DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA ● REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2024, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 ENERGYFIRMAZUREACCUSEDOFCOLLUSION;YSRCP denies wrongdoing, says regulator approved deal FORPOWERCONTRACTS,PAIDBRIBES,LIEDTO investors&bankstoraisebillionsof dollars:Indictment US Govt indicts Gautam Adani, alleges Rs 2,000-cr bribes to ‘Indian officials’ Baseless, denied: Group; indictment alleges Adani met then Andhra CM before power deal BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY ADANI GREENS (8 GW) LetterofAwardon Dec10,2019 SECI (GOI) LetterofAwardon Dec10,2019 AZURE POWER (4 GW) SIGNS POWER SUPPLY AGREEMENT (PSA) ON Dec1,2021 NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 21 contracts” with state electricity distribution companies. In a parallel move, the US CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 July22,2021 Aug12,2021 Sep16,2021 Feb10,2022 Andhra Discom (2,000 MW) AGGAM WALIA & AANCHAL MAGAZINE US PROSECUTORS in New York indicted Adani Group Chairman Gautam S Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani and six others on Wednesday for allegedly offering Rs 2,029 crore (US $265 million) in bribes to Indian government officials for securing “lucrative solar energy supply THE ‘BRIBERY SCHEME’, ACCORDING TO THE INDICTMENT Odisha Discom (500 MW) Chhattisgarh Discom (300 MW) Tamil Nadu Discom (1,000 MW) J&K Discom (100 MW) DEC 10, 2019: Adani Green & Azure get SECI contracts to supply 8 GW & 4 GW, respectively DEC 25, 2020: Adani Green & Azure agree to price reductions in contract JULY 22, 2021: SECI signs PSA with Odisha discom for 500 MW, allegedly after a bribe of “hundreds of thousands of dollars” AUG 2021: Gautam Adani meets Jagan on Andhra not inking a PSA with SECI SEPT 12, 2021: Sagar Adani meets Jagan DEC 1, 2021: Andhra enters into PSA with SECI for 7,000 MW, allegedly after a bribe of `1,750 crore Between July 22 and December 1, 2021, SECI entered into PSAs with Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu, in addition to Andhra Pradesh and Odisha Adani shares plunge by up to 23%, Group scraps Rahul says arrest Adani, PM protecting issue of $600-mn bond him; Cong damaging economy: BJP ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU MUMBAI, NOVEMBER 21 SHARESOFAdaniGroupcompanies plummeted by up to 23 per cent Thursday and the group scrapped its $600-million bond issue after US prosecutors indicted Adani Group Chairman Gautam S Adani and seven othersforallegedlyofferingRs2,029 crore in bribes to Indian government officials for securing “lucrative solar energy supply contracts” with state electricity distribution companies. THE EDITORIAL PAGE THE CLOUD DARKENS Indictment of Gautam Adani and others by US prosecutors calls for a transparent probe. Seeing a foreign hand isn’t the answer PAGE8 RELATED REPORTS PAGES 11, 15 Adani Group companies lost a total of Rs 2.22 lakh crore in CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 21 THE INDICTMENT of Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani by prosecutors in the US for allegedlyofferingRs2,029crorein bribes to Indian government officials triggered a political firestorm Thursday with Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi demanding Adani’s immediate arrest and alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “protecting” him. The ruling BJP, in turn, ac- MANIPUR CRISIS CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Former Andhra CM Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy SREENIVAS JANYALA & NIKHILA HENRY HYDERABAD, NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 21 INDUSTRIALISTGAUTAMAdani’s indictmentintheUS,whichstates thatmorethan85%ofthealleged bribe was given to a top-ranking official in Andhra Pradesh, has drawnamutedresponsefrompoliticalpartiesinpowerinthestate, particularly the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP). According to the indictment, Adani “personally met with Foreign Official 1 in Andhra Pradesh to advance the executionof PSA(powersupplyagreements) between SECI (Solar EnergyCorporationof India)and AP’s state electricity distribution companies, including on or aboutAugust7,2021,onorabout September 12, 2021 and on or about November 20, 2021”. The “Foreign Official 1”, according to the indictment, “had servedasahigh-rankinggovernment official of Andhra Pradesh from May 2019 to June 2024”. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 84 4 from a village allegedly tortured in custody after being called to camp ARUN SHARMA JAMMU, NOVEMBER 21 THE ARMY on Thursday launched a probe into allegations of “ill-treatment” of civilians during searches for a group of militants by troops in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district. “Based on specific intelligence of the move of a group of terrorists in the Kishtwar Sector, an operation was launched by Rashtriya Rifles on November 20,” the White Knight Corps, the official social media account of 16Corps,IndianArmy,postedon X. “There are some reports on the alleged ill-treatment of civilians during the conduct of the operation.Aninvestigationisbeing launched to ascertain the facts.Necessaryfollow-upaction will be ensured.” “Further move of the group of terrorists is being monitored,” it added, tagging the Army’s Additional Directorate General of Public Information and the Northern Command. Kishtwar Senior Superintendent of Police Javed Iqbal, when contacted, said the police are verifying the allegations. According to sources, the Army will probe allegations that four men from Kuath village Maharashtra turnout now 66.05%; rise of 5% from 2019 holds key Pollster Axis My India C Voter Chanakya Mahayuti MVA Others 178-200 82-102 6-12 112 104 11 164-186 89-111 8-18 ANAND MOHAN J 112 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE IDEOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES are knowntohavesplitparties,communities, and even families. In Madhya Pradesh’s tribal-dominated Balaghat district, a politicaldividehasdrivenawedgebetween a power couple, one of whosepoliticalstarsseemstobe onthewaneandtheotherwhose political influence is rising. The Munjaresof Balaghatarenowinvolved in a public spat triggered by their decade-old photo with former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh. A three-time former MLA THE ELECTION Commission of India on Thursday announced a further increase in voter turnout of Maharashtrato66.05percent from 65.1 per cent it had announcedonWednesday,theday of polls. This is the highest since 1995 when the state witnessed a voter turnout of 71.69 per cent. While 61.4 per cent of the electorate exercised their voting rightsinthe2019assemblyelections, in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, the voter turnout stood at 61.39 per cent. The increase is of around 5 BHOPAL, NOVEMBER 21 137 80 THE WORLD ICC ISSUES ARREST WARRANT AGAINST NETANYAHU 50 KILLED AS GUNMEN ATTACK VEHICLE IN PAK PAGE 13 DEEPTIMAN TIWARY & VIKAS PATHAK NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 21 AS MANIPUR continues to deal with the fallout of a fresh round of violence, MPs from several northeastern states, particularly those bordering the violence-hit state, have urged the Centre to find a quick solution to the problem even if it involves taking some tough political decisions. While some MPs that The Indian Express spoke to held the N Biren Singh-led state govern- Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh ment responsible for the failure to maintain peace in Manipur, othersfelttheissuewascomplex and required deft handling by the Centre. A few also advocated the imposition of President’s Rule in the strife-torn state. “Mysolution(totheproblem) CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Former MP Kankar Munjare, now with BSP, and MLA wife Anubha Munjare, who is with the Congress and a former MP, 72-year-old KankarMunjare’speersdescribe him as a “headstrong leader” were tortured in custody. According to sources, the men received a phone call on Wednesday morning, asking them to report to an Army camp in Kishtwar. The call was made against the backdrop of the killing of a Junior Commissioned Officer of the Army and injuries to three soldiers in the Chask area on November 10. Days earlier, on November7,twovillagedefence guardswereabductedandkilled by militants in the Keshwan forests of Kishtwar. The allegations of torture emerged just two days after Northern Army Commander Lt Genera M V Suchindra Kumar visited Kishtwar and reviewed the security situation there. In December last year, three civilians were killed, allegedly in custody, after troops picked them up for questioning in connection with a terror attack on Army vehicles in Poonch. Whilepolicehadregisteredan FIR into the matter, Defence MinisterRajnathSinghvisitedthe familiesofthevictimsandassured justice. Later, an enquiry conducted by the troops referred to lapsesintheconductofsomepersonnel. The Army unit allegedly connected with the killings was moved out of the district. MAHARASHTRA EXIT POLLS SEPARATED BY PARTIES Need President’s rule, For MP power couple, closing why is Centre mum, personal divide is a bridge too far say Northeast MPs 22/11/2024 PAGE 1 ANCHOR Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi, Thursday. Anil Sharma cused the Congress of “attacking the Indian market and trying to make it tank to damage the Indian economy”. It said the “matter pertains to the time between July 2021 and February 2022” when “Chhattisgarh, AndhraPradesh,TamilNaduand Odishaallhadnon-NDAgovernments… they had governments of the Congress or their allies”. The Left parties said the CBI mustbedirectedtoimmediately file a case based on the material provided by the prosecution in the US. “Prime Minister Modi Focus on Jagan, but NDA ally TDP treads with caution Army launches probe into charges of ‘ill-treatment’ of civilians in Kishtwar who likes to stick to his opinions and not exactly a team player, a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MUMBAI, NOVEMBER 21 per cent votes and could emerge as a big factor in deciding the winner. As against 8.85 crore registered voters in 2019, the numberof registeredvotersisup by 9.5 per cent to 9.69 crore. So a higher voter turnout on an increased vote base is set to become a key factor in the results to be announced on Saturday. While the increase in voter turnoutisbeingattributedtothe fierce campaign undertaken by ruling Mahayuti and opposition MahaVikasAghadi(MVA),itmay turn out to be a major factor in the results in a close contest. DuringtheLokSabhapolls,the three parties in Mahayuti — BJP, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Down Under warms up: Punjabi & Hindi headlines, flashbulbs, chats EXPRESSINAUSTRALIA SRIRAM VEERA PERTH, NOVEMBER 21 “HOW IS your kid doing,” India’s stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah asks his Aussie counterpart Pat Cummins.Theyareafewfeetand acoupleofminutesawayfromthe unveiling of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy that they will be fighting for over five Test matches from Friday at Perth. Cummins is all smiles, and asks the same question to Bumrah, who launches intoalongexcitedreplyabouthis one-year-old son Angad. Light bulbs are flashing around them as photographers and broadcasters are busy capturingvisualsfortheirpre-series packages. Oblivious, Cummins says, “that moment when the kid first walks”, and both — the ODI World Cup winning captain and world’s best fast bowler — go “awww”. The media representative yanks them to the here and now and reminds them about why they are. Photos are taken with the trophy, and once again the twoshuffletothesidetoresume some more paternal chat. It is hard to believe the two teams with the fiercest rivalry in world cricket are about to start their freshest battle in a day’s time. But then it’s also scarcely believable that the Australian cricketing establishment, the media, and even the government has been almost going “awww” about this IndiaAustralia Test series. Usually,theAustralianmedia acts as their team’s 12th man. They are known to give a snarly treatment to the visitors. Once Australia captain Pat Cummins and his Indian counterpart Jasprit Bumrah at Perth’s Optus Stadium, Thursday. Express England’s Kevin Pietersen was famously welcomed by a huge headline across the local newspapers that read “The Ego has landed”. In contrast, the Indian team has almost been feverishly giddily welcomed. Newscorp,anAustraliannews agencywithavastimprintacross newspapers, took out full-page cricketfeatures,splashingimages of the likes of Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal with headlines that ran in Punjabi and Hindi. Almostadvertorialinthecontent, newspapers have run glowing pieces about Indian players. Diverse Australia is making an effort to be inclusive. It hasn’t escaped the local population with roots in the subcontinent. Jafri, a cabbie of Pakistan origin, says, “Yeh toh hona hi tha (This was bound to happen). India has all the money in cricket bhai. Finally, our side of the world is being recognised and respected. Hopefully soon, they will call my name also properly: Arabic ka Jafri, not English Geoffrey!” Money does matter, of course. Australian cricket, which was struggling during the pandemic and had to even show the doors to the then CEO Kevin Edwards, is expecting a jackpot from this India series. Back then, in 2020, it was re- ported that Cricket Australia (CA), the body that runs cricket, had to take a loan of A$300 million from Commonwealth Bank. TheIndianseriesin2021,though shrouded in the pandemic, helpedtheAustralianboard.And in October this year, they announced a deficit of A$31.9 million ($21.34m). CA insiders say that television rights money from this India series would bankrolltheircricketforthenext couple of years. The bonhomie ahead of the series was started during Australian Prime Minister AnthonyAlbanese’svisittoIndia CONTINUED ON PAGE 2