain vs his predecessor. Rivalry between fans of different teams always existed, but animosity between those idolising individual cricketers is a recent trend in Indian cricket. In a much-debated transfer, Pandya had moved to MI from GujaratTitansbeforethecurrent season.Thiscamewithindaysof Bandopant Tibile (left) died on March 30. His son Vijay (above, second from right) sits with village elders at their home in Hanmantwadi village, on the outskirts of Kolhapur. Mihir Vasavda theRohit-ledIndianteamfinishing runners-up in the 2023 ICC World Cup. Pandya was booed during his first home game at Wankhede Stadium. It was during MI's away outinginHyderabadthattheelderly farmerwaskilledforsimplysaying “Mumbai Indians will lose”. The tragedy has stunned Hanmantwadi, a village of a few thousand on the outskirts of Kolhapur. “It’s a modest village with people who are farmers withmeagreearnings.It’sanuncomplicated, peaceful life,” says Sangram Bhapkar, the sarpanch. The village is in the back of beyond and it’s an ordeal just to get there — half a day from Mumbai or Pune, the two nearest major cities, to get to Kolhapur followed by another long journey to Hanmantwadi. On the face of it, Hanmantwadi — or Kolhapur in general—doesn’thaveskininthe IPL game. There isn’t any team representingtheregionnorhasa player from here made it that far. Yet, such is the IPL’s lure that it has everyone hooked. Just last week,afruitselleroutsideShahu Market Yard won the jackpot of Rs 1 crore in a fantasy game. Ravi Jadhav, the police patil, says: “Cricket has always been popular but in the last few years, IPLmadnesshasreachedunimaginable levels. People identify themselvesasMumbaiIndiansor Chennaidiehards.Peopleputitas their status messages. Cricket is one part but the IPL khunnas (hatred) is a new thing.” Jadhav lives a few blocks away from the houses of the victim, Tibile, and the accused, Jhanjge. Until a fortnight ago, he says, the two neighbours lived as neighboursnormallydo—caring and peaceful for the most part, nosy and nagging sometimes. Tibile, the village residents say, was active socially and used to CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata