log on to thegoan.net @thegoanonline SUNDAY MARCH 10, 2024 Facebook.com/thegoan The Goan E-Paper (Playstore/IOS) Instagram.com/thegoanonline 16 pages PRICE ` 10 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME IX, NO.262 RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 MOVIES »PAGE 16 GOOD LIFE »PAGE 12 PLAY & PAUSE »PAGE 13 Sanki surprise! The Ayurveda talk A geometrical progression SPORTS »PAGE 7 Heartbreak for Goa, Services clinch Santosh Trophy for seventh time Productive roads ahead: Saiee opens up about working with her dad Manage your weight easily Trilok’s magic beat India inflict innings defeat on England to seal series>> pg 8 Ahan Shetty, Pooja Hegde starrer Sanki to release on Feb 14, 2025 Dr Dimple Jangda speaks on how the traditional Indian science can be a solution to health troubles Sanjay Bhattacharya confesses that the shift from realistic to abstract has helped his growth Election commissioner quits days ahead of LS poll dates THREE-MEMBER PANEL NOW HAS ONLY CEC RAJIV KUMAR WHAT NEXT FOR THE POLL BODY PTI NEW DELHI Election Commissioner Arun Goel resigned on Saturday, days before the expected announcement of the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. His tenure was till December 5, 2027, and he would have become Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) after incumbent Rajiv Kumar retired in February next year. According to a law ministry notification, Goel’s resignation has been accepted by President Droupadi Murmu with effect from Saturday. It was not immediately known why he stepped down. Goel, a retired bureaucrat, was a 1985-batch IAS officer of the Punjab cadre. He had joined the Election Commission in November 2022. Following the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey in February and Goel’s resignation, the three-member EC has now only one member: CEC Rajiv >> SEE PG 3 Stop this ‘Sab Kuch Chalta Hai Yaha’ attitude of tourists „„According to in LS or the leader the new law on of the single-largest appointment of CEC opposition party in and ECs, a search the House picks one committee headed name by law minister and „„The CEC or EC comprising two then gets appointed Arun Goel union secretaries by the President will shortlist five „„Goel, a retired bureaunames crat, had joined Election „„Then a selection Commission in Nov 2022 committee -- headed by „„Following the retirement PM and comprising a of Anup Chandra Pandey in Union Cabinet Minister to February and Goel’s resigbe nominated by the PM nation, the 3-member EC and Leader of Opposition now has only one member Kumar. According to the new law on appointment of CEC and ECs, a search committee headed by the law minister and comprising two union secretaries will shortlist five names. Then a selection committee -- headed by the prime min- Amendment to Comunidade code and basic structure doctrine 10 Fruit peels for glowing skin Common gynaecological disorders that women need to know about Introducing emotions into ChatGPT prompts for effective results 11 BYD seal: The premium sports electric sedan Ashok Lavasa had resigned as Election Commissioner in August 2020. He had given dissent notes on various model code violations decisions taken by the EC in the last Lok Sabha polls. Originally, the commission had only a CEC. It currently POLICE LAY EMPHASIS ON CYBER SAFETY FOR WOMEN PANAJI Last month, the Cyber Crime Police cracked a major fraud case with the arrest of a Kerala youth Aflal K who scammed a Sancoale man of Rs 1.18 crore by fabricating a fear of illegal substance smuggling from across the border. This is just one of several cyber frauds being reported to the police and while it remains prevalent, the rampant misuse of social media platforms particularly Instagram and Snapchat has raised concerns. Three recent cases, all involving educational institutions, were reported within less than three months. In the most recent incident, Kendriya Vidyalaya fell victim to derogatory content posted against faculty members. Last December, nine Instagram accounts linked to minor girls from a prestigious school in Panaji were investigated for allegedly sharing manipulated videos of their school- Vigilance crucial in digital era: DGP  PANAJI: Director General of Police Jaspal Singh has emphasised the importance of vigilance in digital interactions and social media usage while stating that Goa police has already set up two cyber laboratories dedicated to scientifically investigating such cases, staffed with technical experts. “We have a separate Cyber Police Station. There are also two cyber laboratories,” he said speaking to The Goan.  However, DGP Singh added that awareness on cyber hygiene is the need.  The department has been holding marathon awareness programmes and last year alone, it reached out to around 30,000 persons to educate them about cyber crimes and their modus operandi.  >Continued on P6 mates. In another case, a college student alleged that a Snapchat ID “Shripad” and four other IDs had befriended her, later recorded her objectionable pictures and videos and began threatening to leak them if his ‘sexual demands’ were not met. According to preliminary data, the Cyber Crime Cell has Czech Republic’s Krystyna crowned Miss World 2024 INDIA’S SINI SHETTY MAKES IT TO ONLY TOP 8 PTI MUMBAI Czech Republic’s Krystyna Pyszkova on Saturday won the coveted Miss World 2024 title at a grand event here, which saw Indian contestant Sini Shetty only making it to the top 8. Miss Lebanon Yasmina Zaytoun was the first runner-up. Reigning Miss World Karolina Bielawska from Poland crowned her successor at the star-studded finale here. Pyszkova is the second Miss NEW DELHI: More than 10 years after a Supreme Court judgement paved way for introduction of the NOTA button on EVM for polls, the number of voters choosing it still remains low, with the experts dubbing it as a “toothless tiger” with no implications on the results. NOTA (None of the Above) was introduced in India through the Supreme Court’’s judgement in Sept 2013.  >> See pg 6 Cyber crimes surge, social media misuse a concern THE GOAN I NETWORK MAGAZINE MAGAZ 9 From mundaneon to magnificent international day of awesomeness ister and comprising a Union Cabinet Minister to be nominated by the PM and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha or the leader of the single-largest opposition party in the House picks one name. The CEC or EC then gets appointed by the President. NOTA toothless without right to reject: Experts Krystyna Pyszkova World from Czech Republic after 2006. According to the official Miss World website, Pyszkova is a Czech model who is pur- suing separate degrees in law and business administration. Pyszkova, who is in her 20s, is also the founder of the Krystyna Pyszko Foundation. The model, who is fluent in English, Polish, Slovak, and German languages, is an advocate for sustainable development through education. India, which hosted the event after 28 years, was represented by 22-year-old Shetty. Shetty was bested by Zaytoun who claimed the last spot in the top 4 of the competition. registered 49 cases in 2022 -- one of the highest -- and 13 cases in just two months of this year. In 2021, there were 20 cases, and in 2023 saw 31 FIRs. However, these figures are of cases registered with the Cyber Cell. The broader picture, as per NCRB records, >Continued on P6 Bethora shooting: Murder plot planned for 2 months Shooters were promised `60,000, weapon was procured from Bihar, discloses SP Sawant THE GOAN I NETWORK consists of the CEC and two election commissioners. Two additional commissioners were first appointed on October 16, 1989, but they had a very short tenure till January 1, 1990. Later, on October 1, 1993, two additional election commissioners were appointed. The concept of a multi-member EC has been in operation since then, with decision made by a majority vote. The EC was scheduled to visit Jammu and Kashmir from Monday to Wednesday to assess when polls can be held in the Union Territory and the dates for the Lok Sabha elections were likely to be revealed immediately after that. The Commission’s visit to J&K was scheduled after SC had directed it to hold Assembly elections in the Union Territory by September. The Centre had then asked the panel to assess whether the Assembly elections in the UT could be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections. PANAJI Just 24 hours into the Bethora shooting, the police exposed the main perpetrator, his accomplices and the motive behind the crime. On Saturday, Ponda police arrested three individuals, among them the prime conspirator Devidas Masurkar, responsible for shooting Sachin Kuttikar in the early hours of Friday. Pravin and Prabhat Paswan, both brothers originally from Bihar and working for Masurkar were the other two arrested accused. Superintendent of Police Sunita Sawant said that Prabhat had taken a train journey to Patna via Mumbai to procure the firearm and ammunition, during the last week of December 2023. The investigation indicates the murder plot had been planned for over two months, and what prompted Masurkar to commit the crime was suspicion of an illicit relationship between his wife and Kuttikar. “Masurkar promised Rs 60,000 to the Paswan broth- Ganja found in victim’s scooter PANAJI: During the investigation into the Bethora shooting incident, police recovered 10 grams of ganja from the victim’s scooter. Superintendent of Police Sunita stated that once Kuttikar is discharged, he will be questioned and a case will also be booked.  ers to execute the murder. Of these, he paid Rs 45,000 after which Prabhat travelled to Patna to procure the illegal weapon and ammunition,” she said while addressing a press conference at Ponda police station on Saturday. In his complaint, Kuttikar, informed police that while en route to his workplace, he noticed two persons wearing helmets following him on a bike with the registration number MH-06. On reaching the Bethora junction, the assailants fired at him. As Kuttikar’s bike was in motion, the victim was dragged around 100 meters before managing to stop the bike and collapsing on the ground, seeking help. Sawant revealed that as the CCTV cameras were non-functional, they relied on other leads to ban the assailants. “We found that a complaint was filed wherein both Masurkar and Kuttikar had a fight. It was over the same issue after which the matter was resolved at the police station. Based on this, we summoned Masurkar today and after questioning, he was arrested,” she added. The accused had even carried a copy of his complaint against Kuttikar dated December 19, 2023 for the questioning on Saturday morning. Sawant revealed that the two Bihar natives were also interrogated and they confessed to the crime. They were subsequently arrested. “One Pistol, magazine with 07 Live rounds were recovered at the instance of one of the accused persons at Arla Keri, which was used for the commission of crime. The Activa scooter used by the accused person during the commission of crime has been recovered,” she added. Mutual fraternity IN THE SLOW LANE crucial to uphold equality in the country, says CJI PTI JAIPUR Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Saturday said mutual fraternity is necessary to maintain equality in the country. Addressing a state-level ‘’Hamara Samvidhan Hamara Samman’’ campaign in Bikaner, the CJI asked how will the country progress if people fight with each other. “We should have respect for each other in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution,” he said. Justice Chandrachud said that “human dignity was of supreme importance in the minds of the makers of our Constitution”. “Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar, as Chairman of the Drafting Committee, ensured that the Constitution promoted the values of justice, liberty and equality as well as the spirit of fraternity and dignity of the individual,” he added. Justice Chandrachud said what it means to say is that “mutual brotherhood is necessary to maintain equality in the country. Vehicular traffic crawls at a snail’s pace along the Dayanand Bandodkar road on Saturday. The road has witnessed massive traffic jams of late due to the Smart City work on the St Inez stretch of the road.  Narayan Pissurlenkar Five land fraud accused forged papers of 19 more properties THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Mohd Suhail, Rajkumar Maithi, Vikrant Shetty, Royson Rodrigues and Caetano Fernandes have found themselves embroiled in yet another land fraud case, this time with their alleged involve- ment in 19 other properties in Anjuna and Assagao. The Crime Branch has registered an FIR against 14 persons and other unknown persons for allegedly illegally transferring ownership rights by forging documents. The FIR was lodged following a complaint from Joint Director of the Enforcement Directorate Anup Singh Rauthan accusing them of fraudulently preparing notarized deeds, succession deeds, and sale documents of these properties, without the knowledge of the original owners, in the two properties of the coastal village. History backs BJP in North, Congress for South THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI he dates for the much anticipated Lok Sabha elections 2024 may have not been finalised by the Election Commission of India as yet but here in Goa, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is already in election mode, well ahead of the Opposition.  The saffron party is already done with announcing its candidate for one of the two seats -- Shripad Naik for Panaji (North Goa) -- and has virtually completed its internal assessment work to pick one for Mormugao (South Goa) -Chandrakant (Babu) Kavlekar, Narendra Sawaikar and now multiple names of women T ALL EYES ON CANDIDATES IN SOUTH „„The picture is still hazy in the South as both the parties yet to finalise their candidates. While BJP is zeroing on Kavlekar, Sawaikar or one the handful of women candidates it has shortlisted, the Congress is said to be caught for a choice between sitting MP Francisco Sardinha, Captain Viriato Fernandes and former GPCC president, Girish Chodankar.  „„The battle lines are yet to be clearly drawn in South Goa, although Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and his team are already going all out to recapture this seat which is the saffron party’s weak link.   probables. All that is left is for the Central Parliamentary Board to pick one from this basket and announce the name. The Congress on behalf of the INDI Alliance, on the other hand, has only just begun finding its feet. After having nothing to show in terms of its electoral preparedness, it did make an impression with its Thursday’s show of unity along with its allies in the INDI-A bloc -- Aam Aadmi Party, Goa Forward Party, NCP (Sharad Pawar Faction) and Shiv Sena (UBT). To borrow cricket parlance, it is safe to say that the BJP is padded up and playing on pitches in the nets while the Congress-led INDI Alliance, though padded up is still staying put in the pavilion. ON FIRM GROUND Over the last 25 years since it first won it in 1999, the BJP through Shripad Naik has never lost the North Goa seat, always relegating either the Congress or its ally, the NCP, to the second place in five consecutive elections. Most of these five wins for Naik were by handsome margins, except for in 2009, when he won by just 6,000-odd votes over NCP’s Jitendra Deshprabhu in an era when the Congress in its ‘UPA’ avtaar nationally was still dominant. Also, the State >Continued on P6