log on to thegoan.net @thegoanonline WEDNESDAY APRIL 10, 2024 GOA Venzy gets EC notice for poll code violation MARGAO: The INDI Alliance supporting the Congress candidate for the South Goa seat has come under the scanner of Returning Officer for the South Goa Lok Sabha constituency, Asvin Chandru. Two days after Aam Admi party volunteers led by Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas had a meeting near the Shivaji circle, Curchorem to drum up support for the INDI Alliance candidate, the Returning officer has issued a notice to MLA Venzy to show cause within 48 hours why appropriate action for violation of Model code of conduct should not be taken against him.  >> See pg 2 Food factory gutted in fire at Corlim OLD GOA: A food factory at Corlim industrial estate was gutted in a fire which occurred in the wee hours of Tuesday. According to information, the Old Goa fire station received a call at around 2.44 am that a food factory namely Menezes Kamco Food Private Limited had caught fire.  >> See pg 3 Vehicle with ‘police’ sticker stopped The Goan E-Paper (Playstore/IOS) 13 pages PRICE ` 10 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME IX, NO. 293 GOA Residents sound alarm over rampant illegal dumping along NH-66 PTI NEW YORK: A 25-year-old Indian student who had been missing since last month was found dead in the US city of Cleveland, the second death within a week in the country as the community grapples with a string of such tragedies. WEATHER >> Max: 34 C Min: 24 C Humidity: 85% TIDES Low: High: 05:37 18:02 12:21 23:44 INFO Natural ways to keep your house cool in the summer NEW DELHI In a massive blow to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday upheld his arrest in a money laundering case stemming from the alleged excise scam, saying the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was left with “little option” after he skipped repeated summonses and refused to join the investigation. It also cited the ED’s claim that Kejriwal conspired and was actively involved in use and concealment of the proceeds of crime to reject his petition against his arrest. The court chastised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, who was claimed to be involved in money laundering in his “personal capacity” and in his capacity as the national convenor of the political party, for questioning the timing of his arrest and underlined KEY OBSERVATIONS OF HIGH COURT „„Kejriwal conspired and was actively involved in use & concealment of proceeds of crime „„Rebukes him for “casting aspersions” on judicial process „„Agency has enough material in its possession to nail him approvers, which “reflect” that Kejriwal was “allegedly personally involved” in formulation of the excise policy „„Courts are concerned with constitutional morality and not political morality „„There are statements of witnesses, including that an investigation against the “classes and masses” cannot be different. Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma dismissed the AAP leader’s petition and asserted that there was no contravention of legal provisions as the agency had enough material in its possession to nail him. “Courts are concerned with constitutional morality and not political morality,” she asserted. The court noted there are statements of witnesses, including approvers, which “reflect” that Kejriwal was “allegedly personally involved” in formulation of the excise policy and “prima-facie in process of demanding kickbacks from the South Group in exchange of favours”. “Material has also been collected by the Directorate of Enforcement, in the form of statements of witnesses of hawala operators, one candidate of AAP and some survey work- „„Kejriwal’s arrest was not illegal and trial court remanded him in the ED custody by a well-reasoned order ers, area managers, assembly managers, who had worked with the AAP during the Goa Election 2022, along with WhatsApp chats between several persons, and other material collected through raids of Income Tax, which reflect that the kickbacks which were received from South Group were utilised by AAP for funding Goa Elections,” added the bench. THE GOAN I NETWORK A NEW START: The ‘gudi’ flag hoisted on a pole topped with an inverted copper vessel adorned with mango, neem leaves and flowers seen at Mala on Tuesday. Gudi Padwa also marks the beginning of the Hindu New Year.  Narayan Pissurlenkar Vistara woes, high travel demand push airfares up by 25 per cent PTI NEW DELHI Travellers will have to shell out more for domestic flights this summer, with airfares surging 20-25 per cent amid Vistara flight cancellations and strong air travel demand, according to industry experts. At a time when peak summer travel is round the corner, the airline industry is grappling with challenges in scaling up capacity to match demand and are even using larger aircraft. Faced with pilot woes, Vistara has cut 25-30 flights daily or 10 per cent of its total capacity, a development that comes when the country’s airline industry is already operating with reduced number of aircraft due to the bankruptcy of Go First and grounding of over 70 planes by IndiGo over engine issues. An analysis by travel portal ixigo showed spot fares on certain routes jumped up to 39% during the April 1-7 period compared to March 1-7. During the given period, the one way spot fares for Delhi-Bengaluru flights climbed 39 per cent, while it rose 30 per cent for Delhi-Srinagar flights. AAP says will move SC soon NEW DELHI: Failing to get any reprieve from the Delhi High Court, the Aam Aadmi Party Tuesday said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will move the Supreme Court soon against his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate and maintained the excise policy case was the “biggest political conspiracy of the country” to finish the party. Senior AAP leader and Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said they are hopeful the Supreme Court will provide relief to Kejriwal in the same way it granted bail to AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh recently. >Continued on P5 Mercury rises, IMD forecasts hot weather next week too Cops book former sarpanch, 2 others Indian student found dead in US RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 SAYS KICKBACKS WERE USED TO FUND GOA ELECTIONS CANACONA: In yet another incident, a Telangana-registered private car was stopped after it was found with a ‘police’ sticker in Canacona taluka. While a strong police force were regulating highway traffic flow at the Monday’s fatal accident site at Maxem slope, a Telangana-registered car displaying a ‘Police’ sticker was ordered to stop.   >> See pg 3 PANAJI: A former sarpanch, secretary and a staff of the St Estevam panchayat have been booked by Old Goa police on charges of forging signatures and altering the minutes of a Gram Sabha.   >> See pg 5 Instagram.com/thegoanonline 3 2 8 Huge setback for Kejriwal, HC junks plea challenging arrest Questions raised over effluents from SGPDA market flowing into nullahs IN SHORT >> Facebook.com/thegoan PANAJI The mercury remains high as Goa experienced a temperature of 34.2 degrees Celsius on Tuesday. IMD Goa has forecast that temperatures will hover between 33 and 35 degrees Celsius for the next seven days while dismissing heat wave conditions. The State has been witnessing above normal temperatures for the past several days. As the State grapples with temperatures above normal, advisories have been issued by different authorities urging people to minimize prolonged exposure to heat, don lightweight clothing, and stay hydrated. “Overall health risks are manageable for the general public, but vulnerable ones may experience moderate health concerns... There is a risk of dehydration and the possibility of dry grass igniting,” the IMD said, recommending taking precautionary measures when venturing outdoors, especially during peak hours from 11 am to 3 pm, to prevent heat cramps and heat rash. PANAJI ominated in the past by the Congress riding on the Ranes and also the Zantyes, there is now a perceptible advantage for the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Shripad Naik in the far east of the North Goa Lok Sabha constituency comprising the contiguous Bicholim and Sattari talukas. D For one, it is the home turf of the saffron party’s tallest State leaders -- Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and his number two in the Cabinet Vishwajit Rane -- and secondly, all five legislators that represent the region either belong to the BJP or support it. Thirdly, with Pratapsing Rane who technically continues to be in the Congress but out of active politics since he threw in the towel after five decades in 2002, the grand old party has no politician of any respectable stature from the region to shoulder the campaign responsibility and its candidate Ramakant Khalap will be left to revive his connect there from his Maharastrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) leadership heydays. The geographically vast region which borders both Maharashtra and Karnataka accounts for a fifth of the North Goa constituency with five assembly segments -- Bicholim, Mayem, Sanquelim, Poriem IN FOCUS: BICHOLIM & SATTARI TALUKAS „„Both these talukas are home turf of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Vishwajit Rane „„All five legislators that represent the region either belong to BJP or support it „„Congress has no politician of any respectable stature from the region to shoulder the LS campaign „„Khalap will be left to revive his connect from his MGP leadership heyday and Valpoi. Four of these were won by the BJP at the 2022 assembly hustings and the fifth went to an Independent -Dr Chandrakant Shetye -- who gravitated to the ruling party instantly after the election results. Nonetheless, Naik failed to dominate and take massive leads in the five assembly constituencies in three of the five successive Lok Sabha elections he has won thus far -- 1999, 2009 and 2014 -explained perhaps by the fact that at the time of these elections, the father-son Rane duo were with the Congress then. This time round, how well Naik fares against the Congress’ Khalap could be a mat- „„The two talukas share borders both Maharashtra and Karnataka and accounts for a fifth of the North Goa constituency „„It is expected that Sawant and Vishwajit would walk the extra mile to ensure the home turf advantage for Shripad ter of prestige for the BJP’s top honchos at the State level, the Sawant-Rane Jr duo. It would therefore be safe to presume the top two leaders would walk that extra mile to ensure the home turf advantage translates into a big vote margin for their candidate on result day. RGP THE THIRD FACTOR: The third player in the ring FC Goa clinches 3-2 win over Jamshedpur FC 12 INDIA bloc leaders gear up, discuss campaign strategy Cong candidates launch campaign from Patradevi & Lohia Maidan THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Leaders of the constituent allies of the INDIA bloc held a closed door meeting in a Panaji hotel late on Tuesday evening to discuss strategies and also design its campaign. The meeting was chaired by GPCC president Amit Patkar and attended by top leaders of all the allies including Opposition Leader Yuri Alemao, AAP State chief, Amit Palekar, Velim MLA Cruz Silva and NCP State chief Jose Philip D’Souza and GFP vice-president Durgadas Kamat among others. The discussions centered around strategies to reach out to voters across the State even as the leaders expressed confidence of winning both the seats. Earlier, allies of the INDIA bloc launched the campaign of the two Congress candidates for the North and South Goa Lok Sabha seats -- ex-Union law minister, Ramakant Khalap and Captain Viriato Fernandes -- first from the Hutatma Memorial at Patradevi and from the historic Lohia Maidan in Margao later in the evening. DETAILED REPORTS ON PAGE 2 In a show of unity, leaders of all the constituent  political parties of the INDIA bloc travelled in a bus to Patradevi along with both the candidates and a large number of workers and supporters. Later in the evening, Congress’ much-awaited Lok Sabha campaign for the South Goa seat kicked off from the historic Lohia Maidan, Margao with party candidate Captain Viriato Fernandes descending in the constituency >Continued on P5 Tourist’s sextortion ordeal exposes dark tourism side Karnataka visitor writes to Sawant, chief secretary, police on how he was conned THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Barely a month ago, Swami Brameshanand’s statement likening Calangute to Thailand drew controversy and calls for clarification. In a recent development, a domestic tourist recounted his distressing encounter with sextortion, an incident once again highlighting the underbelly of tourism in the densely populated coastal belt. Shivraj Deshbagh, who along with his friend had travelled to Calangute for a ‘body massage’ recounted an unsettling scene outside an ayurvedic salon in Gauravaddo, where young women with mobile phones were seen soliciting unsuspecting passersby. Deshbagh, hailing from Karnataka, also revealed the deceptive tactics used by fraudulent call centers stating that tourists are enticed with promises of luxurious massage services, only to find that the advertised spa and salon establishments do not exist upon arrival. Instead, they Sawant, Vishwajit’s home turf will be advantage for BJP THE GOAN I NETWORK SPORTS -- the nascent Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) -- which has nominated its president Manoj Parab in North Goa has the potential to sully the equation in the Bicholim-Sattari region. Parab hails from Bicholim and in the 2022 elections he had left several political analysts by finishing runner-up to Jr Rane with a sizeable chunk of votes in his kitty in Valpoi. While Rane Junior had polled 14,462 votes, Parab had ended up with 6,377 votes, an impressionable 23-odd per-cent of the votes polled.  Political analysts say Parab is likely to garner substantial support in the May 7 Lok Sabha poll, particularly from the out of jobs younger, aspirational section of the electorate in this region which could muddy the electoral arithmetic of both his rivals. TOURISM’S DARK UNDERBELLY „„Deceptive tactics used by fraudulent call centers to entice tourists „„Visitors duped after being promised luxurious massage services „„Advertised spas and salons do not exist in reality „„Tourists led astray and huge sums of money are extorted from them FIRST HAND ACCOUNT „„Deshbagh along with his friend travel to Calangute for a ‘body massage’ „„Witness young women with mobile phones solicit unsuspecting passersby „„We reached Gauravaddo Calangute where one Javed received us „„Were told that we are at an ayurvedic salon, but not „„Persuaded to make advance payment, escorted to a room where a woman demanded her portion of the money „„Coerced into handing over several thousand rupees by a group of men and bouncers are led astray and extorted in huge amounts. In a detailed complaint to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Chief Secretary Puneet Goel and the Goa Police, Deshbagh demand- ed that police clamp down on the syndicate operating the illicit business and register an FIR in this case. “…We reached the location at >Continued on P5