IS KAMALA HARRIS A COP? 11 AUGUST 2024 TRAIN TO BANGLADESH WITH SEHRAWAT’S BRONZE, FABLED CHHATRASAL REGAINS ITS OLD CHARM www.thestatesman.com X.com/thestatesmanltd. Fb/thestatesman1875 PAGE 12 PAGE 13 PAGE 15 INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR PAGES 16 |` 5.00|LC WEATHER Generally cloudy sky. Light to moderate rain / thundershower very likely to occur. Maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 31 °C and 27 °C respectively. RAINFALL: 0.6 mm RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 91 % Civic volunteer arrested for RG Kar hospital ‘rape-murder’ CM says govt will ensure the case is fast-tracked and seek death penalty for the guilty STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, 10 AUGUST Min. 78 % TEMPERATURE Max: 31.2 (-1.2) SUN RISES 05:12 hrs MOON RISES 09:52 hrs Min: 28.2˚C (+1.4) SUN SETS 18:12 hrs MOON SETS 21:34 hrs Full Moon on 19 August THUMBNAILS Murmu receives Timor-Leste's highest civilian award: President Droupadi Murmu was Saturday conferred the Grand-Collar of the Order of Timor-Leste, the country's highest civilian award.''President José Ramos-Horta of Timor-Leste conferred the Grand-Collar of the Order of Timor-Leste, the country's highest civilian award, upon President Droupadi Murmu. The award is in recognition of her achievements in public service and dedication to education, social welfare and empowerment of women,'' the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a social media post on X. President Murmu said the honour is a reflection of the ties of friendship betw- een India and Timor-Leste.President Murmu, who is on a three-nation foreign tour, arrived in Timor Leste earlier today after concluding her visits to Fiji and New Zealand. In a special gesture, she was warmly received by President Jose Ramos-Horta at the airport. A civic volunteer of the Kolkata Police was arrested on Saturday in connection with the murder and alleged rape of a 31year-old post-graduate trainee doctor of R G Kar Medical College Hospital. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, meanwhile, has said that the government will ensure the case is fasttracked and seek the death penalty for the guilty. Vineet Kumar Goyal, the Kolkata commissioner of police, told reporters during a press conference this afternoon at Lalbazar, police headquarters: “One person has been arrested on the basis of evidence we have collected following overnight investigations. He is involved in a heinous crime. A rape and murder case has been registered against him.” The accused, identified as Sanjoy Roy, has been remanded to police custody by a court today for two weeks. On Friday, the body of the female PGT doctor was found on a stretcher in the Police produce the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital rape and murder case accused, Sanjoy Roy, at Sealdah Court in Kolkata on Saturday. n SNS chest medicine department’s seminar hall, housed on the third floor of the nine-storey emergency building of the state-run teaching hospital. The incident prompted the medical fraternity across West Bengal and other states to hit the streets in protest against the alleged rape and murder of their colleague. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told the media that the accused has been arrested and said he deserved capital punishment because of the heinous and unpardonable nature of his crime. Miss Banerjee said that she had asked officials to fast track Modi visits Wayanad, assures all assistance for relief & rehabilitation ACHUTHANANDAN KUNIYIL KALPETTA. 10 AUGUST Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday visited the landslide-hit areas in Kerala's Wayanad to assess the impact of the devastating calamity that has claimed around 300 lives and left many others missing. He promised all assistance for relief and rehabilitation work in the disaster-hit area, asserting that funds will not be a problem in this respect. Mr Modi, accompanied by Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Union Minister Suresh Gopi, and officials, visited the disaster-affected areas in Chooralmala. The Prime Minister, who reached Chooralmala at around 1 p.m, visited the Vellaarmala higher secondary school which was heavily impacted by the landslides that hit Wayanad. Walking down the school road, he saw the depth of the calamity ~ the flattened houses, collapsed buildings, mangled vehicles, huge uprooted trees and massive boulders strewn around the area. Earlier, Mr Modi undertook an aerial survey of the disaster-stricken areas in Wayanad district. He also visited a relief camp functioning at St. Joseph's School, Meppadi. He spent 25 minutes there engaging with several people impacted by the disaster. After a review meeting held at the Collectorate conference hall in Kalpetta, Mr Modi said he has sought a detailed memorandum on the damage from the state government. “The (Central) government will act favourably once we get the memorandum,” the PM said. He said funds will not be a problem for the relief and rehabilitation of the survivors of the landslides at Chooralmala and Mundakkai in Wayanad district. He the state and the Centre will join hands for the rehabilitation work. Central ministers and officials have already had a round of discussion. "The country and the government are with the survivors. We wish to let the affected know that they are not alone," he said. the case so that justice is done for the victim. Miss Banerjee also said that she had no problems with an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the crime and was on the same page with the junior doctors, who have gone on a cease-work strike and staged rallies demanding the arrest of the culprits and proper security arrangement for their safety in all government hospitals. “I’m completely on the same page with the junior doctors on their demands, which I think are logical and just ones. The police J&K: Two soldiers killed in gunfight STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE JAMMU, 10 AUGUST Two Army soldiers were killed and three injured in a fierce encounter with terrorists in the forest area of Ahlan Gagarmandu in South Kashmir's Kokernag on Saturday.The injured soldiers were evacuated to the military hospital but two of the critically injured succumbed to their wounds, reports said. The encounter broke out when the security forces launched a cordon and search operation in the area following information about the presence of terrorists there, officials said. In a statement the terror outfit Kashmir Tigers of the Jaishe-Mohammad has claimed responsibility for the gunfight, reports said. (Pg 10) Chopra provides silver lining to India’s below-par show in 33rd Olympic Games S S RAMASWAMY PARIS, 10 AUGUST With just one day left for the curtains to be rung down on the 33rd Olympic Games, it is time to take a dispassionate view of the show put up by India in Paris2024. The country’s contingent comprised 110 participants made up of 65 males and 46 females (plus seven alternates), 118 support staff and 22 officials. The medal haul thus far from the Games has been one lone silver medal won by 2020 Olympic javelin champion Neeraj Chopra plus five bronze medals, three of them coming from the shooting range. Pistol shooter Manu Bhaker provided the early spark on day two of the Games that commenced officially on 26 July by clinching the women’s 10 metre air pistol bronze medal. She added to that tally two days later by teaming up with Sarabjot Singh and capturing the mixed pair team bronze in the same event. Manu thus became the first from the country to win two bronze medals from the same edition of the Games. Swapnil Kusale then shot his way to the men’s 50m rifle three-position bronze medal. But other shooters came up empty. A total of 21 shooters had made it to the Games comprising 10 males and 11 females and hauled in three bronze medals. Exactly one week after the shooting bronze by Kusale, on 8 August India had its best day of the Games on the hockey turf and in the men's javelin throw in athletics. The hockey squad had put up a brave show to get past Britain with ten men on the field for 43 minutes of regulation time following the red card shown to Amit Rohidas to enter the semi-finals. However, Harmanpreet Singh’s men came a cropper against Germany in the semifinals on 6 August before edging out Spain 2-1 in a thriller in the bronze medal match to finish third for the second successive Games. Later that evening Neeraj Chopra tried to defend his Tokyo Games javelin crown but one monstrous throw of 92.97m by arch rival Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan, who created a new Olympic record, blew away the Indian ace’s hopes of creating history. However, he responded with a supreme effort and sealed up the silver medal with his second throw of 89.45m, his best for the season. But the rest of the athletics squad numbering 27 (17 men and 10 women) were hopelessly outclassed. Only men’s 3000m steeplechase runner Avinash Sable showed that he could at least compete at this level by advancing to the final where he finished 11th out of 16 in 8 minutes, 14.18 seconds. Male wrestler Aman Sehrawat added to the meagre medals tally by clinching the men’s 57kg freestyle wrestling bronze. The biggest disappointments came from the badminton court where P V Sindhu, a two-time medallist in previous editions, failed to make a mark and men’s singles hope Lakshya Sen squandered leads in the semifinal and then the bronze medal match to finish fourth. India drew a blank in archery, table tennis, boxing, weightlifting and tennis – disciplines where they were touted to have some reasonable chance. Phogat case: The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has extended the time till Sunday evening for its verdict on Vinesh Phogat's plea for joint silver medal following her disqualification at the Paris Olympics 50 kg final. have been asked to visit the hospital to strengthen security there, but having said that I would request them to withdraw their cease-work and rejoin duty. The state government is with them and would take every possible steps to ensure their safety”, Miss Banerjee said. According to police, the incident might have happened between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. on Friday, inside the seminar hall. Sanjoy Roy was arrested on the basis of two vital clues ~ CCTV footage and a Bluetooth headset that was found inside the hall. After verifying the CCTV footage, officials of the special investigating team (SIT), formed on Friday night, found there had been movement of four persons on the third floor during that time on Friday night. The officials traced them all and questioned them since Friday evening. Three of the four were relatives of patients admitted to the hospital. They had come to the chest medicine department to see their relatives.But the movements of the fourth person's, Sanjoy, were suspicious. Police tracked Sanjoy’s mobile number from the Bluetooth headset. According to the CCTV footage, Sanjoy was seen entering the seminar hall carrying the headset with him but it was not with him when he was coming out of the hall. Police showed the CCTV footage to some staff, including security personnel, to cross-check whether they knew all the four in the video. They identified one as Sanjoy and the other three were relatives of patients. The investigating officials contacted Sanjoy over his mobile number and called him to appear before them at Lalbazar. They interrogated him till Saturday midnight and then arrested him. Miss Banerjee, meanwhile, said that R G Kar hospital would get a new building adjacent to the old one for which the state government has identified a plot of 3.5 acres.She said the new building, which is intended to relieve the space crunch in the present hospital premises, would be named after the deceased doctor. (See also Pages 2, 3) 1987-batch IAS officer T V Somanathan appointed Cabinet Secy for 2-yr tenure STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 10 AUGUST The Appointments Committee of the Union Cabinet has appointed Mr T V Somanathan as the Cabinet Secretary of the government for a tenure of two years, starting 30 August, an order said on Saturday. "The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of TV Somanathan, IAS (TN:87) as Cabinet Secretary with a tenure of two years from August 30, 2024," an official order said. "The Appointments Com- mittee of the Cabinet has also approved the appointment of TV Somanathan as Officer on Special Duty in the Cabinet Secretariat from the date he joins the assignment till he takes over as the Cabinet Secretary," it added. He is currently serving as Finance Secretary and Secretary, Expenditure. He will succeed Mr Rajiv Gauba when he retires on 30 August. Mr Gauba was serving as Cabinet Secretary since 2019. Mr Gauba was given a one-year extension last year and is the country's longestserving Cabinet Secretary.