DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 2024, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES BY UNNY DELHI CM TO REMAIN IN TIHAR JAIL UNTIL HC DECIDES HC suspends Kejriwal bail order for ‘2-3 days’, reserves verdict on ED’s stay plea Trial court order perverse: ASG for ED; a stay will be bail cancellation: Singhvi EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, JUNE 21 THE WORLD EXPLOITING DOMESTIC WORKERS: FOUR OF HINDUJA FAMILY SENTENCED TO 4 YRS THEDELHIHighCourtFridayput on hold for “two-three days” the order of the trial court a day earlier granting bail to AAP leader and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The High Court said it was reserving its order on the Enforcement Directorate’s plea seeking a stay on the bail order. This means that Kejriwal, ar- Arrested on March 21 by ED rested by the ED on March 21 in a money laundering case linked to the Delhi excise policy case being probed separately by the CBI, will continue to remain in CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E E X P L A I NE D BUSINESS AS USUAL `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Bail order questions ● ED case THE ED’s charge against Kejriwal is that he was involved in money laundering both directly as CM and vicariously as AAP convenor. The trial court flagged three issues to rebut this: timing of arrest; revisions in approver statements; whether money seized is crime proceeds. Bail order quotes CJI, pokes holes in ED claims on money trail in case NIRBHAY THAKUR NEW DELHI, JUNE 21 THE CHIEF Justice of India’s encouragement of trial court judges to grant bail; reliance on the Supreme Court’s observations that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is not a threat to society while granting interim bail and a finding that the Enforcement Directorate is yet to establish guilt against the accused — these are the three key reasons for the Delhi Court to grant bail to Kejriwal Thursday. A 26-page order by Judge Niyay Bindu was made available CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MUMBAI POLICE investigators are probing a series of money transactions allegedly linking the company that owned the giant hoarding that collapsed in Ghatkopar last month, killing 17 people, and a business associate of the wife of the IPS officer who approvedthestructureatthesite without calling for tenders, The Indian Express has learned. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case has June 25-27 entry test was for PhD and teaching jobs in the sciences found that Ego Media Pvt Ltd, which owned the “illegal” 140x120fthoarding,remittedRs 46.5 lakh through 39 transactions into 10 different bank accounts between 2021 and 2022, and all the money was allegedly taken by one person identified as Arshad Khan, it is learned. Registrarof Companies(RoC) records accessed by The Indian Express show that Arshad Khan is a co-director in Mahpara Garments Pvt Ltd along with Sumanna Quaiser Khalid, the wifeof IPSofficerQuaiserKhalid, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Hasina-Modi talks today: Defence to connectivity, water to power on table RITIKA CHOPRA NEW DELHI, JUNE 21 PAGE 1 ANCHOR IPS officer approved hoarding, money trail points to his wife’s business associate MUMBAI, JUNE 21 Another test hit by leak claims: Govt postpones CSIR-NET for 2 lakh science graduates CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 The hoarding in Ghatkopar collapsed on May 13. File MOHAMED THAVER NTA TOLD TO SET NEW PAPER LESS THAN 48 hours after cancelling the UGC-NET, the Ministry of Education Friday asked the National Testing Agency (NTA) to postpone the CSIR-UGC NET exam, scheduled to be held from June 25 to 27, "as a matter of abundant precaution"inlightof inputsandclaims that this exam, too, may have been leaked on the dark web. The decision was taken after aseriesof marathonmeetingsby EducationMinisterDharmendra Pradhan, which were also attended by UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar and Cabinet SecretaryRajivGauba,TheIndian Express has learned. This came the same day the Department of Personnel and Training notified theCentre'snewanti-paperleak law, Public Examinations (Preventionof UnfairMeans)Act 2024 that was passed in Parliament in February. NTA has been conducting CSIR-UGC NET in online mode onbehalf of theUGCandCouncil for Scientific and Industrial Research since December 2019. About 2 lakh candidates were expectedtoappearforCSIR-UGC NET from June 25 to 27. It is learned that on Friday, the Education Minister was apprised of certain claims circulating on a messaging app that the MUMBAI HOARDING COLLAPSE KILLED 17 Congress workers protest the alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG 2024 exam in Lucknow on Friday. Vishal Srivastav Crisis blowback at NTA may delay CUET results, YOGA DAY IN SRINAGAR admissions calendar DEEKSHA TERI & VIDHEESHA KUNTAMALLA NEW DELHI, JUNE 21 AS THE National Testing Agency (NTA) grapples with paper leak allegations involving NEET-UG and UGC-NET, the controversy coulddelaytheCentralUniversity Entrance Test (CUET-UG) results and cast a shadow over the undergraduateadmissionscalendar across Central universities, The Indian Express has learned. CUET-UG is the single-window test for admissions to a majority of undergraduate programs at 46 Central universities, including Delhi University (DU), Allahabad University, and BanarasHinduUniversity(BHU). This year, the entrance test was held in hybrid format — online as well as pen-and-paper mode — over multiple shifts between May 15 and May 31. While the NTA’s information bulletin provides June 30 as the date for declaration of CUET-UG results, a senior official at the agency said that this deadline, in the present scenario, is unlikely tobe met.Theofficial addedthat the exam’s provisional answer key, in all probability, will only be released next week. After which, the agency will take “a week to 10 days” to release the final results. This would mean a delay in the admissions calendar for all CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes a selfie with the gathering after leading a yoga session on the 10th International Day of Yoga in Srinagar on Friday. @NarendraModi/X PAGE8 GOVT CHOOSES MAHTAB OVER CONG’S K SURESH Pro tem Speaker choice: Opp alleges bias against Dalit, Govt says it is as per norms EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, NEW DELHI, JUNE 21 A DAY after the government announced the appointment of Bhartruhari Mahtab as the pro tem Speaker of Lok Sabha, the Oppositionsaiditwasaviolation of parliamentary norms as the post should have gone to the most senior MP — Kodikunnil Suresh of Congress. While Mahtab is a seventime MP from Odisha, Suresh is an eight-time MP from Kerala. Accusing the government of being anti-Dalit, the Congress asked if Suresh was denied the post because he belongs to the Dalit community. The party was backed by INDIA bloc ally CPI(M), with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan alleging that “upper caste politics” may have played a role behind the decision. Countering the Opposition attack, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijijusaid that “as per the Westminster system”, the MP who has the longestserving “uninterrupted tenure” is chosen for the position. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina being welcomed by Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh upon her arrival in New Delhi on Friday. PTI SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, JUNE 21 LESS THAN two weeks after she came to New Delhi for the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Council of Ministers, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina returned to the CapitalFridayonatwo-dayState visit and met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. A bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Modi is scheduled Saturday with a range of topics on the table – defence, connectivity and infrastructure, power and energy cooperation, tradeandeconomicpartnership, development cooperation, river water-sharing and cultural ties. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Farmer’s son, ‘influential’ junior engineer: Meet NEET’s prime accused SANTOSH SINGH PATNA, JUNE 21 COMINGFROMafarmer’sfamily and working as a small-time contractor until 2012, Sikander P Yadavendu (56) had largely flown under the radar. That was until his name emerged in connection with the alleged NEETUG paper leak in Bihar. Today, Yadavendu is, according to state police officers, a key accused in the case. He was arrested on May 5, hours after the exam was held, alongside 12 others, including four aspirants who took the paper. Yadavendu, who lives in a rentedflatinanapartmentcomplex in Rupaspur area of Patna’s Danapur, has a diploma in engineering and worked as a contractor for a decade and a half. His father was a farmer, and the family owns eight bighas of agricultural land in Samastipur. After clearing class 10 in the 1980s, he moved to Ranchi, where he studied until class 12, and got a diploma. In 2012, when the NDA was inpowerinBihar,helandedajob asajuniorengineerwiththewater resources department. In 2016, Yadavendu was named in connection with a Rs 2.92 crore LED scam in the Rohtas Municipal Council, which he held additional charge of. The charges included buying LEDs at inflated rates to be installed in Dalmianagar. He was arrested and later released on bail. In2021,heissaidtohaveused hisconnectionstogettransferred to the urban development and housing department, with a posting in the Danapur Municipal Council. Sources said he wielded influence there, and would clear the layouts of upcoming apartments in the area. Sikander Yadavendu was arrested on May 5 “In 2023, he had a falling out with some seniors and was transferred to the water resources department, but he managed to get the transfer order reversed,” said a source in the Danapur Municipal Council. The ruling BJP has alleged that Yadavendu was closely associated with Pritam Kumar, the personal assistant of former deputyCMandnowstateLeader of Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav. Tejashwi said Friday that the Economic Offences Unit of Bihar Police, which is probing the case, has made no such insinuation,andtheBJPistryingto politicise the matter. The four NEET aspirants who were arrested from an NHAI inspection bungalow near Patna airportonMay5werecaughtafter Yadavendu revealed their whereaboutstopolice.Theroom had been booked for Yadavendu a day earlier, after Pritam allegedly called a staffer there. One of the four aspirants, a relative of Yadavendu, has told police that he had been assured by Yadavendu that the question paper would be made available before the exam. Nitish Kumar, another key accused who police say is part of a‘papersolvergang’,hastoldpolice that Yadavendu was the one who put the four aspirants in touch with the gang. While the gang told Yadavendu it would cost Rs 30-32 lakh per student, he allegedly asked for Rs 40 lakh fromeachstudent,twoof whom werehisrelatives.Thefoureventually got 581, 483, 300 and 185 marks out of 720. “Yadavendu is the link to the inter-stategang.Heandfourgang members who have been arrested approached over two dozen students. We have identifiedninemoreexamineesandare questioning them. We are trying toreachthegang’skingpins,who arealsoinvolvedinallegedpaper leaks in other exams conducted in Bihar,” said an officer. EXPRESS NETWORK NET PAPER LIKELY LEAKED JUNE 16, SOLD FOR OVER `5 LAKH: PROBE SC REFUSES TO STAY RE-TEST OR POSTPONE COUNSELLING PAGE 9 Lucknow