19082024-TTB-01.qxd 8/18/2024 11:45 PM Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 144 NO. 229 | 18 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881  DELHI CLOSED CHAPTER, SAYS CONGRESS ON AZAD’S RETURN J&K HASINA DESTROYED EVERY INSTITUTION IN B’DESH: YUNUS WORLD /thetribunechd SHAH: PAST GOVTS ON UAE VISIT, JAISHANKAR DENIED CITIZENSHIP CALLS ON KUWAIT CROWN TO REFUGEES NATION PRINCE BACK PAGE monday | 19 august 2024 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com open: SC takescognisanceof Kolkatahorror All optionsex-CM Jharkhand CJI-led Bench to take up matter tomorrow amid national outrage, docs’ protests Youthtriestobreak hints at joining BJP into girls’ hostel at IGMC,fallstodeath Shimla, August 18 Amid the nationwide uproar over the brutal rape and murder of a resident doctor in Kolkata, a youth tried to break into the girls’ hostel of Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) in Shimla last night. PGI-ROHTAK DOC EXPELLED FOR KIDNAPPING GIRL INSIDE On the fourth floor of the hostel, the youth apparently lost balance and fell to his death. According to the police, the incident took place around 1.20 am. The youth was taken to the hospital where he was declared brought dead by continued on page 9 Doctors take out a candlelight march seeking justice for the Kolkata rape-murder victim in New Delhi on Sunday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: MANAS RANJAN BHUI Satya Prakash Tribune News Service NewDelhi, August18 The Supreme Court on Sunday took suo motu cognisance of the rape and murder of a doctor in the state-run RG Kar Hospital, Kolkata, that has outraged the nation and triggered nationwide protests by doctors. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud will take up the matter on Tuesday. According to the August 20 cause list uploaded on the Supreme Court website, the matter is listed as “In Re: Alleged rape and murder incident of a trainee doctor in RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, and related issues” before a Bench of CJI Chandrachud, Justice JB Par- diwala and Justice Manoj Misra. The badly injured body of the postgraduate trainee doctor — now being called Abhaya — was found in the seminar room of the hospital on August 9. The Kolkata police initially registered a case of unnatural death and arrested Sanjay Roy, a civic volunteer, the next day. However, acting on a peti- 584 of 1,348 Jalandhar travel firms duck GST via loophole Tax number not mandatory for licensing of such cos Avneet Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, August 18 Exploiting a loophole in the law, 584 licensed immigration firms are evading paying the goods and services tax (GST) as there is no condition of mandatory GST registration for such companies. This came to light after RTI activist Karanpreet Singh sought details from the GST Department regarding the GST numbers of immigration firms operating in Jalandhar district. Of the 1,348 registered immigration and travel agencies, 584 were operating without a GST number, revealed the RTI data. Although there are 1,602 immigration and travel agencies listed on the Jalandhar administration’s website, 254 licences have been cancelled over the years for various violations. The count of the registered and operational firms now stands at 1,348. While the administration and the police have taken steps to verify the licences of immigration firms, it’s Jalandhar has 1,348 registered immigration firms. SARABJIT SINGH alarming to note that having a GST number is not a mandatory requirement for obtaining a licence in Punjab. According to sources, besides the lack of mandatory GST registration, there were other loopholes in the law. In fact, a firm could operate without a renewed licence, if it had been applied, but not issued within 90 days, said the sources. Shanky Ahuja, a resident of Ambala who recently staged a protest outside an immigration firm in Jalandhar, alleged that the company he approached for a work visa to the UK demanded Rs 15 lakh, including Rs 8 lakh in cash. “I refused to pay in cash and transferred Rs 5 lakh via a bank. However, I was not given a receipt. Subsequently, the travel agent stopped responding to my calls, and the office was found shut,” he said. “The government must bring strict laws to regulate immigration firms,” he said. Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Aggarwal said he had directed the authorities to crack down on immigration firms operating without licences and clear pendency. He said while a continued on page 10 Decry state bid to muzzle voice, say victim’s parents new Delhi, August 18 The trainee doctor’s parents have voiced serious concerns about the handling of her body. It was not in the same condition initially as it was found in the seminar hall of the facility, hours after the incident, they claimed. They also criticised the Mamata government for attempting to “stifle” the spontaneous public outcry. — TNS ‘Made to quit’ after Hemant’s release Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 18 Veteran Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader and former Chief Minister Champai Soren on Sunday hinted at joining the BJP Champai . said he had been forced to scout for alternative political paths due to the “humiliation and ignominy his parent party heaped on him”. Hours after arriving in Delhi with some other JMM leaders, Champai, known as the ‘Tiger of Kolhan’, went public to say that he had been repeatedly humiliated during his time as CM. Champai made a specific mention of how all his public programmes were cancelled on July 3 without his knowledge and a meeting of the legislative party was called to seek his resignation. “There is nothing more insulting in a democracy than the cancellation of a sitting CM’s scheduled public events by a third person (read Hemant Soren)... After that, a legislative party meeting was called on July 3. Only the CM can call the meeting, but I was not even informed about the agenda. At the meeting, I was asked to Champai Soren, JHARKHAND EX-CM resign. I was surprised, but I resigned....However, I was forced to look for options due to this continuous public humiliation,” said Champai who made way for Hemant to take over as the CM after the latter returned from jail where he was incarcerated in the alleged land scam. Champai revealed he had in the July 3 INDIA bloc MLAs’ meeting revealed that he had only three options left now — retiring from politics, forming his own party or finding a new political companion. “All options are now open before me,” said the ex-CM continued on page 9 not even given a statement,” the high court had said, accepting the prayer of the victim’s parents that evidence would be destroyed. The high court transferred the case to the CBI, saying it would “inspire public confidence” in the probe. continued on page 10 edit: doctors’ strike cops gag protests inside BJP to go solo in J&K elections IIT-Delhi, Anna varsity told to cough up ~125.4-cr GST dues over research grants Jammu, August 18 Ahead of the Assembly poll in J&K, the BJP’s UT chief, Ravinder Raina, has said the party won’t form an alliance before the elections. Speaking to mediapersons in Jammu, he, however, said talks were on with some probable Independent candidates in Kashmir valley, who were ready for an alliance after the elections. Raina said the BJP was fully prepared for the elections and was expected to announce its first list of candidates soon. He said the party was ready to field its candidates in the Valley to win a majority in the UT. INSIDE Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 18 The Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax (GST)-Intelligence has issued a show-cause notice to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, asking it to pay ~120 crore in GST, along with interest and penalties, on research grants received between 2017 and 2022. A senior official from the IITDelhi confirmed that the institute had received the notice. It has been asked to respond to the notice within 30 days. NOTICES SLAPPED ■ IIT-Delhi told to pay ~120 cr in GST along with interest and penalties for grants received from 2017-22 ■ Anna University-Chennai to pay ~5.4 crore in GST for research funding between 2017 and 2022 “The IIT-Delhi has received the notice. We have been given 30 days to respond to the notice. As of now, we have not responded to the notice. I cannot comment further on the issue,” the official said. This year, the Industrial Research and Development wing at the IIT-Delhi sanctioned 299 research projects worth ~352.2 crore. Last year, the institute had published more than 4,000 research papers, according to an official at the premier institute. There has been no official statement on the issues either by the IIT-Delhi or the Ministry of Education. M Vidyasagar, senior professor at the IIT-Hyderabad, said: “When the GST was introduced, IITs paid 5 per cent tax on equipment. We prepared the budget of our grant proposals accordingly. One fine day, the GST Council decided to increase it from 5 per cent to 18 per cent. Naturally, there was no increase in research grants to cover this gap.” Similarly, the Chennai zonal unit of the Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax continued on page 10 Teenage girl gang-raped on bus in Dehradun; five nabbed Dehradun, August 18 The Dehradun police on Sunday arrested five persons in connection with the alleged gang-rape of a teenage girl in a DelhiDehradun bus at the bus stand here, officials said. Dehradun SSP Ajay Singh said the incident took place on August 12 and the police were informed about it on Saturday evening. The police swung into action immediately and identified the Uttarakhand Roadways bus by scanning CCTV cameras and arrested the five, he said. The accused have been identified as Dharmendra Kumar (32) and Rajpal (57), both residents of Buggawala in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar; Devendra (52) of Bhagwanpur in Haridwar; Rajesh Kumar Sonkar (38) of Patel Nagar in Dehradun Sumedha Sharma and Ravi Kumar (34) of Nawabganj in Farrukhabad district of Uttar Pradesh. The police officer said the bus had been impounded and a forensic team was collecting evidence. The police said the incident came to light after the Dehradun Child Welfare Committee was informed about a girl, aged 16-17 years, sitting alone on a bench at platform PUGMARKS SPOTTED, ALERT SOUNDED Tribune News Service The tiger had earlier strayed into Haryana in January this year. ❝ tion filed by the victim’s parents, the Calcutta High Court on August 13 transferred the probe to the CBI, expressing dissatisfaction over the investigation conducted by the Kolkata police. “When the deceased was a doctor in the same hospital, it is surprising why the principal did not lodge a complaint… The principal has number 12 of the Interstate Bus Terminal (ISBT) here late night on August 12. The Dehradun Child Welfare Committee (CWC) sent her to Bal Niketan, a government girls’ home. During counselling at Bal Niketan, she informed the authorities about the alleged rape, after which CWC member Pratibha Joshi filed a police complaint on Saturday evening. Sariska tiger strays into Haryana again, villagers on edge Gurugram, August 18 A two-and-a-half-year-old tiger has strayed into Haryana from the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan after injuring five villagers along the interstate border there, triggering panic in the Rewari region. The tiger is reported to be in the Jhabua reserved forest area. An alert has been FACED HUMILIATION Forced to find alternative paths after facing humiliation and ignominy in the JMM. ■ The tiger is reported to be in the Jhabua reserved forest area of Rewari district ■ An alert has been sounded asking farmers and others not to venture out in the area ■ The tiger has attacked five sounded asking people not venture out in the area. Farmers too have been asked not to visit their fields and inform the authorities in case they spot the tiger or see its pugmarks. The tiger — ST-2303 — travelled around Today’s issue is of 18 pages, including four-page Delhi Tribune. c m y b persons in a Rajasthan village ■ The Rajasthan wildlife authorities have sent a team to trace the tiger. While the team has come across pugmarks, it hasn’t been able to spot the tiger 100 km and reached the Jhabua reserved forest in Rewari district. This is the second time that this tiger has strayed into this area. It had earlier entered Rewari in January this year when it attacked a few farmers here. The Rajasthan wildlife authorities have sent a team to trace the tiger. While the team has come across pugmarks, it has not been able to spot the tiger. According to Sariska DFO Rajendra Hudda, the search operation is challenging owing to standing continued on page 10 On the basis of the complaint, a case was registered at the Patel Nagar police station under section 70(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The SSP inspected the area, formed a special police team to investigate the incident and also met the victim continued on page 9 Coast Guard DG Rakesh Pal dies of cardiac arrest NewDelhi/Chennai, Aug 18 Coast Guard Director General Rakesh Pal, who played a key role in boosting his force’s operational prowess, died at a hospital in Chennai on Sunday following a cardiac arrest, officials said. Pal had taken charge as the Coast Guard chief on July 19 last year. He was an alumnus of the Indian Naval Academy. — PTI