FP FREE PRESS The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms VOL. 13 NO. 333 | BHOPAL | WEDNESDAY | MAY 15, 2024 | PAGES 14 `3 - r Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2021-2023; NEWS BRIEF Russian caught with Rs 20L cash CHENNAI: A Russian couple was detained by Income Tax officials here on Tuesday after they were found to have about Rs 20 lakh cash in a bag, airport officials said. On their arrival here from Delhi by a domestic flight, authorities found Indian currency amounting to a high value in their bag. As they did not have valid papers to account for the cash, the Russian nationals, who arrived here along with their baby, were detained by tax sleuths for questioning, the officials added. Four newborn tiger cubs die RANCHI: Four newborn tiger cubs were killed due to 'suffocation' under the weight of mother tigress in Ranchi's Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park, a zoo official said on Tuesday. The tigress Gauri gave birth to four cubs on May 10 but it turned over the newborn cubs and under the weight of the mother all four cubs died, the zoo veterinarian OP Sahu told PTI. "The mother did not have childcaring experience. Gauri could not understand that she turned over her newborn cubs. The cubs died of suffocation under the weight of the mother by May 11," he said. 30 Naxals surrender in Chhattisgarh BIJAPUR : As many as 30 Naxalites, nine of them carrying a cumulative bounty of Rs 39 lakh on their heads, surrendered before security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Tuesday, police said. The Naxalites, among them six women, turned themselves in before senior officials of the police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), citing that they were disappointed with atrocities committed by Maoists on tribals and "hollow" Maoist ideology, the police stated in a release. ‘Kejriwal's PS misbehaved with Maliwal’ NEW DELHI Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's PS Bibhav Kumar "misbehaved" with AAP RS MP Swati Maliwal on Monday at the CM's residence and the AAP supremo will take strict action in the matter, party leader Sanjay Singh said. Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Singh said it is a "condemnable incident". "Yesterday, Maliwal had gone to meet Arvind Kejriwal at his residence. While she was waiting to meet him in the drawing room, Bibhav Kumar misbehaved with her. This is a highly condemnable incident. Kejriwal has taken cognizance of it and will take strict action in the incident," he added. Maliwal on Monday went to the Civil Lines Police Station and alleged that a member of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's personal staff "assaulted' her at the chief minister's official residence, police officials said. Police have not yet received a formal complaint. EMOTIONAL MODI "My relationship with my Kashi is amazing, inseparable, and incomparable... it cannot be expressed in words!" "I am overwhelmed and emotional! I did not even realise how 10 years passed under the shade of your affection. “Aaj Maa Ganga ne mujhe god le liya hai.” Rudraksh Convention Centre and interacted with party workers. On Monday, after his roadshow, the Prime Minister said, "The love and blessings my family members of Kashi showed during the road show became an unforgettable moment in my life." In the 2019 poll. Modi won by nearly 4.8 lakh votes, a big jump from NEW DELHI SEEKING 3RD TERM Modi is seeking a third consecutive term from the BJP bastion; the party has won this seat eight times since 1991, with only RK Mishra of the Congress, in 2004, managing to break the stranglehold. Varanasi will vote in the seventh and final phase of this election - on June 1. the 3.72 lakh winning margin five years earlier. In the 2014 election Varanasi saw a high-profile clash between the Prime Minister and Aam Aadmi Party boss Arvind Kejriwal, who gathered a little over 20 per cent of the votes on his debut in the BJP fortress. This time around (on paper) the PM's rival is the Congress' Ajay The Aam Aadmi Party will be made an accused in the alleged liquor policy scam, which has seen three of its key leaders - including party chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal land behind bars, the Enforcement Directorate has informed the Delhi High Court. This will be the first time a political party will be made an accused in a case. The probe agency has told the court, which was hearing the bail plea of AAP leader and former 'AAP SHOULD ACCEPT CULPABILITY' "AAP has been the biggest scam in the history of Indian politics and the alleged kickbacks were used for the elections in Goa. Almost all of their key leaders are accused (in the case)... It is about time the AAP accepts its culpability. Manish Sisodia has not been given bail for 15 months,” said BJP spokesperson Tuhin Sinha Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, that a supplementary chargesheet will be filed in the case and the party will be named in it. The Enforcement Directorate is probing the money laundering angle of the alleged scam and the move comes just days after the Supreme Court granted Kejriwal interim bail to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections In October last year, the question of making the AAP an accused was raised by the Supreme Court, which had asked 4 IMC auditors suspended in fake bill payment case OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in In a major crackdown, the state government on Tuesday suspended four senior officers for their alleged roles in the infamous fake bill payment scam that stumbled out of the drainage department of Indore Municipal Corporation. The officers faced axe include Samar Singh Parmar, Deputy Director, in House Audit, Indore Municipal Corporation, Anil Kumar Garg, Joint Director, Regional Office Local Fund Audit, Rameshwar Parmar, Assistant Auditor, In House Audit and JS Oharia, Senior Auditor, In House Audit. The action came hours after Indore Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargav stated that payment of around Rs 80 crore was made on fake bills and added that such a big scam could not happened without the "knowledge" of officers. "Roles of officers during whose tenures the fake bill scam was ongoing should be thoroughly investigated," he said at a presser. Highlighting the negligence of officials in monitoring payments for fraudulent activities, the Mayor noted that fake works were being approved through counterfeit files without proper oversight. CONTD. ON P7 38.30c. 23.00c Sunrise : 05.46 Sunset : 07.00 Prime Minister Narendra Modi offers prayers at the Kaal Bhairav Temple in Varanasi on Tuesday, ahead of filing his nomination for Lok Sabha Elections 2024. Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath also seen. AAP will be made accused in liquor policy case, ED tells court This will be the first time in the history of India that a political party will be named an accused in a case WEATHER EDIT NEEDLESS PAKISTAN BASHING IN ELECTIONS VARANASI PM Modi filed his nomination for the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi on Tuesday morning - after a flashy six km roadshow last evening - accompanied by a phalanx of senior leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party and its alliance partners, including party boss JP Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, as well as Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma. Alliance partners present included Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary and Lok Janshakti Party leader Chirag Paswan, as well as Apna Dal (Sonelal) boss Anupriya Patel and the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party's Om Prakash Rajbhar. This morning, en route to filing his papers, Modi prayed at the city's iconic Dashashwamedh Ghat, on the banks of the Ganges, with UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath present, and visited the Kaal Bhairav Temple. After filing his papers Modi went to the city's why the political party was not being named if it had as per the ED's claims benefited from the alleged kickbacks in the liquor police case. "As far as the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) is concerned, your whole case is that the benefits went to a political party. That political party is still not made an accused or Impleaded. How do you answer that? The political party is the beneficiary according to you," a bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and SV Bhatti had said. CONTD. ON P7 Ex-Indian Army officer with UN killed in Gaza UNITED NATIONS A former Indian Army of ficer working with the United Nations was killed in Gaza when the vehicle he was travelling in came under attack in strife-torn Rafah, becoming the "first international casualty" for the world body since the Israel-Hamas conflict started last year. The United Nations has called for a full investigation while Israel has ordered a separate investigation into the attack. CONTD. ON P7 Rai. Rai contested in 2019 and got 1.52 lakh votes, and an improved vote share of 7.04 per cent. Hindus make up around 75 per cent of Varanasi's demographic. Muslims make up 20 per cent. An estimated 10 per cent of the population belong to Scheduled Tribes and only 0.7 are from Scheduled Castes. CONTD. ON P7 Inflation rises to 1.26 pc in April NEW DELHI: The wholesale inflation rose to a 13month high of 1.26 per cent in April fuelled by rising prices of food articles, especially vegetables, amid expectations of RBI holding interest rates in the policy review next month. The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation has been rising for two months in a row. It was 0.20 per cent in February and 0.53 per cent in March. WPI inflation was 0.79 per cent in April last year. The April WPI print is at a 13-month high. The last high was seen in March 2023, when inflation was 1.41 per cent. "Positive rate of inflation in April 2024 is primarily due to increase in prices of food articles, electricity , crude petroleum and natural gas, manufacture of food products, other manufacturing etc," CONTD. ON P7 GET WELL SOON CJI to take call on SIT probe into electoral bond issue NEW DELHI The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that the Chief Justice of India will take a call on the listing of a petition seeking a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the alleged instances of quid pro quo arrangements between corporates and political parties through Electoral Bonds donations. "Don't worry that matter is with the CJI, Secretariat, they will be fixing a date," said a bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna before whom advocate Prashant Bhushan mentioned the plea for an early hearing. The petition filed by NGOs Common Cause and the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) had sought direction to the authorities to investigate the source of funding of shell companies and loss-making companies to various political parties, as has been disclosed through the electoral bonds data. The petition further sought direction to the authorities to recover the amounts from political parties as donated by companies to these parties as part of quid pro quo arrangements where these are found to be proceeds of crime. CONTD. ON P7 CINEMA MISROD HOSTEL RAPE CASE School director sent to jail, SI gets bail OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in Sub-inspector Prakash Rajput has been given bail in the Misrod hostel minor rape case and main accused Mini Raj Modi, director of private school, has been sent to judicial remand, said the police here on Tuesday . ACP Misrod said that the accused Mini Raj Modi and SI Prakash Rajput were arrested on intervening night of Monday-Tuesday and both were produced in the district court. But before presenting them before the court, Mini Raj Modi had undergone the medical examination. Samples have been taken by the medical staff, said the police. Advocate KP Shrivastava and Jafer Raja appeared on behalf of SI Prakash Rajput. District public prosecutor (DPO) Rajendra Upadhayay said, "The director of the private school Mini Raj Modi has been sent to judicial remand while SI Prakash Rajput has been given bail." Modi had been made accused of allegedly raping the eight year old girl, the student of 2nd standard. IMA prez faces tough questions from SC over comments NEW DELHI Refusing to accept his unconditional apology, the Supreme Court on Tuesday posed some tough question to Indian Medical Association (IMA) president R V Asokan, over his "damaging" statements against the apex court in an interview to PTI where he answered queries about Patanjali Ayurved Ltd's misleading advertisements case. "You cannot sit on a couch giving an interview to the press and lampooning the court," a bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah told Asokan, while making it clear that at this stage, the top court will not accept his affidavit tendering apology . "We are the first one to uphold the freedom of speech, the right of free speech and right of thought but there are time when there has to be a selfrestraint," Justice Kohli Highest male, female voting in fourth phase OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in The male, female voting percentage was highest in the fourth and final round of the Lok Sabha election when compared to the first three phases in Madhya Pradesh. Interestingly, it was in the second phase of election wherein least female voters cast votes. As far as male voting percentage is concerned then second phase of election saw highest male voting. If female voting percentage of all four phases is seen then first phase recorded 66.91 % female control is exercised by the client over the manner in which an advocate renders his services during the course of his employment. The services hired or availed of an advocate would be that of a contract "of personal service" and would, therefore, stand excluded from the definition A bench of justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal said the legal profession is sui generis (unique) and the nature of work is specialised and cannot be compared with other professions of "service", it said. The top court said the very purpose and object of the Consumer Protection Act 1986 as re-enacted in 2019 was to provide protection to the consumers from unfair trade practices and unethical business practices, and the legislature UNHAPPY WITH POLICE The personnel and the officials, handling the inquiry into the case, are annoyed with the working of the police because of the snail's pace of the probe. The office bearers of the Child Rights Protection Commission, Child Welfare Committee, Child Line and few more organisations are closely coordinating with the police for past 13 days, but some of the members of these organisations are not happy with the police working. The matter came to light on May 1st, when the mother of the victim reached the hostel to meet her child. The child narrated the ordeal to her mother. CONTD. ON P7 ‘You cannot sit in couch & give interview to lampoon apex court’ POLLING % INCREASES TO 72.05 The overall voting percentage of fourth phase of Lok Sabha election increased to 72.05 % on Tuesday. Till 6 pm on Monday, it was 71.22 %. This means that there is 0.83 % rise in overall voting figure. Indore, Khargone, Ratlam, Mandsaur, Dhar, Ujjain, Dewas and Khandwa have gone for polling in the fourth and final phase. The final figures of voting percentage says that Dewas polling percentage stood at 75.48 %, Ujjain 73.82 %, Mandsaur 75.27 %, Ratlam 72.94 %, Dhar 72.76 %, Indore 61.67 %, Khargone 76.03 %, Khandwa 71.52 %. voting followed by 55.37 % male voting percentage in second phase, 63.53 % in stood at 68.58 % followed third phase and 68.96 % in by 61.54 % in second phase, fourth phase. This means 69.70 % in third phase and that it was fourth phase of 75.10 % in fourth phase. election which saw highest This means that it was female voting percent. fourth phase which saw If male voting percentage highest male voting peris seen then in first round, centage. CONTD. ON P7 Lawyers cannot be sued for 'deficiency in service': SC NEW DELHI In a significant verdict, the Supreme Court on Tuesday held the lawyers do not come within the purview of Consumer Protection Act and cannot be sued for "deficiency in service" before the consumer courts. The top court said a considerable amount of direct QUALITY AT VALUE www.freepressjournal.in EDITIONS: INDORE, BHOPAL, UJJAIN, MUMBAI, PUNE WITH TOP BJP & NDA LEADERS IN TOW, MODI FILES NOMINATION NAJMUL HASAN TO LEAD BANGLADESH’S 15-MAN SQUAD SPORTS r RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 never intended to include either the professions or the services rendered by the professionals within the purview of the said Act. "A service hired or availed of an advocate is a service under 'a contract of personal service', and therefore would fall within the exclusionary part of the definition of 'Service' contained in Section 2 (42) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. A complaint alleging 'deficiency in service' against Advocates practising legal profession would not be maintainable under the Consumer Protection Act , 2019," the bench said. CONTD. ON P7 observed, adding, "We did not see it in your interview, that is the point." Asokan, who was present in the court, offered an unconditional apology to the bench and prayed for clemency . "Your conduct is not something which we can condone so easily," the bench told him and asked him why he made the statements in a pending matter where the IMA is the petitioner. The bench said that with 45 years of experience in the profession and his role as the IMA president, he was expected to have more sense of responsibility while giving the interview. "You can't vent your internal feeling in the press like this. That too, against an order of this court," Justice Amanullah said. BHIMA KOREGAON CASE SC bail to Gautam Navlakha NEW DELHI Bhima Koregaon case accused, Gautam Navlakha, on Tuesday got bail as the Supreme Court lifted the stay on the Bombay High Court order granting bail to the activist. A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and SVN Bhatti lifted the stay from the High Court order saying its order is subject to the payment of Rs 20 Lakh for his house arrest. Navlakha is under house arrest at a public library in Mumbai since November 2022 due to his ill health. "Prima facie we are of the view that there is no need for extend the interim order of stay. The appellant (Navlakha) has been in incarceration for more than four years and charges are yet to be framed... the trial would take years and years and years for its completion. CONTD. ON P7