DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2022, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `6.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 PM AT INDIA-NORDIC SUMMIT TODAY Influence Russia to end war: Denmark to India In Copenhagen, PM Frederiksen says she discussed with Modi ‘consequences of horrible crimes against civilians’ SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, MAY 3 Metro card, 200 CCTVs help police crack Delhi murder MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL NEW DELHI, MAY 3 A RED motorcycle, 200 CCTV cameras and a Metro card — police in Delhi spent the past two days piecing together clues to solve the murder of a businessman inside his Civil Lines residence, finally managing to nab one of the accused from Rajiv Chowk Metro station on Tuesday. Police said the accused, a 16year-old, was caught when he used the same Metro card that he had a day before allegedly killing 77-year-old Ram Kishore Agrawal. Another suspect, who also claimed to be a minor, was nabbed later in the evening. PolicefirstreceivedaPCRcall about Agrawal’s murder at 6.52 am on Sunday. “His son told police that he found his father with his throat slit, around 6.40 am. He was rushed to Sushruta Trauma Centre where doctors declaredhimdeadonarrival.We found that he had four knife injuries on his body,” DCP (North) SagarSinghKalsi hadsaid.Police suspect the accused stole more than Rs 50 lakh in cash. As part of the probe, police started scanning CCTV footage from the area to zero in on suspicious activities. While combing through the footage, investigators found that a day before the incident, a suspect parked a red motorcycle near the victim's residence and then took the Metro from Civil Lines station. Police said the motorcycle was used as a getaway vehicle the next day. Thus began the meticulous process of piecing together the suspect's journey using footage fromover200cameras.“Footage CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Denmark counterpart Mette Frederiksen at her residence in Copenhagen. Reuters US ABORTION RIGHTS HANG IN BALANCE A LEAKED DRAFT opinion of the US Supreme Court showed it may overturn a 1973 case that legalised abortion SUCH A DECISION would lead to abortion bans in around half the states in US. THE COURT saidthedraftwas Pro-abortion and anti-abortion demonstrators outside the US Supreme Court on Tuesday. Reuters MANOJ C G NEW DELHI, MAY 3 WHEN IMAGE politics plays 24by-7 on social media, a 12-second video of Rahul Gandhi from an evening in Kathmandu came in handy for the BJP Tuesday. And for the Congress, as it prepares for its three-day “chintan shivir” in Udaipur beginning May 13, the video, purportedly fromaweddingof Rahul’s friend journalistSumnimaUdas,forced IF THE Tokyo Olympics presented athletes with the unique challenges of living and competing in a bio-bubble, this year's Asian Games in the Chinese city of Hangzhou will likely be more of the same, perhaps even tougher. In a busy second half of the year, India's athletes will crisscrosstheworld,takingpartinvarious World Cups, World E E X P L A I NE D MUMBAI, MAY 3 genuinebutnotfinal.President JoeBidencriticisedthedraft. REPORTS, PAGES 9 & 12 Where’s Rahul? A familiar question from an evening in Kathmandu A video still of Rahul Gandhi in Kathmandu the party to damage control. Many of his colleagues have longbeenworriedabout theim- Asian Games in Sept, China looks at strict ‘closed-loop’ Covid curbs MIHIR VASAVDA UNDERLININGTHATshehaddiscussed the war in Ukraine with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the “consequences of the horrible crimes committed against civilians”, Denmark’s PrimeMinisterMetteFrederiksen said Tuesday she “hoped” that “India will influence Russia” to end the war. This is one of the most clear expectations enunciated andarticulatedbyanyEuropeanleader in the last two months since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. Modi arrived in Copenhagen Eye on Covid ● surge WITH CHINA reporting a surge in cases, Hangzhou — the Asian Games host city — began mass testing last week. The proximity of Hangzhou to Shanghai, which is under strict lockdown, has added to the anxiety. Championships,Commonwealth Games and the Asiad. But after twoyearsofpandemic-forcedrestrictions, while most events, including the Birmingham CWG, are likely to be less conditional, theAsianGames,scheduledtobe held from September 10-25, could be an exception. Amidst reports of a possible postponement, the Games' organisersarepressingaheadwith the preparations and have put plansinplaceforastrict"closedloop" system, similar to the one CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 age of Rahul as the “reluctant and absentee” leader disinterested in humdrum political work — bread and butter for leaders of a lesser league. The cherrytopping,forhiscritics:his foreign trips usually cloaked in secrecy. This one started April 17-18, after Rahul attended a meeting with Prashant Kishor and a band of senior leaders on April 16, along with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, just over a month CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPLAINED SIMPLY PUT SUBMARINETECH THATINDIAWANTS PAGE 9 INSIDE MP: TWOTRIBAL MEN BEATEN TO DEATH ON SUSPICION OF COW SLAUGHTER PAGE 7 Wisden trims W G Grace’s numbers, and some myths around the legend PAGE 1 ANCHOR SRIRAM VEERA MUMBAI, MAY 3 “THE LAW has finally caught up with W G Grace after 150 years; it’s such a W G story in many ways,” Lawrence Booth, the editor of Wisden Almanack, says in jest about his decision to amend the statistics of cricket’s first superstar in this year’s Almanack. Ten matches have been excised from Grace’s much-contested numbers as they have been deemed not to be of first- class nature; his hundreds have come down from 126 to 124, run-tally from 54,596 to 54,211, and wickets from 2,876 to 2,809. Grace,whoplayedfrom1865 to 1908, was a great cricketer, embellished with myths and legends, and is considered to have done more to establish and popularise cricket than anyone in history. Hailed as a “loveable rascal”, his tales off the field are as legendary as the ones on it: He has kidnapped cricketers of opposition teams, claimed bumped catches, championed gamesmanship, bullied umpires, and was also the first batsman fluent off both the front and back foot, Illustration: Suvajit Dey and proficient on the off and on side. He was a qualified doctor who treated a few cricketers’ injuriesandranamedicalpractice. He called himself an amateur cricketer but earned much more thananyprofessionalof histime. “It does nothing to diminish thegreatcricketer,insteaditculls out unnecessary lies, Wisden is a book of record, romanticism need not be done through lies. Itwaspurelyarationaldecision,” Booth tells The Indian Express. “Are we trying to delude the past to cater to the exceptionalism of Victorian England?” Booth asks. The 150-year-old controversystemsfromthecreativeaccountancy carried out to ensure that Grace, the most popular player of his time, was seen to have tallied 2,000 runs in a season for the second time. In 1873, he had scored 1805 runs at an CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Tuesday and was received by Frederiksen at the airport. Condemning Russia’s “un- lawful and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine”, she said her message to Russian President Vladimir Putin was “very clear” thathehasto“stopthiswar"and “end the killings”. Modi,whowasstandingwith her as they made statements after their bilateral meeting, said they discussed Ukraine and called for a ceasefire and resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy — a reiteration of New Delhi’s position, articulatedattheUNaswellasin BerlinMondayinthepresenceof German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The Prime Ministers will meet again Wednesday for the India-Nordic summit which will CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Death registrations show 6% rise in pandemic year 2020: Registrar General ANONNA DUTT NEW DELHI, MAY 3 NEW DATA released Tuesday by the office of the Registrar General showed that 81.16 lakh deaths were registered in the country in 2020, about six per cent higher than the previous year’s number, which is consistent with the recent trend of increasing registrations of births and deaths in the country. Data from the civil registration system (CRS) showed that while the number of registered birthsin2020haddeclinedfrom 2.48 crore in 2019 to 2.42 crore, the death registrations had increased from 76.41 lakh in 2019 to 81.16 lakh now. These are not the actual number of births and deaths in India in 2020, but only those CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Curfew in Jodhpur, 97 arrested after communal clashes Gehlot calls for calm in hometown, BJP blames his ‘politics of appeasement’ DEEP MUKHERJEE JAIPUR, MAY 3 CURFEW WAS imposed in 10 policestationareasof Jodhpurin Rajasthan and mobile internet services were suspended Tuesday as communal tension mounted in the city, hours after two communities clashed late Monday night over the hoisting of a flag on Eid. Jodhpur is the hometown of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot who appealed to the public to maintain peace and chaired a high-level meeting after cancelling events planned for his birthday Tuesday. Police said 97 people have been arrested so far in connection with the clashes. The BJP, including Union Jal Shakti Minister and Jodhpur MP Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and former Chief Minister VasundharaRaje, slammedGehlotand said the violence was the result of his “politics of appeasement”. Police said the immediate trigger for the clash had to do with the hoisting of a flag on Eid on the statue of freedom fighter Balmukund Bissa near Jalori Gate in Jodhpur. Curfew was imposed after fresh clashes took place between police and members of the Muslim community Tuesday morning. Vandita Rana, Deputy CONTINUED ON PAGE 2