Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor dominated front-page headlines after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate Sunday.
However, he had competition from coronavirus as the number of cases rose once again and now stands at 39.
In financial news, the focus remains Kapoor’s arrest — but the Economic Times does some navel-gazing by leading with its Global Business Summit 2020.
The Times of India indicates the importance of the Yes Bank crisis by giving it a six-column lead spread. In ‘ED arrests Kapoor over Rs 600cr kickback’, the paper notes he was arrested after “30 hours of questioning, capping two days of action that began with raids on the banker’s Samudra Mahal residence in Worli and curbs being imposed on withdrawals from the bank.”
The accompanying report is much more intriguing with the mystery novel headline: ‘Why did he return from UK? Why did govt move now? An inside account of the drama’. It charts Kapoor’s return to India from London, lulled by a false sense of security and how he apparently stymied all effort to rescue Yes Bank: “Every time things appeared to be heading towards finality, his (Rana Kapoor’s) people would meet potential investors and probably talk them out of it”, it writes.
On coronavirus, TOI’s flap has got it all. The report, “Corona cases rise to 39 as 5 found infected in Kerala” notes, “Some reports said one person had died in Ladakh and another in West Bengal. Both were admitted in Covid-19 wards. The union health ministry hasn’t yet put them in the list of confirmed cases.”
Express leads with the Yes Bank crisis too and details his arrest: the Enforcement Directorate made the arrest at 4 am Sunday “after over 36 hours of interrogation on allegations that he received kickbacks through a Rs 600-crore loan given by Dewan Housing Financial Limited (DHFL),” the report highlights.
Here, too, there’s an exclusive — this one on how investors had suspected the crisis and “pulled out over Rs 18,000 crore between April and September last year”, (a decline of 8.64 percent in deposits).
And there’s finally some political activity in the Valley. A new party is trying out its luck — ‘National outlook, ready to deal with Delhi…’ reports the formation of ‘Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party’ led by former Peoples Democratic Party leader Altaf Bukhari who said “he wanted ‘to end the mistrust between New Delhi and J&K'”.
All eyes, sadly, focus on the photograph of the disconsolate Indian women’s cricket team after their resounding defeat against Australia in the T20 World Cup.
More disturbing is the moving account about H.S. Doreswamy, a centenarian who’s now “at the centre of a political storm” after a BJP MLA called him a “fake freedom fighter” and a “Pakistani agent”. The piece begins with a heart-wrenching quote from Doreswamy — “I have been writing my CV”. Read on.
Unlike TOI, Hindustan Times leads with coronavirus in India (‘5 new Kerala infections take virus cases up to 39’) noting US, France and Spain have been added “to the list of 15 high-risk countries from where passengers arriving in India will not just be screened for symptoms but will also be isolated from others through separate aerobridges, and will be put under a stricter community surveillance programme if the disease is suspected.”
And here’s worrying news on public responsibility in the times of a health emergency: “People reluctant to undergo tests adding to woes” says three people who tested positive in Kerala reportedly did not inform authorities of returning from Italy.
The inconsolable Indian women’s cricket team also makes it to the front page, rounding off a sad morning front page.
Away from all the bad news, is a report on the construction of a new Parliament building (‘Green nod for Parliament plan on hold till court hears matter’). It notes that the project is aimed at providing a “larger Parliament building for the nation for better functioning of the legislature” but also added that “CPWD needed to meet a slew of conditions before the proposal can be reconsidered.”
Like TOI, The Hindu also gives Kapoor more play on page 1, over COVID-19. The lead (‘After 15 hours of questioning, Rana Kapoor arrested by ED’) notes, “Despite prolonged questioning, Mr. Kapoor was found to be uncooperative and hence, the need for custodial interrogation was deemed necessary.”
A must-read is the report on hoardings of people “accused and out on bail, but not convicted” during the CAA violence in UP (“HC pulls up UP govt over hoardings”). While other newspapers carry the report, Hindu offers the most extensive account: The Allahabad High Court “orally observed that the hoardings were an encroachment on personal liberty and asked if the government would take corrective measures before the hearing.”
Another story grabs your attention: ‘Couple with ‘IS links’ held in the Capital’, says Jahanjeb Sami and his wife Hina Bashir Beg, allegedly have “links to Khorasan module of the Islamic State” and were “instigating” violence in anti-CAA protests.
New Indian Express also focuses on the five fresh cases of coronavirus in Kerala and “the carelessness of three fliers of a family ruined the reputation of Kerala that was seen as a model on handling the deadly coronavirus”. According to the report, “the three — a couple and their son — had recently returned to Kochi from Italy but evaded airport screening”.
In more coronavirus-related news, 18 people from Tamil Nadu are stranded on a Nile cruise ship “for at least two days after 33 people on board tested positive for COVID-19”.
Also, there is good news for India on the oil price front as they are “set to take a deep dive…as producers led by Saudi Arabia are gearing up for an all-out price war”. The report notes that the development happened “after OPEC failed to clinch a deal with Russia”.
The Tribune‘s cluttered front page begins with a report on the CBI case against Yes Bank founder “[Rana] Kapoor & family”. The former banker is said to have broken down before the court and pleaded: “I am not running away anywhere”.
If you need a breather from the grim news, read the piece about the legendary poet Sahir Ludhianvi, whose alma mater — Ludhiana’s SCD Government College will celebrate his “birth centenary” that incidentally also falls on the institution’s 100th year.
The Economic Times leads with a few “reassuring” messages from the Modi government, first about the economy and then the citizenship law. In its lead the ‘Economy’s Alright…’, PM Modi is quoted as saying that the government’s “policies are clear..fundamentals are strong” and a “$5 trillion economy achievable“.
The second lead is about the “political pitch” made by Modi’s ministers Rajnath Singh and S Jaishankar for the CAA. While Rajnath said there was a “need to dispel fear”, Jaishankar was of the opinion that the legislation would “reduce the number of stateless people”.
There’s an important report about the State Bank of India’s plans to “bring in global investors” in order “to save Yes Bank”. The state-owned bank, which is the Yes Bank’s “anchor bank”, needs to come up with equity investment of another Rs 20,000 crore, notes the report.
Straight off the bat Business Standard’s piece on Rana Kapoor’s arrest says that the Yes Bank co-founder and his family “set up over a dozen shell firms that were allegedly used for receiving kickbacks to the tune of Rs 4,300 crore and invested in properties illegally”. The report quotes sources as saying that “the firms used the kickback amounts to buy properties values at Rs 2,000 crore”.
Also, the government is making “plans to permit foreign pension funds to set up independent pension trusts and make the Pensions Fund Regulatory Development Authority (PFRDA) the sole authority to allow a pensions product into the market”, as a part of some 30 changes that the finance ministry is planning to bring in.
Not just medicines and electronic items, the coronavirus outbreak will also hit “the government’s flagship scheme for resolving direct tax disputes” (Vivad se Vishwas) and it may get an extended deadline beyond March 31. The I-T department said that most people “will need time to arrange for funds to participate in the scheme and coronavirus will make it tougher for some firms, and many at their global headquarters are shut temporarily”.