eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE On Other Roads KOLKATA,LATECITY DECEMBER 29, 2024 Looking back at holidays that led us on unexpected paths and surprising turns 14+4PAGES,`7.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES, ` 20 IN ANDAMAN) DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT Farewell, Dr Singh Musk backs H-1B visas, says ‘will go to war’, asks critics to ‘take big step back’ SC raps Punjab over Dallewal health: ‘This is abetment to suicide’ Tesla owner weighs in as a section of Republicans opposes visa programme HUNDREDS LINE CAPITAL ROADS FOR FINAL GLIMPSE NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 28 SHUBHAJIT ROY & AGGAM WALIA Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s body is taken from the Congress headquarters to the Nigambodh Ghat for his last rites on Saturday. PTI King, envoys, workers pay tribute Memorial row: Rahul and to former PM before state funeral Priyanka lead Cong attack; SAMAN HUSAIN NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 28 FROM THE King of Bhutan to the Palestinian envoy to the CongressworkerfromRaeBareli whotookabusandtraintoreach Delhi, people came from far and widetobidafinalfarewelltoformer Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Singh’s mortal remains were consigned to the flames at the Nigambodh Ghat Saturday. His wife Gursharan Kaur and their three daughters were present as people paid their last tribute. Dignitaries there included President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Lok Sabha SpeakerOmBirla,andLeadersof Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi. In the morning, Singh’s final journeybeganfromhishouseon Motilal Nehru Marg, stopping at the AICC headquarters on Akbar Road where party workers, dignitaries, including those from other countries, and the general public had gathered to catch a glimpse of the man who fought CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INSIDE site shortlisted, says Nadda PAGE6 ‘Monumental insult to Dr Singh, protocol lacking at funeral’ INTERVIEW:KC VENUGOPAL ‘Calm, never harsh, always respectful... deserves our time’ Space near Kisan Ghat being looked at; Cong proposed it around Indira memorial LALMANI VERMA & MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 28 HOURS AFTER former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s mortal remains were consigned to the flames, the Congress and the government traded fresh charges Saturday over a site for his memorial in the Capital. Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and his sister and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra led the Congress attack, saying the government had “insulted” Singh by getting his funeral done at the Nigambodh Ghat cremation ground. Union Minister and BJP president J P Nadda struck back, accusing the Congress of spreading false information despite the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 When the Aussies forgot how to boo: Nitish’s ‘very special’ ton unites fans EXPRESSINAUSTRALIA SRIRAM VEERA MELBOURNE, DECEMBER 28 “TENSION, TENSION, tension!” That’showNitishKumarReddy’s joyously tearful father, Mutyalu, described the moment to Adam Gilchrist when his son was one short of a most-memorable maidenTesthundredandthelast manin,MohammadSiraj,joined him in the middle at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. With Siraj having to face either three balls or take a single, possibly off the first, before Reddy could come back on strike, “tension” was the perfect emotion—reflectingnotjustthe state of Reddy’s family but of all the cricket fans glued to the television, watching a 21-year-old pull off something special. Gilchrist, too, would be intimate with that emotion, though from the other side, as he has been at the receiving end of another Telugu-speaking cricketer, VVSLaxman,afewtimesinIndia and Australia. At the broadcast centre, another Australian cricketer, Simon Katich, was visibly CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ELON MUSK, the world’s richest man, owner of Tesla, X and SpaceX, and a key ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, waded into the debate around hiring H-1B visa-holders and said he “will go to war” on the issue and asked right-wingers to “take a big step back”. TheH-1Bprogrammeallows businesses in the US to employ skilled foreign nationals. “The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H1B. Take a big step back and F*** Y******* in the face. I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend,” said Musk. He was earlier in November appointed by Trump to lead the Department of Government Efficiency in the new US administration. Musk’s colourful language and weighing in — given the recenttiradeagainsttheH-1Bprogramme from a section of Republicans — is seen as crucialsince he has been an extremely close partner and confidant of Trump in the election campaign, and is also said to have an outsized influence on the Republican President-elect. Set to assume office on January 20, Trump has managed one of the biggest political comebacks in US history. While the discourse on immigration in the US usually centres around illegal entrants via the US-Mexico border, legal ways such as the H-1B program have also come under intense EXPLAINED NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 28 E ● Musk is a key ally of incoming US President Trump Important to India, US TO FIND hard technical skills in the US is difficult, and Indian professionals play a role in plugging this gap. Numbers say it all. In fiscal year 2023, of the 2.65 lakh H-1B visas issued by the US, 72 per cent went to Indian nationals. scrutiny over the past week by the far right in the US. In fiscal year 2023, of the 2.65 lakh H-1B visas issued by the US, 72 per cent went to Indian nationals. Duringthesameperiod,topfour Indian IT majors with a presence in the US, viz., Infosys, TCS, HCL, and Wipro, obtained approval for around 20,000 employees to workonH-1Bvisa,asperthelatest US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data. Musk’s sharp and assertive take comes days after a controversy broke out over the H-1B visas prompted by the appointment of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in the upcoming Trump administration. Krishnan had said in November, “Anything to remove country caps for green cards / unlock skilled immigration would be huge.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ANANTHAKRISHNAN G THE SUPREME Court on Saturday again pulled up the Bhagwant Singh Mann-led Punjabgovernmentfornotcomplying with its order to shift to a hospitalprotestingfarmerleader JagjitSinghDallewal,whoisona fast-unto-death at Khanauri on the state’s border with Haryana, and said its actions amount to abetment to commit suicide. “This is abetment to commit suicide,” Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, who was part of a twojudge bench, said as state Advocate General (AG) Gurminder Singh pleaded inability to shift him due to opposition from protesters at the site. The bench also comprising Justice Surya Kant said in its order, “We are not satisfied with the efforts made by the Government of Punjab towards complianceof ourorders.Weare inclined to grant more time to take appropriate steps in furtheranceof thedirectionsissued from time to time. If Punjab requires any assistance, we direct the Centre to provide requisite logistic support for the compliance of our direction.” The court indicated that it will not hesitate to initiate contempt of court proceedings against the Punjab chief secretary and director general of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD PUTIN SORRY OVER AZERBAIJAN FLIGHT CRASH BUT DOES NOT ACCEPT BLAME PAGE 10 Sparks fly at PMK meet as Anbumani defies father on nephew’s party post ARUN JANARDHANAN CHENNAI, DECEMBER 28 Nitish Reddy celebrates his 100 against Australia at the MCG. On Day 3 of the Test, India were trailing by 116 runs. Reuters IN A significant political development in Tamil Nadu, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK)'s founder S Ramadoss and his son and PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss clashed during the party’s general council meeting in Villupuram on Saturday. The public sparring between the two top PMK leaders was fuelledbytheirdisagreementover PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss theappointmentofParasuraman Mukundan, son of Ramadoss’s elder daughter Gandhimathi, as the party’s youth wing chief, whichbroughtthelong-simmering tensions within its first family into the open. The dramatic turn of events unfolded at the party conclave held at Pattanur, a village near Puducherry, in the presence of hundredsof partycadresandoffice-bearers. The meeting witnessed a war of words when Anbumani openly opposed Ramadoss’s declaration of Mukundan's appointment from the stage, where the father-son duo were seated. As Ramadoss named Mukundan as the PMK's new CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 A cell phone, scarf & 11 murders: How Punjab cops tracked down a ‘serial killer’ PAGE 1 ANCHOR JAGDEEP SINGH DEEP MOHALI, DECEMBER 28 AN ORANGE scarf and a mobile phone. That’s what helped the police track down an alleged serial killer connected with as many as 11 murders in Punjab’s Ropar, Fatehgarh Sahib, and Hoshiarpur — all committed in the last 14 months. Earlier this week, the Punjab Police arrested Ram Swaroop alias Sodhi, a resident of Chaura village in Hoshiarpur in connection with the killing in August of one Maninder Singh, a resident of Ropar. But what started out as aninvestigationintoonemurder eventually evolved into a multidistrict probe, with the police seekinghelpfromtheircounterpartsinneighbouringdistrictsof Fatehgarh Sahib and Hoshiarpur to help track down a “serial killer”. According to the police, Swaroop, who is now in police custody,wouldallegedlylurehis victims — mostly truck drivers, labourers or roadside tea ven- dors—withthepromiseof physical relations, and then demand moneyfromthem.If theydidnot pay, he would allegedly murder them, police said. “He told the police he strangled nine of his victims and beat two others to death,” a senior officer involved in the investigation told The Indian Express, adding that the accused was estranged from his family. “He would take away their mobiles and whatever money he could find on them.” According to the police, several of the murders came to light when he was being questioned. The accused, Ram Swaroop, was arrested by the Punjab Police earlier this week. Express Of his 11 alleged victims, five have been identified and police are looking for their families. “In some of these cases, FIRs for murder will be lodged after we reach out to their families. We are also contacting police from neighbouring districts to ascertain identities of those yet to be identified,” Ropar SSP Gulneet Khurana said. According to a senior officer, Swaroop,ahigh-schooldropout, worked as a labourer in Dubai and Qatar in 2005-06. “HereturnedtoIndiain2006 and started taking up daily wage jobs in and around Hoshiarpur. His wife and children disowned him in 2022 and since then, he has been living like a vagabond,” the officer said. According to Khurana, since helefthome,theaccusedmostly stayed in the areas of Ropar, Sirhind, and Hoshiarpur and worked as a cleaner. “He would meet truck drivers in roadside dhabas and tea shops. He did not stay in one place for more than two days and, because he wasn’t in touch with his family or old friends, he evaded the police radar,” the officer said, adding that he would throw out SIM cards of the phones he stole. The unravelling It was the murder of Maninder Singh that set the policeonhistrail.WhenSingh,who worked at the toll plaza in Mauran village in Ropar district, didn’t return home on the night of August 19, his brother went looking for him. “Maninder used to reach home by 8-8.15 pm. That night, when he didn’t return and his phone was also switched off, I went to the toll plaza and found he had left for home. We began CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata