Car drags woman 13km
in horrific Delhi hit-and-run
Anjali Singh died in the early hours of Jan 1 after her scooter was hit by a car and she was dragged for more than an hour under the vehicle.
REPORT ON PAGE 4
SINGAPORE, WEEKEND OF FRIDAY,
JANUARY 6, 2023
MCI (P) 079/10/2022
RAHUL IRKED BY
‘SAME T-SHIRT’
QUESTIONS
PAGE 3
GRAND PONGAL
FESTIVITIES IN
LITTLE INDIA
PAGE 7
RASHMIKA
PLAGUED BY
CONTROVERSY
PAGE 8
EXTENT OF PANT’S
LEG INJURIES
UNCLEAR
PAGE 12
Cough syrup maker’s production
suspended after Uzbek deaths
The Central government suspended
production at a Noida-based
pharmaceutical company whose cough
syrup was linked to the death of 19
children in Uzbekistan.
India’s health ministry said the
syrup contained a toxic substance,
ethylene glycol, and was being
administered in higher-than-standard
doses to children either by parents
who mistook it for an anti-cold remedy
or on the advice of pharmacists.
Health Minister Mansukh
Mandaviya said production had been
suspended at Marion Biotech.
Rupee ends 2022 as
worst-performing Asian currency
The Indian rupee ended 2022 as the
worst-performing Asian currency with
a fall of 10.14 per cent, its biggest
annual decline since 2013, as the
dollar rocketed on the United States
Federal Reserve’s aggressive monetary
policy stance to tame inflation.
The rupee finished the year at 82.72
to the US currency, down from 74.33
at the end of 2021, while the dollar
index was headed for its biggest yearly
gain since 2015.
Stance on Chinese investments
might be reviewed
The Indian government may review its
stance on Chinese investments to help
global firms looking to relocate to the
country, CNBC-TV18 reported, citing
government sources.
Several global companies are
exploring a China Plus One strategy to
avoid supply chain bottlenecks as the
world’s second-largest economy
grapples with a surge in Covid-19
infections. Multinational companies are
keen to pursue manufacturing in India,
but want to continue existing Chinese
joint ventures, CNBC-TV18 reported.
10 killed in Kashmir violence
Ten people were killed within six days
in a sudden uptick in violence in the
usually peaceful south of Kashmir.
Two gunmen, suspected to be
anti-India rebels, opened fire on
houses in the remote village of Dangri
on Sunday, leaving four residents dead
and five injured, police officer Mukesh
Singh said.
On Monday, a seven-year-old child
and another person were killed in an
explosion near one of the houses.
The deaths followed a firefight
between government forces and
suspected rebels at a checkpoint in
Jammu city Dec 28.
Police said four suspected rebels
were killed while the driver of their
truck escaped.
Putin critic detained by Odisha
police in Bhubaneswar
Following the mysterious death of two
Russian nationals including a
lawmaker in Odisha’s Rayagada district
last week, Odisha police on Saturday
detained Russian Andrew Glagolev,
who was seen begging at Bhubaneswar
railway station.
Mr Glagolev had a placard that
read: “I am a Russian refugee. I am
against the war. I am against Putin. I
am homeless. Please help me.”
Police said he went to India on a
tourist visa, which expired. As he did
not have money, he was begging for
help from people at the railway
station. The Russian is being
questioned about the purpose of his
visit to India.
Nine killed in Gujarat collision
Nine people were killed and 29 others
injured when a sports utility vehicle
collided with a luxury bus on a
national highway in Navsari district of
Gujarat on Saturday morning, police
officers said.
There were reports that the bus
driver suffered a heart attack and lost
control of the vehicle. The police,
however, rejected the claim.
12 with respiratory issues die as
air quality in Dhanbad worsens
At least 12 people with respiratory
issues who were undergoing treatment
died in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, over the
previous two days as the air quality in
the city declined to “alarming” levels
on Wednesday.
The deaths were reported at the
Shaheed Nirmal Mahto Medical
College.
Supreme Court upholds 2016
demonetisation decision
The Supreme Court has upheld Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s 2016
decision to overnight invalidate
high-value currency notes, a decision
that could provide firepower to the
ruling Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of
a series of elections in coming months.
A five-judge panel in a majority
verdict on Monday said the
government’s move satisfied the test of
“proportionality” and the court cannot
supplant the wisdom of the executive
on the matter.
Justice B.V. Nagarathna offered faint
dissent in calling the decision to
withdraw Rs500 ($8) and Rs1,000
notes an “exercise of power contrary
to the law” – albeit “well-intentioned”
– that should have been discussed in
parliament and done via legislation.
Jobless rate rises to 16-month high
of 8.30% in Dec
India’s unemployment rate rose to 8.3
per cent in December – the highest in
16 months – from 8 per cent in the
previous month, data from the Centre
for Monitoring Indian Economy
(CMIE) showed on Sunday.
The urban unemployment rate rose
to 10.09 per cent in December from
8.96 per cent in the previous month,
while the rural unemployment rate
slipped to 7.44 per cent from 7.55 per
cent, the data showed.
CMIE managing director Mahesh
Vyas said the rise in unemployment
rate was “not as bad as it may seem”
as it came on top of a healthy increase
in the labour participation rate, which
shot up to 40.48 per cent in December
– the highest in 12 months.
“Most importantly, the employment
rate increased in December to 37.1 per
cent, which again was the highest since
January 2022,” he told Reuters.
Mohun Bagan to name gate after
football icon Pele
As a tribute to football legend Pele,
who died last week aged 82, Kolkata’s
iconic football club Mohun Bagan will
name a new gate in its premises after
the Brazilian.
“We are trying to finish the
construction of the new gate, which
will be thrown open for the football
lovers of the city,” said club secretary
Debasish Dutta.
He added that Pele Gate will be a
reminder that Mohun Bagan is the
only Indian club against which Pele has
played. Representing New York
Cosmos, Pele played an exhibition
match against Mohub Bagan at the
Eden Gardens on Sept 24, 1977,
which ended 2-2.
Self-regulatory bodies proposed
for online gaming companies
The Central government has proposed
a body for the online gaming industry
to regulate itself – amid rising concerns
over the addictiveness of games and as
patchy state laws disrupt business – in
draft amendments to its information
technology rules published on Monday.
The proposal comes after a
government panel recommended new
rules to regulate a sector estimated to
reach $7 billion by 2026, according to
consultancy Redseer.
P
H
O
T
O
:
R
E
U
T
E
R
S
A goat wearing a jacket at a farm
amid severe cold in New Delhi.
Since New Year, the harsh winter
has intensified in the national
capital, making it tough for people
to go out due to heavy fog and
extreme cold.
Delhi saw the minimum
temperature dip to 2.8 deg C on
Thursday, with fog reducing visibility
to around 200m. The temperature is
4 deg C below average for this time
of the year, with the city likely to
remain colder than usual.
New Delhi’s 20 million
inhabitants are conditioned to
weather extremes, from blistering
heatwaves in the summer to thick,
grey smog that envelopes the capital
before the onset of the winter, when
a brutal cold wave sweeps most of
northern India.
The cold blankets streets in
freezing fog so blinding that drivers
cannot see the cars in front of them.
The piercing chill is also an ordeal
for the city’s homeless, who lie
curled on pavements.
Cold wave grips New Delhi
An SPH Media Limited publication
Editor-in-Chief
(English/Malay/Tamil Media group)
Wong Wei Kong
Editor
Jawharilal Rajendran
Contributing Editor
V.K. Santosh Kumar
Cluster Head
(International & Transactional Sales)
Martin Boey
For editiorial matters,
write to us at
For advertising enquiries,
write to
Advertise with us by calling
9366 5277 (Maheswari) or
9863 3894 (Kalim)
For home delivery, call
6388-3838
(Mon to Fri 9am to 6pm)
or e-mail
Catch us online at
Page2
January6,2023
tabla
!
INDIA
A drunk man urinated on a woman
co-passenger in the business class of an
Air India flight in November and left
without facing any action.
Weeks after the incident, Air India
on Tuesday made a police report and
banned the passenger in question for
30 days.
On Wednesday, Delhi Police filed a
first information report (FIR) against
the man under Indian Penal Code
sections dealing with ouraging the
modesty of a woman, misconduct by a
drunken person and committing an
obscene act.
The Times of India reported on
Thursday that the police have identi-
fied the suspect as Shekhar Mishra, a
businessman from Mumbai. Efforts are
being made to nab him.
The FIR was filed on the complaint
of the woman, based in Karnataka,
which she had earlier sumbitted to the
airline. The police claimed they were
informed about the incident in brief
only on Dec 28 by the airline, after
which they contacted the victim and
the airline seeking details of the male
passenger.
Police officials have also received
details about the crew members who
were on board the flight, and will
question them to ascertain the se-
quence of events.
According to information available,
the incident happened on Nov 26,
when the drunk man allegedly uri-
nated on the woman co-passenger in
the business class of a New York-
Delhi flight.
The incident came to light after
Times Of India reported the letter that
the woman passenger wrote to Tata
Group chairman N. Chandrasekaran
recalling her harrowing experience on
the flight. Tata Group manages Air
India. In her complaint, the woman
said she alerted the cabin crew but the
male passenger walked away scot-free
after the flight landed in Delhi and
that the crew was not proactive in
managing a very sensitive and trau-
matic situation.
Times Of India reported that the
incident took place on board flight
AI-102. Shortly after lunch was served
and the lights switched off, the man
walked to the seat of the female
passenger, unzipped his pants and
urinated. He was completely drunk,
according to the complainant.
After urinating, the man continued
to stand there unmoving, exposing his
genitals. He left only after other pas-
sengers told him to leave.
The woman said she complained to
the crew that her clothes, shoes and
bag were soaked in urine, so they gave
her a set of pyjamas and slippers. They
placed sheets over her urine-soaked
seat and told her to return to it,
claiming no other seat was available.
After the flight landed in Delhi, the
male passenger allegedly left without
facing any action for his egregious
behaviour.
In a detailed statement, Air India
said: “Air India has taken a very
serious view of the incident. A police
complaint has already been made and
Air India is committed to assist the law
enforcement agencies as well as regula-
tory authorities.”
After Air India decided to impose a
30-day ban on the offending man
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra
questioned the regulatory body of civil
aviation about the decision. She cited
the past incident of comedian Kunal
Kamra receiving a ban from multiple
airlines for up to six months for
allegedly “heckling” journalist Arnab
Goswami.
Ms Moitra tweeted on Wednesday:
“I’m a bit confused as to how @DG-
CAIndia (Directorate General of Civil
Aviation) works, @kunalkamra88 got a
six-month ban for questioning a co-pas-
senger but another man who peed on
an AI co-flyer gets a 30-day ban.
“Kunal... maybe change tack next
time? Clearly more is less.”
The MP was referring to the inci-
dent in 2020 when Mr Kamra, aboard
an IndiGo flight, questioned Mr
Goswami’s work ethics and journalism,
and called him a “coward”. Mr Kamra
also tweeted that Mr Goswami was
“mentally unstable”.
After a video of the incident went
viral on social media, Mr Kamra was
barred from flying “till further notice”
by multiple airlines including then
state-run Air India.
On Wednesday, Mr Kamra posted a
screenshot of Air India’s 2020 tweet to
announce his six-month ban next to a
screenshot of the news about the man
who got a 30-day ban for urinating on
his co-passenger. He captioned the
images with “2 Air Indias”.
The urination is not the latest inci-
dent of unruly behaviour involving
Indians on a flight.
On Dec 26, a group of passengers
beat up another passenger on a
Bangkok-to-Kolkata Thai Smile flight
after he refused to put his seat upright
before take-off.
On Dec 16, there was a video of a
row on an IndiGo flight in which a
stewardess is heard telling the passen-
ger: “I am not your servant.”
Indo-Asian News Service
Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi
on Wednesday slammed the media for
asking questions about his polo shirt
during his Bharat Jodo (Get India
Together) march, saying it was not the
real issue.
The real issue, he said, were the
children, farmers and labourers of In-
dia, walking around without warm
clothing during winter.
He said the media fussed over his
attire but took “no notice of the poor
farmers and labourers in torn clothes,
walking along with him”.
Mr Gandhi said in Baghpat, Uttar
Pradesh, that despite covering more
than 3,000km on foot in 110 days, he
was neither feeling tired nor shivering
in cold in his polo shirt.
Madhya Pradesh Home Minister
Narottam Mishra on Wednesday high-
lighted that Mr Gandhi was wearing a
foreign-made polo shirt.
“The Congress is talking a lot about
khadi (hand-spun natural fibre cloth).
If Rahul Gandhi has so much love for
khadi, then why is he roaming in a
foreign-made polo shirt in Bharat Jodo
Yatra? He should at least wear khadi in
the event videos,” Mr Mishra said.
When Mr Gandhi set out on his
march, the ruling Bharatiya Janata
Party pointed out that the Nehru-
Gandhi scion was wearing a Burberry
shirt priced at Rs41,257 ($670). So Mr
Gandhi switched to a nondescript,
white polo shirt.
Then the media questioned the ab-
sence of a jacket in the biting cold
weather in north India, especially since
former Haryana chief minister Bhupin-
der Hooda and Congress Rajya Sabha
MP Randeep Surjewala were seen
wearing thick jackets as they walked
alongside Mr Gandhi.
Mr Gandhi’s polo shirt again shot to
prominence on Dec 28, on the Con-
gress party’s 138th foundation day at
the party headquarters in New Delhi.
A journalist asked him whether he
would continue to wear only the polo
shirt, to which he replied: “I’ll keep at
it for as long as possible. We’ll see
when it stops working.”
The Bharat Jodo Yatra, which
started from Kanyakumari on Sept 7,
will end with the hoisting of the
national flag by Mr Gandhi in Srinagar
on Jan 30.
Indo-Asian News Service
Rahul irked by media’s
fuss over his shirt
Mr Rahul Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo
Yatra in New Delhi.
P
H
O
T
O
:
A
F
P
“Air India has taken a
very serious view of
the incident. A police
complaint has already
been made and Air India
is committed to assist
the law enforcement
agencies as well as
regulatory authorities.”
– Air India statement
Drunk man urinates on woman during flight
INDIA
tabla
!
January 6, 2023
Page 3
