Vol. 66 No. 85 | MONDAY | AUGUST 8, 2022 | 16 Pages | THE FP BULLETIN United Spirits slump sale may irk shareholders U nited Spirits Ltd (USL), India’s largest spirit maker and a subsidiary of global liquor giant Diageo plc, may face shareholders’ ire on its proposed slump sale involving 32 popular brands in India and a few other markets. The company, which is seeking approval for the sale at its annual general meeting scheduled for Tuesday, has already accepted a bid submitted by Inbrew Beverages Pvt Ltd, an unrelated company. Nilesh hits back at Kesarkar N ilesh Rane, son of BJP leader Narayan Rane and a former member of Parliament, made a snide comment about the Eknath Shinde faction’s spokesperson Deepak Kesarkar after the latter said he was willing to work with the Ranes. IIT faculty to join student protest I t is not often that faculty members hold placards and stand in unity with student protestors. At least eight faculty members have expressed solidarity with the students who are protesting against a fee hike on campus. The protests began on August 6 and there appears to be a deadlock on the issue. More trouble for SpiceJet S ome passengers who disembarked from SpiceJet's Hyderabad-Delhi flight on Saturday night began walking on the tarmac as the airline could not provide a bus for around 45 minutes to take them to the terminal. The aviation regulator has initiated an inquiry. CSIR gets first woman head S enior electrochemical scientist Nallathamby Kalaiselvi has become the first woman director-general of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, a consortium of 38 state-run research institutes across the country. Her appointment is for a period of two years. Drug peddler dies in forest chase A Nigerian national, who was wanted in a drugs case, was found dead after a police chase in a forest near Nagla Bunder on Ghodbunder road in Thane district on Friday. BMC increases testing for Covid A nticipating a spike in Covid cases during the upcoming festival season, the BMC has instructed all ward officers to increase testing, tracing and vaccination. Fight over queue gets out of hand F urious at being asked to wait for their turn like everyone else, four women allegedly assaulted a young mother in the presence of her husband and child at a private clinic in Bhendi Bazaar. EDITIONS: MUMBAI*, Pune, Nashik, Konkan, Indore, Bhopal, E-paper METRO 3 COST SURGES 44% TO `33,405.82 CRORE SINDHU & SEN MAKE FINALS TO ASSURE INDIA MEDAL EDIT PRICE-RISE PROTEST IS A LITTLE TOO LATE 'I DEFINITELY WANT TO RELEASE LSD 2 IN THEATRES,' REVEALS EKTAA KAPOOR Formal nod expected from Shinde-Fadnavis government at next cabinet meeting; JICA to provide additional loan of Rs6,689 cr SANJAY JOG Mumbai The Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra is set to approve an increase in the cost of the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro 3 project to Rs33,405.82 crore from Rs23,136 crore, a rise of Rs10,269.82 crore or about 44%. The state cabinet at its next meeting slated for Wednesday is expected to formally approve the proposal. Several reasons are being cited for the increase, including the time taken in excavation owing to the presence of basalt rock, adoption of bottom-up construction technology for want of space, additional cost incurred on account of rocky layers and the need to dispose of them, and the FPJ EXCLUSIVE Zomato valuation is absurd: Mohit Gulati A year after its dream listing, Zomato Ltd has shed more than half its market capitalisation as it has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. The food delivery company was among the early Indian unicorns to go public. Its share price doubled on debut, taking the company's valuation over the Rs1 lakh crore mark within hours of listing. However, in the past 10 days, several high-profile investors, including Uber, Tiger Global and Moore Strategic Metro 3 work in progress between Sitladevi temple and Mahim church need to erect temporary steel decks for road traffic to allow construction of underground stations as many of them are in congested areas. Yet another reason for the cost escalation is that Metro GOLD RUSH SHEFALI PARAB-PANDIT / Mumbai The BMC has decided to auction properties worth over Rs3,000 crore belonging to tax defaulters that it had already attached. An auctioneer will be appointed for the process of auctioning 2,875 such properties. The process will take two months, civic officials said. FB shuts Pak hacker accounts targeting Indian users GAUTAM S MENGLE Mumbai had on July 18 reported how APT36 was trying to target Indian students and educational institutions through a cyber-espionage campaign. “Our investigation connected this activity to state-linked actors in Pakistan,” Facebook’s report said. “While this group’s activity was relatively low in sophistication, it was persistent and targeted many services across the internet – from email providers to file-hosting services to social media. APT36 used various malicious tactics to target people online with social engineering to infect Boxers Nikhat Zareen, Amit Panghal and Nitu grabbed maiden Commonwealth Games gold medals in Birmingham on Sunday. Kerala’s Eldhose Paul, brought up by his grandmother and labourer father after his mother’s death won a historic triple jump gold in the track and field event. PICS: PTI Pothole costs 65-year-old pillion rider his life their devices with malware.” The objectives behind APT36’s activities seem to be anything from espionage through honey-trapping or impersonation to malware distribution. “ APT36 didn’t directly share malware on our platforms, but used the above tactics to share malicious links to sites they controlled and where they hosted malware,” Facebook said, adding that similar action was taken against another hacker group, Bitter, which was indulging in similar activities against users from several countries, including India. Meanwhile, Facebook also took action against a ‘brigading’ network of around 300 accounts. Brigading refers to collectively attacking a single target online through any and all social media platforms that the target is using. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE A 65-year-old man, Ashok Gurunath Kabadi, who was riding pillion on his 25-yearold daughter Aditi’s bike lost his life in Bhiwandi on Sunday after the vehicle slowed down and skidded as she attempted to avoid potholes and was hit by a truck following them. The impact of the collision was such that both Ashok and Aditi were thrown off the bike. The truck ran over the former, who was rushed to hospital but died before admission. The accident occurred at Nadi Naka bridge in Bhiwandi at about 12:30pm. Naresh Pawar, senior inspector at the Nizampura police station, said a complaint had been registered against the truck driver and he had been arrested. He put on 12 kilos during the two-year break and that affected his agility too. "I have been doing this for the past 22 years, so after a point it is fine, but my weight is weighing down more during practice,” the govinda said. “Also, there are more people over my shoulder. Our coach is very particular, and he ensured that only those who are appropriate for a certain level should be practising there." Fernandes’s govinda pathak is not the only one. Other prominent ones in the city are treading with ample precautions. The focus is on being able to climb up and down the pyramid safely and avoiding falling over each other in a bid to create a new record. "The focus this time is not on breaking records. In fact ASHUTOSH M SHUKLA Mumbai When David Fernandes began practising this year for dahi handi, the evidence of lack of practice showed up pretty early Panting, extra . weight making movements less agile, and reduced stamina made him go three levels down in the nine-tier pyramid he is a part of for the Jai Jawan Govinda Pathak, Jogeshwari. "The two-year Covid break made us lazy Fernandes re,” marked. “This year too we were not sure if the festival would be organised. Else we would have started going to the gym by April and begun to shape up for the practice that begins in June." Fernandes used to stand solid on the fifth tier unlike the second one he is practising for now. CABINET MAY BE EXPANDED BEFORE AUG 15: FADNAVIS Shinde says there are no differences with the BJP over ministries Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is likely to expand his cabinet this week by inducting at least 15 ministers. Amid growing criticism from opposition parties over delays, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was in Delhi to attend an OBC conference, disclosed for the first time that the cabinet may be expanded ahead of August 15. Fadnavis, however, refused to divulge details. He is expected to get the crucial portfolios of home and finance. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who attended the NITI Aayog meeting today , said there were no differences between the BJP and his faction of the Shiv Sena over the cabinet expansion and the exercise would be carried out soon. Both Shinde and Fadnavis clarified that the hearing on a bunch of petitions filed in the Supreme Court by the Ud- dhav Thackeray faction has nothing to do with the cabinet expansion. It is likely that seven ministers each from the BJP and the Shinde camp will be sworn in. Shinde and Fadnavis were sworn in on June 30 after Thackeray resigned as chief minister following a rebellion in the ranks of the Sena legislature party Since . then they have been functioning as a two-member cabinet, becoming the target of criticism from opposition leaders and barbs and memes from social media users. Commenting on former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s criticism that Shinde cannot expand the cabinet without Delhi’s nod, Fadnavis said , “The chief minister belongs to the people and I am in his cabinet. We are always available for the people of this state.” He noted that the delay in cabinet expansion had not hampered the government’s functioning or the decisionmaking process. Mentally challenged rape survivor refused abortion due to high risk URVI MAHAJANI urvi.mahajani@fpj.co.in ABHITASH SINGH Thane DIRECTIONS IN 2019 JUDGMENT ON MTP If the child is born alive, the registered medical practitioner and the hospital/clinic concerned will have to assume full responsibility to ensure that such child is offered best medical treatment available in the circumstances, in order that it develops into a healthy child. In cases where the MTP is allowed and the child is born alive, and if the parents are unwilling or unable to assume the responsibility for such child, then, the State and its agencies will have to assume full responsibility for such child and offer such child medical support and facilities, as may be reasonably feasible. Caution is the watchword for govindas this year LAST WORD Sunrise: 06:18 am Sunset : 07:11 pm SANJAY JOG Mumbai Ventures, have reduced their shareholding in Zomato or exited it entirely while ques, tions have been raised about a conflict of interest and valuations involved in the acquisition of quick commerce rival Blinkit. Mohit Gulati, an early-stage investor with experience of investing in the e-commerce and delivery segments, shares his take on what the food delivery and quick commerce sectors are going through, in a freewheeling interview. SEE MONEY BMC TO AUCTION TAX DEFAULTERS' ASSETS AFTER 10 YEARS In the second quarter of 2022, Meta Platforms, which runs Facebook, shut down several accounts that were found to be operated by APT36, a Pakistan-backed hacker group that was targeting Indians through bogus accounts. The social media giant also shut down thousands of accounts that were found to be indulging in targeted harassment on grounds of religion or gender. Facebook released its Quarterly Adversarial Report earlier this week, and India features prominently in it. The most significant development between April and June 2022 was the action taken against APT36, a hacker group that is also known as Transparent Tribe and Mythic Leopard. India has been at the top of its list of targets, and The Free Press Journal 3 stations have to accommodate eight coaches as against the six used by the Delhi Metro. Moreover, labour and accommodation are more expensive in Mumbai. The state government’s ap- proval came days after it allowed the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) to resume work on the Metro 3 car shed in Aarey Colony in Goregaon (East). A senior official with the state urban development department told The Free Press Journal that the loan needed for the project from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has increased by Rs6,689 crore to Rs19,924 crore. The state government will have to bear a paltry additional cost of Rs133.25 crore as its contribution has gone up to Rs2,554.30 crore from Rs2421.10 crore. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE 290c. 260c. we may stick to eight-tier pyramids this year,” said Arun Patil, coach at the Mazgaon Dakshin Vibhag Sarvajanik Ganeshutsav Mandal Govinda Pathak, more commonly known as the Tadwadi govinda pathak which made the first nine-tier pyramid back in 2008. “Unless the practice is good and govindas can climb up and come down safely we will not attempt , nine tiers. "If practice happens safely , only then will we go ahead for a nine-tier,” Patil continued. “The idea is to do it safely It is about taking . precautions. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE The Bombay High Court has refused to allow a mentally challenged rape survivor to terminate her 35-week (8.5 months) pregnancy after a board of medical experts opined it was a high risk to maternal health. division bench of Justices SV Gangapurwala and Arif Saleh Doctor refused to grant permission for medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) observing, “The expert committee has not recommended termination of pregnancy due to advanced gestational age. This court would be guided by the report of the expert committee.” However, as the pregnancy is a result of rape, the HC has said that if the child is born alive, the State should take care of the child in accordance with guideline under a 2019 judgement on MTP . Besides, the HC has directed that the investigating officer has been asked to remain present at the time of delivery so that “DNA samples can be collected soon after the delivery and be used during the trial”. The HC was hearing a petition filed by the woman last month, seeking medical termination of her pregnancy . CONTD. ON NATION PAGE Now, Ayodhya authority names BJP leaders in land grab RASHMI SHARMA Lucknow The loot of public land in the town of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh continues unabated after the construction of a Ram temple began. A list issued recently by the Ayodhya Development Authority (ADA) of land mafias active in the city includes the names of two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators and the mayor. Mayor Rishikesh was named as one of those who had sold land at bloated prices to the Ram Janmabhoomi temple trust. ADA vice-chairman Vishal Singh said 40 people who had sold private land in an unauthorized manner had been identified and their names had been made public. Vishal Singh said these people were engaged in illegal property deals and sold large chunks of land without authorization. Some individuals have constructed houses on those plots. The ADA vice-chairman said all such illegal houses would be razed and action taken against such property dealers. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE