FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms FREE PRESS Vol. 15 No. 220 | BHOPAL | WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 21, 2026 | Pages 16 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 www.freepressjournal.in Sports SANIA’s NEW ACE P.15 ESTD-1983 iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: BHOPAL MONEY INDIA, EU ON BRINK OF ‘MOTHER OF ALL DEALS’ PTI NEW DELHI PREVENTION OF CORRUPTION ACT State police can probe Central govt employees: SC PTI NEW DELHI The Supreme Court has ruled that state police authorities can investigate and file a chargesheet against central government employees when it comes to the offences of bribery and corruption under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The court has also made it clear that no prior permission from the CBI is required before registering a case against a central government employee by the state police. A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and S at i s h Chandra Sharma said on Monday that offences under the PC Act can be investigated by a state agency or a central agency or any police agency, as can be seen from section 17 of the Act, with the qualification that the police officer shall be of a particular rank. "Section 17 does not exclude or prevent the state police or a special agency of the state from registering a crime or investigating cases relating to bribery, corruption and misconduct against central government employees. 4Continued on | P8 EU is India's biggest trade partner with bilateral trade in goods recording $135 bn in financial year 2023-24 chief guests and hold summit talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The two sides are set to announce the conclusion of negotiations on the much-awaited free trade agreement at the India-EU summit on January 27. In her remarks, von der Leyen said Europe wants to do I will travel to India. There is still work to do. But we are on the cusp of a historic trade agreement. Some call it the mother of all deals Ursula von der Leyen European Commission President business with the growth centres of today and the economic powerhouses of this century. "I will travel to India. There is still work to do. But we are on the cusp of a historic trade agreement. Some call it the mother of all deals. One that would create a market of 2 billion people, accounting for al- most a quarter of global GDP," she said in a televised address. "And, crucially, that would provide a first-mover advantage for Europe with one of the world's fastest growing and most dynamic continents. Europe wants to do business with the growth centres of today and the economic powerhouses of this century," von der Leyen said. "From Latin America to the Indo Pacific and far beyond, Europe will always choose the world. And the world is ready to choose Europe," she said. The European Union is India's biggest trade partner with bilateral trade in goods recording USD 135 billion in the financial year 2023-24. The free trade agreement is expected to significantly enhance trade ties. 4Continued on | P8 HC notice to state, MoEFCC, NTCA on 54 tiger deaths in 2025 Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL The principal bench of the Madhya Pradesh high court in Jabalpur has issued notice to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change(MoEFCC), New Delhi, principal secretary, forests, Bhopal and National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), New Delhi, over tiger deaths in Madhya Pradesh. Chief justice Sanjeev Sachdeva passed the order. As per the petition filed by RTI activist Ajay Dubey, the total tiger population in the world is 5,421, out of which India has 3167 tigers and Madhya Pradesh has 785 as per the latest census. But unfortunately, in 2025 54 tiger deaths were re- Since launch of Project Tiger in 1973, MP has never recorded such a high number of tiger deaths in a year ported in Madhya Pradesh, the highest since Project Tiger started in India. Since the launch of Project Tiger in 1973, the state has never recorded such a high number of tiger deaths in a single year. Six tigers died across the state in just one week. Official data revealed that nearly 57 per cent of these deaths were classified as un- Nabin takes over as new BJP prez, Modi says now he is my boss natural , attributed to causes such as poaching, electrocution or unexplained circumstances. Senior advocate Aditya Sanghi who appeared on behalf of RTI activist Ajay Dubey argued, A carcass was found during a field survey conducted under the all India tiger estimation exercise in the Chandia forest range of Umaria district in the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in December. It was found near a power line, immediately triggering suspicion. Forest officials have acknowledged that death due to electrocution cannot be ruled out. A railway line passes through the core zone of the Ratapani Tiger Reserve, which was recently inaugurated as a tiger reserve in the state. Karnataka DGP suspended after obscene video goes viral Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar PTI NEW DELHI BENGALURU Bharatiya Janata Party’s working president Nitin Nabin on Tuesday became the youngest national president of the “world’s largest political party” when he took over charge in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who described him as a “a millennial” who has “both youthful energy and a great deal of experience”. Modi, who garlanded Nabin and also offered him sweets on his becoming BJP’s national president at just 45 years of age, stated that the election process was carried out in “100 percent democratic manner”. Addressing his ministerial colleagues, chief ministers of a number of states and senior party leaders at BJP headquarters, the PM recalled the contributions of previous party heads in taking it to new heights. He said while under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L.K. Advani and Murali Manohar Joshi “the BJP saw a journey from zero to the summit”, in this century, leaders like M. Venkaiah Naidu and Nitin Gadkari, expanded the organisation. Then, he said, under Rajnath Singh for the first time the BJP achieved a full majority on its own. The Karnataka government has placed DGP (Civil Rights Enforcement) K Ramachandra Rao under suspension with immediate effect, pending inquiry, citing conduct unbecoming of a government servant and causing embarrassment to the state adm i n i s t r ation. News channels beamed video on Monday purportedly showing Rao in compromising position with women. The video went viral in the social media as well. Rao sought to reject the videos outright terming them "fabricated and false". 4Continued on | P8 4Continued on | P8 science-defying diagnosis Sonography goof-up gives uterus to man Agencies BHOPAL In Satna, a diagnostic report has done what biology usually does not – it has assigned a uterus to a 47-year-old man. The case, emerging from Satna Diagnostic Center on Station Road, is not just a clerical slip. It is a chilling reminder of how casually lives are sometimes handled in the name of healthcare. diagnostic report not only mentioned a uterus but also described it as being in an inverted position The patient, Niranjan Prajapati, Chairman of the Uchehra Nagar Panchayat, underwent a sonography on January 13 after complain- ing of abdominal pain and swelling. What he received instead was a report that belonged more to a medical satire than a hospital file. The sonography not only mentioned a uterus but also described it as being in an inverted position. Except that there was no uterus, really. "This report is not mine at all. It shows a uterus…" Prajapati said, recounting his ordeal. "I was sick and had stomach pain. I first got treatment in Unchahara and then went for sonography in Satna. I did not pay much attention initially and took medicine… but when there was no relief." "I went to Jabalpur. The doctor there told me clearly that this report cannot belong to me. I said, 'But the report has my name on it'," he added. 4Continued on | P8 PUNE INDORE NASHIK MUMBAI E-paper Edit A moral stain on governance P.6 India aims to have up to 350 airports by 2047: Naidu at WEF MEGA DEAL | European Commission prez says ‘historic trade agreement’ will create market comprising two billion people India and the European Union are on the cusp of a "historic trade agreement" that would create a market comprising two billion people accounting for almost a quarter of the global GDP, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday, days before her trip to New Delhi. In an address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, von der Leyen elaborated on the current "geopolitical shocks" and how the 27-nation bloc is responding to them, asserting: "It is time to seize this opportunity and build a new independent Europe." President of the European Council Antonio Costa and von der Leyen will be in India from January 25 to 27 to grace the Republic Day celebrations as UJJAIN Cinema ‘Aakha B’wood Ek Taraf Aur P.16 BHAGIRATHPURA INCIDENT Govt forms state-level probe panel Helmed by ACS Sanjay Shukla, panel will fix responsibilities & submit report within a month Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL The state government has constituted a state-level committee to probe the Bhagirathpura Top Indian CEOs to join Trump at WEF Davos meet IANS NEW DELHI Some prominent Indian CEOs from India are likely to join a select group of 146 global corporate leaders for a meeting with US President D o n a l d Trump at the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos on Wednesday. India's tech and industrial leaders, including Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran, Wipro CEO Srini Pallia, Bharti Enterprises Founder Sunil Bharti Mittal and Infosys CEO Salil Parekh, are set to attend the high-level session during the WEF, according to a report. 4Continued on | P8 incident in Indore, which claimed the lives of over two dozen people after they consumed contaminated water. The committee has been asked to submit its report to the government within a month. General Administration Department Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Sanjay Shukla will head the committee. Its members include Principal Secretary (Public Health Engineering Department) P Narhari, and Commissioner, Directorate of Urban Administration and Development, Sanket Bhondve. Indore divisional commissioner Sudam Khade has been appointed as the member secretary of the committee. The committee has been tasked with examining the actual reasons behind the Bhagirathpura incident and analysing them. It will also look After Anandpur Dham plaints, Govt to remove Ashoknagar collector Proposal for transfer sent to the EC because of the SIR Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL The government is set to remove the collector of Ashoknagar after receiving complaints from Anandpur Dham. The government does not have the authority to shift any collector because of the SIR. This is the reason that a panel has been sent to the Election Commission. The government will transfer the present collector and shift a new one to Ashoknagar after getting approval from the EC. into the shortcomings at the administrative, technical, and management levels which led to the incident. It will also fix responsibility for the incident and recommend measures to prevent the recurrence of Bhagirathpura-like incidents in the state. Notably, more than two dozen residents of the Bhagirathpura area lost their lives after consuming contaminated water, while several others are still undergoing treatment at hospitals. Don shares Macron’s text questioning Greenland push AP The Anandpur Dham hogged the limelight after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip. According to reports, the committee of the Dham directly complained to the PMO against the collector. There were several issues that the Dham management put up before the collector demanding him solve them, but the collector did not do anything. After a dispute, the committee complained against the collector on behalf of the Dham. An inquiry into the complaints against the collector is being conducted on behalf of the Dham, but since the cases are complicated, the probe will be held after shifting the collector. PARIS While Europe is pushing back publicly against US President Donald Trump over Greenland, the language appears softer behind the scenes. Trump published a text message on Tuesday that he received from French President Emmanuel Macron, confirmed as genuine by Macron's office. Starting with "My friend," Macron's tone was more deferential than the criticism that France and some of its European partner nations are openly voicing against Trump's push to wrest Greenland from NATO ally Denmark. 4See World