DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2019, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 20 PAGES JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SINCE 1932 ORDER GIVES BENGAL, CENTRE EXIT ROUTE The standoff ends: SC says no arrest, police chief has to face CBI INSIDE Shillong is venue for questioning, says CJI-bench ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 5 KISHOR MEETS UDDHAV, SENA SAYS ‘COURTESY CALL’ PAGE 4 DECISION 2019 KARNATAKA: RIFT DELAYS CONG-JD(S) SEAT PLANS BENGAL: EX-TOP COP IN BJP SAYS ‘MAMATA HAS CHANGED’ PAGE 8 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY THE SUPREME Court Tuesday issued notice to the Mamata Banerjee government on a contempt plea by the CBI which alleged “total breakdown of Constitutional machinery” in West Bengal, and directed Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar to appear before theagencyinShillonginconnectionwiththeinvestigationinthe chit fund scam cases. A bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna,however,restrainedthe agency from initiating any coercive action against the officer or arresting him. “Having heard learned counsel for the parties, we direct Shri Rajeev Kumar, Commissioner of Police, Kolkata to appear and make himself available before the investigating agency, namely, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and to faithfully cooperate with the investigating agency at all times. However, we make it clear that no coercive steps, including arrest, shall be taken against the Commissionerof Police.Toavoid CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Following the Supreme Court order, Mamata Banerjee called off her dharna in Kolkata, Tuesday. Partha Paul MOREONP7 He fudged call data, SIT shielded accused firms to help party: CBI ANANTHAKRISHNAN G & RAVIK BHATTACHARYA NEW DELHI, KOLKATA, FEBRUARY 5 THESPECIALInvestigationTeam (SIT) headed by Rajeev Kumar, now Kolkata Police Commissioner at the centre of the Centre-West Bengal faceoff, was “used to shield...Saradha, M/s RoseValleyandTowerGroupetc. whichhavegivenhugecontributions (even by way of cheques) to the party in power in the State of West Bengal”. Putting this on record in its additional affidavit to the Supreme Court Tuesday, the CBI alleged that Kumar “destroyed... and tampered” with Call Data Records of a key accused, suppressedtheFIRregisteredagainst Rose Valley and held back evidence. And that “a strong prima faciecaseof...Kumarhavingcommitted offences both under the Preventionof CorruptionActand other IPC offences have been made out”. Kumar has denied wrongdoing in the SIT probe into these CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 `5.00/EX-KOLKATA `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM VHP springs surprise: No Ayodhya temple agitation for 4 months LALMANI VERMA NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 5 AFTERHOLDINGdharmasabhas across the country demanding anordinancetoenableconstruction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya and later holding a Dharma Sansad at the Kumbh Mela on the issue last week, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Tuesday announced that it will not hold any agitational programme on the Ram Janmabhoomi issue for the next four months until the Lok Sabha elections are over. TheVHP’ssurpriseannouncement comes barely a week after the BJP-led NDA government moved the Supreme Court seeking permission to return the 67 acres of land in Ayodhya — adjacenttothedisputedsite—to its original owners including the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas. This was decided at the recent Dharma Sansad in Prayagraj, the VHP said. Speaking to The Indian Express,VHPinternationalworking president Alok Kumar said: Relieffor Govt,signal toallies THIS REDUCES pressure on the BJP government and lowers the heat ahead of polls. Though the PM underlined primacy of the legal process, the government filed a petition to allow release of land adjacent to the disputed site. The VHP’s rethink will also address anxieties among BJP’s allies going into the polls — and may help post-poll too. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Centre gets earful from CJI for saying halt NRC during LS polls EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 5 TAKING STRONG exception to the Centre’s submission that work on the National Register of Citizens in Assam will have to be suspended for a while in view of redeployment of central forces fortheLokSabhaelections,Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi Tuesday said the “Home Ministry does not want NRC work to go on” and the “entire effort from Home Ministry, it seems to me, is to destroy the process”. The Supreme Court, which is monitoring the work on updatingtheNRC,saiditcannot extend theJuly31deadlinealreadyfixed for publication of the final NRC. Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Army detains 3 RR men over killing of soldier Aurangzeb ADIL AKHZER SRINAGAR, FEBRUARY 5 THREE PERSONNEL of the 44 Rashtriya Rifles have been detained by the Army and are being questioned for their alleged involvement in the abduction and killing of fellow soldier Aurangzeb by militants in He was abducted, murdered in June 2018 June last year. Sources said it is suspected that the three RR soldiers shared information about CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 In MP, this time under Cong, three held under NSA for cow slaughter MILIND GHATWAI BHOPAL, FEBRUARY 5 ECHOINGWHATitspredecessor —theBJPgovernment—didover the last 15 years, the new Congress regime in Madhya Pradesh has invoked the stringent National Security Act (NSA) against three persons arrested on charges of cow slaughter in the communally sensitive Khandwa town. The police booked the accused, Nadeem, Shakeel and Azam, under the MP Prohibition of CowSlaughterActbutlaterinvoked the NSA, which allows preventivedetentionforalonger period. Khandwa SP Siddharth Bahuguna confirmed the move to The Indian Express. Between 2007 and 2016, the BJP government under Shivraj CONTINUED ON PAGE 2