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Bengluru/Thiruvananthapuram, June 16 (IANS) In a huge setback for Kerala Cricket Association's Joint Secretary Bineesh Kodiyeri, a court in Bengaluru on Friday dismissed his discharge petition in a case registered by the ED's Bengaluru wing under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in 2020.

Bineesh Kodiyeri is the younger son of late former CPI-M politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan who was the State secretary of the Kerala CPI-M, when he passed away last year.

In the case, Bineesh Kodiyeri was in jail for a year and got conditional bail from the Karnataka High Court in October 2021 and it was the discharge petition in the case, which was dismissed by a Bengaluru court on Friday.

His close aide Anoop Mohammed was first picked up by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and was jailed in Bengaluru and it was after his arrest, Bineesh Kodiyeri was questioned and later arrested.

He is accused of giving Rs 4 million to Anoop.

The court also pointed out that at two different places, Bineesh Kodiyeri was found to have cocaine with Anoop and others and this was testified by two different witnesses.

Soon after the arrest of Bineesh Kodiyeri, a furore broke out and the CPI-M, in general and Kodiyeri Balakrishnan in particular, came under pressure and to cool down things, he was given leave from the post of state secretary on account of his health.

Now with the court in Bengaluru coming down heavily against Bineesh Kodiyeri, all eyes are on how the Kerala Cricket Association views the observations of the court, especially of the mention of cocaine.

--IANS
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Amaravati, June 16 (IANS) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has claimed that the opposition parties in the state are no match for the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).

Stating that the YSRCP is the "heartbeat of the poor", he said that the threat from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Jana Sena Party (JSP) in the next elections is not worth considering.

Addressing a public meeting at Mallayapalem in Krishna district on Friday, the Chief Minister said that the opposition parties, which do not have even candidates to contest all 175 seats in the state, should not be equated with the YSRCP, which took birth from the aspirations of the people.

The politics of YSRCP is linked with the people, while TDP and Jana Sena are depending on political gimmicks and mischievous and malicious campaign of their friendly media, he said, adding that YSRCP will take on the pack of political wolves alone in the next elections due in 10 months.

"I do politics for the sake of people without depending on support from any other political party, whereas you do it to gain power to pursue the policy of plunder, stash and devour with the support of foster son, and friendly media," Reddy said while referring to TDP President and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.

He also came down heavily on Jana Sena President Pawan Kalyan, who recently launched a Yatra on his special campaign vehicle 'Varahi'.

Dubbing Pawan Kalyan as a package star, the Chief Minister said that the actor has dedicated his life to serving the TDP and is drawing immense pleasure from his Varahi vehicle.

The YSRCP chief also mocked the actor-politician for his statement that he will enter the Assembly this time.

"Fifteen years after forming his political party, the Jana Sena leader is unabashedly claiming that he would enter the Assembly after the next elections and no one can stop him," said the Chief Minister.

He also made fun of Chandrababu Naidu's appeals to the people to give him another chance.

"Naidu can't dare to seek votes for what he had done to the people as he has no achievements to his credit. Instead, he is seeking one more chance by giving false assurances and promising a golden future to them," he said, adding that Naidu has no morality to seek votes.

"While Naidu didn't implement welfare schemes during his term and also opposed distribution of house sites to the poor in the CRDA region as he is anti-poor, the YSRCP government began introducing reforms in every sector within six months of coming to power," the Chief Minister said.

He claimed that the YSRCP government has spent Rs 2.16 lakh crore on various welfare schemes in the last four years and brought revolutionary changes in most sectors.

"Take the welfare benefits you have received as the yardstick and stand by me in the next elections as a sister, mother, father, grandfather and brother and ensure victory for YSRCP as I depend on you fully," he urged the people, saying they should not be misled by the false propaganda unleashed by the opposition.

The Chief Minister also formally handed over to the beneficiaries 8,912 TIDCO (Township and Infrastructure Development Corporation) houses built in a single layout of 77 acres in the Gudivada Municipal limits at a cost of Rs 800 crore.

He said the government is fulfilling its promise of handing over 300 sq ft TIDCO houses to the beneficiaries for just Re 1 each.

Adjacent to the TIDCO houses, 7,728 house sites were allotted in an area of 178.63 acres for the poor and construction of 4,500 houses in the Jagananna colony is in progress, leading to habitation of around 16,240 families.

Across the state, the government is giving away 300 sq ft TIDCO houses to 1,43,600 beneficiaries for just Re 1 each, spending a total amount of Rs 9,406 crore, while in the TDP rule, similar beneficiaries were asked to pay Rs 3,000 per month for 20 years, the CHief Minister said.

--IANS
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Kalaburagi, June 16 (IANS) A police head constable, who was trying to stop illegal transportation of sand, was crushed to death in Narayanapura village in Karnataka's Kalaburagi district, police said on Friday.

Acting on a tip-off about illegal transportation of sand, head constable Mysuru Chouhan and constable Pramod Dodmani went to Narayanpura village on bike at 10 p.m. on Thursday.

The policemen chased tractor in which sand was being transported illegally and asked its driver to stop the vehicle, who did not stop and ran over their bike.

Chouhan was crushed to death while Dodmani managed to escape with minor injuries.

The accused had escaped from the spot after the incident.

The Nelogi police have registered an FIR and are investigating the case.

The police have taken accused Siddappa into custody and launched a hunt for another accused Sayibanna.

Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (RDPR), Information Technology and Biotechnology (IT and BT) Minister Priyank Kharge said: "I have spoken to the District Commissioner and Superintendent of Police and ordered an inquiry."

Karnataka Minister M. C. Sudhakar said: "It is very shocking and we need to take serious action against those behind it. Justice will be served."

Preliminary investigation revealed that the sand was illegally mined from river Bhima.

Books are written in Kannada about the notoriety in the Kalaburgi region and revenge killings are reported very often from there.

Before the Assembly polls in the state, an audio clip of an individual seeking "protection" of then MLA Priyank Kharge to carry out sand business had gone viral on social media. Priyank Kharge had flatly refused to help him and told him that he doesn't mind losing elections rather than supporting him.

Sand from basins of the Bheema, Kagina, Mullamari, Bennethora and Kamalavathi rivers in Kalaburagi district's is in demand and its price is skyrocketing day by day. Main supply is made to Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh from the bordering district of Kalaburagi.

--IANS
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Patna, June 16 (IANS) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday said he suspected his former ally Hindustani Awam Morcha's chief Jitan Ram Manjhi of being a BJP's spy to extract information on Mahagathbandhan's moves.

This is the reason why he pressured Manjhi to merge his party with JD(U) or leave the Mahagathbandhan, the JD(U)chief stated.

Manjhi, he said, may have turned into a spy for BJP to know the plans of Mahagathbandhan especially the mega meeting of 17 opposition parties scheduled to be held in Patna on June 23.

"The HAM leader (Manjhi) was in touch with Amit Shah and other BJP leaders and he was waiting for the invitation to participate in the mega meeting of Opposition parties on June 23.

Had he attended the meeting, all our strategies discussed during the meeting would have been leaked to the BJP. Hence, we strictly asked him either to merge his party or leave the Mahagathbandhan. He left us and we have also accepted the resignation of his son," Kumar said after the swearing-in ceremony of Ratnesh Sada as a cabinet minister.

"I was the one who made Jitan Ram Manjhi the chief minister of Bihar. Despite getting such a honourable post he was meeting BJP leaders. I knew about his activities and hence took a tough stand.

"When Manjhi's son tendered his resignation from the cabinet, I accepted it and recommended it to the governor. The governor was not present on June 13 but he accepted it. We also named Ratnesh Sada as the new cabinet minister," Kumar said.

Ratnesh Sada is a third time MLA of the party and I have known him since long. So, I called him on the same day on June 13 and asked him to take over the new responsibility," Kumar said.

--IANS
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Kochi, June 16 (IANS) Kerala High Court has dismissed a plea that sought directions for the state government to enact a law to curb superstitious practices like sorcery and black magic.

The petition was moved by an organisation called Kerala Yukthi Vadi Sanghom.

The plea came to be filed in light of an incident of human sacrifice in the state in which two women were killed and their bodies dismembered.

A division bench of Chief Justice S.V. Bhatti and Justice Basant Balaji dismissed the plea.

According to the petitioner, this was not the only such incident.

"Several cases of human sacrifices and other types of assaults in connection with the superstitious belief of black magic and witchcraft have come to light. For the purpose of God's grace, financial gains, getting jobs, resolving family problems, the birth of children, and for several other desires, some people are practicing black magic and witchcraft of which people belong to the downtrodden, and the children and women are mostly the victims," the petition stated.

The petitioner-organisation claims to have approached both Central and state governments and submitted model bills for the statute, seeking an adequate enactment of a law to combat the issue.

However, since no action was seen to be taken, the plea was moved.

The plea also sought directions to the government to consider and make a decision on the recommendation of the Law Reforms Commission report of 2019, submitted by Justice K.T. Thomas with regard to the enactment of The Kerala Prevention of Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices, Sorcery and Black Magic Bill, 2019.

The plea also pointed that there are many films, telefilms, and advertisements on television, YouTube and OTT platform that advertise superstitious practices that prompt people to indulge in such activities and hence appropriate actions must be taken.

The petitioner further prayed that advertisement of books with regard to black magic on internet sites be declared illegal.

In October last year, the state government had informed the Court that it is actively considering enacting an anti-superstition legislation.

However, since no one appeared on behalf of petitioner when the case was posted for hearing, the Court decided to dismiss it for default.

--IANS
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Amaravati, June 4 (IANS) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Sunday directed the officials to pay ex-gratia to the families of passengers from the state who died or were injured in the Odisha train accident.

At a review meeting held here on relief and rescue operations, the Chief Minister told them to pay ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh each to the kin of the deceased, Rs 5 lakh each to those seriously injured and Rs 1 lakh each to those who sustained minor injuries.

This is in addition to the financial help extended by the Centre.

He asked about the details of Andhra Pradesh passengers who died or sustained injuries in the accident.

Officials told him that a passenger from Srikakulam district who was a resident of Balasore in Odisha died in the accident and there are no other reports of deaths or injuries with regard to passengers from the state.

The Andhra Pradesh chief minster was also apprised about the action taken by the IAS officers' committee that visited the accident site.

The committee is working under the supervision of Minister G. Amarnath.

Another Minister B. Satyanarayana, who is coordinating with the officials from Visakhapatnam, told mediapersons that they received the information that 695 passengers from Andhra Pradesh were travelling in the two trains.

While 484 people were on Coromandel Express, the remaining 211 were travelling by Yesvantpur Express.

The minister said 553 passengers were safe while 92 of them told the officials that they were not on board at the time of the accident.

The minister said 28 passengers were not responding to phone calls and the officials were sent to their houses. Another 22 passengers sustained minor injuries and they were undergoing treatment in hospitals.

The minister said details were not yet known about those travelling in unreserved coaches. Minister Amarnath and officials were visiting different hospitals to gather information.

"As per the information we received, 180 bodies have not yet been identified," Satyanarayana said.

--IANS
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Chennai, June 4 (IANS) The Tamil Nadu government has no information of 8 people of the 127 people from the state who had reserved tickets in the Coromondel Express that met with an accident in Odisha's Balasore on Friday, leaving at least 275 dead, an official statement said on Sunday.

The eight passengers were identified as Naragani Gopi, 34, Raghunath, 21, Karthik, 19, Kamal, 26, Arun, 21, and A. Jagadeesan, 47 (all males) and Kalpana, 19, and Meena, 66 (both females), the statement said, adding that the remaining 119 passengers are safe.

The state government communique called upon the relatives of these missing persons to contact the state helpline numbers: 1070, 9445869843.

Several passengers from the state on the accident-struck Coromandel Express reached Chennai's Dr MGR central railway station on Sunday morning in a special train. Of this 18 people were grievously injured.

--IANS
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Thiruvananthapuram, June 4 (IANS) The Artificial Intelligence (AI) cameras installed by the Kerala government in association with KELTRON will commence functioning from Monday onwards.

The traffic violators will be fined heavily from June 5 onwards.

While the state Motor Vehicle Department has installed the cameras in association with KELTRON sometime ago, it will start full-fledged functioning from Monday.

The fine will be collected using the Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) of the Central Road Transport Ministry.

Meanwhile, the Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said that there would not be any exception to two-wheeler drivers with children. It may be recalled that the Kerala government has announced that two-wheeler riders with children below 12 years will not be fined.

--IANS
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Amaravati, June 4 (IANS) Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N. Chandrababu Naidu's meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J.P. Nadda in New Delhi has triggered speculation of the two parties reviving their alliance.

The meeting happened late on Saturday.

This was Naidu's first meeting with Amit Shah since 2018 when the TDP pulled out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The meeting comes amid the buzz in political circles that the former Andhra Pradesh chief minister is keen to have an alliance with the BJP for Telangana Assembly elections scheduled later this year and the next year's Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Andhra Pradesh.

During an-hour-long meeting, the former chief minister is understood to have discussed with both Amit Shah and Nadda the proposal for TDP-BJP alliance in both the Telugu states.

Naidu, who is in Delhi to attend the consultative meeting of the leaders on G20, is likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday.

Accompanied by TDP MPs K. Ravindra Kumar, Kesineni Nani, Rammohan Naidu and former MP K. Rammohan Rao, Naidu reached Delhi on Saturday evening. Rebel YSRCP MP Raghurama Krishna Raju received the TDP chief at the airport. From there, they drove to the residence of TDP MP Galla Jayadev.

Later, around 8.55 p.m., Naidu alone reached Amit Shah's residence. A few minutes later, Nadda also reached there. The meeting among the trio continued till around 10 p.m.

None of them spoke to the media after the meeting. The TDP leaders were tight-lipped as to what transpired at the meeting.

However, the meeting comes amid the growing demand from BJP's ally actor-politician Pawan Kalyan to finalise the grand alliance against YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in Andhra Pradesh.

Jana Sena Party (JSP) leader has been urging the BJP leadership to decide what he calls the 'road map' to oust YSRCP from power. Pawan, who had campaigned for TDP-BJP alliance in 2014, already held a couple of meetings with Naidu in recent months.

BJP's Andhra Pradesh unit Somu Veerraju had also said last week that they have conveyed Pawan Kalyan's proposal to the BJP's central leadership and that it will take a final decision.

The actor-politician is also gearing up to embark on a statewide tour on his special campaign vehicle.

TDP, which had formed the first government in the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh after its victory in 2014 elections in alliance with the BJP, snapped ties with the NDA in 2018 in protest over the delay in grant of special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

Naidu had later joined hands with the Congress party to contest the Assembly elections in Telangana. However, the alliance had to bite the dust.

TDP also faced a drubbing in simultaneous elections to Andhra Pradesh Assembly and Lok Sabha in 2019. The YSRCP swept the polls, winning 151 seats in the 175-member Assembly.

TDP could win only 23 Assembly and three out of 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Ever since the crushing defeat in 2019, Naidu has been trying to build bridges with the BJP. He met Prime Minister Modi on a couple of occasions in recent months.

--IANS
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Lucknow, June 4 (IANS) The drinking water level in Kathauta Jheel, a reservoir in Gomti Nagar, that provides water supply to over 10 lakh residents of Indiranagar, Chinhat and Gomti Nagar, has come down from 22 feet to 11.8 feet, triggering a water crisis in Lucknow.

This means that water supply can only be provided for another seven days.

To address this issue, the Jalkal department has written to the irrigation department, urging them to resume the supply of Sharda Canal water to Kathauta lake to ensure uninterrupted water supply.

Kathauta lake, which is fed by the Sharda Canal, has a storage capacity of 84 crore litres of water.

On May 19, the irrigation department had suspended the water supply for 30 days to facilitate cleaning and maintenance of Sharda Canal and asked Jalkal to utilise the stored water to its maximum capacity for 28 days.

However, now 15 days have passed and Jalkal officials say if the supply does not reach the lake within a week, a crisis will ensue.

Executive engineer of the trans-Gomti area of Jalkal department, Ramesh Chandra said, "Currently, we are able to meet the daily demand of 65 MLD water by operating around 100 tubewells. However, if any of the tube-wells experience wear and tear, it may lead to a crisis."

The irrigation department closes the water supply twice a year for maintenance before the sowing of Rabi and Kharif crops.

Initially, the department had planned to start this process on May 4, but the schedule was altered and the water supply was halted on May 19 instead of the original date.

Chief engineer of Sharda Canal irrigation department, Ashok Kumar Singh said they have not received the letter.

He mentioned that to avoid a crisis, Kathauta Lake was filled to its maximum capacity before the closure.

"However, we are in touch with the Jalkal department and are ensuring that there is no drinking water crisis in the city. "

He further suggested that since the irrigation department needs to close the canal every year, it is time for Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) to increase its water supply capacity from other sources.

--IANS
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