The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper’s pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms www.freepressjournal.in | twitter.com/fpjindia REG. NO. MCS/048/2018-20; RNI NO. 1541/1957 I M.P.C.S office Mumbai-400001 WEATHER 320C. 250C. Sunrise: 06:25 am Sunset: 06:46 pm Vol. 64 No. 112 | WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 9, 2020 | 24 Pages | EDITIONS : Mumbai*, Pune, Indore, Bhopal, E-Paper GOVT PLANS 25%STAKE SALE IN LIFE INSURANCE CORP Pg 13 EDIT LEARN TO LIVE WITH TENSION, FALSE ALARMS AT LAC Pg 10 THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Make a conscious effort to do the right and be honest and accountable to ourselves BHUMI ECSTATIC ABOUT WORKING IN AN ALL-GIRLS FILM Pg 22 JUSTICE SERVED BY TROLLS, ANCHORS? Brahma Kumaris MEDIEVAL WALL OF CHINA NCB terms Rhea as 'active member of drug syndicate'; in judicial custody for 14 days PRATIK SALUNKE & BHAVNA UCHIL / Mumbai Rhea Chakraborty being taken for medical examination after being arrested by Narcotics Control Bureau After being questioned since Sunday actress Rhea Chak, raborty was placed under arrest on Tuesday afternoon by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in connection with a drug case allegedly linked with the Sushant Singh Rajput death case. The agency has termed her “as an active member of the drug syndicate”. The arrest comes after several rounds of interrogation of her brother Showik and others, who have been probed over certain incriminating chats. No drugs have been recovered from her possession and the arrest is based on electronic evidence – chats from her phone related to procurement of drugs, sources said. Rejecting her plea for bail, the magistrate's court remanded Rhea to 14 days of judicial custody as sought by , Every delivery and payment was within the knowledge of Rhea; sometimes, the choice of drug would be confirmed by her – NCB the NCB through video-conferencing. In its remand plea, the NCB said that Showik has revealed that he used to facilitate supply of drugs and these used to be received by aides of Sushant; every delivery and payment was within the conscious knowledge of Rhea and, sometimes, the payment and choice of drug would be confirmed by her. The agency further said, Sushant’s house manager Samuel Miranda would procure drugs upon the directions of the couple and they also dealt with financial matters together. Further, it said that Sushant’s cook Dipesh Sawant had also revealed that he used to procure drugs for Sushant on the latter’s directions and that on several occasions Rhea too had instructed him to do so. The financial aspect was dealt with by the couple, he had said. The agency said it had arrested Rhea based on the disclosures of Showik, Samuel and Dipesh. Further, she was confronted with them all and has explained her role. “In her statement, Rhea Chakraborty revealed her involvement in procurement of drugs and financial transactions and also her instructions to Samuel Miranda, Dipesh Sawant and Showik Chakraborty in this regard,” the agency said. The agency went on to call her “an active member of the drug syndicate”, saying this was clear from her statement. CONTD. ON P6 Photographic evidence of Chinese soldiers armed with medieval weapons Armed with guns, Sparks fly on spears, machetes Army hotline FPJ NEWS SERVICE / Leh FPJ NEWS SERVICE / Leh The haze has lifted over the false narrative China had tried to weave yesterday about India intruding into their territory and firing provocative shots. In fact, it was the Chinese Army which was attempting to close-in on one of our forward positions along the LAC. This was part of the Chinese gambit to dislodge Indian soldiers from the heights they have occupied recently . Result: the Chinese and Indian soldiers were eyeball to eyeball on the south bank of Pangong Lake, between Rechin La-RezanglaMukhpari and Magar Hill. There were no CONTD. ON P6 Monday’s India-China standoff led to an angry skirmish on the hotline between the two brigadiers on Tuesday which is ironi, cally meant to cool down frayed tempers. It is understood that the phone chat turned unsavoury and both sides decided against holding in-person talks. Sparks flew between the two over Chinese troops' attempt to close in on the Mukhpari Peak, which is currently controlled by Indians, as well as the PLA's use of 'medieval' weaponry The allusion was to the spears . and machetes which the PLA soldiers had carried to the Indian forward position. CONTD. ON P6 MEDICAL COURSES Rhea accuses SSR’s sisters of abetting his suicide 70:30 admission quota scrapped PRIYANKA NAVALKAR Mumbai Late on Monday acting on a , complaint lodged by Rhea Chakraborty accused of , abetment in the Sushant Singh Rajput death probe, the Bandra Police registered a First Information Report against two of the late actor's sisters, Priyanka and Meetu Singh, along with Dr Tarun Kumar of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and others. In the FIR, Chakraborty has accused them of abetment to Fast News NAGPUR-MUMBAI CORRIDOR SURVEY The government on Tuesday invited tenders to conduct a survey for a 741 km high speed rail corridor from Mumbai to Nagpur to gauge the feasibility of running a bullet train on the route, which will pass through Nasik in Maharashtra. Seven high speed rail corridors are under consideration. These are Delhi-Varanasi (865 km) Varanasi-Howrah (760 km), Delhi-Ahmedabad, MumbaiNagpur (741 km), MumbaiHyderabad (711 km), Chennai-Mysore (435 km) and Delhi-Amritsar (459 km). The proposed Nagpur corridor tender is for carrying out a survey of overhead, over ground and underground utilities and identification of power sourcing options for substations along the route. The development has come at a time the Centre's first bullet train project from Ahmedabad to Mumbai is facing delays and may fail to meet its 2023 deadline. MISSING FIVE TRACED: Five persons from Arunachal Pradesh, who went missing on Friday, have been found in Chinese territory, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Tuesday. "China's PLA has responded to a hotline message sent by Indian Army. They have confirmed that the missing youth from Arunachal Pradesh have been found on their side. Further modalities to hand over the persons to our authority are being worked out," Rijiju said. The local media had reported that the reported kidnappings occurred in a forest area near Nacho in Upper Subansiri. Arunachal Pradesh's northeast section shares a 1,080 km-long border with China. suicide, forgery and prescribing the deceased actor medicines listed as Psychotropic Substances, prohibited as per Telemedicine Practice Guidelines. The case has been transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for further investigation in accordance with orders of the Supreme Court, the Mumbai Police said. Chakraborty's advocate Satish Maneshinde said that his client has set the criminal law in motion by filing her complaint with Bandra po- lice station. The cocktail of illegally administered medicines and drugs may have led to Rajput's suicide on June 14 and his sisters need to be answerable to the investigators. "The fact that an illegal and a fabricated prescription was given and scheduled drugs were administered without following the law has come into light now. The bogus prescription was received within the jurisdiction of Bandra Police, hence the FIR was filed there," added State Govt to probe Kangana drug intake SANJAY JOG Mumbai The Maharashtra Government on Tuesday announced an investigation by Mumbai Police into media reports of drug consumption by actor Kangana Ranaut. A day before she is scheduled to arrive in Mumbai, Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said, "I have told Mumbai Police to look into details of a media report that Kangana Ranaut was in a relationship with actor Adhyayan Suman, who had claimed in an old interview that she takes drugs and had also forced him to do so. The request for investigation was submitted by Shiv Sena MLAs Sunil Prabhu and Pratap Sarnaik," he said. The minister said Mumbai Police would look into Adhyayan Suman's statement which had emanated three years ago. Hours after Deshmukh’s announcement, Kangana tweeted that she would fully cooperate with the police and asked them to take her blood samples. "I am more than happy to oblige the Mumbai Police and Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. Please do my drug tests, investigate my call records. If you find any links to drug peddlers ever, I will accept my mistake and leave Mumbai forever. Looking forward to meeting you," said Kangana, dropping sufficient hints at the developments in the multi-agency probe into the Sushant Singh death case. Sarnaik said his request for a probe was just to ensure that the actor's image is not maligned, since she is "well respected by ministers of the Central government;" no political vendetta was involved. Earlier, Deshmukh made a statement in the state assembly on a series of tweets by Kangana where she had likened Mumbai to Pakistanoccupied Kashmir (PoK). The actress had also criticised Mumbai and Maharashtra Police, in response to its comparison with Scotland Yard. CONTD. ON P6 Maneshinde. In the FIR, Chakraborty said that the prescription was allegedly forged on the letter head of a government hospital, containing banned medicines which are annexed in the NDPS Act. Moreover, the banned medicines were administered without supervising doses and quantities, which may result in a chronic anxiety attack and in the commission of suicide, thus abetting Rajput's death, read the FIR excerpts. CONTD. ON P6 SCHOOLS OPENING STDS 9-12 OUR BUREAU / New Delhi The Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on Tuesday issued standard operating procedures for partial resumption of teaching activities in schools for students of Classes 9 to 12, on a voluntary basis, from September 21. In a statement, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said: "The Government of India is following a phasewise unlocking of activities. In days to come, this would also involve partial resumption of activities in schools for students of Classes 9th to 12th on a voluntary basis, for taking guidance from their teachers. This would be allowed from September 21, 2020." CONTD. ON P6 LAST WORD House erupts over 'angry' anchor Republic TV boss faces privilege motion for ‘derogatory language’ against CM, other leaders SANJAY JOG / Mumbai Noisy scenes were witnessed in the Maharashtra legislative assembly on Tuesday after Shiv Sena legislator Pratap Sarnaik moved a privilege motion against Republic TV's Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, for his alleged derogatory re- marks against Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray ministers and the members , of the House. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anil Parab seconded the motion, sought its acceptance and called for stern action against Goswami. However, the opposing BJP members shouted slogans, causing the treasury bench members to insist they main- tain House decorum. In his submission, Sarnaik accused Goswami of using “derogatory language” and making baseless remarks against Uddhav and NCP president Sharad Pawar. The Shiv Sena MLA further claimed that Goswami often insulted ministers, MPs and legislators during TV debates. Besides, Goswami had made unfounded charges against many in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case, Sarnaik held. Parab claimed that under the garb of freedom of expression, the image of the CM, ministers and senior leaders had been maligned. ''There is a legislation empowering action against those indulging in violence against the media but there is no check on Goswami, CONTD. ON P6 SANJAY JOG / Mumbai In a significant move, the Maharashtra government has scrapped the 70:30 region-wise reservation formula for admission in medical courses in the state. Minister of Medical Education Amit Deshmukh announced in the state assembly instead of the 70:30 , quota, a ‘‘One Merit One Maharashtra’’ maxim would be applicable in the state. The formula implied re- servation for 70 per cent locals from the particular region where the medical colleges were located and 30 per cent from rest of the state. Deshmukh told the state assembly that admissions would now be based on the results of students who had appeared for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET). "Instead of the 70:30 quota, it will be 'one Maharashtra, one merit'," he said. For long now, students and parents in the state have been demanding the scrapping of this contentious formula. Under this system, 70 per cent seats in medical colleges were reserved for students in the districts where the colleges were located. The demand to do away with the formula was recently made by Minister of Social Justice Dhananjay Munde and NCP leaders Satish Chavan and Amar Pandi. CONTD. ON P6