DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 2024, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `7.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 FIRST SERVING CM TO BE ARRESTED SC HEARS PLEA TODAY, HC DENIED RELIEF NATIONWIDE PROTESTS: AAP CENTRAL AGENCY ARRESTS KEJRIWAL GAYATHRI MANI, ARNABJIT SUR & MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL NEW DELHI, MARCH 21 ARVIND KEJRIWAL, whose campaign against corruption in 2011 birthed the Aam Aadmi Party and paved the way for his ascension as Delhi’s Chief Minister, wasarrestedbytheEnforcement Directorate Thursday night in connectionwiththeDelhiexcise policy case. He became the first serving Chief Minister to be arrested, after months of skipping summons by the investigation agency—nineintotal—andcalling them “illegal”. His arrest came hours after the Delhi High Court declined to grantKejriwalinterimprotection from coercive action by the ED. The case pertains to alleged MANOJ C G NEW DELHI, MARCH 21 Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal being taken away from his residence after his arrest in New Delhi on Thursday. Abhinav Saha kickbacks received by the AAP and its leaders in implementation of the now-scrapped 2021- 22 Delhi excise policy. While Kejriwal is the most high-profilearrestinthecase,in- vestigation agencies have also arrested his former deputy CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BJP’S TOTAL DONORS 487, ITS TOTAL BONDS REDEEMED SINCE APRIL 2019: `6,060 CR BJP recipient No. 1, its top 10 donors form 35% of its `6,000-cr bond kitty SBIfilescompliance affidavitinSC;EC releasesdonor, recipientdetails JAY MAZOOMDAAR, SHIJITH KUNHITTY, ANJISHNU DAS & RITIKA CHOPRA NEW DELHI, MARCH 21 PUSHED AND prodded by the SupremeCourt,theStateBankof India (SBI), which had sought time until June 30, revealed telling data on electoral bonds Thursday — from donor details to parties that redeemed the bonds, including the unique alphanumeric codes that link donors to beneficiaries. A scrutiny of the data published by the Election Commissionof Indiarevealsthat thetop10of thetotal487donors to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party account for Rs 2,119 crore, whichis35percentof theparty’s electoral bond kitty of Rs 6,060 crore encashed since April 2019, the largest amongst all parties. This data, published by ECI after SBI filed a compliance affidavitasdirectedbythetopcourt, represents the largest disclosure regarding the controversial scheme that guaranteed absolute anonymity to donors. The CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 FULL COVERAGE PAGE 7 TOP 10 DONORSFOR TOP3 PARTIES BJP Megha Engineering 6,060cr* Qwik Supply Chain 584 cr** 375 cr Vedanta 226.65 cr Bharti Airtel TMC Future Gaming 542 cr 1,610 cr Haldia Energy 281 cr NEW DELHI, MARCH 21 THE BIGGEST purchaser of electoral bonds, lottery company Future Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt Ltd, which bought bonds worth over Rs 1,300 crore between 2019 and 2024, donated the highest amount of CONG Western UP Power 110 cr Dhariwal Infrastructure MKJ Enterprises Yashoda Super Specialty 90 cr Madanlal Ltd. 197.4 cr 175.5 cr 1,422 cr Vedanta . 104 cr MKJ Enterprises 91.6 cr Avees Trading 45.9 cr 45.5 cr 42 64 cr 53 cr IFB Agro DLF 130 Chennai Green Woods 40 Sasmal Infrastructure 39 Birla Carbon 105 PCBL Ltd Rithwik Projects Future Gaming 100 Prarambh Securities 38.75 SEPC Power 30 Haldia Energy 81 Crescent Power Ltd Siddhi Trading 22 40 33 Future Gaming Avees Trading Keventer Food Park 144.5 50 30 * Total bonds redeemed since April 2019; ** Value of bonds (Rs crore); Data compiled by Shijith Kunhitty, Anjishnu Das Infra, metals and energy Common to dominate donor sectors Cong, BJP: SHYAMLAL YADAV & JAY MAZOOMDAAR NEW DELHI, MARCH 21 THE TOP three donors of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the biggest beneficiary of electoral bonds, include Hyderabadheadquartered Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd, Qwik Supply Chain Private Ltd, which is associated with Reliance Industries Ltd, and Anil Agarwal-promotedVedantaLtd. Put together, they donated Rs 1,186 crore to the party. According to data released Wednesday by the Election Commission of India, BJP has redeemed Rs 584 crore from MeghaEngineeringandits associate company Western UP Power Transmission Company Limited. Meghaitself fundedBJP to the tune of Rs 449 crore and WesternUPPowerTransmission CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Bond Buyer No. 1 is TMC’s Donor No. 1 HARIKISHAN SHARMA Rs 542 crore to the Trinamool Congress (TMC). Accordingtodatareleasedby the Election Commission on Thursday, the TMC, led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, received Rs 1,610 crore through electoral bonds from 211 donors between April 12, 2019 and January 24, 2024. Apart from Future Gaming, the TMC also received Rs 281 crore from Haldia Energy and Rs 90 crore from Dhariwal Infrastructure. Two companies — MKJ Enterprises and AVEES Trading Finance — donated over Rs 45 crore each. Among the other donors were IFB Agro Industries, Chennai Green Woods, PCBL, Prarambh CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Group that gave the most LALMANI VERMA & JAY MAZOOMDAAR NEW DELHI, MARCH 21 THE NO. 1 donor to the Congress wastheMeghaGroup’sWestern UP Power Transmission Company Limited which contributedRs110croreviaelectoral bonds. The group’s Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited was also the highest donor to the BJP with Rs 529 crore — it was the second largest purchaser of electoral bonds, spending Rs 1,192 crore. The Congress redeemed poll bonds worth a total of Rs 1,422 crore since April 2019. The Vedanta Ltd was the party’s second largest poll bond donor with Rs 104 crore. MKJ Enterprises Limited, which trades in stainless steel, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 How police tracked a baseball cap from CCTV to key accused in Bengaluru cafe blast case PAGE 1 ANCHOR JOHNSON TA BENGALURU, MARCH 21 THE TRAIL of a baseball cap that a man wore while planting an improvised explosive device at The Rameshwaram Cafe in Bengaluru on March 1 has yieldedvitalcluesaboutthesus- Frightened dictator, says WHAT NEXT, WHO NEXT Rahul; Opposition loses AAP claims he will run ‘national campaign voice’ Govt from jail, why that’s easier said than done A CCTV grab of the suspect pect involved in the lunch-hour blastthatleftninepeopleinjured. The cap the suspect is seen wearing in CCTV footage from the cafe in Whitefield was found abandonednearareligiousplace located around three kilometres fromthecafe,whereheallegedly also changed from a shirt to a round-neck t-shirt. The branded cap, with number 10 inscribed on it, led investigatorstoacentralChennaimall where it was sold at a branded retail store in late January. It also led to new CCTV footage of two men purchasing the cap and other items, including the suspect seen in the cafe CCTV footage, multiple sources familiar with the probe confirmed. The cap is a limited edition series of merchandise from a youth brand and around 400 have been sold in India by the company,whichonly hasa presence across south India through CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 AS ARVIND Kejriwal became the second Opposition chief minister — the first sitting CM — to be arrested in less than two months, the Opposition INDIA bloc rallied behind him and launched a blistering attack on the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. From senior Congress leader RahulGandhiandCongresspresident Mallikarjun Kharge to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK leader M K Stalin, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Yadav, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, a range of Opposition leaders severelycriticisedtheGovernment. Hitting out at Modi, Rahul said a “scared dictator” is soundingthedeathknellof democracy. Leaders of the Delhi Congress, led by its chief Arvinder Singh Lovely and AAP baiter Sandeep Dikshit, reached Kejriwal’s residence in a show of support. “While capturing all the institutions including the media, breaking up parties, extorting money from companies, freezing the account of the main CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 FULL COVERAGE PAGES 4. 5 , 8 L-G can push for President’s rule if he doesn’t quit; political vacuum in party MALLICA JOSHI, JATIN ANAND & APURVA VISHWANATH NEW DELHI, MARCH 21 “There is no plan to change the Delhi Chief Minister or the party chief. We have said before that if he is arrested, he will govern from jail and that stance has not changed,” said Delhi Health and Urban Development minister Saurabh Bharadwaj. ● That’s easier said than donegiventhenewbattlelines—politicalandConstitutional — that are being drawn. ForKejriwaltoremainCM,he would need some respite from E WHO NEXT and what next? Never have these questions been as relevant for a political party andagovernmentasthey arenowfortheAamAadmiParty. As Arvind Kejriwal was arrested on Thursday evening, the partymaintainedthathewillrun the government from Tihar jail. EXPLAINED ED arrests Delhi CM days after it linked him to `100 cr kickbacks in excise case CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SC stays Govt fact check unit, says challenge involves free speech ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, MARCH 21 A DAY after the Centre notified a Fact Checking Unit (FCU) under the Press Information Bureau (PIB) to identify fake news about the government, the Supreme Court Thursday stayed the operation of the notification until the Bombay High Court takes a final decision on petitions challengingthe2023amendmentstothe Information Technology Rules. A three-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B PardiwalaandManojMisra,said the challenge before the High Court“implicatescorevaluesimpinging on freedom of speech… protected by Article 19”. Staying the operation of the March 20 notification on FCU by the Ministry of Electronics and InformationTechnology(MeitY), the bench noted that the Centre had assured the High Court on April27,2023thattheFCUwould not be notified until petitions challenging Rule 3 (1) (b) (v) of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2