BENGALURU  THURSDAY  OCTOBER 31, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 24  LATE CITY EDITION BUCKINGHAM PALACE CONFIRMS TNIE REPORT ON CHARLES’ SECRET INDIA VISIT The Buckingham Palace confirmed King Charles and Queen Camilla visited Bengaluru for wellness treatment before returning to the UK from Samoa Charles and Camilla during one of their previous visits for treatment | SOURCE: SIHHC B’LURU STOP WAS TO BREAK LONG TRIP TO U.K. NOT CONNECTED TO CANCER TREATMENT A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said the stopover was to help break the long journey to the United Kingdom from Samoa. “Their Majesties had a short private stopover in India to help break the long journey back from Samoa,” the spokesperson said. They arrived on October 27 and stayed at Soukya International Holistic Health Centre located in Whitefield, Bengaluru ■ ■ ■ Charles is under treatment for cancer after being diagnosed with the disease earlier this year. Sources said the visit was not connected to the cancer treatment, which he will resume upon return to the UK He planted a Jacaranda sapling in the Soukya campus, an official said Charles and Camilla were on a 10-day official trip to Australia and Samoa 75-yr-old KING CHARLES HAD STAYED AT SOUKYA RETREAT NINE TIMES EARLIER CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Disengagement complete, troops to share sweets India, China wrap up troop pullback from Demchok & Depsang; joint verification is on Darshan gets interim bail for spine surgery E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Bengaluru THE High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday granted interim bail to actor Darshan, an accused in the Renukaswamy murder case, for six weeks on medical grounds. The court granted him liberty to undergo a spine surgery in a hospital of his choice in Bengaluru, but ordered him to refrain from appearing before the media, either print or social, to give any statement on his health condition during the bail period. Further, the court said Darshan should report to the hospital forthwith after his release and get himself medically examined. A report from the hospital should be placed Actor Darshan walks out of Ballari Jail on Wednesday | EXPRESS before the court within a week from the date of release. Justice S Vishwajith Shetty passed the order while allowing an interlocutory application filed by Darshan, who is in Ballari Central Prison, to grant him interim PATROLLING will soon begin at Demchok and Depsang Plains in eastern Ladakh, as Indian and Chinese troops have completed disengagement at these friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), sources said on Wednesday To . mark the de-escalation of tensions and improvement in the overall mood, the military personnel will celebrate Diwali by exchanging sweets at the traditional points along the 3,488-km long LAC. “The disengagement is complete and modalities for patrolling are being firmed up between ground commanders,” said an Army source. Troops from both sides have disengaged and shuffled back to their designated points as per the decision firmed up between the Corps Commanders of India and China. The disengagement process involves joint verification on the ground regarding the troop and equipment pullback to a mutually agreed distance from the face-off sites. Sources told this newspaper that the verifi- cation process is progressing and talks are currently on about the routes, schedule, and the patrolling size. Each patrolling unit will have a maximum of 20 personnel, who will be carrying their weapons. “The withdrawals are mutual and will proceed in phases. Patrolling may take time, depending on the removal of structures set up since the April 2020 clashes. Physical verification and surveillance are being conducted i n t h e s e a r e a s, ” sources said. The current disengagement is only for Depsang and Demchok. Army sources said that talks regarding patrolling in other stand-off points in Eastern Ladakh will continue. Troops from both sides have already disengaged from five other friction points, which came up in May 2020 after the People’s Liberation Army moved in its personnel in these areas after the clashes at the Finger Four on the North bank of the Pangong Tso. The patrolling limits and buffer zones in areas found no mention in the agreement for Demchok and Depsang Plains. Rajyotsava award for Moily, sculptor Yogiraj Many women ready to forgo free bus ride, says Shivakumar EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Bengaluru M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi @ Bengaluru SCULPTOR Arun Yogiraj, former CM Veerappa Moily, former Chief Secretary SV Ranganath, senior actor Hema Choudhary, Prof TV Ramachandra of IISc are prominent among the winners of Karnataka Rajyotsava Award to be presented here on November 1. Ramakrishna Badseshi, senior special correspondent, TNIE, Kalaburagi, will also be honoured with the award. According to sources, the selection committee received 2,087 applications for 69 awards this year in 12 categories, including folk, music, literature, journalism, medicine and education. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who will present the award in Bengaluru, in a social media post said, “I hope the achievements of the award-winners will be an inspiration to FULL LIST: P4 society .” TV5 owner B R Naidu is new TTD chairman D S U R E N D R A K U M A R @ Tirupati THE Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday announced the new governing board of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), with TV5 owner Bollineni Rajagopal Naidu, popularly known as B R Naidu, as the chairman. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s selection, while widely anticipated, ends weeks of speculation surrounding the composition of the TTD board. With three MLAs from Andhra B R Naidu Pradesh, five from Telangana, three from Karnataka, two from Tamil Nadu, and one each from Gujarat and Maharashtra, the Board includes a diverse group of people. Another member is likely to be appointed soon, with the nomination anticipated to come from the BJP an alliance partner. Former Union minister , Panabaka Lakshmi, former Chief Justice of India H L Dattu and Bharat Biotech Co-founder Suchitra Ella found seats on the TTD board. DEPUTY Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said on Wednesday that he has received many requests from women stating that they can buy bus tickets and are ready to forgo free travel under the Shakti scheme. Shivakumar told reporters that many women commuters sent requests to him through social media and emails. “The percentage of women who wish to travel by buying tickets may be around 10. However, bus conductors refuse to issue tickets to such women. I will hold a meeting with Transport Min- ister Ramalinga Reddy soon and discuss allowing women to pay for their travel in state-run buses,” Shivakumar said. Meanwhile, sources said women who wish to travel by purchasing tickets may do so. The conductors would not refuse tickets to them. Many may wonder if the statement of the minister is aimed at withdrawing the Shakti scheme. 311 crore women took free ride In all four RTCs, from June 11, 2023, to October 18 this year, 311,07,61,407 women used the scheme and the total ticket value was Rs 7,507 crore. EXPRESS READ New norms for hoax bomb threats to flights New Delhi: The Bureau of Civil Aviation has set new guidelines for hoax bomb threats issued via social media. Pseudonymous or anonymous social media handle and presence of VIPs onboard are some of the new criteria that agencies will keep in mind |P11 Kohli likely to lead RCB again New Delhi: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) is likely to re-appoint Virat Kohli as its captain for the 2025 IPL season. The franchise was led by South African cricketer Faf du Plessis from 2022 to 2024. Kohli had captained the Bengaluru team from 2013 to 2021, but gave up the captaincy after 14th edition of the T20 league. For these women, age no bar for learning A S H W I N I M S R I PA D @ Ramanagara “I never knew how to hold a pen properly. But now I carry one wherever I go. My dream is to read a book without anybody’s help one day,” says Bheeramma (60), a neo-literate from one of the villages under Neelasandra Gram Panchayat in Ramanagara district. The library at the Neelasandra GP office has helped many unlettered women like Bheeramma not only to read and write, but also realise their dream of getting educated and even pursue higher education. The RDPR Department has set up over 6,000 libraries in gram panchayats across the state. These libraries, which are mainly used by school and college-going students and graduates have now become learning centres for young and old unlettered women. “I never knew how to hold a pen properly But now I carry one wher. ever I go. I feel good to open the pen’s cap and sign my name,’’ says Bheeramma. Puttagowramma, 65, is also a regular at this library. “I was too young when I got married. My father did not send me to school and I remained illiterate. My grandchildren go to this library and I started accompanying them. That’s when I thought I should also learn to read and write. Whenever I went to a bank or a government office, officials used to insult me saying that I am a hebbettu (illiterate). I used to give my thumb impression. But now when they ask me to give my thumb impression, I proudly tell them that I can read and write, and sign the papers givP7 en to me,’’ she says. A woman being taught to read and write Kannada at the library at Neelasandra GP | NAGARAJA GADEKAL bail to undergo the surgery . Senior counsel CV Nagesh, who appeared on behalf of Darshan, submitted that the petitioner intends to undergo the prescribed treatment in a private hospital of his choice. Opposing this, special public prosecutor P Prasanna Kumar submitted that the medical report does not state that the accused is required to undergo a surgery immediately and there is a discrepancy in it. Hence, a medical board should be constituted by the court for a second opinion on the actor’s health condition, before passing any order on the interim bail application, he argued, citing the SC judgment in the P5 Asaram Bapu case. Canada minister named Shah in Nijjar case DIWALI OFF The Diwali fest for the IndoCanadian community at Parliament Hill was abruptly cancelled by Leader of the Opposition Pierre Poilievre. The festival had been celebrated there for the past 23 years Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi A Canadian minister admitted before a parliamentary panel that he outed Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s name to a US newspaper as having allegedly ordered a campaign of violence, intimidation, and intelligence-gathering targeting Sikh separatists inside Canada. Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister David Morrison told members of the national security committee that he had confirmed Shah’s name to The Washington Post, which first reported the allegations in con- nection with the murder of Khalistani radical Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June last year. But Morrison did not share any proof of Shah’s alleged involvement in the case. “The journalist called me and asked if it was that person. I confirmed it was that person,” Morrison told the committee. Bilateral relations went into deeper freeze after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently alleged that the Indian government had a role in the killing of Nijjar. Both sides expelled six diplomats each. While India accuses Canada of not even sharing a shred of evidence to support its theory, the latter claims it has ample proof. Nathalie Drouin, Trudeau’s national security adviser, told the committee that Canada has evidence to prove India gathered information on Indian nationals and Canadians in Canada through diplomatic channels and proxies. The infor mation was then passed on to a gangster, Lawrence Bishnoi.