The Evening Wrap: Supreme Court to re-examine verdict limiting ‘corrupt practice’ to candidate

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will constitute a three-judge Bench to re-consider a 2013 judgment which held that pre-poll promises made by a political party cannot constitute a corrupt practice under the Representation of People (RP) Act. The S. Subramaniam Balaji versus Government of Tamil Nadu judgment, based on DMK’s pre-election promise to distribute colour TVs to rural households, said only an individual candidate, not his party, can commit a ‘corrupt practice’ under the RP Act by promising free gifts. The Balaji judgment, by a two-judge Bench of the apex court, came under the spotlight after nine years when Chief Justice N. V. Ramana’s Bench was told on Wednesday that there cannot be a dichotomy between a political party and its candidate. What the candidate promises is what his party wants him to promise. The party cannot escape liability. “A candidate makes a promise with the backing of his party. There cannot be a dichotomy between a candidate and his party,” senior advocate Arvind P. Datar, who was also a lawyer in the Balaji case, submitted before the Chief Justice Ramana’s Bench during a hearing on ways to rein in irrational freebies. “I will constitute a three-judge Bench for this,” Chief Justice Ramana said. During the hearing, Datar referred to Section 123 of the Act which deals with ‘corrupt practices’. The provision says it is ‘bribery’ and thus deemed a corrupt practice if any gift, offer or promise of gratification is made to voters directly or indirectly by a candidate or his agent or any other person acting on their consent. Senior advocate Vikas Singh also urged the court to re-examine the Balaji judgment, saying it was wrong in several aspects. The judgment by a Bench of Justices P. Sathasivam and Ranjan Gogoi (both retired) had clearly drawn a distinction between an individual candidate put up by a political party and the political party itself. “The provisions of the Act prohibit an individual candidate from resorting to promises, which constitute a corrupt practice within the meaning of Section 123 of the RP Act. The provisions of the Act place no fetter on the power of the political parties to make promises in the election manifesto,” the court had held in July 2013. The lawyers on Wednesday also questioned the rationale of the judgment which had held that it was directly part of the Directive Principles of State Policy for a State to distribute “largesse in the form of distribution of colour TVs, laptops, etc., to eligible and deserving persons”. “The purpose of the schemes is to enforce the Directive Principles of State Policy. In what way the State chooses to implement the Directive Principles of State Policy is a policy decision of the State and this court cannot interfere with such decisions unless they are clearly in violation of some statutory or constitutional provision or is shockingly arbitrary in nature,” Justice Sathasivam had observed in the judgment. The 2013 judgment had said it was for the government concerned to take into account its financial resources and the needs of the people. “There cannot be a straitjacket formula. If certain benefits are restricted to a particular class that can obviously be on account of the limited resources of the State,” the verdict had said. It had directed the Election Commission to consult with recognised political parties and frame guidelines for the general conduct of candidates, etc., and also for election manifesto, saying all of this could be included in the Model Code of Conduct for the Guidance of Political Parties and Candidates. I was misquoted, was only paraphrasing Ambedkar’s views: JNU VC on ‘caste of gods’ remark After her “no god is upper caste” remark stoked controversy, JNU Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit on Wednesday defended her comments as an academic exercise and said she was misquoted on her comments. She also said she is an academic first and people should get angry with B. R. Ambedkar for it was he who she was “paraphrasing.” “I was asked to speak on B. R. Ambedkar’s views on gender justice. I was paraphrasing B. R. Ambedkar. You can see his writings. Why should people get angry with me? They should get angry with B. R. Ambedkar. Why am I being pulled into it,” Pandit told PTI. Delivering the Dr B. R. Ambedkar Lecture Series titled ‘Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s Thoughts on Gender Justice: Decoding the Uniform Civil Code’, Pandit had on Monday said “anthropologically” gods do not belong to the upper caste and that even Lord Shiva could be from scheduled caste or tribe. “I am an academic first, a professor. Why is an academic lecture being politicised? I am really scared to give any lecture in Delhi. Everything is misquoted. I am not an original thinker, I am a professor. I feel so hurt, why are people politicising it?” she asked. During the lecture, the JNU VC had also said the “status of shudras given to women in Manusmriti” makes it extraordinarily regressive. “Let me tell all women that all women according to Manusmriti are shudras so no woman can claim she is a Brahmin or anything else and it is only by marriage that you get the husband or father’s caste on you. I think this is something which is extraordinarily regressive,” she had said. Taking about the recent caste violence involving a nine-year-old Dalit boy, she said that “no god belonged to the upper caste.” “Most of you should know the origins of our gods anthropologically. No god is a brahmin, the highest is a kshatriya. Lord Shiva must be a scheduled caste or a scheduled tribe because he sits in a cemetery with a snake and has very little clothes to wear. I don’t think Brahmins can sit in the cemetery,” she had said. She had also said that “anthropologically” gods, including Lakshmi, Shakti, or even Jagannath do not come from the upper caste. In fact, she said, Jagannath has tribal origins. “So why are we still continuing with this discrimination which is very very inhuman. It is very important that we are rethinking, reorienting the thoughts of Babasaheb. We do not have any leader of modern India who was such a great thinker.” Kejriwal government calls special session of Delhi Assembly on Friday amid political slugfest A special session of the Delhi Assembly will be held on Friday amid a political slugfest over action by central probe agencies regarding the Kejriwal government’s excise policy and the AAP accusing the BJP of trying to lure its MLAs. The Assembly session is scheduled to be held from 11 a.m. on August 26, according to a document issued by the Delhi Assembly on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the BJP’s attempt to “topple” his government was a “serious issue”. The matter was in the AAP’s political Affairs Committee on Wednesday evening. In a meeting of the committee held at Kejriwal’s residence, the panel condemned the BJP’s alleged efforts to lure its MLAs. The AAP leaders have alleged that four MLAs were offered money by the BJP to quit the party. The ED has registered a money-laundering case against Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and others to probe the alleged irregularities in the Delhi Excise policy after taking cognisance of a CBI FIR that has named Sisodia and 14 others. The CBI had conducted raids in the 2021-22 excise policy case on August 19 and had covered the residence of Sisodia in Delhi, that of IAS officer and former Delhi excise commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna and 19 other locations across seven states and Union Territories. Sisodia holds multiple portfolios in the Delhi government including that of excise and education. The ED will probe if there were alleged irregularities in the formulation and execution of the Delhi Excise Policy unveiled in November last year. Nitish Kumar-led ‘Mahagathbandhan’ government wins trust vote in Bihar Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led Mahagathbandhan government on Wednesday won the floor test in the State Assembly to prove majority while Opposition BJP legislators walked out of the session. Kumar proved his majority first by voice vote and then by counting of votes. When Deputy Speaker Maheshwar Hazari announced that the trust vote has been passed by voice vote, former Speaker and State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhury requested him for counting of votes which was promptly accepted by Hazari. But the Opposition BJP legislators who, earlier, had walked out from the House during Chief Minister Kumar’s speech on debate of the trust vote, suddenly re-entered the House and opposed the move for counting of votes as the “result of voice vote has already been announced” and staged a walkout from the House again. Later, a total 160 MLAs voted in favour of the trust vote while no Opposition votes were counted. Deputy Speaker Hazari who was in chair after Speaker Vijay Sinha had resigned from his post, earlier had allowed a two-hour debate over the trust vote sought by the new Mahagathbandhan government. Former Deputy Chief Minister and senior State BJP leader Tarkishore Prasad attacked the Chief Minister for his regular flip-flops “to remain in the chair of CM” and also alleged that 75% of Ministers in the Mahagathbandhan government are tainted. “He (Kumar) is a habitual turncoat as earlier he had politically sacrificed leaders like George Fernandes and Sharad Yadav. In 2013 he betrayed us only to join us again in 2017 and then again betrayed us. In 2014 Lok Sabha election, his party had got only two seats and in 2020 Assembly poll they got only 43 seats and we 74 but we still made him Chief Minister of the State”, said Prasad in his 25-minute speech. He also recalled what both Kumar and RJD leaders like Tejashwi Yadav and his father Lalu Prasad had said after Kumar had severed ties with RJD in 2017. In his reply to Prasad, Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav slammed the BJP and charged that the party has only three sons-in-law -- CBI, ED and I-T. “With our joining hands again, the real threat for BJP is 2024 Lok Sabha election. BJP wanted to foment communal tension in Bihar but we want special status and special package for the development of the State”, said Tejashwi while adding, “jo darega woh marega, jo ladega woh jitega (those who get frightened will die, those who fight will win)”. “This alliance will have never-ending innings”, he said over the newly formed alliance with JD(U). Yadav also called CM Kumar a brave leader and friend of his father Lalu Prasad. “We all have socialist ideology and we’ll together bring development to Bihar”, he said while, praising his father Lalu Prasad that he never ever succumbed before communal forces. Later, CM Kumar too took on BJP and alleged that today no work is being done by the government at the Centre except “advertisement and publicity”. Kumar, though, listed development works done by his government in the State. He also reiterated that he didn’t have any ambition in life except uniting Opposition for development in the country and Bihar. Kumar recalled the days of BJP leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi. “ Lekin yeh jo aaye hain, koi kaam kiya hai kya (but, he who has come, has he done any work?)”, asked Kumar in oblique reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and added, “What were you (BJP) doing during freedom struggle?”. “Their only work is to foment communal and social tension in society but we’ll not let it happen”, he further said. Move to stifle any semblance of independent media: Congress on Adani’s NDTV stake With billionaire Gautam Adani launching a hostile takeover of NDTV, the Congress on Wednesday alleged that the bid by a company owned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “khaas dost (special friend)” is a brazen move to control and stifle any semblance of an independent media. In a stunning move with the potential to change the media landscape, Adani launched a hostile takeover of NDTV, first with an indirect acquisition of a 29.18% stake in the broadcaster followed by an offer to buy out a further 26% controlling stake. The owners of New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV), one of the nation’s most popular news channels, said they were completely unaware of the takeover until Tuesday, and that it was done without their consent or any discussion. In reference to the development, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh tweeted, “The news of a deeply over-leveraged company owned by the PM’s ‘khaas dost’ making a hostile takeover bid of a well-known TV news network is nothing but concentration of economic and political power, and a brazen move to control and stifle any semblance of an independent media.” BJP leader Sonali Phogat was murdered, claims brother; police conducting detailed probe, says Goa CM The brother of BJP leader Sonali Phogat has filed a formal complaint with the Goa Police, claiming that she was murdered by two of her associates. Phogat’s brother Rinku Dhaka alleged that a short while before her death, Phogat had spoken to her mother, sister and brother-in-law during which she sounded disturbed and complained against her two colleagues. He also claimed that the CCTV cameras, laptop and other crucial things from her farmhouse in Haryana have gone missing after her death. Phogat (42), the BJP leader from Hisar in Haryana who had found fame on Tik Tok, was “brought dead” at the St. Anthony Hospital at Anjuna in North Goa on August 23 morning, a police official earlier said, adding that she died of a suspected heart attack. The Anjuna police had registered a case of unnatural death. The family members of Phogat arrived in Goa on August 23 night. Dhaka, in his complaint filed with Anjuna police in Goa, claimed that two of Phogat’s associates murdered her in Goa. “We had asked her to stay away from them and return to Hisar the next day [after Phogat spoke to her mother],” Dhaka told reporters outside the Anjuna police station. He claimed the police have refused to register a First Information Report (FIR) against the two persons. “If the FIR is not filed against them, we will not allow the postmortem to be conducted in Goa,” he said. Dhaka said the family members would prefer the postmortem to be conducted at the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi or at AIIMS, Jaipur. “She was a BJP leader for last 15 years. We will also appeal to the prime minister to help us in getting justice for her,” he said. Earlier in the day, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the State police were conducting a detailed investigation into the death of the BJP leader. Considering the opinion of doctors and Goa Director General of Police Jaspal Singh, it preliminary looks like she died due to a heart attack, Sawant told reporters. Sawant said he has been following up the matter with Director General of Police Jaspal Singh. “The Goa Police are conducting a detailed investigation into the case,” he said. Deputy Superintendent of Police Jivba Dalvi said Phogat had arrived in Goa on August 22 and was staying in a hotel in Anjuna area. She was brought to the hospital from the hotel around 9 a.m. on Tuesday, he said. Phogat was brought to the St. Anthony Hospital after she complained of uneasiness, DGP Jaspal Singh told PTI on August 23. Singh said there is no foul play in the case, even as Phogat’s family questioned the circumstances of her death and Opposition parties in Haryana demanded a CBI probe. There are no external injury marks on the body, the DGP had said, adding that the postmortem report will reveal the exact cause of the death. In Brief Laxman takes charge as interim head coach V.V.S. Laxman joined India’s squad on Wednesday as the interim head coach for the Asia Cup, starting in the United Arab Emirates from August 27. Laxman has been appointed since Rahul Dravid, the head coach, could not board the flight to the Emirates on Tuesday after being diagnosed with COVID-19. Jaiveer Shergill quits Congress Congress leader Jaiveer Shergill has quit as its national spokesperson, saying the party’s decision-making process is no longer in the interest of the country but is influenced by “self-serving interests of individuals indulging in sycophancy”. In his letter to party chief Sonia Gandhi, Shergill resigned from the post of the national spokesperson and said the primary reason was that “the ideology and the vision of the current decision makers of the Congress is no longer in sync with the aspirations of the youth and modern India”. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow [logo] The Evening Wrap 24 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]( Supreme Court to re-examine verdict limiting ‘corrupt practice’ to candidate and not party under election law The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it [will constitute a three-judge Bench to re-consider a 2013 judgment]( which held that pre-poll promises made by a political party cannot constitute a corrupt practice under the Representation of People (RP) Act. The S. Subramaniam Balaji versus Government of Tamil Nadu judgment, based on DMK’s pre-election promise to distribute colour TVs to rural households, said only an individual candidate, not his party, can commit a ‘corrupt practice’ under the RP Act by promising free gifts. The Balaji judgment, by a two-judge Bench of the apex court, came under the spotlight after nine years when Chief Justice N. V. Ramana’s Bench was told on Wednesday that there cannot be a dichotomy between a political party and its candidate. What the candidate promises is what his party wants him to promise. The party cannot escape liability. “A candidate makes a promise with the backing of his party. There cannot be a dichotomy between a candidate and his party,” senior advocate Arvind P. Datar, who was also a lawyer in the Balaji case, submitted before the Chief Justice Ramana’s Bench during a hearing on ways to rein in irrational freebies. “I will constitute a three-judge Bench for this,” Chief Justice Ramana said. During the hearing, Datar referred to Section 123 of the Act which deals with ‘corrupt practices’. The provision says it is ‘bribery’ and thus deemed a corrupt practice if any gift, offer or promise of gratification is made to voters directly or indirectly by a candidate or his agent or any other person acting on their consent. Senior advocate Vikas Singh also urged the court to re-examine the Balaji judgment, saying it was wrong in several aspects. The judgment by a Bench of Justices P. Sathasivam and Ranjan Gogoi (both retired) had clearly drawn a distinction between an individual candidate put up by a political party and the political party itself. “The provisions of the Act prohibit an individual candidate from resorting to promises, which constitute a corrupt practice within the meaning of Section 123 of the RP Act. The provisions of the Act place no fetter on the power of the political parties to make promises in the election manifesto,” the court had held in July 2013. The lawyers on Wednesday also questioned the rationale of the judgment which had held that it was directly part of the Directive Principles of State Policy for a State to distribute “largesse in the form of distribution of colour TVs, laptops, etc., to eligible and deserving persons”. “The purpose of the schemes is to enforce the Directive Principles of State Policy. In what way the State chooses to implement the Directive Principles of State Policy is a policy decision of the State and this court cannot interfere with such decisions unless they are clearly in violation of some statutory or constitutional provision or is shockingly arbitrary in nature,” Justice Sathasivam had observed in the judgment. The 2013 judgment had said it was for the government concerned to take into account its financial resources and the needs of the people. “There cannot be a straitjacket formula. If certain benefits are restricted to a particular class that can obviously be on account of the limited resources of the State,” the verdict had said. It had directed the Election Commission to consult with recognised political parties and frame guidelines for the general conduct of candidates, etc., and also for election manifesto, saying all of this could be included in the Model Code of Conduct for the Guidance of Political Parties and Candidates. I was misquoted, was only paraphrasing Ambedkar’s views: JNU VC on ‘caste of gods’ remark After her “no god is upper caste” remark stoked controversy, JNU Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit on Wednesday defended her comments as an academic exercise and [said she was misquoted on her comments](. She also said she is an academic first and people should get angry with B. R. Ambedkar for it was he who she was “paraphrasing.” [JNU Vice-Chancellor Santishree Pandit.] “I was asked to speak on B. R. Ambedkar’s views on gender justice. I was paraphrasing B. R. Ambedkar. You can see his writings. Why should people get angry with me? They should get angry with B. R. Ambedkar. Why am I being pulled into it,” Pandit told PTI. Delivering the Dr B. R. Ambedkar Lecture Series titled ‘Dr. B. R. Ambedkar’s Thoughts on Gender Justice: Decoding the Uniform Civil Code’, Pandit had on Monday said “anthropologically” gods do not belong to the upper caste and that even Lord Shiva could be from scheduled caste or tribe. “I am an academic first, a professor. Why is an academic lecture being politicised? I am really scared to give any lecture in Delhi. Everything is misquoted. I am not an original thinker, I am a professor. I feel so hurt, why are people politicising it?” she asked. During the lecture, the JNU VC had also said the “status of shudras given to women in Manusmriti” makes it extraordinarily regressive. “Let me tell all women that all women according to Manusmriti are shudras so no woman can claim she is a Brahmin or anything else and it is only by marriage that you get the husband or father’s caste on you. I think this is something which is extraordinarily regressive,” she had said. Taking about the recent caste violence involving a nine-year-old Dalit boy, she said that “no god belonged to the upper caste.” “Most of you should know the origins of our gods anthropologically. No god is a brahmin, the highest is a kshatriya. Lord Shiva must be a scheduled caste or a scheduled tribe because he sits in a cemetery with a snake and has very little clothes to wear. I don’t think Brahmins can sit in the cemetery,” she had said. She had also said that “anthropologically” gods, including Lakshmi, Shakti, or even Jagannath do not come from the upper caste. In fact, she said, Jagannath has tribal origins. “So why are we still continuing with this discrimination which is very very inhuman. It is very important that we are rethinking, reorienting the thoughts of Babasaheb. We do not have any leader of modern India who was such a great thinker.” Kejriwal government calls special session of Delhi Assembly on Friday amid political slugfest A [special session of the Delhi Assembly will be held on Friday]( amid a political slugfest over action by central probe agencies regarding the Kejriwal government’s excise policy and the AAP accusing the BJP of trying to lure its MLAs. The Assembly session is scheduled to be held from 11 a.m. on August 26, according to a document issued by the Delhi Assembly on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the BJP’s attempt to “topple” his government was a “serious issue”. The matter was in the AAP’s political Affairs Committee on Wednesday evening. In a meeting of the committee held at Kejriwal’s residence, the panel condemned the BJP’s alleged efforts to lure its MLAs. The AAP leaders have alleged that four MLAs were offered money by the BJP to quit the party. The ED has registered a money-laundering case against Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and others to probe the alleged irregularities in the Delhi Excise policy after taking cognisance of a CBI FIR that has named Sisodia and 14 others. The CBI had conducted raids in the 2021-22 excise policy case on August 19 and had covered the residence of Sisodia in Delhi, that of IAS officer and former Delhi excise commissioner Arava Gopi Krishna and 19 other locations across seven states and Union Territories. Sisodia holds multiple portfolios in the Delhi government including that of excise and education. The ED will probe if there were alleged irregularities in the formulation and execution of the Delhi Excise Policy unveiled in November last year. Nitish Kumar-led ‘Mahagathbandhan’ government wins trust vote in Bihar Bihar Chief Minister [Nitish Kumar-led Mahagathbandhan government on Wednesday won the floor test]( in the State Assembly to prove majority while Opposition BJP legislators walked out of the session. Kumar proved his majority first by voice vote and then by counting of votes. When Deputy Speaker Maheshwar Hazari announced that the trust vote has been passed by voice vote, former Speaker and State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhury requested him for counting of votes which was promptly accepted by Hazari. But the Opposition BJP legislators who, earlier, had walked out from the House during Chief Minister Kumar’s speech on debate of the trust vote, suddenly re-entered the House and opposed the move for counting of votes as the “result of voice vote has already been announced” and staged a walkout from the House again. Later, a total 160 MLAs voted in favour of the trust vote while no Opposition votes were counted. [Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and other Grand Alliance legislators flash the victory sign after the Nitish Kumar government won the trust vote in Patna on August 24, 2022. ] Deputy Speaker Hazari who was in chair after Speaker Vijay Sinha had resigned from his post, earlier had allowed a two-hour debate over the trust vote sought by the new Mahagathbandhan government. Former Deputy Chief Minister and senior State BJP leader Tarkishore Prasad attacked the Chief Minister for his regular flip-flops “to remain in the chair of CM” and also alleged that 75% of Ministers in the Mahagathbandhan government are tainted. “He (Kumar) is a habitual turncoat as earlier he had politically sacrificed leaders like George Fernandes and Sharad Yadav. In 2013 he betrayed us only to join us again in 2017 and then again betrayed us. In 2014 Lok Sabha election, his party had got only two seats and in 2020 Assembly poll they got only 43 seats and we 74 but we still made him Chief Minister of the State”, said Prasad in his 25-minute speech. He also recalled what both Kumar and RJD leaders like Tejashwi Yadav and his father Lalu Prasad had said after Kumar had severed ties with RJD in 2017. In his reply to Prasad, Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav slammed the BJP and charged that the party has only three sons-in-law -- CBI, ED and I-T. “With our joining hands again, the real threat for BJP is 2024 Lok Sabha election. BJP wanted to foment communal tension in Bihar but we want special status and special package for the development of the State”, said Tejashwi while adding, “jo darega woh marega, jo ladega woh jitega (those who get frightened will die, those who fight will win)”. “This alliance will have never-ending innings”, he said over the newly formed alliance with JD(U). Yadav also called CM Kumar a brave leader and friend of his father Lalu Prasad. “We all have socialist ideology and we’ll together bring development to Bihar”, he said while, praising his father Lalu Prasad that he never ever succumbed before communal forces. Later, CM Kumar too took on BJP and alleged that today no work is being done by the government at the Centre except “advertisement and publicity”. Kumar, though, listed development works done by his government in the State. He also reiterated that he didn’t have any ambition in life except uniting Opposition for development in the country and Bihar. Kumar recalled the days of BJP leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi. “ Lekin yeh jo aaye hain, koi kaam kiya hai kya (but, he who has come, has he done any work?)”, asked Kumar in oblique reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and added, “What were you (BJP) doing during freedom struggle?”. “Their only work is to foment communal and social tension in society but we’ll not let it happen”, he further said. Move to stifle any semblance of independent media: Congress on Adani’s NDTV stake With billionaire Gautam Adani launching a hostile takeover of NDTV, the Congress on Wednesday alleged that the bid by a company owned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “khaas dost (special friend)” is [a brazen move to control and stifle any semblance of an independent media](. In a stunning move with the potential to change the media landscape, Adani launched a hostile takeover of NDTV, first with an indirect acquisition of a 29.18% stake in the broadcaster followed by an offer to buy out a further 26% controlling stake. The owners of New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV), one of the nation’s most popular news channels, said they were completely unaware of the takeover until Tuesday, and that it was done without their consent or any discussion. In reference to the development, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh tweeted, “The news of a deeply over-leveraged company owned by the PM’s ‘khaas dost’ making a hostile takeover bid of a well-known TV news network is nothing but concentration of economic and political power, and a brazen move to control and stifle any semblance of an independent media.” BJP leader Sonali Phogat was murdered, claims brother; police conducting detailed probe, says Goa CM The brother of BJP leader Sonali Phogat has[filed a formal complaint with the Goa Police]( claiming that she was murdered by two of her associates. Phogat’s brother Rinku Dhaka alleged that a short while before her death, Phogat had spoken to her mother, sister and brother-in-law during which she sounded disturbed and complained against her two colleagues. He also claimed that the CCTV cameras, laptop and other crucial things from her farmhouse in Haryana have gone missing after her death. Phogat (42), the BJP leader from Hisar in Haryana who had found fame on Tik Tok, was “brought dead” at the St. Anthony Hospital at Anjuna in North Goa on August 23 morning, a police official earlier said, adding that she died of a suspected heart attack. The Anjuna police had registered a case of unnatural death. The family members of Phogat arrived in Goa on August 23 night. Dhaka, in his complaint filed with Anjuna police in Goa, claimed that two of Phogat’s associates murdered her in Goa. “We had asked her to stay away from them and return to Hisar the next day [after Phogat spoke to her mother],” Dhaka told reporters outside the Anjuna police station. He claimed the police have refused to register a First Information Report (FIR) against the two persons. “If the FIR is not filed against them, we will not allow the postmortem to be conducted in Goa,” he said. Dhaka said the family members would prefer the postmortem to be conducted at the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi or at AIIMS, Jaipur. “She was a BJP leader for last 15 years. We will also appeal to the prime minister to help us in getting justice for her,” he said. Earlier in the day, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the State police were conducting a detailed investigation into the death of the BJP leader. Considering the opinion of doctors and Goa Director General of Police Jaspal Singh, it preliminary looks like she died due to a heart attack, Sawant told reporters. Sawant said he has been following up the matter with Director General of Police Jaspal Singh. “The Goa Police are conducting a detailed investigation into the case,” he said. Deputy Superintendent of Police Jivba Dalvi said Phogat had arrived in Goa on August 22 and was staying in a hotel in Anjuna area. She was brought to the hospital from the hotel around 9 a.m. on Tuesday, he said. Phogat was brought to the St. Anthony Hospital after she complained of uneasiness, DGP Jaspal Singh told PTI on August 23. Singh said there is no foul play in the case, even as Phogat’s family questioned the circumstances of her death and Opposition parties in Haryana demanded a CBI probe. There are no external injury marks on the body, the DGP had said, adding that the postmortem report will reveal the exact cause of the death. In Brief Laxman takes charge as interim head coach [V.V.S. Laxman joined India’s squad on Wednesday as the interim head coach]( for the Asia Cup, starting in the United Arab Emirates from August 27. Laxman has been appointed since Rahul Dravid, the head coach, could not board the flight to the Emirates on Tuesday after being diagnosed with COVID-19. Jaiveer Shergill quits Congress [Congress leader Jaiveer Shergill has quit as its national spokesperson]( saying the party’s decision-making process is no longer in the interest of the country but is influenced by “self-serving interests of individuals indulging in sycophancy”. In his letter to party chief Sonia Gandhi, Shergill resigned from the post of the national spokesperson and said the primary reason was that “the ideology and the vision of the current decision makers of the Congress is no longer in sync with the aspirations of the youth and modern India”. 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