eye MCS/204/2020-22RNINO.MAHENG2002/21899 THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE The Last Dance MUMBAI,LATECITY MARCH31,2024 Age catching up, Dhoni’s CSK fans are savouring every moment of him 14+4PAGES,`6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA DELHI LIQUOR POLICY CASE ED questions Delhi minister Gahlot, AAP alleges BJP plot, attempt to topple Govt 119 147 BJP counters, says AAP government 60 and party MLAs ‘inundated in Embarrassing: SC corruption’ 183 HYDERABAD, MARCH 30 OBSERVING THAT there is a recent trend of Governors getting involved in litigation for not assenting to Bills sent for approval by state governments, Supreme Court Judge B V Nagarathna Saturday said they should act in accordancewiththeConstitution. “This is not a healthy trend under the Constitution to bring what the Governor does before constitutional courts for consideration. Though it is called a gubernatorial post, it is a serious constitutional post, and Governors must act as per the Constitution so this kind of litigation reduces.Itisquiteembarrassing for Governors to be told to do or not do a thing. The time has come where they would be now told, I suppose, to do their duties as per the Constitution,” she observed. NEW DELHI, MARCH 30 Delhi minister Kailash Gahlot outside the ED office on Saturday. Amit Mehra JATIN ANAND NEW DELHI, MARCH 30 THE ENFORCEMENT Directorate on Saturday questioned Delhi minister Kailash Gahlot for close to five hours in connection with the Delhi excise policy case. He is the third senior AAP minister to be examined in the case after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his former deputy Manish Sisodia, both of whom were subsequently placed under arrest. Terming the ED's move as “openvendetta”againsttheAAP, senior party leader and minister Atishi alleged that the probe is a BJP conspiracy to topple the AAP government in Delhi. Sources in the AAP alleged that the BJP-led Centre wants to “finish”the partyanddestabilise its government in Delhi by “creating an administrative crisis”so CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s wife, Sunita Kejriwal (left), with Kalpana Soren, wife of former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren on Saturday, a day ahead of INDIA bloc’s rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan. Kalpana later met Congress leader Sonia Gandhi. Arvind Kejriwal is in ED custody since March 21, Hemant Soren has been in custody since January 31. PTI E ● CM ‘CONFRONTED’ WITH INDIVIDUALS KEY TO CASE Partyand the polls THE SUMMONING of Kailash Gahlot by ED has rattled AAP with its top leadership — CM Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and Satyendar Jain — already in custody. In the run-up to polls, with a shadow now on Gahlot, considered an AAP veteran, the party’s challenges only increase. ED asks Apple to help access CM’s phone; questioning for 5 hours daily RITU SARIN NEW DELHI, MARCH 30 INVESTIGATORS OF the Enforcement Directorate, who haveDelhiChief MinisterArvind Kejriwalintheircustodyforover a week now, have contacted Apple to help gain access to his iPhone, The Indian Express has learned. The ED does not have any recovered electronic evidence against the Chief Minister in the form of his personal computers or desktops but four mobile phones, includinghis, were confiscated. On the night of his arrest on March 21, around Rs 70,000 was found — and left untouched — in his residence. The Chief Minister had switched off his iPhone and hasn’t shared his password, sources said. Senior officials linked to the case said that the Chief Minister, duringhisquestioning,hasstated that by accessing his telephone data and chats, the ED would be privytodetailsof AAP’s“election strategy” and pre-poll alliances. The ED is known to have officiallycontactedApple,manufacturers of the phone, to obtain CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PANAJI, NEW DELHI MARCH 30 THE GOA police on Saturday arrested Deepak Sharma, an executive committee member of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), for allegedly assaulting and misbehaving with two womenfootballersof aclubduring their stay in Goa for the ongoingIndianWomen’sLeague2. “Acomplaintwasreceivedon Saturday at Mapusa police station wherein players of Khad FC, afootballclubparticipatinginthe IndianWomen’sLeague,alleged that they were assaulted and misbehaved with by one of the accompanying members of the team during their stay in Goa. The accused, Deepak Sharma, hasbeenarrestedandnecessary legalactionisbeingtaken,”North Goa Superintendent of Police Akshat Kaushal said. An FIR has been registered under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful re- Deepak Sharma is executive committee member of AIFF straint)and354A(sexualharassment) of the Indian Penal Code and the accused will be produced in a court on Sunday, the police said. Earlier in the day, the Union Minister for Sports Anurag Thakur posted online, “The Ministryof Sportshastakenaserious note of an alleged physical assault upon women footballers by an official during the ongoing Indian Women’s League 2 in Goa. AIFF has been directed to take quick action and ensure the safety and security of our footballers. The ministry has further directed AIFF to take strong legal action and inform the ministry about actions taken. The safety and security of players are our utmost priority.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THEARMEDForcesare planning toturnMumbaiintothefirst“triservice common defence station”inthecountryfortheArmy, Navy and the Indian Air Force (IAF) — a step aimed at achieving jointness among the three services ahead of the creation of integrated theatre commands, The Indian Express has learnt. Discussions to this effect are under way in the top military hierarchyand a decision is likely to be taken soon, officials said. Currently, there are no common defence stations in India. TheAndamanandNicobarcommandisafull-fledgedcommand raised as a tri-service command in 2001. Other efforts to bring in jointness among the services— such as inter-service postings— were brought in last year. A common defence station would mean that all facilities of the Army, Navy, IAF will be combined — including logistics, infrastructure, repair and maintenance as well as stores and supplies— so that they could be optimised and brought under a commonleadservice.Inthecase of Mumbai, the Navy will be the lead service given that it has the largest presence there. Atpresent,wingsof thethree services are spread across Mumbaianditssuburbsandoperate separately. Under the plan, logistics, infrastructure and administration will be broughtun- INHS Asvini, a Naval hospital in Mumbai, is also being used by Army and IAF. X/ @indiannavy der a common chain. The Navy’s INS Hamla and INS Karanja, for example, are responsible for imparting logistics training to Naval personnel and housing a major armament depotrespectively.TheArmy’sordnance depot, a separate training area, an air defence regiment and IAF units are planned to be combined for common usage by the three services. Anofficialsaidthiswillmean the logistics, services,and works of the individual services will be integrated so that there is a singlesystemof deliveryof supplies such as fuel and ration and common items can be repaired at one place. “As per plans, the resources of the individual services will be shared by all and this would include infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and sports complexes; training facilities; as well as storages, repair and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Pawar vs Pawar in Baramati: Ajit’s wife Congress gets tax to take on three-time MP Supriya Sule notices for three MANOJ MORE & VALLABH OZARKAR PUNE, MUMBAI, MARCH 30 IT IS going to be a Pawar versus Pawar battle in western Maharashtra’s Baramati Lok Sabha constituency, the fortress of formerchief ministerandNCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar. Supriya Sule; Sunetra Pawar ECHOESOFLARGERWARP5 The NCP led by Deputy CM Ajit PawaronSaturday announced the DECISION name of his wife 2024 Sunetra Pawar as its candidate from Baramati, pitting her against her sister-in-lawandSharadPawar’s daughter Supriya Sule, who has won the seat thrice since 2009. Maharashtra NCP president Sunil Tatkare made the announcement at a press conference in Mumbai. Supriya’s name was also announced by the NCP (SP) on Saturday – a confirmation of Sharad Pawar's announcement at a rally in Baramati last week that she would be the party CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Donor No.2 Megha bought poll bonds even as it got key Govt, PSU contracts Megha bought bonds for `966 cr; in 9 instances,aroundtimeitwoncontracts RAVI DUTTA MISHRA & SUKALP SHARMA NEW DELHI, MARCH 30 A NUMBER of large infrastructure projects of Megha Engineering & Infrastructure Ltd (MEIL) were awarded to it by government departments and public sector undertakings (PSUs) either just before or immediately after the Hyderabadheadquartered company purchased electoral bonds, a majorityof whichmanywereredeemed by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), shows an analysisof bondissuanceandredemption data made public by the Election Commission of India. MEGHA’S MEGA PIE Party Bondsencashed BJP `584cr BRS `195cr DMK `85cr YSRCP `37cr TDP `28cr Congress `18cr JD(U) `10cr JD(S) `5cr JanasenaParty `4cr TOTAL `966cr Source: ECI ‘Misbehaviour, assault’: Football federation member held after two women players complain PAVNEET SINGH CHADHA & SHASHANK NAIR Plans under way to make Mumbai first tri-service common defence station AMRITA NAYAK DUTTA E X P L A I NE D SREENIVAS JANYALA KEY STEP IN INTEGRATION Logistics to repairs to supplies, Army, Navy, IAF facilities will be combined judge on Govs facing litigation from state govts Notahealthy trend:Justice Nagarathna FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT MEIL, promoted by Pamireddy Pichi Reddy and P V KrishnaReddy,purchasedbonds worth Rs 966 crore, and is the secondlargestbuyerafterFuture Gaming. The Indian Express identified five major projects that MEIL bagged between 2019 and 2023 where the company bought bonds close to being awarded the contracts, and a sizeable chunk of those bonds were then redeemed by the BJP. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 more years, total I-T demand Rs 3,567 cr MANOJ C G NEW DELHI, MARCH 30 THE CONGRESS Saturday said it has received fresh notices from the Income-Tax department for the assessment years 2014-15 to 2016-17 raising demands of Rs 1,745 crore. This together with the notice for assessment years 1994-95and2017-18to2020-21 takes the total demand to Rs 3,567 crores. Sources in the main opposition party said the fresh notices were received Friday evening, hours after the party hit out at the BJP-led Central government accusing it of indulging in “tax terrorism” to “financially cripple” it ahead of Lok Sabha elections. On Friday, Congress had in a press conference said it had received notices for five years (Assessment Year 1994-95 and AYs 2017-18 to 2020-21) from the Income-Tax department, TAX DEMANDS ON CONGRESS* AY Demand (`cr) 1994-95 53.90 2014-15 663.05 2015-16 663.89 2016-17 417.31 2017-18 181.99 2018-19 178.73 2019-20 918.45 2020-21 TOTAL 490.01 3,567.33 AY: Assessment Year * as on 30.03.2024; Source: Congress asking it to pay Rs 1,823 crore. The string of notices follow the I-T department’s raids prior to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections where it claimed to have traced “unaccounted transactions” of Rs 523.87 crore. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 The Chamkila story: From Dalit labourer Dhani Ram to a music icon PAGE 1 ANCHOR KAMALDEEP SINGH BRAR AMRITSAR, MARCH 30 IN THE early 1980s, Surinder Shinda, a renowned Punjabi folk singer, embarked on a solo singing tour in Canada. Back in India, his duet partner Surinder Sonia, a grade-A singer with HMV(aprominentrecordlabel), seized the opportunity to record four songs with Dhani Ram. The Dalit labourer and budding mu- sician worked frequently with Shinda. The album, Takuye Te Takua Khadke, brought Dhani Ram instant stardom and gave the world Amar Singh Chamkila. Thirty-six years after his death, Chamkila continues to fascinate fans. Punjabi singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh’s fascination with the singing legend — he has done two back-to-back movies on Chamkila — underscores the enduringlegacyof theiconicsinger, whorevolutionisedPunjabimusic alongside female companionslikeSoniaandAmarjotKaur. The singer-actor is set to reprise the role of Chamkila in his next film directed by Imtiaz Ali. But what makes the Chamkila story so alluring? BornonJuly1,1960,inanimpoverished household in Ludhiana district’s Dugri village, Chamkila faced early hardships. Named Dhani Ram at birth, he worked as a labourer in Ludhiana’s Haibowal area to support his large family. Despite the challenges, his passion for music drove him to join drama groups. It was in these groups that he honed his acting skills, and mastered the harmonium and tumbi by the age of 16. Amar Singh Chamkila and his wife and co-singer Amarjot Kaur were shot dead near Jalandhar in 1988. File Despite working as a labourer, Dhani Ram continued to pursue his musical aspirations, including collaborating with renowned folk singer Shinda.Fromsettingupthestage to writing lyrics, Dhani Ram immersed himself in every aspect of themusicindustry,ultimately establishing himself as a prolific songwriter for Shinda. A pivotal moment in Dhani Ram’slifeoccurredwhenShinda embarked on a solo singing tour in Canada during the early 1980s. Four songs penned by him and recorded with Shinda’s duet partner Sonia made him a star. Dhani Ram was reborn as Chamkila. The music label released another tape, Baapu Saada Gum Ho Gaya, once again featuring the dynamic duo. Chamkila and Sonia’s combined talent and unique style captured the hearts of audiences, leading to high demand for their performances at weddings and other events. Despite their joint success, Chamkila received only Rs 200 for each performance, while Sonia earnedRs 600. Thisculminated in Sonia’s decision to part ways with Chamkila after he insisted on equal compensation. Shortly after parting ways with Sonia, Chamkila found a newcollaboratorinAmarjotKaur. The talented singer was already gaining recognition through her associationwithKuldeepManak. ChamkilaandAmarjot’spartnership marked a significant milestone in Punjabi music history. Their debut LP record, Bhul Gayi Main Ghund Kadna, featured an unforgettabletrack,PahileLalkare NaalMainDarrGayi.Meanwhile, Chamkila’s distinctive style and poignantlyricsresonateddeeply with Punjabiaudiences, solidifying his status as a musical icon. 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