WORLD DIABETES DAY Friday, November 14, 2025 | Vol. 69 No. 34 | 29 Pages Reg.No MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 1541/1957 M.p.c.s office Mumbai. PIN 400001 THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL INDIA EDITION | www.freepressjournal.in ● Leader in E-paper circulation GAMES NATION ED attaches assets worth Rs 61.20 crore of C’garh ex-CM Bhupesh Baghel’s son in liquor scam Cinema Bollywood divas then and now: Children’s Day special Indian batters face stern test from South African spinners in series opener Edit Govt should regulate bullion trade to ensure transparency UNRAVELLING NOW | A widening terror conspiracy has begun to emerge as investigators piece together evidence of a planned series of coordinated car bombings across Delhi and beyond Delhi blast plot grows bigger, scarier FPJ News Service NEW DELHI What began as a single explosion outside the Red Fort on November 10 has rapidly evolved into the discovery of one of the most ambitious serial bombing plots planned in the capital in recent years Over the last 48 hours, intelligence and counter terror teams have unearthed evidence suggesting that the accused had begun readying as many as 32 vehicles for serial attacks. The Hyundai i20 that exploded near Red Fort — and the Ford EcoSport later found abandoned in Faridabad — were likely only the first in a larger fleet of booby-trapped vehicles meant to be stationed across the National Capital Region and other cities. Investigators say the choice of older cars, sold repeatedly, was deliberate, aimed at hindering traceability and delaying identification of previous owners. Investigators now believe the blast was not an isolated strike but the accidental exposure of a large-scale terror blueprint involving doctors, old cars, fertilizer consignments and a web of encrypted digital communication. The death toll rose to thirteen on Thursday after another victim, Bilal, succumbed to his injuries at LNJP Hospital. But the numbers only sketch the periphery of what agencies say could have been a multi-city coordinated attack timed for maximum impact. Search operations are under way across Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to locate a third vehicle, believed to be a Maruti Brezza used for reconnaissance. A fourth Brezza, traced to Al-Falah University in Faridabad, has pushed the institution into the Scan & Watch spotlight. 4Contd on | nation 4See also | nation FIVE KEY POINTS ■ Thirteen dead after LNJP confirms another victim; blast tied to a wider serialattack plot. ■ Four doctors raised over Rs 26 lakh, bought 26 quintals of NPK fertiliser for bomb-making. ■ Thirty-two vehicles were being modified for coordinated December 6 attacks. ■ Diaries, encrypted apps and CCTV footage place Dr Umar Nabi at the centre of the conspiracy. ■ A missing Maruti Brezza and several untraced suspects remain the focus of nationwide searches. NOT EVERY KASHMIRI A TERRORIST: OMAR M Saleem Pandit SRINAGAR Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday strongly condemned the blast near New Delhi’s Red Fort that claimed at least 12 lives, saying the people of Jammu and Kashmir stand for peace and brotherhood. Speaking to reporters in Jammu, Omar Abdullah said the incident was “highly condemnable” and stressed that no religion could justify the killing of innocent people. He urged the public to remember that the actions of a few should not lead to the vilification of an entire community. “Investigation will continue, but we must remember one thing: not every resident of Jammu and Kash- mir is a terrorist or associated with terrorists,” he said. The Chief Minister noted that only a handful of individuals had damaged the atmosphere of harmony in the region. “These are only a few people who have always ruined peace and brotherhood here. When we look at every resident of J&K and every Kashmiri Muslim with a single ideology and think that each one of them is a terrorist, it becomes difficult to keep the people on the right track,” he remarked. Omar Abdullah called for strict punishment for those responsible for the attack but cautioned against targeting innocent citizens. “The people responsible for this barbaric act must be severely punished, but it is equally important that innocent people are kept out of it,” he said. Reacting to reports that some of the accused came from professional backgrounds, including academia and medicine, he questioned the lapses in security and follow-up investigation. 4Contd on | nation Rubio lauds India’s ‘measured’ reaction PTI NEW YORK People on Thursday pay tribute to victims of Monday’s blast, at Sarojini Nagar Market in New Delhi. PIC: PTI JJ seeks adjacent land for expansion Ravikiran Deshmukh MUMBAI The J J Group of Hospitals, home to the Grant Medical College, has asked the Maharashtra government to allot six acres from an adjoining 12acre parcel earlier held by Richardson & Cruddas Ltd (R&C), a Government of India undertaking. The land, located along the JJ campus in Byculla, was reclaimed by the state in 2016 and is currently under the custody of the Mumbai City District Collector. Hospital authorities have argued that the campus is bursting at the seams. The Dean has proposed that half of the reclaimed land be handed over to create a modern research centre, a bone marrow transplant facility, and new student hostels mandated under All India Medical Council norms. The plan also includes staff quarters and a guest house to ease longstanding accommodation shortages. According to officials familiar with the matter, JJ Hospital is grappling with crippling overcrowding. Its OPDs receive between 3,000 and 3,500 visitors daily, around 225 new patients are admitted every day, and nearly 1,150 patients occupy beds at any given time. Administrators say the hospital’s ageing and congested infrastructure makes it increasingly difficult to manage the surging footfall and offer quality care. 4Contd on | nation India has been “very measured, cautious and very professional” in the way it is carrying out the investigation into the car explosion near Red Fort, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, as he emphasised that “clearly it was a terrorist attack” and Washington has “offered to help” but New Delhi is “very ca- pable” in these investigations. “Yeah. I mean, we’re aware yeah, we’re aware of the potential that that holds. But I think the Indians are - need to be commended; they have been very measured and cautious and very professional in how they’re carrying out this investigation,” Rubio said Wednesday in remarks to the press in Hamilton, Canada. “That investigation continues. Clearly, it was a terrorist attack. It was a car loaded with highly explosive materials that detonated and killed a lot of people. But I think they’re doing a very good job of carrying out an investigation; and I think when they have facts, they’ll release those facts,” Rubio said. Rubio, who met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on the margins of the G7 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Niagara, It’s D-Day for Bihar Dheeraj Kumar PATNA Amid tight security, all preparations have been completed for the counting of votes for the Bihar assembly elections on Friday. Counting will start at 8 am, with security around all counting centres strengthened following a provocative remark by RJD MLC Sunil Kumar Singh, who warned of a “Nepal, Bangladeshis, Sri Lanka-like situation” in Bihar if the vote count was manipulated. Bihar DGP Vinay Kumar said all counting centres will be guarded by central armed police force (CAPF) personnel, and drones will be used to monitor any suspicious activity. He said strict action would be taken against anyone trying to create disturbances. The DGP held a meeting with senior police officials and asked all district SPs to enhance security around their respective counting centres. He also instructed them to register FIRs against troublemakers and ensure speedy trials after proper investigation. Across Bihar’s 243 consti- was asked about the Red Fort explosion in Delhi and how concerned he was about rising tensions between India and Pakistan. “So, but clearly, I mean, we’re aware of the potential that it has, and so we spoke about that a little bit today - the potential that it has to become something broader. But I think we’re going to wait and see what their investigation reveals,” Rubio said. have been set up, each staffed with a counting supervisor, a counting assistant, and a micro-observer. More than 18,000 counting agents appointed by candidates will also monitor the process. 4Contd on | nation 4See also | nation At least eight people died and over 20 people injured in a horrific accident near the Navale Bridge on the busy stretch of the Katraj-Dehu Road bypass of the Pune-Bengaluru highway on Thursday after a container suffered brake failure, collided with other vehicles, trapping a car between two trucks, causing a fire that engulfed many vehicles. Rushikesh Suwase, an eyewitness speaking to FPJ, said, “While I was heading towards home, I heard the sound of a collision and saw that the vehicles were afire. A container had rammed nine or ten vehicles, and people were shouting. The truck driver who got stuck in the incident was shouting out in pain and the CNG drum of the car stuck be- SC: Probe to find why it happened, not who did it FPJ News Service tuencies, elaborate arrangements have been put in place for counting. Election Commission sources said the process will be conducted by 243 returning officers in the presence of 243 counting observers, along with candidates and their counting agents. A total of 4,372 counting tables Ankit Shukla PUNE AI-171 CRASH NEW DELHI KAUN BANEGA CHIEF MINISTER? 8 killed, 20 hurt in Pune vehicles’ crash The Supreme Court on Thursday underscored that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) enquiry into the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad is meant to determine the cause of the incident for future prevention, not to fix responsibility on any individual. The Centre also clarified that no blame has been attributed to the pilot or anyone else, and that a statutory and international framework governs such investigations. A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi issued notice to the Centre on a petition filed by Pushkar Raj Sabharwal, father of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, who was in command of the Air India flight that crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad on June 12, killing 260 people. The government clarified that no blame has been attributed to the pilot or anyone else Sabharwal, along with the Federation of Indian Pilots, has sought an independent, courtmonitored probe headed by a retired SC judge, arguing that the ongoing investigation by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) suffers from serious deficiencies, Live Law and Bar & Bench report. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Court that any interference at this stage may be counterproductive, as the investigation follows an established international civil aviation regime. 4Contd on | nation SC upholds eviction in fair rent dispute ‘Train Americans, then go home’ FPJ News Service NEW DELHI The Supreme Court has ruled that a tenant cannot escape paying fair rent merely because an appeal against the rent-fixation order is pending, unless the tenant obtains a stay on that order. The court said that when no stay is sought, the judicially determined rent must be paid, and failure to do so amounts to wilful default. With this finding, the Court upheld the eviction of a Coimbatore tenant who continued to pay only a fraction of the rent despite re- The top court says tenant cannot escape paying fair rent merely because an appeal against the rent fixation is pending, unless tenant obtains stay on that order peated judicial confirmation of the enhanced amount. A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Manmohan said that the tenant had appealed against the “fair rent” determination but had never applied for a stay. Referring to Order XLI Rule 5 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the Court reiterated that the mere filing of an appeal does not automatically pause or prevent the execution of an order. It cited the principle from Girdharilal Chandak & Bros. v. Mehdi Ispahani (2011) that if a party does not seek a stay, it indicates either a willingness to comply or no objection to the order being executed, Live Law reports. The case arose from a dis- pute over a commercial godown in Coimbatore. The landlord claimed the monthly rent was Rs 48,000, while the tenant insisted it was Rs 33,000. On January 10, 2007, the Rent Controller fixed the fair rent at Rs 2,43,600 per month, effective from February 1, 2005. Although the tenant appealed, he did not ask for a stay and continued paying only part of the amount. Both the Appellate Authority and the High Court later upheld the fair rent, with minor changes. 4Contd on | nation PTI NEW YORK/WASHINGTON A day after US President Donald Trump defended the H-1B visa programme, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the “vision” is to bring in skilled overseas workers who train Americans and then go back home. “The President’s vision here is to bring in overseas workers, where these jobs went, who have the skills. Three, five, seven years to train the US workers, then they can go home. The US workers fully take over,” Bessent said in an interview to Fox News on Wednesday. Bessent was asked about Trump’s latest remarks on the H-1B visa programme, where the President said America has to bring in talent since it does not have “certain talents”. Bessent said that for 20-30 years, the US has offshored precision manufacturing jobs. “And the President’s point here is, again, we can’t snap our fingers and say, ‘You’re going to learn how to build ships overnight’. We want to bring the semiconductor industry back to the US.” “So this idea of overseas partners coming in, teaching American workers, then returning home, that's a home run,” Bessent said, adding that Americans can’t have those jobs now because “we haven’t built ships in the US for years, we haven't built semiconductors.” tween the truck burst on impact.” Another eyewitness, Anuj Deshmukh Pandey, said, “We rushed for help, but it was not possible to stand there because of the fire. So we informed the fire department. Navale Bridge is a very dangerous bridge. We frequently witness accidents on this stretch.” 4Contd on | nation Laxman rekha on mining activity near sanctuaries Agencies NEW DELHI The Supreme Court on Thursday delivered an order protecting India’s wildlife habitats, directing that no mining activities shall be carried out within national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, or within a one-kilometre radius of their boundaries. The bench of Chief Justice of India BR Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran reiterated that such restrictions, earlier imposed for Goa in the Goa Foundation case, must now apply across the country. The Court said it has consistently held that mining close to protected areas is “hazardous for wildlife”, and emphasised that the one-kilometre buffer must be strictly enforced nationwide. The direction came while hearing the long-pending TN Godavarman Thirumalpad matter, in which the Court was examining requests to notify parts of Jharkhand’s Saranda forest as a wildlife sanctuary, Live Law reports. During the hearing, the top court directed the Jharkhand government to notify 126 compartments in the Saranda region covering 31,468.25 hectares as the Saranda Wildlife Sanctuary within three months. The Court excluded six compartments KP-2, KP-10, KP-11, KP-12, KP-13 and KP-14, which had been designated for mining. It rejected the state government’s earlier claim that 57,519.41 hectares could not be declared as a sanctuary because the land had been inhabited for centuries by the Ho, Munda, Uraon and allied Adivasi communities, and because public infrastructure such as schools and roads existed there. 4Contd on | nation