eye MCS/204/2017-19RNINO.MAHENG2002/21899 THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE MUMBAI, LATECITY FEBRUARY10,2019 20+6(EYE)PAGES,`5.00 DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA SUNDAY STORY PAGE 9 BIG PICTURE She was feted in the West for her voice, and forgotten in India. But singer Asha Puthli has more songs to sing and stories to tell — if you care to listen The firewall ...lies West Bengal's chit fund country and its stories of life savings lost to scams, children out of school, marriages put off SINGS THE BLUES PAGES 10-11 A long way from Kolkata, Delhi... LADY WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM Over 14,460 bunkers are being built across border villages of J&K that are often at the mercy of firing and shelling from Pak Need Bill, won’t let any harm come to you: PM to Northeast To ‘pool anti-BJP, TMC votes’, Cong, CPM clear way for West Bengal tie-up ABHISHEK SAHA MANOJ C G & RAVIK BHATTACHARYA ATS: 10 held CITIZENSHIP (AMENDMENT) BILL with ‘IS links’ planned big attack to seem ‘credible recruits’ ‘Only after requisite checks and requests from states can citizenship be granted’ SAGAR RAJPUT MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 9 THE MAHARASHTRA AntiTerrorism Squad (ATS) that had picked up 10 youngsters for alleged links with the banned Islamic State (IS) has claimed that the accused, including a 17 year old, had planned to cause “mass casualties” in India before travelling to Syria in order to be received as credible recruits by the terror organisation. The lawyer of the accused, however, refuted that they were involved in any such plans. In an indication that the accused were greenhorns, ATS officers probing the case have alleged that the youngsters explored harebrained ideas to carry out attacks, such as “burning a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and black pepper”, hoping it would cause an explosion. According to the statements of the accused recorded by ATS, the nine men and one minor would reportedly hold meetings in Mumbra every night around 9 pm for the past few months. They allegedly planned to mix a toxic chemical in the ‘prasad’ at a temple and also in the food at a hospital in Nagpada. Further, the ATS claimed that they discussed setting off an explosion at the office of an Indian right-wing organisation. “They were still learning. Theywouldsurf theInternetand with the help of online tutorials, theyweretrying tomakebombs and toxic chemicals,” said an investigator. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WORLD BEZOS’S CLAIMS OF EXTORTION AGAINST MEDIA HOUSE TO BE PROBED PAGE 15 CHANGSARI (ASSAM), FEBRUARY 9 SPEAKING AT a huge public rally hereonSaturday,PrimeMinister NarendraModireiteratedhisgovernment’s commitment to passingtheCitizenship(Amendment) Bill, 2016, while reassuring the people of Assam and the Northeast that they would not faceanydifficultyduetoit.Saying his government was committed to protecting the culture and interests of the people of the NortheastandAssam,hesaidthat “only after requisite checks and requests from the state governmentcanthedecisiontograntcitizenship be taken”. Addressing the rally that was attendedbyoverthreelakhpeople, of various communities and tribes, Modi said those “who believed in Maa Bharati (Mother India)” but were persecuted in their native countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan had nowhere to go to but India. At the same time, Modisaid,therewasnoplacefor “ghuspetiyon (illegal immi- NEW DELHI, KOLKATA, FEBRUARY 9 PM with Arunachal CM Pema Khandu in Itanagar, Saturday. PTI grants)” in the country. “We need to understand the difference between those who have come to encroach on our resources and those who have ED Vadra probe looks into contract linked to ONGC-Samsung deal DEEPTIMAN TIWARY NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 9 PROBING ROBERT Vadra and his relationship with absconding armsdealerSanjayBhandari,the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is lookingintowhethera2008deal between ONGC and Samsung Engineering Ltd is linked to alleged payoffs that were behind the purchase of a property in London. The ED is probing Vadra in connection with half-a-dozen properties in London, which, it claims, are indirectly owned by him. The agency recently told a Robert Vadra at ED office in Delhi Saturday. Praveen Khanna Twitter says can’t appear before panel, BJP warns of repercussions KARISHMA MEHROTRA NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 9 CITING “SHORT notice”, Twitter has declined to send its CEO or global executives to be present before the parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, which had summoned the social networking platform on February 11 to “examine” the issue of come to India after fleeing religious persecution. The Bill is not just connected to Assam and the Northeast but many other parts of the country. There are people “safeguarding citizens’ rights on social/online news media platforms”. The summons was over Twitter account-holders losing followers and accusations that the social networking site was suspendingsomehandles,especially those voicing right-wing views. In a statement issued on Saturday, Twitter said, “Given the short notice of the hearing, we informed the Committee that it would not be possible for senior officials from Twitter to travel from the United States to appear on Monday. Our CEO, Jack Dorsey, and other senior Twitter executives visited India in recent weeks because it is an important market for Twitter and we value the growing interest in Twitter in India.” The statement added that CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Delhi court that one of these properties had been purchased in 2010 with “kickbacks” throughBhandari.Ithasclaimed these kickbacks were paid to Bhandari in a “petroleum ministry deal of the UPA era”. Last week, Vadra’s lawyer K T S Tulsi had told The Indian Express that his client “has no foreign asset” and that the ED probe was a “smear campaign and not an investigation”. The petroleum deal the ED told the court about, sources said, is related to a petro-chemical complex that the Oil and NaturalGasCorporation(ONGC) CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NETWORK TOLL 61 IN HOOCH TRAGEDY PAGE 7 DIOCESE REASSURES NUNS WON’T BE TRANSFERRED PAGE 2 Two months on, a Telangana Cabinet of just two: The great KCR puzzle SREENIVAS JANYALA HYDERABAD, FEBRUARY 9 THEY THOUGHT he would do it after the Pongal festival in January. Then, after his five-day yagyainJanuaryend.Butthefestival came and went, as did the ‘Maha Rudra Sahitha Sahasra Chandi Yagam’, and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao did not expand his Cabinet. Twomonthsonsincehecameto power, the state continues to be run by KCR with just one minister: Mohammed Mahmood Ali, holding the Home portfolio. Leaders of the ruling Rao with the Governor and his only minister, Mahmood Ali TelanganaRashtraSamithi(TRS) can’t really put their finger on whatisholdingKCRback.There- sults, declared on December 11, had swept KCR back to power with a thumping majority of 88 of 119 seats. He took oath two days later with the 66-year-old Ali, who was his revenue minister last time and is an MLC. Telangana can have 18 ministers including the CM — 15 per cent of the 119-seat Assembly. There have been no Cabinet meetings, with KCR running the show mostly through review meetings, of which there have been a dozen. In the meetings, held at his Pragathi Bhavan office-cum-residence, where he clears files of all the departments,alltheofficialsconcerned have to be present. Ali participates in some of these meetings, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CHINA OBJECTS TO VISIT, P 7 who have faith in Maa Bharati, who sing glory to Bharat Mata, who had to save their dignity and lives and seek refuge in the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE CONGRESS and CPM-led Left Front on Saturday appeared to be heading for a tactical understanding in West Bengal for the Lok Sabha elections. The Left may not contest in all the 42 seats, saying it wanted to maximise the pooling of “anti-BJP, anti-Trinamool Congress votes”. The state leadership of both the Congress and CPM has been pushing for a tactical tie-up, but thecentralleaderswereambivalent. The Congress high command was hoping for an understanding with the TMC, while the CPM’s Kerala unit had been opposing any truck with the Congress. The TMC, however, was not willing to enter into an alliance with the Congress. The CPM Politburo which met here on Fridayand Saturday discussed the issue. Congress president Rahul Gandhi too had a meeting with PCC presidents and Congress Legislature Party CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DECISION 2019 CongandCPM, thistimefor LS IN A development echoing what happened in UP, the Congress, kept out by the Trinamool, has gone with the second best option and is ready for an understanding with the CPM. The compulsion to keep the BJP out has also drowned the reservations of the Kerala unit of the CPM. POLICE CHIEF QUESTIONED PAGE 7 MLA shot, TMC alleges tussle for Matua votes EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, FEBRUARY 9 TRINAMOOL CONGRESS MLA Satyajit Biswas, 35, was shot dead in Nadia district of West Bengal on Saturday night. Police sources said Biswas was shot at point-blank range while he was leaving after inaugurating a Saraswati puja at a school in his constituency, Krishnaganj. The MLA was rushed to a local hospital but was declared brought dead. A police official claimed a firearm was recovered from the spot. Biswas, a first-time MLA, Satyajit had won Biswas Krishnaganj in a bypoll in 2015, defeating Manabendra Roy of the BJP by a margin of 36,960 votes. He was also president of the party’s youthwinginthedistrict.Biswas had married recently. The MLA’s killing set off charges and counter-charges by the Trinamool and the BJP. “I have worked with Satyajit (Biswas) for years. This was an orchestrated plan (by the BJP) to CONTINUED ON PAGE 2