The Evening Wrap: Lalu Prasad gets five-year jail term in Doranda treasury case

A CBI special court on Monday sentenced Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad to five-year jail term and imposed ₹60 lakh fine in the fifth case of the Animal Husbandry Department scam (commonly known as the fodder scam), related to the fraudulent withdrawal of ₹139.35 crore from the Doranda treasury in Jharkhand. Soon after Prasad was sentenced by the court, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told media persons in Patna that he was not among those who had filed “litigation” against him (Prasad). “But he [Prasad] has now many people around him who were among the litigants”, Kumar said, while pointing obliquely to senior RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari. “One such person has been with him [Prasad] sometime and sometime with me. He even sought to make me a co-petitioner but I refused to be drawn into the matter”. Kumar further said that Prasad had to give up the Chief Minister’s chair for his wife. “There have been several cases [related to the fodder scam] and he has also been convicted in many of them. There may be some more,” he stated when asked about allegations that Prasad was paying the price for his opposition to the BJP, which now rules at the Centre. Later, Tiwari, who is currently RJD national vice-president and was one among those who had signed the petition to demand a CBI inquiry into the fodder scam, said, “It was not an individual’s decision to file the petition in the court, but of the party, whose leader in Bihar was Nitish Kumar, and he refused to sign the petition as he lacks strength in his spine. But one question I would like to ask Kumar is had he ever not met the kingpin of the fodder scam Shyam Bihari Sinha?” Prasad too tweeted in Hindi, “I fight those who creates divides. They can’t defeat us so they try to trap us in conspiracies. I’ve neither been afraid, not bent before anyone. I’ll keep fighting. The coward will never understand the struggles of a fighter”. Prasad’s younger son and Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav said, “If Lalu ji would have shaken hands with the BJP, he would have been called Raja Harishchandra. But today, he is fighting against the RSS-BJP and facing imprisonment. We’ll not get scared with all this.” Taking on the CBI, he stated, “The Central agency has forgotten the scams done by Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. Apart from the fodder scam, it seems no scam has happened in the country. In Bihar, almost 80 scams have happened but where is the CBI, ED and the NIA? In the country, there is only one scam and one leader.” State RJD president Jagdanand Singh said, “The RJD is not just a political party but a hope of the common people of Bihar and Lalu Prasad is the tallest worker of the party. He stays in the heart of common people and no one can displace him”. Earlier, along with 37 others, Prasad was convicted in the fraudulent withdrawal of ₹139.35 crore from the Doranda treasury on February 15, 2022 and CBI court judge S.K. Sashi had reserved the quantum of punishment to the convicted persons. The court completed hearing arguments in the case on January 29. Prasad has been convicted in four other fodder scam cases and served more than half of the jail terms in most of them. One more case linked to the scam related to illegal withdrawal of money from the Bhagalpur treasury is pending before the CBI court in Patna. Suffering from multiple diseases, he is currently on bail and admitted to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi, from where he was virtually present in the court on Monday while the sentence was pronounced by the judge. Apart from Prasad, former Bihar MP Jagdish Sharma, then Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Dhruv Bhagat, AHD secretary Beck Julius and AHD director K.M. Prasad and others were accused persons in the case. Prasad has been in the Birsa Munda Central jail in Ranchi since December 2017 in different fodder scam cases and he was granted bail in April 2021. Recently, he had gone Ranchi to physically appear in court in the Doranda treasury case but was admitted again in the RIMS. The fodder scam is a set of 55 cases, which were later clubbed into fewer cases, relating to alleged illegal withdrawal of ₹950 crore from treasuries of different districts in undivided Bihar, mostly between 1992 and 1995. Officials of the Animal Husbandry Department had allegedly withdrawn money in cahoots with politicians against fake bills for fodder, medicine and artificial insemination equipment. They allegedly transported animals on vehicles bearing registration numbers of two-wheelers. The fodder scam had surfaced in 1996. The fodder scam is a set of 55 cases, which were later clubbed into fewer cases, relating to alleged illegal withdrawal of ₹950 crore from treasuries of different districts in undivided Bihar, mostly between 1992 and 1995. Officials of the Animal Husbandry Department had allegedly withdrawn money in cahoots with politicians against fake bills for fodder, medicine and artificial insemination equipment. They allegedly transported animals on vehicles bearing registration numbers of two-wheelers. The fodder scam had surfaced in 1996. Lakhimpur Kheri: farmers’ kin move SC against bail to Minister’s son The families of the protesting farmers who were run over in Lakhimpur Kheri challenged in the Supreme Court on Monday the grant of bail by the Allahabad High Court to accused Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra Teni. The families, represented by advocates Prashant Bhushan and Cheryl d’Souza, said they have appealed the February 10 bail order as the State of Uttar Pradesh has not budged as yet. The petitioners have alleged that the bail was an “arbitrary” exercise of discretionary powers by the High Court and their lawyer was unable to present their side of the case. The petition reminded the apex court that it had taken suo motu cognisance of the incident, which involved the shocking case of farmers, protesting the controversial farm laws, being run over in broad daylight. The plea stated that the top court, on November 17 last year, ordered the formation of an independent special investigation team to conduct the investigation and filing of status report before it after the charge sheet was filed. The grant of bail to the Minister’s son would derail the prosecution of the case, they argued. The charge sheet was filed on January 3. “The family members of the murdered farmers are seeking special leave to appeal under Article 136 of the Constitution of India against the order as the State of Uttar Pradesh where the political party of the accused and his father is in power has failed to file appeal against the impugned order,” the petitioners said. The families have argued that Mishra was released on bail despite the heinous nature of the crime, the character of the overwhelming evidence against the accused in the charge sheet, the position and status of the accused with reference to the victim and witnesses, the likelihood of the accused fleeing from justice and repeating the offence and the possibility of his tampering with the witnesses and obstructing the course of justice. The petitioners said the bail order was perverse in law. The accused has not brought on record the fact that the charge sheet had been filed even before the final hearing on the question of bail on January 18. “The High Court neither considered nor dealt with the overwhelming evidence against the accused in charge sheet,” they contended. “The victims were prevented from bringing the relevant material as regards the settled principles for grant of bail to notice of High Court as their counsel ‘got’ disconnected from the hearing on January 18 before he could barely make any submissions and repeated calls to the court staff to get reconnected were to no avail,” they noted. The petitioners pointed out that non-consideration in the order of the power and influence wielded by the accused and his supporters in the area where the victims, family members, witnesses, and their advocates reside and who have consistently been under pressure was perverse and there was “an immediate threat of the streams of justice being sullied”. The petitioners pointed out that non-consideration in the order of the power and influence wielded by the accused and his supporters in the area where the victims, family members, witnesses, and their advocates reside and who have consistently been under pressure was perverse and there was “an immediate threat of the streams of justice being sullied”. Tension in Shivamogga following murder of 26-year-old The petitioners pointed out that non-consideration in the order of the power and influence wielded by the accused and his supporters in the area where the victims, family members, witnesses, and their advocates reside and who have consistently been under pressure was perverse and there was “an immediate threat of the streams of justice being sullied”. Shivamogga district administration clamped prohibitory orders in Shivamogga city and Bhadravati city on February 21 and 22 in the wake of incidents of stone-pelting and burning of vehicles following the murder of a Hindutva activist in Shivamogga on Sunday (February 20) night. The prohibitory orders have been issued as per Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973. Harsha, 26, a resident of Seegehatti in Shivamogga, was attacked by a group of unknown persons at Bharati Colony around 10 p.m. He was taken to McGann Hospital where he succumbed to injuries. He is said to be associated with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), one of the organisations comprising the ‘Sangh parivar’ of which the ruling BJP is a part. As news of the murder spread, incidents of stone-pelting and vehicles being set on fire were reported in some parts of Shivamogga. Police have been deployed in sensitive areas. Senior police officers are monitoring the situation. On February 21 morning, Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said, “Harsha was a Hindu activist and volunteer of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).” He appealed to the people of Shivamogga to maintain calm and peace, assuring them that the police would arrest the culprits and ensure they are punished. Later in the day, the body of Harsha was handed over to his family members after a post-mortem at Mc Gann Hospital. Hundreds of youths followed the vehicle carrying his mortal remains, on bikes. They were carrying saffron flags and raisings slogans praising Harsha. There were instances of stone-pelting along the route taken by the vehicle carrying Harsha’s mortal remains, resulting in damage to a couple of vehicles. Stones were thrown at some shops as well. Shivamogga Deputy Commissioner Selvamani R. declared a holiday for schools and colleges in the city on February 21. Rural Development & Panchayat Raj Minister K.S. Eshwarappa has blamed ‘goondas’ of a particular community for the murder. He alleged that recent statements of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D.K. Shivakumar on the saffron flag issue had ‘instigated’ the perpetrators of the crime. Speaking to mediapersons in Bengaluru on February 21, the Minister said that Shivakumar ‘misled’ people by spreading ‘false information’ that the national tricolour was lowered to hoist a saffron flag in a college campus. Later, he claimed to have information on the trucks in which saffron shawls were brought from Surat, Gujarat. The Minister said the BJP and the Hindu organisations would stand by the family of the victim. Reacting to the allegations, KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar said the State Government should book a case against Eshwarappa and arrest him so that normalcy could be restored. Shivakumar said, “He has to make comments against me to survive in the party.” Stating that statements on the flag issue had nothing to do with the murder, Shivakumar said, “We do not want to politicise the issue. We have been protesting against Eshwarappa and we have demanded that he be sacked from the cabinet. According to information available so far, the murder in Shivamogga may have taken place over some personal issue. Let the police probe the case and arrest those involved in the murder.” Speaking to mediapersons in Shivamogga on February 21, Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said the police had got clues about the perpetrators. “As of now, there is no information about the involvement of any organisation in the murder. A group of four-five people are said to have been involved. The police are trying to track them down. Harsha was a Hindu activist and volunteer of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS),” he said. The Home Minister said that there was an attempt to attack him earlier too. He is named in a couple of cases, he added. The Home Minister said that there was an attempt to attack him earlier too. He is named in a couple of cases, he added. Moscow says shell fired from Ukraine destroys Russian border facility; Ukraine denounces claim as ‘fake news’ Ukraine dismissed a Russian claim that its forces had shelled a border post on Monday, denouncing it as “fake news” designed to inflame tensions. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) had earlier alleged that a projectile fired from Ukraine had destroyed a border facility used by its guards. Video released by the FSB showed a small, apparently one-room shed with its roof and walls caved in and a Russian flag leaning against strewn debris. The claim increased concerns that Moscow is seeking a pretext to justify its military build-up on the border of Ukraine, which U.S. intelligence says is an invasion force. But Ukraine’s spokesman for its joint military operation against Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine was unimpressed by the Russian allegation. “They conduct different provocations and produce fake news every day, even a couple of times per day,” Pavlo Kovalchuk told reporters in Kramatorsk. “We couldn’t stop them producing this fake news, but we always emphasise that we do not shoot at civilian infrastructure,” he said. “We don’t use artillery to shoot back at occupation forces,” he added, referring to the Moscow-backed rebels holding parts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. Washington has repeatedly warned that Moscow is trying to justify a planned invasion by planting fake stories of Ukrainian aggression. Russian-backed leaders in the rebel enclaves in Donetsk and Lugansk have ordered a general mobilisation and the evacuation of civilians, while shelling has intensified. The FSB statement was released just as Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was to chair an unscheduled meeting of his national security council. “On February 21, at 9:50 a.m. (0650 GMT), an unidentified projectile fired from Ukraine completely destroyed a border facility used by the FSB border guard service in the Rostov region, around 150 meters (490 feet) from the Russian-Ukrainian border,” it said. The statement added that no one had been injured in the incident and that Russian military engineers had arrived at the scene. Ukraine has been fighting separatists since 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula after street protests in Kyiv overthrew a pro-Moscow president. Meanwhile, in what appeared to be a last-ditch diplomatic gambit brokered with the aid of French President Emmanuel Macron, the White House said U.S. President Joe Biden has agreed “in principle” to a meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin as long as he holds off on launching an assault that U.S. officials warn appears increasingly more likely. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the administration has been clear that “we are committed to pursuing diplomacy until the moment an invasion begins.” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are set to meet on Thursday in Europe — as long as Russia does not send its troops into Ukraine beforehand. “We are always ready for diplomacy. We are also ready to impose swift and severe consequences should Russia instead choose war,” Psaki said in statement. “And currently, Russia appears to be continuing preparations for a full-scale assault on Ukraine very soon.” Russia on Sunday rescinded earlier pledges to pull tens of thousands of its troops back from Ukraine’s northern border, a move that U.S. leaders said put Russia another step closer to what they said was the planned invasion of Ukraine. Residents of Ukraine’s capital filled a gold-domed cathedral to pray for peace. Russia’s action extends what it said were military exercises, originally set to end Sunday, that brought an estimated 30,000 Russian forces to Belarus, Ukraine’s neighbor to the north. They are among at least 150,000 Russian troops now deployed outside Ukraine’s borders, along with tanks, warplanes, artillery and other war materiel. The continued deployment of the Russian forces in Belarus raised concern that Russia could send those troops to sweep down on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, a city of about 3 million people less than a three-hour drive away. In Kyiv, life outwardly continued as usual for many on a mild winter Sunday, with brunches and church services, ahead of what Biden said late last week was an already decided-upon Russian attack. In Kyiv, life outwardly continued as usual for many on a mild winter Sunday, with brunches and church services, ahead of what Biden said late last week was an already decided-upon Russian attack. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 42,838,401 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 5,12,147. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 21 FEBRUARY 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]( Lalu Prasad gets five-year jail term in Doranda treasury case A CBI special court on Monday sentenced Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad to [five-year jail term]( and imposed ₹60 lakh fine in the fifth case of the Animal Husbandry Department scam (commonly known as the fodder scam), related to the fraudulent withdrawal of ₹139.35 crore from the Doranda treasury in Jharkhand. Soon after Prasad was sentenced by the court, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told media persons in Patna that he was not among those who had filed “litigation” against him (Prasad). “But he [Prasad] has now many people around him who were among the litigants”, Kumar said, while pointing obliquely to senior RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari. [Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav at a paying ward of Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), which is temporarily converted into a jail for him, in Ranchi, Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. ] “One such person has been with him [Prasad] sometime and sometime with me. He even sought to make me a co-petitioner but I refused to be drawn into the matter”. Kumar further said that Prasad had to give up the Chief Minister’s chair for his wife. “There have been several cases [related to the fodder scam] and he has also been convicted in many of them. There may be some more,” he stated when asked about allegations that Prasad was paying the price for his opposition to the BJP, which now rules at the Centre. Later, Tiwari, who is currently RJD national vice-president and was one among those who had signed the petition to demand a CBI inquiry into the fodder scam, said, “It was not an individual’s decision to file the petition in the court, but of the party, whose leader in Bihar was Nitish Kumar, and he refused to sign the petition as he lacks strength in his spine. But one question I would like to ask Kumar is had he ever not met the kingpin of the fodder scam Shyam Bihari Sinha?” Prasad too tweeted in Hindi, “I fight those who creates divides. They can’t defeat us so they try to trap us in conspiracies. I’ve neither been afraid, not bent before anyone. I’ll keep fighting. The coward will never understand the struggles of a fighter”. Prasad’s younger son and Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav said, “If Lalu  ji would have shaken hands with the BJP, he would have been called Raja Harishchandra. But today, he is fighting against the RSS-BJP and facing imprisonment. We’ll not get scared with all this.” Taking on the CBI, he stated, “The Central agency has forgotten the scams done by Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. Apart from the fodder scam, it seems no scam has happened in the country. In Bihar, almost 80 scams have happened but where is the CBI, ED and the NIA? In the country, there is only one scam and one leader.” State RJD president Jagdanand Singh said, “The RJD is not just a political party but a hope of the common people of Bihar and Lalu Prasad is the tallest worker of the party. He stays in the heart of common people and no one can displace him”. Earlier, along with 37 others, Prasad was convicted in the fraudulent withdrawal of ₹139.35 crore from the Doranda treasury on February 15, 2022 and CBI court judge S.K. Sashi had reserved the quantum of punishment to the convicted persons. The court completed hearing arguments in the case on January 29. Prasad has been convicted in four other fodder scam cases and served more than half of the jail terms in most of them. One more case linked to the scam related to illegal withdrawal of money from the Bhagalpur treasury is pending before the CBI court in Patna. Suffering from multiple diseases, he is currently on bail and admitted to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi, from where he was virtually present in the court on Monday while the sentence was pronounced by the judge. Apart from Prasad, former Bihar MP Jagdish Sharma, then Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Dhruv Bhagat, AHD secretary Beck Julius and AHD director K.M. Prasad and others were accused persons in the case. Prasad has been in the Birsa Munda Central jail in Ranchi since December 2017 in different fodder scam cases and he was granted bail in April 2021. Recently, he had gone Ranchi to physically appear in court in the Doranda treasury case but was admitted again in the RIMS. The fodder scam is a set of 55 cases, which were later clubbed into fewer cases, relating to alleged illegal withdrawal of ₹950 crore from treasuries of different districts in undivided Bihar, mostly between 1992 and 1995. Officials of the Animal Husbandry Department had allegedly withdrawn money in cahoots with politicians against fake bills for fodder, medicine and artificial insemination equipment. They allegedly transported animals on vehicles bearing registration numbers of two-wheelers. The fodder scam had surfaced in 1996. The fodder scam is a set of 55 cases, which were later clubbed into fewer cases, relating to alleged illegal withdrawal of ₹950 crore from treasuries of different districts in undivided Bihar, mostly between 1992 and 1995. Officials of the Animal Husbandry Department had allegedly withdrawn money in cahoots with politicians against fake bills for fodder, medicine and artificial insemination equipment. They allegedly transported animals on vehicles bearing registration numbers of two-wheelers. The fodder scam had surfaced in 1996. Lakhimpur Kheri: farmers’ kin move SC against bail to Minister’s son The families of the protesting farmers who were run over in Lakhimpur Kheri [challenged in the Supreme Court]( on Monday the grant of bail by the Allahabad High Court to accused Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra Teni. The families, represented by advocates Prashant Bhushan and Cheryl d’Souza, said they have appealed the February 10 bail order as the State of Uttar Pradesh has not budged as yet. The petitioners have alleged that the bail was an “arbitrary” exercise of discretionary powers by the High Court and their lawyer was unable to present their side of the case. The petition reminded the apex court that it had taken suo motu cognisance of the incident, which involved the shocking case of farmers, protesting the controversial farm laws, being run over in broad daylight. The plea stated that the top court, on November 17 last year, ordered the formation of an independent special investigation team to conduct the investigation and filing of status report before it after the charge sheet was filed. The grant of bail to the Minister’s son would derail the prosecution of the case, they argued. The charge sheet was filed on January 3. “The family members of the murdered farmers are seeking special leave to appeal under Article 136 of the Constitution of India against the order as the State of Uttar Pradesh where the political party of the accused and his father is in power has failed to file appeal against the impugned order,” the petitioners said. The families have argued that Mishra was released on bail despite the heinous nature of the crime, the character of the overwhelming evidence against the accused in the charge sheet, the position and status of the accused with reference to the victim and witnesses, the likelihood of the accused fleeing from justice and repeating the offence and the possibility of his tampering with the witnesses and obstructing the course of justice. The petitioners said the bail order was perverse in law. The accused has not brought on record the fact that the charge sheet had been filed even before the final hearing on the question of bail on January 18. “The High Court neither considered nor dealt with the overwhelming evidence against the accused in charge sheet,” they contended. “The victims were prevented from bringing the relevant material as regards the settled principles for grant of bail to notice of High Court as their counsel ‘got’ disconnected from the hearing on January 18 before he could barely make any submissions and repeated calls to the court staff to get reconnected were to no avail,” they noted. The petitioners pointed out that non-consideration in the order of the power and influence wielded by the accused and his supporters in the area where the victims, family members, witnesses, and their advocates reside and who have consistently been under pressure was perverse and there was “an immediate threat of the streams of justice being sullied”. The petitioners pointed out that non-consideration in the order of the power and influence wielded by the accused and his supporters in the area where the victims, family members, witnesses, and their advocates reside and who have consistently been under pressure was perverse and there was “an immediate threat of the streams of justice being sullied”. Tension in Shivamogga following murder of 26-year-old [Police personnel attempt to maintain law and order as rioters pelt stones, amid tension over the murder of a member of Bajrang Dal on Sunday night, in Shivamogga, Monday, Feb. 21, 2022. ] The petitioners pointed out that non-consideration in the order of the power and influence wielded by the accused and his supporters in the area where the victims, family members, witnesses, and their advocates reside and who have consistently been under pressure was perverse and there was “an immediate threat of the streams of justice being sullied”. Shivamogga district administration [clamped prohibitory orders]( in Shivamogga city and Bhadravati city on February 21 and 22 in the wake of incidents of stone-pelting and burning of vehicles following the murder of a Hindutva activist in Shivamogga on Sunday (February 20) night. The prohibitory orders have been issued as per Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973. Harsha, 26, a resident of Seegehatti in Shivamogga, was attacked by a group of unknown persons at Bharati Colony around 10 p.m. He was taken to McGann Hospital where he succumbed to injuries. He is said to be associated with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), one of the organisations comprising the ‘Sangh parivar’ of which the ruling BJP is a part. As news of the murder spread, incidents of stone-pelting and vehicles being set on fire were reported in some parts of Shivamogga. Police have been deployed in sensitive areas. Senior police officers are monitoring the situation. On February 21 morning, Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said, “Harsha was a Hindu activist and volunteer of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).” He appealed to the people of Shivamogga to maintain calm and peace, assuring them that the police would arrest the culprits and ensure they are punished. Later in the day, the body of Harsha was handed over to his family members after a post-mortem at Mc Gann Hospital. Hundreds of youths followed the vehicle carrying his mortal remains, on bikes. They were carrying saffron flags and raisings slogans praising Harsha. There were instances of stone-pelting along the route taken by the vehicle carrying Harsha’s mortal remains, resulting in damage to a couple of vehicles. Stones were thrown at some shops as well. Shivamogga Deputy Commissioner Selvamani R. declared a holiday for schools and colleges in the city on February 21. Rural Development & Panchayat Raj Minister K.S. Eshwarappa has blamed ‘goondas’ of a particular community for the murder. He alleged that recent statements of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D.K. Shivakumar on the saffron flag issue had ‘instigated’ the perpetrators of the crime. Speaking to mediapersons in Bengaluru on February 21, the Minister said that Shivakumar ‘misled’ people by spreading ‘false information’ that the national tricolour was lowered to hoist a saffron flag in a college campus. Later, he claimed to have information on the trucks in which saffron shawls were brought from Surat, Gujarat. The Minister said the BJP and the Hindu organisations would stand by the family of the victim. Reacting to the allegations, KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar said the State Government should book a case against Eshwarappa and arrest him so that normalcy could be restored. Shivakumar said, “He has to make comments against me to survive in the party.” Stating that statements on the flag issue had nothing to do with the murder, Shivakumar said, “We do not want to politicise the issue. We have been protesting against Eshwarappa and we have demanded that he be sacked from the cabinet. According to information available so far, the murder in Shivamogga may have taken place over some personal issue. Let the police probe the case and arrest those involved in the murder.” Speaking to mediapersons in Shivamogga on February 21, Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said the police had got clues about the perpetrators. “As of now, there is no information about the involvement of any organisation in the murder. A group of four-five people are said to have been involved. The police are trying to track them down. Harsha was a Hindu activist and volunteer of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS),” he said. The Home Minister said that there was an attempt to attack him earlier too. He is named in a couple of cases, he added. The Home Minister said that there was an attempt to attack him earlier too. He is named in a couple of cases, he added. Moscow says shell fired from Ukraine destroys Russian border facility; Ukraine denounces claim as ‘fake news’ [People carry out repair works in a school building, which locals said was damaged by recent shelling, in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine February 21, 2022. ] Ukraine dismissed a Russian claim that its forces had shelled a border post on Monday, [denouncing it as “fake news”]( to inflame tensions. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) had earlier alleged that a projectile fired from Ukraine had destroyed a border facility used by its guards. Video released by the FSB showed a small, apparently one-room shed with its roof and walls caved in and a Russian flag leaning against strewn debris. The claim increased concerns that Moscow is seeking a pretext to justify its military build-up on the border of Ukraine, which U.S. intelligence says is an invasion force. But Ukraine’s spokesman for its joint military operation against Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine was unimpressed by the Russian allegation. “They conduct different provocations and produce fake news every day, even a couple of times per day,” Pavlo Kovalchuk told reporters in Kramatorsk. “We couldn’t stop them producing this fake news, but we always emphasise that we do not shoot at civilian infrastructure,” he said. “We don’t use artillery to shoot back at occupation forces,” he added, referring to the Moscow-backed rebels holding parts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. Washington has repeatedly warned that Moscow is trying to justify a planned invasion by planting fake stories of Ukrainian aggression. Russian-backed leaders in the rebel enclaves in Donetsk and Lugansk have ordered a general mobilisation and the evacuation of civilians, while shelling has intensified. The FSB statement was released just as Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was to chair an unscheduled meeting of his national security council. “On February 21, at 9:50 a.m. (0650 GMT), an unidentified projectile fired from Ukraine completely destroyed a border facility used by the FSB border guard service in the Rostov region, around 150 meters (490 feet) from the Russian-Ukrainian border,” it said. The statement added that no one had been injured in the incident and that Russian military engineers had arrived at the scene. Ukraine has been fighting separatists since 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula after street protests in Kyiv overthrew a pro-Moscow president. Meanwhile, in what appeared to be a last-ditch diplomatic gambit brokered with the aid of French President Emmanuel Macron, the White House said U.S. President Joe Biden has agreed “in principle” to a meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin as long as he holds off on launching an assault that U.S. officials warn appears increasingly more likely. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the administration has been clear that “we are committed to pursuing diplomacy until the moment an invasion begins.” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are set to meet on Thursday in Europe — as long as Russia does not send its troops into Ukraine beforehand. “We are always ready for diplomacy. We are also ready to impose swift and severe consequences should Russia instead choose war,” Psaki said in statement. “And currently, Russia appears to be continuing preparations for a full-scale assault on Ukraine very soon.” Russia on Sunday rescinded earlier pledges to pull tens of thousands of its troops back from Ukraine’s northern border, a move that U.S. leaders said put Russia another step closer to what they said was the planned invasion of Ukraine. Residents of Ukraine’s capital filled a gold-domed cathedral to pray for peace. Russia’s action extends what it said were military exercises, originally set to end Sunday, that brought an estimated 30,000 Russian forces to Belarus, Ukraine’s neighbor to the north. They are among at least 150,000 Russian troops now deployed outside Ukraine’s borders, along with tanks, warplanes, artillery and other war materiel. The continued deployment of the Russian forces in Belarus raised concern that Russia could send those troops to sweep down on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, a city of about 3 million people less than a three-hour drive away. In Kyiv, life outwardly continued as usual for many on a mild winter Sunday, with brunches and church services, ahead of what Biden said late last week was an already decided-upon Russian attack. In Kyiv, life outwardly continued as usual for many on a mild winter Sunday, with brunches and church services, ahead of what Biden said late last week was an already decided-upon Russian attack. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 42,838,401 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 5,12,147.  Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. Today‘s Top Picks [[Since 2018, Delhi Police registered 380 cases for carrying live bullets to airports] Since 2018, Delhi Police registered 380 cases for carrying live bullets to airports]( [[Walls get a soft touch with pashmina] Walls get a soft touch with pashmina]( [[Kurnool lad wins Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival award] Kurnool lad wins Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival award]( [[Centre moots policy on synthetic biology] Centre moots policy on synthetic biology]( Copyright @ 2021, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. If you are facing any trouble in viewing this newsletter, please [try here]( If you do not wish to receive such emails [go here](