REPORT ON PAGE 8
South Indian films
BETTER
than Bollywood
SINGAPORE, WEEKEND OF FRIDAY,
MAY 20, 2022
MCI (P) 034/10/2021
SHUTTLERS ARE HEROES IN
CRICKET-MAD INDIA
PAGE 12
ACTRESS DIES
FROM BOTCHED
LIPOSUCTION
PAGE 4
INDIAN BUSINESSES
GAIN FROM
FSIO@SICCI
PAGE 5
FULL CONNECTIVITY
WITH MALAYSIA
EXPECTED SOON
PAGE 6
Court limits Muslim gatherings at
mosque after Hindu idols found
A court on Monday limited the
Muslim prayer congregation in one of
north India’s high-profile mosques,
after a survey team found relics of the
Hindu god Shiva and other Hindu
symbols there, a lawyer involved in
the case said.
Lawyer H. S. Jain said the judge at
the court in Varanasi, Hinduism’s
holiest city and site of the historic
Gyanvapi mosque, ruled that
gatherings at the mosque be limited to
20 people.
The court ordered the survey of the
mosque after five women sought
permission to perform Hindu rituals in
one part of it, saying a Hindu temple
once stood on the site.
India to resume wheat shipments
India will allow overseas wheat
shipments once they get customs
clearance, the government said on
Tuesday, introducing some leeway for
overseas sales after it banned exports
of the staple on Saturday. India will
also allow wheat exports to Egypt.
India banned wheat exports days
after it forecast record shipments of 10
million tonnes this year, as a scorching
heat wave curtailed output, sending
domestic prices to record highs.
Modi skips opening of Nepal’s
Chinese-built airport
Nepal on Monday opened a
Chinese-built airport intended to
capitalise on Buddhist tourism as
India’s Prime Minister landed a few
kilometres away to mark the birth,
enlightenment and death of Buddha.
Mr Narendra Modi flew by
helicopter directly from a nearby
Indian airport to Buddha’s birthplace
at Lumbini, bypassing the new facility
as his Nepali counterpart Sher
Bahadur Deuba inaugurated it.
The sequence of events illustrates
the competition for influence in the
landlocked Himalayan country by its
two giant neighbours.
Biggest blaze since 2019 puts
focus on Delhi’s fire safety rules
The tragic death of 27 people in a fire
in a building in Mundka on Friday has
underlined that Delhi city authorities
learnt little from similar incidents in
the past and exposed the utter lack of
safety mechanisms.
The Mundka building, according to
an inquiry by the North Delhi
Municipal Corporation, had no
sanctioned plan and was operating a
factory without a licence – like the
building in north Delhi’s Anaj Mandi
area where a fire in 2019 killed 43
people.
Close aide of actor Dileep arrested
in actress abduction case
The crime branch of the Kerala Police
on Monday arrested Sarath G. Nair, a
hotel owner and friend of actor
Dileep, who is an accused in the case
of sexual assault on an actress.
Sarath was arrested for handing
over to Dileep the assault visuals shot
by gangsters who abducted the actress
and destroying the evidence related to
the case. But he declared he was
innocent when he was out on bail.
Post-mortem of Bengali TV actress
Pallavi hints at suicide
A post-mortem report on Bengali
television actress Pallavi Dey’s death
suggests that she committed suicide.
She was found hanging at her
rented apartment in South Kolkata on
Sunday and was declared dead when
taken to a nearby hospital.
Her parents alleged that Pallavi was
troubled because she learnt that her
live-in partner Shagnik Chakraborty
was already married.
Marathi actress sent to judicial
custody for objectionable post
A court in Thane, Maharashtra, on
Wednesday remanded Marathi actress
Ketaki Chitale in judicial custody for
allegedly sharing an objectionable post
on social media about Nationalist
Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar.
The Facebook post shared by the
29-year-old had phrases like “hell is
waiting” and “you hate Brahmins”,
believed to be referring to Mr Pawar,
whose party shares power in
Maharashtra with the Shiv Sena and
Congress.
Thieves return stolen temple idols
after haunting nightmares
A gang of thieves returned more than
a dozen idols they stole from an
ancient Hindu temple in Chitrakoot
district, Uttar Pradesh, after they were
haunted by nightmares.
According to police, the group stole
16 statues from a 300-year-old temple
of Lord Balaji – an incarnation of the
Hindu god Vishnu – on May 9.
On Monday, they left 14 of them
near the house of the temple’s chief
priest, along with a note: “We have
not been able to sleep, eat and live
peacefully. We are fed up with the
scary dreams and returning your
valuables.”
Cops in video clip spark row
A video clip in which five police
constables are seen enacting the roles
of hero and villain has gone viral,
causing embarrassment to the
Ahmedabad Police.
Most of the dialogues in the video
between police officers and goons are
from Hindi and Southern movies, and
depict the police in poor light.
The Ahmedabad Police are
investigating the video clip.
Ramgarh Vishdhari Sanctuary is
India’s 52nd tiger reserve
The Ramgarh Vishdhari Sanctuary in
Rajasthan was on Monday declared
India’s 52nd tiger reserve.
It is the state’s fourth tiger reserve
after Ranthambore, Sariska and
Mukundra.
Work on highway stopped for 54
days to let python hatch eggs
The authorities stopped work on a
new four-lane highway in Kerala’s
northern-most district of Kasargod for
54 days to let a python, found at a
construction spot, to hatch its 24 eggs
there.
Work resumed on Monday after a
snake catcher collected 15 small
pythons that broke out of the shells
and released them into the forest.
The rest of the hatchlings will be
released soon.
Hot-headed wrestler gets life ban
for punching referee
Wrestler Satender Malik has been
banned for life after punching a
referee as tempers boiled over in a
sweltering New Delhi arena with no
air-conditioning during an intense
heatwave.
He was sweating it out in the 125kg
class during trials on Tuesday for this
year’s Commonwealth Games in
Birmingham when the referee ruled in
favour of his opponent.
Seething with anger and covered in
sweat, Malik stormed across the mat,
shouted expletives at referee Jagbir
Singh and punched him in the face.
“Never before has such a thing
happened,” Mr Vinod Tomar, an
official with the Wrestling Federation
of India, told AFP.
“He not only hit the referee but
also threatened to kill him. A police
complaint has been made and we have
banned him for life.”
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Editor-in-Chief
(English/Malay/Tamil Media group)
Warren Fernandez
Editor
Jawharilal Rajendran
Contributing Editor
V.K. Santosh Kumar
Channel Excellence Lead
Alicia Luke
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500,000 flee floods in Assam
Train carriages toppled in a landslide
caused by heavy rainfall at New Haflong
railway station in Assam’s Dima Hasao
district.
More than 500,000 people have fled
their homes in Assam to escape heavy
floods triggered by pre-monsoon rains
that drowned seven people, authorities
said on Wednesday, as they warned the
situation could worsen.
Brahmaputra, one of the world’s largest
rivers which flows into India and
Bangladesh from Tibet, burst its banks in
Assam over the last three days,
inundating more than 1,500 villages.
Torrential rains lashed most of the rugged
state and continued on Thursday, with
more expected over the next two days.
“More than 500,000 people have been
affected, with the flood situation turning
critical by the hour,” Assam’s Water
Resources Minister Pijush Hazarika told
Reuters.
“The situation remains extremely grave
in the worst-hit Dima Hasao district, with
both rail and road links snapped due to
flooding and landslides,” said Assam’s
Revenue Minister Jogen Mohan, who is
overseeing relief efforts there.
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May20,2022
tabla
!
INDIA
P
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India’s Supreme Court on Wednesday
ordered the release of Mr A.G. Perari-
valan, who was convicted in the 1991
assassination of former Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi.
The decision has led to differences
between the Congress party and one
of its closest allies, the Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).
While Tamil Nadu Chief Minister
and DMK president M.K. Stalin hailed
the verdict, the Congress criticised the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the rul-
ing party at the Centre, for creating
the situation that led to the court’s
decision to release a “terrorist”.
Mr Stalin said Mr Perarivalan spent
31 years in prison and lost his youth,
and was finally able to smell freedom.
“I convey my best wishes to him
and welcome him,” said the chief
minister, who also lauded the efforts of
Mr Perarivalan’s mother Arputham
Ammal for securing his release after a
long battle.
The Congress, on the other hand,
expressed “disappointment” over the
Supreme Court’s decision.
Party spokesman Randeep Surjew-
ala said the party was “deeply sad-
dened”.
He asked: “Who will uphold the
integrity of law in this country if those
guilty of terrorism and assassination of
a prime minister are released?”
Taking a dig at Prime Minister and
BJP leader Narendra Modi, Mr Surjew-
ala said: “PM Modi and his govern-
ment need to answer – is this your
duplicity and doublespeak on terror-
ism?
“Are you going to be complicit in
the release of terrorists and murderers
of the former prime minister of this
country by keeping silent?”
The Congress’ reaction is interesting
as the members of the Gandhi family
made statements in the past suggesting
they had forgiven the killers of
Mr Gandhi.
In fact, the death penalty of Nalini
Sriharan, one of the convicts, was
commuted to life by the then Tamil
Nadu Governor on the basis of a state
cabinet recommendation and a public
appeal by Mrs Sonia Gandhi, wife of
the late Mr Gandhi.
The Congress said Ms Sonia and her
children Rahul and Priyanka held
no ill-will against the killers of
Mr Gandhi. The party added that it
respected their sentiments but legal
proceedings were a different story.
Mr Surjewala said Mr Rahul and
Ms Priyanka had “in their own hu-
mane way as individuals came forward
and said they harboured no ill-will for
the murderers of Rajiv Gandhi”.
“As a Congressman and citizen, I
feel the family may harbour no ill-
will… but that does not change the
law and constitution of this country.
“And the responsibility today to
implement the law of the land lies
with Modi.”
Earlier on Wednesday, the Supreme
Court ordered the release of Mr Perari-
valan, who was convicted with six
others for the assassination of
Mr Gandhi.
Mr Perarivalan was given the death
sentence, which was later commuted
to life in prison. The court passed the
order considering his conduct in jail,
medical condition, educational qualifi-
cations acquired in jail and the pen-
dency of his mercy plea since 2015.
He was 19 when he was arrested
for buying two 9-volt batteries used in
the making of the bomb that killed
Mr Gandhi.
But Mr Perarivalan insisted he was
unaware of the purpose of the batter-
ies and maintained his innocence.
Mr Gandhi was killed by an ethnic
Tamil suicide bomber while campaign-
ing in an election in Sriperumbudur, a
town in Tamil Nadu, in May 1991.
His killing was seen as an act of
retaliation after he sent Indian peace-
keepers to Sri Lanka in 1987.
As he walked out of jail on Wednes-
day and was welcomed by his mother,
family members,` friends and political
leaders, Mr Perarivalan said: “I firmly
believe there is no need for capital
punishment.”
Indo-Asian News Service, Reuters
“Who will uphold the
integrity of law in this
country if those guilty
of terrorism and
assassination of a prime
minister are released?”
– Congress Party spokesman
Randeep Surjewala reacting to
the release of Mr A.G.
Perarivalan (left)
Allies at odds over convict’s release
INDIA
tabla
!
May20,2022
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