Vol. 67 No. 105 | WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 31, 2024 | 30 Pages | `5 & for Pune `6 only Quality at Value www.freepressjournal.in EDITIONS: MUMBAI*, Pune, Nashik, Konkan, Indore, Bhopal, E-paper Modi Sar ki Guarant rkar te Government of India CBC 22201/13/0099/2324 2 Startup ecosyst giving strength to New Ind tem dia Scan for more inform mation Hamara Sankalp Viksit Bharat k l Bharat akh Over 1 la startups and 100+ unicorns creating employment and self employment opportunities l d lf l ii WHEN FOUL IS FAIR Amid charges of grave irregularities by AAP and Cong, BJP scoops key election after 8 votes are invalidated by presiding officer, its nominee RAJESH MOUDGIL / CHANDIGARH CRICKETER IN MIDAIR SCARE Out-of-favour India opener and current Karnataka skipper Mayank Agarwal was rushed to a local hospital in Agartala after falling ill just before his New Delhi-bound flight was about to take off. He is believed to be out of danger; he drank liquid from a pouch which he thought was water and had been kept on his seat. Suddenly, there was irritation in his mouth; also, he couldn't talk and had to be de-boarded. In what came as a rude jolt to the I.N.D.I.A. bloc constituents – the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) -- the BJP scooped the post of the mayor with consummate ease amid cries of grave irregularities. The high-stake 35-member municipal corporation elections, in which the two constituents seemed to have a clear majority – AAP (13) and Congress (7) -- was being keenly watched by the top leaders as the first ‘test’ between the Opposition formulation and the BJP . As against the INDIA bloc’s 20 votes, the BJP had 15 plus one vote of Kirron Kher, the Chandigarh MP who is the ex-officio member of the House. But despite the extra votes in the House and what looked like a cakewalk, the BJP won the election, as 8 councilors’ votes were declared invalid by the presiding officer – a BJP nominee. Incidentally the election was initially scheduled for , January 18 but was abruptly deferred till February 6, as the presiding officer Anil Masih reported ill. The AAP had then moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court which fixed January 30 as the fresh date for the elections. (Curiously enough, Masih was nominated (councilor) in October 2022 and was the BJP’s general secretary Minority Morcha, , earlier.) In what was termed as a major goof-up, Masih, who himself counted the ballot papers, had not allowed candidates’ agents to be present at the time of counting, despite repeated demands by the alliance. He, however, assured them he would show them the ballots later as per norms, a promise that he did not keep. CONTD. ON NATION WITH 3 PIRACY INTERCEPTS IN 2 DAYS Indian Navy rules the seas 19 PAKISTANIS ARE FREED DHARMESH THAKKAR AND AGENCIES / MUMBAI The Indian Navy has thwarted three hijacking attempts in 48 hours, an average that is possibly the best in the world, and which creates the enviable impression that its vessels run on maritime steroids of some sort.In the latest instance, in a coordinated multilateral response to the hijacking of a Sri Lankan fishing vessel Lorenzo Putha, INS Sharada was deployed from Kochi and an American made MQ9B Sea Guardian advanced High Altitude Long Endurance combat and reconnaissance drone launched to locate & intercept the hijacked vessel. Lorenzo Putha was hijacked by armed pirates, numbering three, 955 nautical miles east of Mogadishu, Somalia. The vessel was intercepted by Seychelles Coast Guard vessel SCGS Topaz in its maritime zone late Monday with the help from Indian Navy The pirates surren. dered, the vessel was escorted to Mahe, Seychelles; all six crew were reported safe. Explaining the operation in typical detail, the Indian Navy spokesman elaborated a little, ‘’Collaboration, efficient operational coordination and info sharing with Sri Lankan Navy and the Seychelles International Liaison Officers (ILOs) at New Delhi resulted in the interception and rescue of the hijacked fishing vessel.” The most curious was the case of Pakistani sailors being freed from a vessel taken captive by pirates. The Navy put out ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures, one with pirates menacingly toting what look like Kalashnikovs. The ‘after’ picture shows ten subdued pirates, their arms tied behind their backs, with communications equipment displayed in front of them, and ringed behind them are marine commandos, bristling with weapons. The weapons they had brandished are nowhere in the picture. Artful dodger Hemant Soren found in Ranchi FPJ NEWS SERVICE / RANCHI Hemant Soren, the Chief Minister of Jharkhand, surfaced in Ranchi on Tuesday waving nonchalantly from his car , with aplomb, as he entered his residence compound, ending nearly 30 hours of suspense over his whereabouts. The Enforcement Directorate had come snapping at his heels, but failed to locate him in Delhi, where he had a private jet waiting to take him to his state. In Ranchi, an unflappable-looking Soren presided over a meeting with his MLA and Ministers of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, even as rumours swirled of the distinct possibility of his wife, Kalpana Soren, being eased into the Chief Minister's chair, should he be arrested. That possibility remained strong on Tuesday evening. Soren is to be questioned by the ED on Wednesday at his residence. No chances were being taken on Tuesday after Soren reappeared with Section 144 prohibiting public gatherings within the 100-metre radius of residences of Soren and the governor, and ED’s Ranchi office, a day before the central agency is set to quiz him. The Jharkhand Governor C P Radhakrishnan, for his part, made some throwaway remarks to the media at a function organised on the occasion of the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. CONTD. ON NATION CM FACE? The most curious of the intercepts was the INS Sumitra rescuing a hijacked fishing vessel Al Naeemi and freeing 19 Pakistani nationals from the clutches of 11 Somali armed pirates, its second such action in less than two days. For the trivia-minded, INS Sumitra had gone into action for the second time, in 36 hours, to “locate and intercept another Iranian flagged fishing vessel which had been boarded by pirates and her crew taken hostage.” In the language of the release put out by the Navy “Responding swiftly to the , developing situation, Sumitra intercepted the vessel through coercive posturing & effective deployment of her integral helo & boats and compelled the safe release of the crew and the vessel.” Translated into hackneyed English, it could mean that the Saryu class vessel overpowered the pirates. The Navy put out what looked like `before’ and `after’ pictures, one with pirates menacingly totting with what look like Kalashnikovs. The after picture shows ten subdued pirates, their arms tied behind their backs, with communications equipment displayed in front of them, and ringed behind CONTD. ON NATION 15 TO HANG FOR MURDER OF DALIT BJP LEADER K RAVEENDRAN / THIRUVANANTHAPURAM A Kerala trial court has sentenced all 15 accused in the murder of BJP OBC Morcha state secretary Ranjith Sreenivasan to death by hanging. The convicts are members of the banned Popular Front of India and SDPI. The killing of Ranjit Sreenivasan, who was hacked to death, was carried out in retaliation for the murder of SDPI leader K S Shan a day earlier. The attackers forced themselves into Ranjith’s residence on December 19, 2021 and killed him in front of his mother and wife after the assailants failed to find him in his advocate’s office. CONTD. ON NATION LAST WORD Yadav khandaan bahu to the fore, again FPJ NEWS SERVICE / LUCKNOW Prominent in the list of 16 contenstants released by the Samajwadi Party for the Lok Sabha elections is Dimple Yadav, wife of party chief Akhilesh Yadav She has been . fielded from the Mainpuri constituency where she is in, cumbent. Mulayam Khandaan’s bahu etched her name in the annals of history as the first woman from Uttar Pradesh to secure an unopposed victory in a Lok Sabha by-election. Her journey adorned with both tri, umphs and setbacks, reflects the complexities of the political landscape she traverses. Yadav, whose lineage boasts of political stalwarts including her husband and fatherin-law, emerged victorious in the 2012 by-elections for the Kannauj constituency Her as. cent to the Lok Sabha was precipitated by her husband Akhilesh Yadav’s election to the Uttar Pradesh legislative council to become Chief Minister following the Samajwadi Party’s triumph in the assembly elections. This victory not only marked her entry into the political arena but also posi- tioned her as the 44th individual nationwide and only the fourth in Uttar Pradesh to be elected unopposed. The path for this was cleared when Opposition candidates Dashrath Singh Shankwar and Sanju Katiyar withdrew their nominations, leaving Yadav as the sole contender. While the BJP and the Indian National Congress refrained from fielding candidates, the BJP later cited logistical issues for their absence, underscoring the unique circumstances surrounding Yadav’s victory . Her subsequent retention of the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat in 2014 fortified her position as a formidable political force. CONTD. ON NATION IMRAN IS ACCUSED OF LEAKING DETAILS OF A CLASSIFIED DOCUMENT UNDER THE OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT. IMRAN GETS 10 YRS IN JAIL SAJJAD HUSSAIN / ISLAMABAD Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a special court on Tuesday for leaking state secrets, thus putting in jeopardy his bid to return to power in the February 8 general elections. Along with Imran, former foreign minister Shah Mah- mood Qureshi -- vice-chairman of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party -was also sentenced to 10 years in prison by the special court set up inside Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, where both men are being held. The 71-year-old cricketerturned-politician is already serving a three-year jail term after being convicted of cor- ruption in a case of misappropriation of ‘gifts’. The so-called cipher case stems from the alleged leak of secret diplomatic correspondence sent by Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington to Islamabad when Khan was prime minister. It relates to his appearance at a rally in March 2022, where Imran appeared on stage, CONTD. ON NATION