DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA Discussion on Central rule option gathers pace, BJP points to crisis in Delhi EDtryingtocreate smokescreento crushAAPand extort,saysCM NIRBHAY THAKUR NEW DELHI, MARCH 28 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 JATIN ANAND, APURVA VISHWANATH & MALLICA JOSHI NEW DELHI, MARCH 28 Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at the Rouse Avenue Court in New Delhi on Thursday. Amit Mehra Kejriwal names Maguntas in court, father & son busy campaigning for BJP ally AWAY FROM the national capital’s courtroom where the case against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is playing out, two key figures embroiled in the excise policy case — four-time MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy and his son Raghava Magunta Reddy — are busy campaigning for BJP ally Telugu Desam Party (TDP), with the former expected to get a ticket from Andhra Pradesh’s Ongole.Raghavais,infact,oneof the approvers based on whose statement the Enforcement Directorate has built its case 600 LAWYERS SIGN LETTER TO CJI 116 144 179 62 EXPRESS NETWORK DERA KAR SEVA CHIEF SHOT DEAD IN UTTARAKHAND BENGALURU CAFE BLAST: NIA MAKES FIRST ARREST PAGES 2, 7 PM attacks ‘Cong culture to bully’ judiciary, Kharge hits back with ‘your sins’ ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, MARCH 28 HOURS AFTER a group of lawyers wrote to Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud — attached to the letter were signatures of around 600 lawyers — expressing their “deepest concern” over a “vested interest group”tryingto“pressurethejudiciary” and “defame” courts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday cited it to attack the main Opposition party, saying it is “vintage Congress culture” to “browbeat and bully others”. In a post on X, Modi also said of the Congress: “5 decades ago itself they had called for a “committedjudiciary”—they shamelessly want commitment from others for their selfish interests but desist from any commitment towards the nation. No wonder140 croreIndiansarerejecting them.” Congress president MallikarjunKhargehitbackatthe Prime Minister with a post on X: “You are talking about Judiciary. You conveniently forget that 4 senior-most Supreme Court judgeswereforcedtoholdanunprecedented press conference and warn against “destruction of Democracy”.Thathappenedunder your regime. One of the judges was nominated by your Govt to the Rajya Sabha. So who wants a ‘committed judiciary’?”. “You forget that your party has fielded a former HC Judge in West Bengal for the current Lok Sabha elections. Why was this candidaturebestowedonhim?”. Kharge said institution after institution “is being ‘bullied’ by youintosubmission,sostoppinning the blame on the Congress CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 against Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party. TheED alleges the father-son duo, who own Balaji Distilleries, are part of the ‘South Group’, whosemembersreceivedundue benefits under the Delhi excise policy in exchange for kickbacks paid to the AAP. It was in September 2022 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Seven sitting MPs in Shinde Sena’s first list of 8 candidates VALLABH OZARKAR MUMBAI, MARCH 28 AMID GROWING disquiet between the ruling allies Shiv Sena and BJP over seat-sharing in the state, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde Thursday released his party's first list of eight candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. While the Shinde Sena renominated seven sitting MPs, it dropped Krupal Tumane’s name from Ramtek constituencyandnominatedformer Congress MLA Raju Parve, who recently joined the party. The eight constituencies of Maharashtra for which Sena announced its candidates are — Mumbai South Central (Rahul Shewale), Kolhapur (Sanjay Mandalik), Shirdi (Sadashiv Lokhande),Buldhana(Prataprao CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Unlocking innovation: How AIIMS is nurturing start-ups from lab to market PAGE 1 ANCHOR ANKITA UPADHYAY NEW DELHI, MARCH 28 WHAT IF a powder derived from stem cells could heal your accidentwoundsandregeneratetissueswithoutreconstructionsurgery?Orawearabledevicecould fight mild COVID-19 with selfdosing protocols? Or a micro monitoringdevicecouldprevent heartfailure?Thesefuturisticin- novations are part of an incubator programme for health-tech start-upsattheAllIndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). Modelled on the incubator programmes at the Indian InstitutesofTechnology(IITs),the country’s premier medical institutehasjoinedhandswithyoung entrepreneurstodevelophealthcare-related products and software which can be used by both doctorsandpatients,andarescalable and practical. As part of this effort, AIIMS will share its huge clinical and biological resources —samplesandpatients—tohelp start-ups develop products. Currently, 10 such projects are under way at the AIIMS Incubator Programme that’s headed by Dr Alok Thakar of the Centre for Medical Innovations and Entrepreneurship (CMIE) and Head, Department of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery. “The programme started in 2021 and is being run in joint collaboration with the BiotechnologyIndustryResearch Assistance Council (BIRAC), set up by the Department of Biotechnology(DBT),andAIIMS,” said Dr Thakar. Some of the current projects are awaiting validation by clinical trials while others are awaitingregulatoryapprovalsfromthe Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), India’s regulatory bodyfor pharmaceuticals and medical devices. AIIMS Delhi has established a new office for 32 innovators at Jhajjar’s National Cancer Institute (NCI), nearly 50 km away.Thecurrentinnovatorsare expected to shift there soon. “All start-ups are being mentored by AIIMS faculty CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ASTHEBJPturneduptheheaton a “Constitutional crisis” in Delhi withChief MinisterArvindKejriwal still in Enforcement Directoratecustodyaweekafterhisarrest, and AAP minister Atishi saying any move to impose President’sruleinDelhiwouldbean act of “political vendetta”, The IndianExpresshaslearntthatdiscussionsaroundthatoptionhave “gathered pace” at the highest levels. Sources said the Centre and the office of Delhi Lt Governor V KSaxenaarelookingatinstances of “governance-related CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 AIR INDIA-INDIAN AIRLINES MERGER 8 months after he joined NDA, CBI files closure in case against Praful Patel DEEPTIMAN TIWARY NEW DELHI, MARCH 28 EIGHTMONTHSafterNCPleader PrafulPatel,alongwithAjitPawar and other party leaders, joined the NDA, the CBI has filed a closurereportintheAirIndia-Indian Airlines merger case. Patel,inhiscapacityasUnion Civil Aviation Minister during the merger, was among the key suspects in the case and had been questioned by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED). In May 2019, ED had told a specialcourtthat“MrPrafulPatel is a dear friend” of middleman DeepakTalwarwhoallegedlyfacilitateddispersalof profit-makingAirIndiaroutestoprivateairlines during 2008-09 using his “proximity to the minister and aviation personnel in India”. The CBI closure report was filed by the agency on March 19 in the court of Special Judge (CBI), Rouse Avenue Court, Prashant Kumar. The court has giventhedateof April15forcon- E E X P L A I NE D In his defence in court, Kejriwal cites poll bond payments to BJP by approver HYDERABAD, NEW DELHI, MARCH 28 `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 DELHI EXCISE POLICY CASE: REMAND IN CUSTODY EXTENDED UNTIL APRIL 1 SREENIVAS JANYALA & NIRBHAY THAKUR REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2024, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES CHIEF MINISTER Arvind Kejriwal, arrested a week ago by the Enforcement Directorate that is probing the Delhi excise policy case, told a Delhi court Thursday that the ED has two motives: To create a smokescreen to crush the AAP, and to create an extortion racket. Produced before the Rouse Avenue Court of Special Judge Kaweri Baweja at the end of his six-day remand in ED custody, Kejriwal argued his own case andtoldthe judgehewas “ready to join the investigation”. TheEDsoughthiscustodyfor seven more days but the court granted only four days — the remand will end April 1. Making his submission, Kejriwal targeted the BJP: “SarathReddy(PSarathChandra Reddy, director of Aurobindo Pharmaandco-accused-turnedapprover in the case) contributedRs55croretotheBJP.He bought his bail... The money trail is clearly established here.” He also asked that the electoral bonds be submitted in court to show that Rs 55 crore was donated to the BJP by Reddy. ● Was Civil Aviation Minister during the merger Setting stage for ● clean chit THE CBI’s closure report is related to the first FIR. But if accepted, it will put a question mark on the other three FIRs and the one chargesheet in the merger case. It may pave the way for Patel’s exoneration and could undermine the ED case as well. sidering the CBI submission. In June last year, Patel had attendedanOppositionblocmeeting in Patna along with NCP CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Mukhtar Ansari, jailed UP gangster & politician, dies of cardiac arrest ASAD REHMAN LUCKNOW, MARCH 28 JAILED GANGSTER-TURNEDPOLITICIANMukhtarAnsaridied Thursday night after he suffered a cardiac arrest in Banda prison in Uttar Pradesh. Convicted in eight cases in the last two years, 63-year-old Ansari was lodged in Banda jail. A five-time MLA from Mau constituency in eastern UP, he was a history-sheeterwithatotalof 65 casesagainsthimindifferentpolice stations of UP and Delhi. A statement issued by Banda Medical College, where Ansari CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
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