FREE PRESS FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms - VOL. XXXIX NO. 113 | INDORE | THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 29, 2022 | PAGES 18 WWW.FREEPRESSJOURNAL.IN `3 QUALITY AT VALUE RNI No. 38281/83 Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2021-2023; PFI BANNED WEATHER 31.80c. 22.20c EDITIONS: INDORE, BHOPAL, UJJAIN, MUMBAI, PUNE FOR 24X7 UPDATES EDIT CLOSER INDIA-US TIES WILL BENEFIT BOTH INDIA BEAT PROTEAS BY 8 WICKETS IN FIRST T20 Sunrise : 06.17 Sunset : 06.17 BIGGER AND BETTER! Pg-18 NEW DELHI Suryakumar Yadav and KL Rahul celebrate after winning the 1st T20 cricket match between India and South Africa, at Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram, on Wednesday PTI SEE SPORTS PAGE News Brief 4% DA hike for central staff The Centre on Wednesday announced the muchawaited hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) of 4% with effect from July 1, 2022 to the central staff and pensioners respectively that comes as a relief amid scorching inflation during the festival season. 10 killed, 41 hurt in UP collision Ten people were killed and 41 others injured in a headon collision between a private bus and a mini-truck here on Wednesday. The Lakhimpur Kheri chief medical officer (CMO) said 12 of the injured are critical and have been sent to a trauma centre in Lucknow while 29 are undergoing treatment at the district hospital. R Venkataramani is new AG Senior advocate R Venkataramani was appointed as the Attorney General of India on Wednesday for a term of three years, according to a notification. He will succeed K K Venugopal, whose term will end on September 30. Arrest warrant against Ekta A court in Bihar's Begusarai on Wednesday issued arrest warrants against Ekta Kapoor, film producer and director, and her mother Shobha Kapoor on charges of insulting soldiers and hurting the sentiments of their family members in her web series 'XXX' (Season-2). Jaishankar meets Sullivan External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held talks with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan during which they reviewed the progress in the US-India strategic partnership and exchanged views on global and regional issues, including approaches to advance a free, open, secure, and prosperous Indo-Pacific. Amit Shah to visit J&K Union Home Minister Amit Shah will embark on a three-day visit to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir kickstarting on October 3. Shah will hold a couple of meetings with the leaders of the J-K unit of the BJP on October 3 night. Ex-NSE boss gets bail Delhi High Court, on Wednesday, granted bail to former NSE boss Chitra Ramkrishna in the colocation scam case but she will not walk out of jail yet because her plea for the relief in the money laundering case related to alleged illegal phone tapping and snooping of some employees of the bourse is still pending. Lt-Gen Anil Chauhan (retd) appointed CDS NEW DELHI: Indian Army's former Eastern Command chief, Lt Gen Anil Chauhan (retd) was on Wednesday appointed the second Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), with effect from the date of his assumption of charge and until further orders, an official statement said. He will also function as Sec, retary Department of Military Affairs. Lt Gen Chauhan (retd) succeeds the first CDS, former Army chief, Gen Bipin Rawat who had died in a helicopter crash on December 8 last year. In a career spanning over nearly 40 years, Lt Gen Chauhan has held several command, staff and instrumental appointments and had extensive experience in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and northeast India. Rupee slides to all-time low of 81.93 against US dollar Commissioned into 11 Gorkha Rifles in 1981, he is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla and Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. As Major General, he had commanded an Infantry Division in the critical Baramulla sector in the Northern Command, and as Lt General, commanded a corps in the northeast and subsequently went on to become the Eastern Command chief from September 2019 and held the charge until his retirement from service in May 2021. CONTD. ON P8 CBI books Amrapali Silicon City for Rs 177-cr bank fraud NEW DELHI: The CBI on conducted Wednesday searches at six locations in Delhi and Noida after registering an FIR against Amrapali Silicon City Private Limited and its promoter, Anil Kumar Sharma, for alleged bank fraud of Rs 177 crore, officials said. The CBI has booked the company on a complaint from Bank of Baroda which was part of a consortium including Bank of Maharashtra and Punjab National Bank. The consortium was allegedly cheated , by the company they said. The company had taken over 1.76 lakh square metre land from from New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (Noida) for developing a group housing complex, Amrapali Silicon City, in Sector 76 of the Delhi suburb. CONTD. ON P8 Cong headed for Diggy vs Tharoor NEW DELHI MUMBAI The Indian rupee has depreciated to trade at an alltime low of 81.93 against the US dollar after the surge in dollar index, dealers said. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 81.90 against the dollar, then fell to 81.93, against the 81.58 close in the previous trading session. "The dollar index at a 20year high had led to sharp depreciation in the Indian rupee over the last week. Despite that, INR has outperformed other global currencies, as RBI has been actively supporting the domestic currency by selling the US dollars," said Aishvarya Dadheech, Fund Manager, Ambit Asset Management. Dadheech also said that in the short term, due to global risk-off sentiment, we can expect more pressure on the Indian rupee. Digvijaya Singh, Congress veteran and a longtime loyalist of the Gandhi family, will enter the race for the party president, due next month. The former MP CM will reach Delhi on Wednesday night and will file the nomination within two days, sources said. Singh, who is in Kerala for the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi, however, denied it, saying he is yet to discuss the matter with the Gandhis. The 75-year-old has been evading a straight reply on whether he would contest since the party elections were announced. During a discussion on between face-off the Shashi Tharoor and Ashok Gehlot earlier this month, Singh had said, “I am not ruling myself out also, why do you want to keep me out?” At a press conference in Jabalpur on Friday, he said he would not contest the Congress Presidential election, but would follow instructions by the higher . authorities in the party Asked about the possibility of his contesting earlier on government, The , Wednesday banned the Popular Front of India and several of its associates for five years under a stringent antiterror law, accusing them of having "links" with global terror groups like ISIS. Besides PFI, the organisations which were also declared banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) include Rehab India Foundation, Campus Front of India, All India Imams Council, National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation, National Women's Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala. More than 150 people allegedly linked with PFI were detained or arrested in raids across seven states on Tuesday, five days after a similar pan-India crackdown against the 16-yearold group had led to the arrest of over a hundred of its activities and seizure of several dozen properties. In a late Tuesday night notification, the Union home ministry said some PFI founding members are leaders of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and the PFI has linkages with Jamat-ul-MuBangladesh jahideen (JMB). Both JMB and SIMI are proscribed organisations. It said there had been many instances of international linkages of PFI with global terrorist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). CONTD. ON P8 The Archaeological Survey of India has found ancient caves and temples, remains of Buddhist structures and mural inscriptions bearing names of cities like Mathura and Kaushambi in old scripts during its recent exploration at Bandhavgarh in Madhya Pradesh, officials . said on Wednesday An ASI team covered nearly 170 sq km falling in the area of the famous Bandhavgarh Tiger Re- Muslim orgs back PFI ban Muslim organisations have come out in support of the ban. All India Sufi Sajjadanashin Councils' Chairman Sayyed Naseeruddin welcomed the ban on PFI on behalf of the organisation.The Muslim Student Organisation of India termed the ban on PFA "reasonable". Ajmer Dargah Diwan welcomes ban The Diwan of Ajmer Dargah Zainul Abedin Ali Khan on Wednesday welcomed the Centre's move of banning the PFI and its associates for five years and termed it a "commendable" decision. "PFI should have been banned long back. This move is commendable," he said. Ban cannot be supported: Owaisi AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said though he always opposed the PFI's approach, the ban cannot be supported."I have always supported democratic approach. The Supreme Court also has held that mere association with an organisation is not enough to convict someone," he said MP issues gazette notification ACTION AGAINST PFI INTERNAL SURGICAL STRIKE: MISHRA against PFI & its associates OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in The state government Activist held has issued a gazette from Bhopal notification on booked under Wednesday, based on 151, 107 and the notification issued 116 of the by the Central CrPC, sent to Government to put a jail ban on PFI and its Office sealed associated or affiliated fronts including Rehab India Foundation (RIF). Campus Front of India (CFI), All India Imams Council (AIIC), National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation (NCHRO), National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Empower Front and Rehab Foundation, Kerala were declared as unlawful organisations. CONTD. ON P8 OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in State home minister Dr With Narottam Mishra has welcomed arrest of the decision of the centre to ban 4 more, Popular Front of India (PFI). He total 25 said that with the arrest of four PFI more, a total of 25 people have members been held in connection with held their links with the PFI. Moreover, he said that action against PFI is an internal surgical strike after outer surgical strike done against terrorists. “Its internal surgical strike which will destroy the entire nefarious design,” he claimed. He asserted that as the evidence will come to the fore during interrogation of arrested members of PFI, the sleeper cells will be busted subsequently. CONTD. ON P8 LATA MANGESHKAR AWARD OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in on Wednesday Singh had said, “I have not discussed (the matter) with anybody. I have not sought permission from the high command... Leave it to me whether I will contest or not.” The suspense over the Congress elections, in which a non-Gandhi is expected to be elected after more than 20 years, has spiked after the rebellion by loyalists of CM Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan. So far, Shashi Tharoor is the only one to declare his candidature. The Gandhis are not supporting any candidate, maintaining that the election is open to all. Gehlot, another longtime loyalist of the family, was seen as the front-runner, till the rebellion by his supporters upset the Gandhis and put a twist on the matter. Whether Gehlot will contest or not is now a grey area. CONTD. ON P8 Taking a serious note of irregularities in ration distribution Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan ordered suspension of the district supply officer (DSO) of Sheopur on Wednesday and instructed Chambal divisional commissioner to inquire into the irregularities, as per officials. DSO, Sheopur is the third such officer from the state who faced action on CM’s instructions on irregularities in ration supply coming to the notice of the CM. The suspension was ordered during review of performance of the district administration by the CM on Wednesday morning. Earlier, district supply officer of Dindori was suspended while Jhabua district supply officer was shifted. Sheopur is the district which saw world’s first incheetah ter-continental translocation in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday on September 17. It’s the PM who released the cheetahs into Kuno National Park. CONTD. ON P8 FINDS BUDDHIST REMAINS, inscriptions bearing names of Mathura & Kaushambi cities serve that is not accessible to public during the over a month-long exploration of the region which it undertook for the first since 1938, they said. During the exercise held from May 20-June 27, the ASI's Jabalpur Circle also reported many ancient sculptures, including large monolithic sculptures of various avatars of Vishnu like 'Varaha' and 'Matsya', and "board games made in natural caves", officials said. Superintending Archael- RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Wednesday called the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh a a "Hindu extremist organisation" that deserved to be banned. "They keep raising the bogey of PFI. It is the RSS, which is all about Hindu extremism ('kattarpanth'), that deserves to be banned first," he said Security personnel deployed outside a sealed office of Popular Front of India (PFI), in Bhopal on Wednesday CM orders suspension of DSO, Sheopur ASI explores Bandhavgarh after 84 years NEW DELHI RSS should have been banned first: Lalu ogist of the Jabalpur Circle, S K Bajpai, who led the team, shared details and images from the exploration during a media interaction at the ASI headquarters here. "This is the first time ASI has explored Bandhavgah since the 1938 exploration by archaelogist N P Chakravarti. Many structures there were documented, we reported and documented more structures, including ancient caves, temples, Buddhist remains, maths, sculp- tures, water bodies, mural inscriptions in old scripts like Brahmi and Nagari," Bajpai said. Other agencies have done some exploration in the intervening period though, he added. A special permission was taken from the forest authorities to explore the area in Umaria Madhya of district Pradesh, he said, adding that he "encountered a tiger and elephants" during the job, but "caves gave us shelter". Singers Kumar Sanu, Shailendra Singh, along with musician duo Anand-Milind received the Lata Mangeshkar Award at a funciton in Indore on Wednesday. Also seen in the picture are culture minister Usha Thakur, MP Shankar Lalwani and Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargav SEE PAGE 4 SC SEEKS CENTRE’S RESPONSE ON PIL TO... ‘Debar charge-sheeted candidates from contesting elections’ AGENCIES New Delhi The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice to Centre on a PIL seeking to debar all those persons, against whom charges have been framed, from contesting election, as per the Law Commission's report. The plea, filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, sought direction to the Centre and the Election Commission to take steps to debar persons, against whom charges have been framed in serious offences, from contesting elections. It contended that on February 2, 2014, the Law Commission submitted its 244th report on decriminalisation of politics, but Centre did nothing. Later, it submitted a report on electoral reform and suggested steps for electoral and democratic reforms, but the Centre did nothing on it too, it added. After hearing arguments from Upadhyay, a bench of Justices K.M. Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy sought a response from Law and Justice and Home ministries, and the Election Commission. The plea sought a direction to the Election Commission to use its plenary power conferred under Article 324, to amend the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order 1968, to insert such a condition (restriction) for the contestants. "There is an increase of 44 per cent in the number of MPs with declared criminal cases since 2009. Similarly, 159 (29 per cent) winners in Lok Sabha 2019 Elections have declared serious criminal cases including cases related to rape, murder, attempt to kidnapping, murder, crimes against women etc," said the plea. It further added that out of 542 winners analysed during Lok Sabha elections in 2014, 112 (21 percent) winners had declared serious criminal cases against themselves. CONTD. ON P8 PIC: PINTU NAMDEO Kolkata app fraud: ED seizes Bitcoin worth Rs 12.83 crore KOLKATA: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) probing mobile gaming app ENuggets a in fraud case on Wednesday seized Bitcoin worth Rs 12.73 crore owned by Amir Khan, the prime accused arrested in the matter. The development came just hours after Kolkata Police confiscated Rs 14.53 crore from a cryptocurrency wallet of Amir Khan. However, the Bitcoin worth Rs 12.73 crore seized by the ED was not directly held by Khan, who instead used the cryptocurrency wallet of a local businessman to maintain the reserve against a commission. Earlier on September 10, the ED had seized Rs 17.32 crore in cash from the residence of Amir Khan's father, Naser Khan, in the Garden Reach area of Kolkata. fresh the Following seizure of Bitcoin, the total seizure in the E-Nuggets scam has reached Rs 44.68 crore.