ESTD-1928 Vol. 67 No. 222 | MONDAY | JUNE 17, 2024 | 22 Pages | `5 & for Pune `6 only ✩✩✩ Reg.No Mcs 0482021-23; RNI No. 1541/1967 M.p.c.s office Mumbai. PIN 40001 QUALITY @ VALUE THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL www.freepressjournal.in NATION Shah reviews security in Jammu and Kashmir EDITIONS: INDORE MUMBAI PUNE BHOPAL ✩✩✩ QUALITY @ VALUE Maximum newspaper, minimum fuss From today, The Free Press Journal wears a new look. It is easy on the eye, and brings you a crisp, clean, new design that will enhance your reading experience. It is contemporary, elegant, and uses a family of fonts that has not been used in any newspaper in India, sourced from one of the leading foundries in Europe. Along with the new architecture of the pages, we also bring you a new colour palette that is refreshing and elevates the visual experience, with easier navigation that brings into focus each and every square centimetre of the newspaper you hold. Happy reading! – Editor hrough community centres, student scholarships and assistance for the chronically ill, Nisreen Ebrahim has brought change to Mumbai's slums. Turn to Mumbai page to read about her. T KONKAN E-paper World leaders meet in Switzerland in bid to end ‘illegal’ war EVMs in India are ‘black box’, Rahul backs Elon Musk Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar & Biswajeet Banerjee NEW DELHI & AYODHYA Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s remarks on the vulnerability of EVMs to hacking in the context of elections in the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico on Sunday triggered a debate on the issue halfway across the globe in India as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi agreed with him and termed these machines “black box” while BJP former union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar called it a “sweeping generalisation”. In a parallel salvo, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav also endorsed Musk. Musk had in a post on ‘X’ raised concerns about the potential risk of the EVMs getting hacked by humans or with the use of artificial intelligence. Musk made his comments while reacting to a post by Independent candidate for the President of the United States, Robert F. Kennedy Junior, who had written: “Puerto Rico’s primary elections just experienced hundreds of voting Rajiv Chandrashekhar terms Elon Musk's remarks on vulnerability of EVMs as “sweeping generalisation” irregularities related to electronic voting machines, according to the Associated Press. Luckily, there was a paper trail so the problem was identified and vote tallies corrected.” NCERT chief: Why teach about riots and demolitions? Tagging the post, Musk wrote, “We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high.” Though the two were discussing the situation in the Americas, Chandrasekhar, who was Minister of Electronics and Information Technology in Modi 2.0 government, jumped in with a detailed post, saying “this is a huge sweeping generalization statement that implies no one can build secure digital hardware. Wrong.” Contd on | Nation Member: Audit Bureau of Circulation (Jan to Dec 2023) Sports Virat Kohli’s form holds the key in Super 8s WORLD NEW DELHI | Tesla CEO's remarks on EVMs sparks debate halfway across the world ESTD-1928 NASHIK Cinema Chandu Champion isn’t big for me: Kartik Aaryan ‘Ageing Dawood now CIA asset’ Sources in the Indian security establishment said now Dawood, who constantly relocates In a highly significant devel- to different safe houses in variopment it is reliably learnt that ous provinces of Pakistan, is dithe Central Intelligence rectly reporting to the CIA's Agency (CIA) of the U.S. has station director in Islamabad made notorious gangster and if the ISI wants Dawood Ibrahim one something done then it of its prime assets in has to route its request Pakistan. Hitherto Dathrough the powerful E XC L U S I V E wood was a part of the American spy agency. Pakistan armed forces' One of the collateral Inter Services Intelligence benefits for the don is that (ISI) and was even given the his family members now have honorary post of additional di- free access to countries in the rector-general by the ruthless West. spy agency as reported by the Despite his advancing age FPJ on October 1, 2023. (68) and illness, he continues to S Balakrishnan MUMBAI FPJ lord over a massive empire specialising in terror activities and smuggling narcotics. The main reason why the CIA is evincing keen interest in Dawood is that he has a deep network in Afghanistan which he uses for smuggling pure opium Yogi tweaks policy for Ayodhya shopkeepers Biswajeet Banerjee AYODHYA Shaken up after a significant electoral defeat in Ayodhya, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has shifted its policy from "business first" to "local first." The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which heavily emphasized the Ram Mandir in its campaign, lost the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat, an area central to its temple politics, to the Samajwadi Party (SP). The BJP's loss in Faizabad, home to the newly consecrated Ram Temple, has BJP’s loss in Faizabad, home to the Ram Temple, has been attributed to discontent among locals been attributed to the discontent among local shopkeepers. Many locals, whose shops were demolished for the construction of the Ram Path, expressed their dissatisfaction through their votes. This discontent was a major factor in the defeat of BJP's two-time MP, Lallu Singh, who lost to SP's Awadhesh Prasad by a margin of 54,567 votes. Many traders and residents feel the compensation they received was grossly inadequate. Pankaj Gupta, the President of the Ayodhya Dham Vyapar Mandal, told FPJ that the blame for the BJP's defeat in the Faizabad parliamentary seat has been unjustly attributed to the local traders. Contd on | Nation 2 own up to role in NEET paper leak FPJ News Service MUMBAI fp PTI pened when they grow up. The hue and cry about the changes is irrelevant," he said. Saklani's comments come even as new textbooks have hit the market with several deletions and changes. The revised Class 12 political science textbook, does not mention the Babri masjid demolition, but refers to it as a "three-domed structure". It has pruned the Ayodhya section from four to two pages, deleting details from the earlier version. It instead focuses on the Supreme Court judgement that paved the way for the construction of a Ram temple at the site where the disputed structure once stood before it was torn down by Hindu activists in December 1992. Two persons accused in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) paper leak case have confessed to their role in the matter, according to an official of the Economic Offences Unit of Bihar police. One of the accused, Sikandar Yadvendu, said two persons — Amit and Nitish — had on May 4 obtained the question paper of the examination that was to be held a day later. They went to a playschool in Ramakrishna Nagar where 25 to 30 NEET candidates were there, Yadvendu, a 56-year-old Junior Engineer in the Danapur Municipal Council, is alleged to have said. The candidates were made to memorise the questions and answers and were dropped off at the exam centres by car, Yadvendu said according to an official of the EOU. A candidate named Ayush Kumar also allegedly confessed that he was made to memorise the answers. The Opposition has launched an all-out attack on the government over the issue that has triggered protests by aspirants in several parts of the country. Contd on | Nation Contd on | Nation NEW DELHI Briefs PATNA 4 missing as boat capsizes Four persons are still missing, while 13 have been rescued following the boat tragedy near Umanath Ganga ghat in Barh subdivision of Patna district on Sunday morning, officials said. “The mishap took place around 9.15 am near Umanath Ganga ghat when the boat carrying 17 people capsized midway,” said Shubham Kumar, Barh subdivisional magistrate. MUMBRA Truck rams wall, kills teen A 14-year-old boy was killed and six people injured after a cement mixer truck rammed into a wall of a residential building in Mumbra and overturned on Saturday night, according to the Regional Disaster Management Cell (RDMC). The deceased has been identified as Nasir Shaikh. Around 8 pm on Saturday, while the children were playing in the Prathamesh society compound in Samrat Nagar, the driver of the truck lost control of the vehicle, which collided with the wall. Those injured were rushed to hospital but Shaikh succumbed during treatment. Rejecting accusations of saffronisation of school curriculum, NCERT's director has said that references to Gujarat riots and Babri masjid demolition were modified in school textbooks because teaching about riots "can create violent and depressed citizens." In an interaction with PTI editors at the agency's headquarters here on Saturday, NCERT director Dinesh Prasad Saklani said the tweaks in textbooks are part of annual revision. On references to Gujarat riots or Babri masjid being tweaked in NCERT textbooks, Saklani said, "Why should we teach about riots in school textbooks? We want to create positive citizens not violent and depressed individuals". "Should we teach our students in a manner that they become offensive, create hatred in society or become victim of hatred? Is that education's purpose? Should we teach about riots to such young children ... when they grow up, they can learn about it but why school textbooks? Let them understand what happened and why it hap- Dinesh Prasad Saklani Confluence of faith Devotees take a dip in the river Ganga on the occasion of Ganga Dussehra, in Varanasi on Sunday. – ANI from the Helmand valley. He is also partnering with the ruling Taliban and with the help of Tiger Memon, who executed the Mumbai serial blasts of March, 1993, and he is raking in big time moolah by illegal mining of gems from Afghanistan. Sources said he is now living in deep dread of the ``unknown men" of Indian agencies who have in the recent months eliminated several terrorists holed up in Pakistan. He is not even going on Haj and Umrah trips to Saudi Arabia as he used to do in the past. Contd on | Nation Gambhir poised to be India coach Haridev Pushparaj MUMBAI Kolkata Knight Riders mentor Gautam Gambhir is likely to become the next head coach of the Indian cricket team, media reports said quoting officials of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). BCCI is likely to make the official announcement regarding Gambhir’s appointment to the high-profile coaching job in the coming days, according to the reports. The hunt for a coach has been on for the last couple of months with Rahul Dravid’s tenure ending after the T20 World Cup and Gambhir was one of the major contenders for the position. The former India batsman had expressed his inclination to take up the most coveted job in Indian cricket when the coach scouting process was on but had said he would like to have his own support staff. BCCI has apparently accepted Gambhir’s demands and he is all set to be named to the post officially in a week, according to the reports. Gambhir has been a successful batsman for India and played a pivotal knock of 97 against Sri Lanka in the 2011 World Cup final that helped India clinch their second ODI World Cup trophy. The Delhi man also tasted success when he led Kolkata Knight Riders to their first IPL title in 2012. Contd on | Nation RSS moves a trailer, real show to come Neelu Vyas I s the Sangh parivar imploding from within? Or is it holding out a red herring? That’s a question many have been asking ever since Mohan Bhagwat, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s sarsanghchalak, remarked on “a lack of decorum” during the election campaign, and hinted at the glaring failure of the Union government to contain the continuing conflict in Manipur. Bhagwat aimed his remarks at Prime Minister Narendra silence during the campaign, Modi, whose coarse Islamo- even as reports emerged that phobhia generated great con- its pracharaks showed little introversy, diverting attention clination to mobilise voters. from the more ideological Obviously RSS workers issues of the Sangh parisensed the anti incumvar. Modi used pejorbency. ative references like Immediately after “those who have more the BJP fell short of A N A LYS I S children” and “infiltramajority, critical voices tors” for Muslims, while emerged, Bhagwat leadcausing much bitterness ing. He said that “maryada” over his repeated use of terms (dignity) and “saiyam” (relike “mujra”, or “mangalsutra” straint) were not shown in the and “buffalo thieves” for the campaign, even as many opposition alliance. within the RSS tried to indicate The RSS maintained a stoic that his comments were not di- FPJ rected only at Modi and the central leadership of the BJP. Bhagwat even said that RSS doesn’t consider the opposition as a “virodhi” (enemy) but a “pratipaksh“ (counterpoint), in a rare show of support for a democratic political culture. He also spoke about how only a leader without ego has the right to be called a “sevak” (public servant), in a possible dig at Modi who has described himself the pradhan sevak, instead of pradhan mantri. Contd on | Nation offgrid Spectacular heist at Pune-based jeweller in Sunnyvale SUNNYVALE CALIF. SMASH & GRAB: CCTV grab of the heist in progress A video of a shocking smash and grab robbery shows the moment a jewelry store is overwhelmed by suspects armed with tools and hammers. Fox KTVU put up a surveillance video of the incident at the Pune-based PNG Jewelers branch in Sunnyvale on Wednesday afternoon. Police later said at least five people have been arrested, but they are looking for more suspects. The surveillance video's timestamp shows the robbery happened just before 12:30 p.m. Well over a dozen suspects, clad in black clothing, barge into the store and begin smashing the glass counters as they ransack the place. It is all over in less than three minutes. The surveillance video shows display cases being emptied into bags and backpacks brought by the suspects whose faces are shrouded by masks and hoods. Three employees in the store are seen fleeing when the robbers barge in after smashing open the glass doors which appear to be closed. As the last robber flees, another person, presumably the store manager, comes out of her office to see the spectacle of smashed counters and glass everywhere and the jewellery missing. Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety said their officers responded to a report of a robbery in progress and that approximately 20 suspects were involved, reported Fox KTVU. "The suspects fled the store in multiple vehicles before officers arrived on scene. Officers located two suspect vehicles as they were attempting to flee the area," Sunnyvale DPS said in a news release. Two vehicles managed to evade police who attempted to stop them, which led to pursue them. They chased the suspects onto Highway 101 when they lost sight of the first vehicle. The second vehicle discarded stolen jewellery during the pursuit, police said. The channel reported that police lost sight of the second vehicle. However, a police department providing mutual aid located the second suspect vehicle abandoned on the highway further on. Police said the five suspects from that car fled on foot and ran across the freeway into a nearby industrial area where four of them were apprehended. The fifth was taken into custody in a nearby area when a police dog squad caught up with him. Contd on | Nation