DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY OTTAWA DIALS DOWN ON ALLEGED NIJJAR PLOT After MEA rebuff, Canada rejects report: ‘no evidence linking PM, Jaishankar, NSA’ SHUBHAJIT ROY & DIVYA A NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 22 10 MAOISTS KILLED IN SUKMA ENCOUNTER PAGE 7 `7.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 IN A significant move indicating anattempttodialdowntensions between Ottawa and Delhi, Canadian National Security Advisor Nathalie G Drouin, contradicting a report in The Globe and Mail daily, has said the government of Canada “has not stated,norisitawareof evidence linking” Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and NSA Ajit Doval to “the serious criminal activity” in Canada — a reference to the killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year. The Canadian NSA’s statement came two days after India rejected the report in The Globe and Mail. “We do not normally comment on media reports. However, such ludicrous state- Canadian National Security Advisor Nathalie G Drouin ments made to a newspaper, purportedly by a Canadian government source, should be dismissed with the contempt they deserve,” Randhir Jaiswal, spokespersonfortheMinistryof External Affairs, had said. On November 19, The Globe andMailreportstated,“Canadian security agencies believe Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India knew about the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in British Columbiaandother violentplots, accordingtoaseniornational-securityofficialwhoworkedonthe intelligence assessment of New Delhi’s foreign-interference operations in Canada.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Election results today, AN ICIJ-THE INDIAN EXPRESS INVESTIGATION Mahayuti & MVA dial Before Russia-Ukraine war, independents, rebels Western oil firms ‘cut deals’ Hotels, choppers booked for winning candidates, virtual meetings underway not to leave thecountingcentres until the last vote is counted. MUMBAI, NOVEMBER 22 TheCongresstooaskedcandidatesandpollingagentstomatch AHEAD OF the Maharashtra numbersonForm17Chandedto Assembly election results polling agents before the start of Saturday, the ruling Mahayuti counting of votes. and the Opposition Maha Vikas Allcandidateshavebeentold Aghadi have begun toleavethecountingcenreaching out to indetres only after collecting pendent and rebel cancertificates from returndidates should their ing officers and to reach need arise to cross the Mumbai Saturday night halfway mark in the itself. DECISION 288-member House. The Assembly elec2024 Hotels have been tions this time saw an inMAHARASHTRA booked and helicopters crease of over four per keptready incasewinning inde- cent in voter turnout, its highest pendentsneedtobetransported since 1995. Both the ruling and quickly. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 OnFriday,partiesheldonline meetingstoissuefinaldirections tocandidates.NCP(SP)stateunit MORE REPORTS chief Jayant Patil told candidates PAGE 6 ALOK DESHPANDE to favour Moscow’s allies Inflated budgets, rigged bids, lucrative contracts: trail of dodgy transactions marked oil flows through 1500-km Caspian Pipeline Consortium, used by Russia, Kazakhstan SUKALP SHARMA & RITU SARIN NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 22 FORALLthecurrentdiscourseon globalsanctionsandcensure,before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Western oil giants, including affiliates of Chevron, Shell and Exxon Mobil, signed off on allegedly inflated budgets,riggedbids,andgavelucrative contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars to allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kazakhstan elite. This is one of the key revelationsof CaspianCabals,aninvestigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, of which The Indian Express is a partner, into the 1500-km Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), one of the world’s largestcrude oilpipeline systemsusedbyboth Russiaand Kazakhstan. The CPC takes crude from large oil fields in western Kazakhstan and also from Russian producers to Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, from where it is transported to buyers globally through tankers. In2023,CPCcarried63.5million tons of oil to international markets — around 10 per cent of CPC crude is Russian, the rest is fromKazakhstan’slargeoilfields Kashagan and Karachaganak. Since the start of the Ukraine CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ALLEGATIONS OF BRIBERY FOR POWER DEALS Adani aware of probe a year ago... told markets news false: Indictment In US, FBI seized nephew Sagar Adani’s electronic devices in March 2023 E E X P L A I NE D SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2024, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 22 PAGES SUKALP SHARMA NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 22 ON MARCH 18 this year, three days after news agency Bloomberg reported that the US was “probing Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and his group over potential bribery”, Adani Enterprises told Indian stock exchanges that the report was “false”. But almost exactly a year ago “on or around March 17, 2023”, Gautam Adani’s nephew Sagar Adani, Executive Director of Adani Green Energy, was Under the scannerin ● the US THE US indictment and SEC charges claim that Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani were aware of the bribery probe by the US authorities at least since March 2023, but continued to withhold such information as they went about raising funds in the US. Adani has denied all allegations. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Naidu assures action, BJD says charges are baseless SREENIVAS JANYALA, SUJIT BISOYI & JAYPRAKASH S NAIDU HYDERABAD, BHUBANESWAR, RAIPUR, NOVEMBER 22 REACTING FOR the first time to theindictmentof Gautam Adani in the United States, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu Friday said in the Legislative Assembly that CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Captain Bumrah’s dream spell cracks open series on Day One EXPRESS INAUSTRALIA SRIRAM VEERA PERTH, NOVEMBER 22 ON A mind-boggling opening day of the first Test of the series in Australia, where three-quar- Jasprit Bumrah celebrates the wicket of Steve Smith in Perth on Friday. AP ters of the day was filled with chants from Australian fans before the Indian Tricolour and voices filled the Perth air, the Indian bowlers answered the burning question that faced them ahead of the game: What would happen once Jasprit Bumrah’s first spell ends? Who would keep up the pressure? 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