The Evening Wrap: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut sent to ED custody till August 4

A Special court in Mumbai on August 1 sent Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut to Enforcement Directorate’s (ED’s) custody till August 4. The ED had asked for an eight-day custody after producing Raut in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court. But the special court granted the ED only three days. He was arrested by the ED in a money-laundering case related to the redevelopment of a chawl in Mumbai shortly after July 31 midnight after the agency conducted a search at his residence. Refuting suggestions that BJP national president J. P. Nadda, at a political event in Bihar, had spoken of the Shiv Sena being finished in Maharashtra, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis clarified that Nadda was referring to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena and not Eknath Shinde’s group. On Sanjay Raut’s arrest by the ED, Fadnavis said, “An agency only conducts a probe on the basis of proof.” Slamming the BJP over the arrest of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, party chief Uddhav Thackeray said he is proud of him as he did not succumb to any pressure. Talking to reporters in Mumbai, Uddhav Thackeray termed Raut as a hardcore Shiv Sainik of Sena founder late Bal Thackeray. “I am proud of Sanjay Raut. What crime has he committed? He is a journalist, a Shiv Sainik, is fearless and speaks what he does not approve of,” Uddhav Thackeray said. The former Maharashtra Chief Minister targeted the BJP for what he called vendetta politics. Former Maharashtra Minister Aaditya Thackeray said, “This is political conspiracy to finish off the Shiv Sena and suppress Maharashtra’s voice.” Aaditya Thackeray is on a tour of Sindhudurg in the Konkan region. “He [Raut] runs a party and a paper [Sena mouthpiece Saamana]. So, the ED retrieving that sum of ₹10-11 lakh is no big deal. It clearly tantamounts to harassment of Raut... He is not a person who runs away from any investigation. The affair is a ploy on BJP’s part to finish off the Opposition. The BJP wants an Opposition-free Parliament,” said senior Congressman and Rajya Sabha MP Mallikarjun Kharge on the ED retrieving cash from the Sena MP’s house. 5G spectrum auction ends with record bids worth over ₹1.5 lakh crore; Jio top bidder A record over ₹1.5 lakh crore worth of 5G telecom spectrum was sold in a seven-day auction ending on August 1, which saw billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Jio emerging as the top bidder to consolidate its leadership position. Sources with direct knowledge of the matter said provisional data puts the total bids at ₹1,50,173 crore. The mop-up from the 5G spectrum, capable of offering ultra-high speed mobile internet connectivity, is almost double at ₹77,815 crore worth 4G airwaves sold last year and triple of ₹50,968.37 crore garnered from a 3G auction in 2010. Reliance Jio was the top bidder to the airwaves capable of offering speeds about 10 times faster than 4G, lag-free connectivity, and can enable billions of connected devices to share data in real-time. It was followed by Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea Ltd. New entrant Adani group is said to have bought 26 Mhz spectrum for setting up a private telecom network. The sources said details of which company bought how much spectrum would be known once the data from the auction is fully compiled. Both Bharti and Jio have likely built a pan-India spectrum footprint for 5G, with Vodafone Idea’s selective participation. The government had put on offer spectrum in 10 bands but received no bids for airwaves in 600 MHz, 800 MHz and 2300 MHz bands. About two-thirds of the bids were for the 5G bands (3300 Mhz and 26 GHz), while more than a quarter of the demand came in the 700 Mhz band — a band that had gone unsold in the previous two auctions (2016 and 2021). In the auction conducted last year — that had lasted two days — Reliance Jio picked up spectrum worth ₹57,122.65 crore, Bharti Airtel bid about ₹18,699 crore, and Vodafone Idea bought spectrum worth ₹1,993.40 crore. This year, a total of 72 GHz (gigahertz) of radiowaves worth at least ₹4.3 lakh crore was put on the block. The auction was held for spectrum in various low (600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz), mid (3300 MHz) and high (26 GHz) frequency bands. In addition to powering ultra-low latency connections, which allow downloading full-length high-quality video or movie to a mobile device in a matter of seconds (even in crowded areas), Fifth Generation or 5G would enable solutions such as e-health, connected vehicles, more-immersive augmented reality and metaverse experiences, life-saving use cases, and advanced mobile cloud gaming among others. The auction garnered bids worth ₹1.45 lakh crore on the first day on July 26, with subsequent days seeing only marginal incremental demand in some circles. Four Congress MP’s suspension revoked; Lok Sabha resumes discussion on price rise A week after suspending them from the House for “unruly” behaviour, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on August 1 revoked the suspension of four Congress members, after seeking assurance from the Opposition that they will not bring placards to the House. Birla also warned the members that he will take stringent action against those who violated the rules of procedure, which bars members from bringing any “exhibits” to the House. Four Congress members -- Manickam Tagore, Ramya Haridas, T.N. Prathapan and S. Jothimani -- were suspended on July 25 from Lok Sabha for the rest of the Monsoon session for carrying placards and raising slogans inside the House. The Monsoon session of Parliament has seen scant business since it began on July 18 as the House remained deadlocked over protests by the Opposition which insisted on taking up discussion on price rise and other issues. In addition, the suspension of the MPs also became an issue between the Opposition parties and the government, causing disruptions. With the revocation of suspension, the House resumed normal business. The ball for revocation of suspension was set rolling with the Speaker convening a meeting of floor leaders on August 1 to end the stalemate in the House. As the House re-convened at 2:00 p.m., Birla said he was hurt by the incidents that took place in the House over the past two weeks and urged members to work towards upholding the dignity of the Lok Sabha. “There should be a consensus that we do not get placards in the House. I will urge all political parties not to bring placards to the House. I am giving a final warning, if anyone gets placards to the House I will neither listen to the government nor the opposition and will take action,” the Speaker said. Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the Opposition had to raise some issues vociferously in the House, and at times resort to protests if the government does not give them a patient hearing. He assured the Speaker that he will convey the views expressed by the Chair to the members who have been suspended. Chowdhury said it was not the intention of the Opposition to hurt the Chair. The Congress leader also suggested that the Speaker call a meeting of the General Purposes Committee to decide on the modes of protests in the House. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said he had told the all-party meeting that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was suffering from COVID-19 and the discussion on price rise would be taken up as soon as she recovered. However, the Opposition continued with the protests despite the assurance from the government. Chinese military celebrates 95th anniversary; flexes muscles to deter U.S. House Speaker Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the world’s largest military, on Monday celebrated its 95th anniversary, flexing its muscles to deter U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s purported plan to visit Taiwan that has fuelled tension with Beijing. Pelosi confirmed on Sunday she will lead a congressional delegation to Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan but was conspicuously silent about a possible stopover at Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims as part of its mainland. The proposed visit drew a fiery warning from President Xi Jinping in his last Thursday’s phone conversation with his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden, asserting that “those who play with fire will perish by it”. Beijing sees official American contact with Taiwan as encouragement to make its decades-old de facto independence permanent. Coinciding with its 95th Army Day celebrations on Monday, the two-million-strong PLA highlighted some of its latest achievements in weaponry and equipment development and realistic combat preparations to warn “Taiwan independence” secessionist and external interfering forces. The PLA revealed new progress has been made in its advanced weaponry and equipment, including its hypersonic missile, amphibious assault ship, aerial tanker and large destroyers, all of which are described by military analysts as having important roles to play if a conflict breaks out in the Taiwan Straits, state-run Global Times reported on Monday. State broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) on Saturday released a video titled “The capabilities of the Chinese troops shown in 81 seconds” showing the launch of a DF-17 hypersonic missile from a transporter erector launcher on a highway in a desert. The missile can hit stationary and moving targets in the South China Sea, the Taiwan Straits and Northeast Asia, including aircraft carriers, Global Times report said. While Pelosi’s visit overshadowed PLA’s anniversary, observers say the Chinese military is steadily gaining ascendency in the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) especially under the leadership of Xi, who besides being the President and head of the CPC is also Chairman of the all-powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), the overall high-command of the PLA. Xi, 68, who is widely expected to get an unprecedented third five-year term in power or perhaps for life at the key CPC Congress to be held in the next few months unlike his predecessors is the lone civilian in the CMC dominated by the top brass of the PLA. While Xi, since he took over power in 2012, has been insisting that the PLA should mandatorily function under the CPC, which he said holds the gun, the military which remained his power base is gaining its influence in the 92-million-member Communist Party. Observers say that the military functioned as a bloc in various key party bodies. Studies showed that PLA has two members out of 25 politburo members while in the Central Committee, the other influential body, the PLA accounts for around 20% of the 205 permanent and 171 alternate members. In Brief Kantamaneni Uma Maheswari, 55, daughter of former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N.T. Rama Rao was found dead at her residence at Jubilee Hills here on Monday. Family members who alerted the police in the afternoon shifted her body to the Osmania General Hospital for post-mortem. Apparently Uma Maheswari had gone into her room at around 12 noon and bolted herself inside. She was found dead when the door was forced open a little later. Grieving relatives and family members speaking to media persons said she had been suffering from a certain illness for some time and had also been depressed. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow [logo] The Evening Wrap 01 AUGUST 2022 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Money laundering probe: Arrested Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut sent to ED custody till August 4 A[Special court in Mumbai on August 1 sent Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut to Enforcement Directorate’s (ED’s) custody]( till August 4. The ED had asked for an eight-day custody after producing Raut in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court. But the special court granted the ED only three days. He was arrested by the ED in a money-laundering case related to the redevelopment of a chawl in Mumbai shortly after July 31 midnight after the agency conducted a search at his residence. Refuting suggestions that BJP national president J. P. Nadda, at a political event in Bihar, had spoken of the Shiv Sena being finished in Maharashtra, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis clarified that Nadda was referring to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena and not Eknath Shinde’s group. [Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut after being produced before a special PMLA court, in Mumbai, on August 1, 2022. Raut has been sent to ED’s custody till August 4 in connection with a money laundering case.] On Sanjay Raut’s arrest by the ED, Fadnavis said, “An agency only conducts a probe on the basis of proof.” Slamming the BJP over the arrest of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, party chief Uddhav Thackeray said he is proud of him as he did not succumb to any pressure. Talking to reporters in Mumbai, Uddhav Thackeray termed Raut as a hardcore Shiv Sainik of Sena founder late Bal Thackeray. “I am proud of Sanjay Raut. What crime has he committed? He is a journalist, a Shiv Sainik, is fearless and speaks what he does not approve of,” Uddhav Thackeray said. The former Maharashtra Chief Minister targeted the BJP for what he called vendetta politics. Former Maharashtra Minister Aaditya Thackeray said, “This is political conspiracy to finish off the Shiv Sena and suppress Maharashtra’s voice.” Aaditya Thackeray is on a tour of Sindhudurg in the Konkan region. “He [Raut] runs a party and a paper [Sena mouthpiece Saamana]. So, the ED retrieving that sum of ₹10-11 lakh is no big deal. It clearly tantamounts to harassment of Raut... He is not a person who runs away from any investigation. The affair is a ploy on BJP’s part to finish off the Opposition. The BJP wants an Opposition-free Parliament,” said senior Congressman and Rajya Sabha MP Mallikarjun Kharge on the ED retrieving cash from the Sena MP’s house. 5G spectrum auction ends with record bids worth over ₹1.5 lakh crore; Jio top bidder [A record over ₹1.5 lakh crore worth of 5G telecom spectrum was sold in a seven-day auction]( ending on August 1, which saw billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Jio emerging as the top bidder to consolidate its leadership position. Sources with direct knowledge of the matter said provisional data puts the total bids at ₹1,50,173 crore. The mop-up from the 5G spectrum, capable of offering ultra-high speed mobile internet connectivity, is almost double at ₹77,815 crore worth 4G airwaves sold last year and triple of ₹50,968.37 crore garnered from a 3G auction in 2010. Reliance Jio was the top bidder to the airwaves capable of offering speeds about 10 times faster than 4G, lag-free connectivity, and can enable billions of connected devices to share data in real-time. It was followed by Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea Ltd. New entrant Adani group is said to have bought 26 Mhz spectrum for setting up a private telecom network. The sources said details of which company bought how much spectrum would be known once the data from the auction is fully compiled. Both Bharti and Jio have likely built a pan-India spectrum footprint for 5G, with Vodafone Idea’s selective participation. The government had put on offer spectrum in 10 bands but received no bids for airwaves in 600 MHz, 800 MHz and 2300 MHz bands. About two-thirds of the bids were for the 5G bands (3300 Mhz and 26 GHz), while more than a quarter of the demand came in the 700 Mhz band — a band that had gone unsold in the previous two auctions (2016 and 2021). In the auction conducted last year — that had lasted two days — Reliance Jio picked up spectrum worth ₹57,122.65 crore, Bharti Airtel bid about ₹18,699 crore, and Vodafone Idea bought spectrum worth ₹1,993.40 crore. This year, a total of 72 GHz (gigahertz) of radiowaves worth at least ₹4.3 lakh crore was put on the block. The auction was held for spectrum in various low (600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz), mid (3300 MHz) and high (26 GHz) frequency bands. In addition to powering ultra-low latency connections, which allow downloading full-length high-quality video or movie to a mobile device in a matter of seconds (even in crowded areas), Fifth Generation or 5G would enable solutions such as e-health, connected vehicles, more-immersive augmented reality and metaverse experiences, life-saving use cases, and advanced mobile cloud gaming among others. The auction garnered bids worth ₹1.45 lakh crore on the first day on July 26, with subsequent days seeing only marginal incremental demand in some circles. Four Congress MP’s suspension revoked; Lok Sabha resumes discussion on price rise [A week after suspending them from the House for “unruly” behaviour, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on August 1]( revoked the suspension of four Congress members, after seeking assurance from the Opposition that they will not bring placards to the House. Birla also warned the members that he will take stringent action against those who violated the rules of procedure, which bars members from bringing any “exhibits” to the House. Four Congress members -- Manickam Tagore, Ramya Haridas, T.N. Prathapan and S. Jothimani -- were suspended on July 25 from Lok Sabha for the rest of the Monsoon session for carrying placards and raising slogans inside the House. The Monsoon session of Parliament has seen scant business since it began on July 18 as the House remained deadlocked over protests by the Opposition which insisted on taking up discussion on price rise and other issues. In addition, the suspension of the MPs also became an issue between the Opposition parties and the government, causing disruptions. With the revocation of suspension, the House resumed normal business. The ball for revocation of suspension was set rolling with the Speaker convening a meeting of floor leaders on August 1 to end the stalemate in the House. As the House re-convened at 2:00 p.m., Birla said he was hurt by the incidents that took place in the House over the past two weeks and urged members to work towards upholding the dignity of the Lok Sabha. “There should be a consensus that we do not get placards in the House. I will urge all political parties not to bring placards to the House. I am giving a final warning, if anyone gets placards to the House I will neither listen to the government nor the opposition and will take action,” the Speaker said. Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the Opposition had to raise some issues vociferously in the House, and at times resort to protests if the government does not give them a patient hearing. He assured the Speaker that he will convey the views expressed by the Chair to the members who have been suspended. Chowdhury said it was not the intention of the Opposition to hurt the Chair. The Congress leader also suggested that the Speaker call a meeting of the General Purposes Committee to decide on the modes of protests in the House. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said he had told the all-party meeting that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was suffering from COVID-19 and the discussion on price rise would be taken up as soon as she recovered. However, the Opposition continued with the protests despite the assurance from the government. Chinese military celebrates 95th anniversary; flexes muscles to deter U.S. House Speaker Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan [China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the world’s largest military, on Monday celebrated its 95th anniversary]( flexing its muscles to deter U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s purported plan to visit Taiwan that has fuelled tension with Beijing. Pelosi confirmed on Sunday she will lead a congressional delegation to Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan but was conspicuously silent about a possible stopover at Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims as part of its mainland. [Chinese soldiers guard an entrance to the military camp with the slogan “Serve the People” in Beijing on August 1, 2022] The proposed visit drew a fiery warning from President Xi Jinping in his last Thursday’s phone conversation with his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden, asserting that “those who play with fire will perish by it”. Beijing sees official American contact with Taiwan as encouragement to make its decades-old de facto independence permanent. Coinciding with its 95th Army Day celebrations on Monday, the two-million-strong PLA highlighted some of its latest achievements in weaponry and equipment development and realistic combat preparations to warn “Taiwan independence” secessionist and external interfering forces. The PLA revealed new progress has been made in its advanced weaponry and equipment, including its hypersonic missile, amphibious assault ship, aerial tanker and large destroyers, all of which are described by military analysts as having important roles to play if a conflict breaks out in the Taiwan Straits, state-run Global Times reported on Monday. State broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) on Saturday released a video titled “The capabilities of the Chinese troops shown in 81 seconds” showing the launch of a DF-17 hypersonic missile from a transporter erector launcher on a highway in a desert. The missile can hit stationary and moving targets in the South China Sea, the Taiwan Straits and Northeast Asia, including aircraft carriers, Global Times report said. While Pelosi’s visit overshadowed PLA’s anniversary, observers say the Chinese military is steadily gaining ascendency in the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) especially under the leadership of Xi, who besides being the President and head of the CPC is also Chairman of the all-powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), the overall high-command of the PLA. Xi, 68, who is widely expected to get an unprecedented third five-year term in power or perhaps for life at the key CPC Congress to be held in the next few months unlike his predecessors is the lone civilian in the CMC dominated by the top brass of the PLA. While Xi, since he took over power in 2012, has been insisting that the PLA should mandatorily function under the CPC, which he said holds the gun, the military which remained his power base is gaining its influence in the 92-million-member Communist Party. Observers say that the military functioned as a bloc in various key party bodies. Studies showed that PLA has two members out of 25 politburo members while in the Central Committee, the other influential body, the PLA accounts for around 20% of the 205 permanent and 171 alternate members. In Brief [Kantamaneni Uma Maheswari, 55, daughter of former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N.T. Rama Rao]( was found dead at her residence at Jubilee Hills here on Monday. Family members who alerted the police in the afternoon shifted her body to the Osmania General Hospital for post-mortem. Apparently Uma Maheswari had gone into her room at around 12 noon and bolted herself inside. She was found dead when the door was forced open a little later. Grieving relatives and family members speaking to media persons said she had been suffering from a certain illness for some time and had also been depressed. 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