Monday, November 17, 2025 | Vol. 69 No. 36 | 31 Pages Reg.No MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 1541/1957 M.p.c.s office Mumbai. PIN 400001 THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL NATIONAL EPILEPSY DAY INDIA EDITION | www.freepressjournal.in ● Leader in E-paper circulation GAMES WORLD Bangladesh tightens security ahead of tribunal’s verdict on Hasina today Cinema Varanasi title revealed, Priyanka Chopra greets fans Rishabh Pant feels Indian batters should have adapted better on tough Eden Gardens pitch Edit Bihar victory has proved to be a personal gain for PM Modi RIFT GROWS | Abused, slippers raised, cursed for donating ‘dirty kidney’: Rohini hits out at brother Tejashwi, his aides Poll rout is feud fodder, Lalu clan split wide open Agencies PATNA F or 50 years, Dr Khatkhatay’s MESCO and MES have been empowering the community through education and healthcare. Turn to the Mumbai page to find out how. SEE CITY Claiming that she was "cursed at" for donating a "dirty kidney" to her father Lalu Prasad in exchange for money and a party ticket, Rohini Acharya on Sunday said "she has been made an orphan", and advised all married women to refrain from saving "your God-like father if he has a son". In an emotional outburst, 47year-old Acharya, in a series of posts on X, said that "may no household give birth to a girl with a fate like that of Rohini". In another post, she alleged that she was verbally abused and a slipper was raised to hit her. "Yesterday, a daughter, a sister, a married woman, a mother was humiliated, filthy abuses were hurled at her, a slipper was raised to hit her. I did not compromise on my self-respect, I did not surrender the truth, and solely because of this, I had to endure this insult... Yesterday, a daughter, out of compulsion, left behind her crying parents and sisters and came away; they tore me away from my maternal home... They left me orphaned." ‘Won’t tolerate insult to sis’ ours after Rohini Acharya's outburst, Tej Pratap Yadav, the estranged son of Lalu Yadav and Janshakti Janta Dal chief, came out in support of her. He said he “will not tolerate any insult to my sister,” adding that what happened to Rohini was “unbearable.” In an Instagram post released through the official JJD handle, he wrote in Hindi that while he endured the injustices done to him, he cannot remain silent over his sister’s humiliation. H The posts came a day after her announcement that she was quitting the party and disowning her family, while putting the blame for the RJD's debacle in the recent Bihar polls on her brother Tejashwi Yadav's close aides -- RJD's MP Sanjay Yadav, who hails from Haryana, and Rameez, who is from a political family in Uttar Pradesh. "Yesterday, I was cursed at and told that I am dirty, and that I got my father to have my dirty kidney transplanted into him, took crores of rupees, bought a ticket, and then got that dirty kidney put in," Acharya, who had unsuccessfully contested the Saran Lok Sabha seat in last year's general elections, said. She also emphasised that she has the blessings of her parents, Lalu and Rabri Devi. Asserting that she "hasn't lied about any of the events" that occured during the family dispute, Acharya said her father has consistently supported her. "Whatever I had to say, I have said on my social media. I have not lied about anything that happened. Rohini jo bolti hai sach bolti hai (Whatever Rohini says is the truth). You may go and ask all of this to Tejashwi Yadav, Sanjay Yadav, Rachel Yadav, and Rameez. My father has always been by my side. My parents and my sisters were crying for me yesterday. I am blessed to have parents like them," Acharya told Scan & Watch reporters. 4Contd on | nation Better than expected: Nitish son on NDA win Agencies PATNA Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's son Nishant on Sunday said the NDA's landslide victory in the assembly elections was "better than expected", and claimed that the people have witnessed his father's track record and vision to take the state to new heights. Nishant, who had earlier urged the people to vote his father back to power, also said the mandate reflected strong support for the NDA's development initiative. "We were sure about a decisive victory, but the final outcome is better than expected. I thank the people of Bihar for this mandate. The people have given us a massive majority after witnessing father's track record and his vision to take the state to new heights," he told reporters. 4Contd on | nation Doc module’s bomber hunt began in ’24 Agencies NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR J&K LG Manoj Sinha on Sunday with relatives of those killed in the accidental blast at Nowgam police station Delhi bomber Umar’s aide held in Kashmir M Saleem Pandit SRINAGAR In a breakthrough in the Red Fort car blast probe, NIA has arrested a Kashmiri resident who conspired with suicide bomber Umar Un Nabi. In a statement, NIA said Amir Rashid Ali, in whose name the i20 involved in the attack was registered, was arrested from Delhi. NIA had launched a massive search operation after taking over the case from Delhi Police. Ali, a resident of Samboora in Jammu and Kashmir's Pampore had conspired with Nabi to unleash the terror attack, NIA said. Ali had come to Delhi to facilitate the purchase of the car which was eventually used as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (IED) to trigger the blast. NIA has forensically estab- lished the identity of Nabi, a resident of Pulwama district and assistant professor in General Medicine department of Al-Falah University at Faridabad, as per the statement. The anti-terror agency has also seized another vehicle belonging to Nabi. The vehicle is being examined for evidence in the case, in which NIA has so far examined 73 witnesses. Meanwhile, security agencies are probing three bullet cartridges, two of them live rounds, recovered from the debris near the Red Fort blast site, a source said on Sunday. The empty shell and two live bullets -- a calibre not permitted for civilian use -were found close to the burnt Hyundai i20 car. Scan & Watch 4Contd on | nation The sophisticated 'white-collar' terror module, spearheaded by a group of doctors recently busted by Jammu and Kashmir Police, had been actively scouting for a suicide bomber since last year, with key planner Dr Umar Nabi pushing the agenda, officials said on Sunday. Interrogation of an arrested co-accused was indicative that Umar, believed to have been killed while driving the explosives-laden car that blew up near the Red Fort on November 10, was a "hardcore radical" and insisted that a suicide bomber was essential for their operations. Immediately, Srinagar police sent a team to Qazigund in south Kashmir and detained Jasir alias 'Danish', a bachelor in political sciences, on the basis of questioning of the coaccused, including Dr Adeel Rather and Dr Muzzaffar Ganaie. Srinagar police led by its SSP, Dr G V Sundeep Chakravarthy, cracked the entire 'white collar' terror module. The detained person agreed to have met the 'doctor module' in October last year at a mosque in Kulgam from where he was taken to a rented ac- commodation at the Al-Falah University in Faridabad, Haryana. The detained person said that while others in the module wanted him to be a overground worker (OGW) for the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed, he was intensely brainwashed by Umar for several months to become a suicide bomber. 4Contd on | nation INDIA FALL INTO OWN TRAP Haridev Pushparaj MUMBAI The ghosts of the 3-0 whitewash against New Zealand last year resurfaced again at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday as Indian batting capitulated on a pitch that has become the biggest talking point to hand South Africa their first Test win in India in 15 years.  The Shubman Gill-led side were beaten by a resolute South African outfit by 30 runs on the third day of the first Test on a pitch where both sides struggled with the bat and had only one half-century that came from South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma. South African spinners scalped 13 wickets between them in the match with Simon Harmer leading the way returning match figures of 8/51 as India’s strategy to again play on what was literally a ‘rank turner’ backfired yet again in devastating fashion. Harmer, Keshav Maharaj and Aiden Markram ripped through the long Indian batting line up in the second in- nings to restrict the hosts to 93/9 as they chased 124, with Gill unavailable to bat after being hospitalised due to a neck injury.  To make matters worse, head coach Gambhir defended India playing on the much reviled pitch claiming it was not an unplayable wicket and stating it was exactly what they had asked from curator Sujan Mukherjee. “It was not an unplayable wicket. This pitch is exactly what we asked for and this is what we got. The curator, Sujan Mukherjee, was very supportive. I think it’s a wicket that can judge your mental toughness, because those who played with good defence scored runs,” Gambhir said. When Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) President and former India captain Sourav Ganguly was asked about the kind of pitch to expect before the match, the India great had stated the team management was yet to ask for anything specific and stated it was going to be a 'good' wicket.  4Contd on | nation offgrid Culture calling: Centuries bind India & Saudi Ashwin Ahmad RIYADH Nouf Marwaai is uniquely positioned to speak on Indian and Arab culture. Speaking to an Indian media delegation at the Saudi Ministry for Human Resources and Social Development, Marwaai, who self-admittedly spends six months of the year in India, is a symbol of the cultural link between the two countries. Awarded the Padma Shri by the government of India in 2018, she urged India and Indians to set aside preconceived notions about the Kingdom and explore the similarities between the two countries. “India and Saudi Arabia have long historical and cultural linkages that go back to the 7th century,” she said. “There have been many linkages that most people are simply unaware of. For instance, few people know that Ebrahim Alkazi’s family is from Saudi Arabia. His father came from Unaizah, a town in present-day Saudi Arabia, and settled in Pune, where he grew up. His father’s sensibilities remained with him, and today, as you all know, he is the father of modern Indian theatre.” Theatre is just one of the linkages between India and Saudi Arabia. Former diplomat and Arab scholar Zikrur Rahman points out that there was a strong cultural interaction between Indian and Saudi scholars, which continued after the Indian Mutiny in 1857 and right up till the 1940s. Pointing out that Saudi scholars were impressed by Indian scholars for their knowledge on Islamic jurisprudence, Rahman said: “Prominent Saudi scholars were personally sent by King Abdul Aziz Al Saud to India to learn more on hadith, fiqh and doctrine at the hands of well-known Indian scholars such as Nawab Siddiq Hassan Khan Bhopali, Shiekh Syed Nazeer Hussain Mohaddith Dehlavi, Sheikh Hussain bin Mohsin al-Ansari and Allama Shiekh Shamsul Haque Azeem Abadi.” He added: “They were registered with the Madrasa Mian Sahib, in Masjid Mohtaseb, situated at Phatak Habash Khan in Delhi from where they graduated.” India and Saudi Arabia’s cultural linkages are but part of the story supplemented by success stories of members of the Indian diaspora and how they have shaped life for Indians in the Kingdom. Zeenat Jafri is the best example of this success. 4Contd on | nation ‘`14k cr WB funds diverted for polls’ Agencies PATNA Prashant Kishor-led Jan Suraaj's spokesperson and senior leader Pavan K Varma has accused the Centre of misusing foreign development funds during the Bihar Assembly Elections 2025. Speaking to media, he alleged that Rs 14,000 crore meant for a World Bank‑sanctioned project was diverted and distributed among women voters just hours before model code of conduct took effect. Varma claimed that the funds were re‑routed under the 'Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana,' through which Rs 10,000 was directly transferred into the accounts of 1.25 crore women across the state. Varma stressed that while the information had not been independently verified, if proven true, it raised serious ethical concerns. “We are told that Rs 14,000 crore was diverted from Rs 21,000 crore received from the World Bank for another project and distributed just before the polls. If this is factual, it shows how public money is being exploited for electoral advantage,” he said. Union Min- Discussions are going on.. the blueprint will be ready by today or tomorrow. We have to form the government before 22nd Nov. It will be done Chirag Paswan, LJP(RV) chief ister Chirag Paswan, however, dismissed the claims as “empty”. "Where do they get this data from from?... Making empty claims — if you have any facts, present it and the government will respond," Paswan said. Varma said Bihar’s financial position was already under severe strain. “Its public debt stands at Rs 4.06 lakh crore, with daily interest payments of Rs 63 crore. The treasury is empty. How can such massive spending be justified?” he asked. 4Contd on | nation CJI wants no quota for creamy layer Agencies AMARAVATI CJI BR Gavai on Sunday affirmed that he is still for exclusion of creamy layer in reservations to Scheduled Castes. Addressing a programme "India and the Living Indian Constitution at 75 Years", Gavai opined that children of an IAS officer can not be equated with the offsprings of a poor agricultural labourer when it comes to reservations. "I also went further and took a view that the concept of creamy layer, as has been found in the judgment of Indra Sawhney (vs Union of India & Others). What is applicable to the Other Backward Classes, should also be made applicable to Scheduled Castes, though my judgment has been widely criticised on that issue," Gavai said. "But I still hold that judges are not supposed to normally justify their judgments, and I still have about a week to go ( retire).” The CJI said over the years, equality or women empowerment is gaining momentum in the country and the the discrimination which was meted out to them was strongly criticized. He said that before he is set to end his journey as CJI in a couple of days, the last function that he attended happened to be again at Amaravati of Andhra Pradesh while the first one after becoming the CJI was at his native place Amravati in Maharashtra. Justice Gavai observed in 2024 that states must evolve a policy for identifying the creamy layer even among the I still hold judges are not supposed to normally justify their judgments, and I still have about a week to go (retire) BR Gavai, CJI SCs and STs and deny them the benefit of reservation. Asserting that the Constitution is not "static", Justice Gavai said Dr BR Ambedkar always considered that it has to be evolving, organic, and a state-of-theart living document as Article 368 provides for the amendment of the Constitution. "On one hand Dr Ambedkar was criticized that the powers to amend the Constitution are too liberal, and on the other hand, it was criticized that some of the amendments require ratification by half of the states, and two-thirds majority of Parliament, and it was difficult to achieve an amendment in this manner," he said. 4Contd on | nation