FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms FREE PRESS Vol. 14 No. 76 | BHOPAL | FRIDAY | AUGUST 30, 2024 | Pages 14 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 www.freepressjournal.in ESTD-1983 iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: Sports Gauff, Garcia expose Cyberbullying's toll on athletes P.12 fp INDORE UJJAIN PUNE BHOPAL NASHIK MONEY Moody’s ups India’s 2024 GDP growth forecast to 7.2% SRINAGAR Infiltration bids foiled along LoC in J&K Security forces have foiled two infiltration bids along the Line of Control in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir, killing three terrorists, officials said on Thursday. "One terrorist has been confirmed eliminated (in Tangdhar operation). Two terrorists have been eliminated in the ongoing anti-infiltration operation in general area Machhal, Kupwara, along with the recovery of Two AK Rifles, one Pistol, four Hand Grenades and other war-like stores," Srinagar based Chinar Corps posted on its X handle. Cinema Abhishek addresses poster controversy P.14 NEW DELHI SC raps Telangana CM "Do we pass orders after consultations with political parties?" an ostensibly provoked Supreme Court asked on Thursday, voicing strong displeasure over Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy's comments on the apex court granting bail to rival BRS leader K Kavitha in cases linked to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam. Angry over Reddy's statement about a "deal" between the BJP and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) for securing bail for Kavitha, the top court said such statements might create apprehensions in the minds of people. BENGALURU Justice has prevailed for me: DKS Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Thursday welcomed the Karnataka High Court dismissing the petitions filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal in the disproportionate assets case, saying "justice had been granted to him" and it was not only a victory for him but for the Congressled state government as well as the people. UNNAO Three injured in cracker factory blast Three people, including a woman, were injured in a blast at a makeshift cracker factory here on Thursday, police said. No casualty has been reported so far, a senior police official said. The blast caused the two storey building to collapse and rescue efforts are underway to ensure that no one is buried under debris, Superintendent of Police (SP) Siddharth Shankar Meena said. The injured were taken to a hospital, police said. The incident occurred in Karnaipur village of Barasagwar area around 11 am when there was a blast in a two storey building, the SP said. Mumbai is new billionaire capital of Asia, pips Beijing Agencies NEW DELHI Zepto founder youngest in list India's financial capital Mumbai has emerged as the "billionaire capital of Asia," having more billionaires than Beijing, the capital of China, according to the 2024 Hurun India Rich List. Mumbai saw an increase of 58 billionaire individuals, taking its total to 386 on the list. "Home to 25% of the list Mumbai is not only the billionaire capital of Asia, overtaking Beijing but also the preferred city for Hurun India Rich Listers, followed by New Delhi and Hyderabad," the Hurun list data stated. Among the top cities of residence of Hurun India Rich Listers 2024, Mumbai is followed by Delhi, which has added 18 new billionaires, taking its rich list entries to 217. Meanwhile, Hyderabad took a significant leap and surpassed Bengaluru, for the first time, to take the third position in the number of wealthy residents, The Economic Times Kaivalya Vohra, cofounder of quick commerce app Zepto, is the youngest to feature on the list of richest Indians released by Hurun. The 21-year-old has a net worth of ₹ 3,600 crore. His cofounder, 22-year old Aadit Palicha, is second youngest on the list. Vohra and Palicha were students of Stanford University, who later dropped out of their computer science course and pursued entrepreneurship. Both friends started Zepto in 2021 to fulfil the growing demand for quick and contactless delivery of essential items in the days of the Covid pandemic. reported. A surge of 17 new billionaires took the total number in Hyderabad to 104, followed by Bengaluru at the fourth position with 100 wealthy individuals. Among other cities in the top 10 are Chennai (82), Kolkata (69), Ahmedabad (67), Pune (53), Surat (28) and Gurugram (23). 'Asia's billionaire epicentre' In March this year, the Hurun Global Rich List 2024 noted that Mumbai has surpassed Beijing to emerge as "Asia's billionaire epicentre". As per the list, Mumbai is home to 92 billionaires, edging past Beijing's count of 91. Notably, India's financial capital added 26 new ultra-rich individuals having a total wealth of $445 billion to the club, while China's capital city lost 18. "Mumbai was the fastestgrowing billionaire capital in the world, adding 26 in the year and taking it to third in the world and Asia's billionaire capital. New Delhi broke into the Top 10 for the first time," the earlier report stated. Now, Mumbai is in third position globally in terms of billionaires, behind New York (119) and London (97). After SC fiat, 289 B.Ed teachers to lose jobs Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL The appointments of 289 primary teachers in Madhya Pradesh who hold a B.Ed. degree are set to be cancelled following a Supreme Court order. The Directorate of Public Instruction (DPI) has issued directives to the District Education Officers (DEO) in compliance with this order. The Supreme Court, in its ruling on August 11, 2023, nullified the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) notification dated June 28, 2018, which had previously recognized B.Ed. as a valid qualification for primary teachers. As a result of this decision, candidates with a B.Ed. degree are no longer eligible for primary teacher positions. The High Court in Jabalpur had also ruled on May 3, 2024, that only those B.Ed.-qualified Under the Primary Teacher Recruitment-2020, approximately 18,000 primary teacher positions were filled. However, appointments based on a B.Ed. degree before August 10, 2023, will remain valid primary teachers appointed before August 11, 2023, would be considered valid. Therefore, any primary teacher appointed with a B.Ed. qualification after this date will not be recognized. The order from the department also states that if a candidate’s qualification was mistakenly recorded as D.Ed instead of B.Ed, their appointment must also be canceled in accordance with the SC’s decision. The DPI has instructed DEOs to review the professional qualifications of primary teachers based on district records and immediately cancel the appointments of those holding a B.Ed. degree. A specific format has been provided for this process. Additionally, any B.Ed.-qualified primary teacher appointed on or after August 11, 2023, must have their appointment immediately revoked. The DPI has issued orders to DEOs in 25 districts, including Agar Malwa, Alirajpur, Ashoknagar, Chhatarpur, Damoh, Dindori, Guna, Katni, Khandwa, Mandsaur, Morena, Narsinghpur, Neemuch, Niwari, Panna, Raisen, Ratlam, Sagar, Sheopur, Shivpuri, Sidhi, Singrauli, Tikamgarh, Ujjain, and Vidisha. SGPC takes possession of holy ‘Saroops’ returned by Qatar’s police Rajesh Moudgil CHANDIGARH The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has taken possession of the holy Saroops (scriptures) of Guru Granth Sahib returned by the police in Doha (Qatar) and preserved them at Gurdwara Shaheed Baba Gurbaksh Singh situated in Sri Darbar Sahib Complex. The SGPC secretary Partap Singh on Thursday said that information was received Wednesday night that the persons involved in this case are arriving at Sri Guru Ramdas International Airport, Amritsar, by flight with holy Saroops returned by Doha police. 4Continued on | P6 Trump presidential campaign hits a new low FP News Service WASHINGTON The Donald Trump presidential campaign Wednesday hit a new low when the former president posted a flurry of vulgar and sexiest comments on his Democratic Party rival Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton, drawing howls of protests. The national and local media termed Trump's comments as 'unprintable'. While Harris brushed off the comments saying “Trump is out of his mind”, the former president promised more such sex-laced comments which he said will be run on political steroids. Trump’s campaign advisers seemed to be at their wits end on how to stop their boss from consistently hitting below the belt with fury. Many of the comments were aimed to run down not just Harris or Clinton, but also women. His running mate Senator JD Vance was close behind criticizing childless women. He blasted a teachers union president for not having "some of her own" children. His earlier comments resurfaced when he had singled out E-paper World Harris widens lead to 45% over Trump’s 41% P.9 HURUN INDIA LIST: Maximum city is home to 386 billionaires Briefs MUMBAI Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers, saying she "doesn't have a single child." In another low, identities and photos of 17 European women social media influencers, mainly from the fashion and beauty industry from the Netherlands, Denmark and as far away as Russia, were stolen by unknown actors to promote Trump and his running mate Vance. 4Continued on | P6 Adani replaces Ambani as richest Indian PTI MUMBAI Recouping the dent caused by the Hindenburg Research report, Gautam Adani's networth shot up 95 per cent to Rs 11.6 lakh crore last year, which helped him replace Mukesh Ambani to become the richest Indian, a report said on Thursday. Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Ambani's overall networth increased by 25 per cent to Rs 10.14 lakh crore, as per the 2024 Hurun India Rich List. In 2023's report, Adani's wealth declined by 57 per cent to Rs 4.74 lakh crore, and Ambani was way ahead with a fortune of Rs 8.08 lakh crore. It can be noted that Adani's networth declined sharply following various allegations levelled by US-based short seller Hindenburg Research. The conglomerate has denied all the allegations. In the 2014 edition, Hurun had pegged Adani's fortunes at Rs 44,000 crore, which made him the tenth richest Indian then. Shiv Nadar and family of HCL gained one spot to be the third richest with a networth of Rs 3.14 lakh crore. 4Continued on | P6 6 GRP men suspended for beating 60-yr-old Dalit woman, grandson Congress on attack mode, meets the affected family Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL An incident that took place eight months back has led to suspension of six Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel including a station incharge in Katni district after video of their beating a woman and her grandson became viral on social media. The then police station incharge Aruna Vahane, head constable Ajay Shrivastava, four constables Varsha Dubey, Omkar Sirsham, Soheb Abbasi and Salman Khan were suspended with immediate effect. Congress had shared a video of the incident a day before, claiming that the victims belong to the Dalit community. Superintendent of Police (GRP) Simala Prasad said, "There was a person named Deepak Vanshkar against whom 19 cases were registered, and who was absconding. He was also externed from the district. His family members had been called to the police station last October for questioning in this regard. Deputy Inspector General, railway, Monica Shukla ar- The elephants and the forest team which rescued them In a heartwarming yet unusual tale of love, a pet elephant named Gajraj from the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve broke free from his iron chains and disappeared into the jungle, accompanied by six female elephants. The escapade sparked a massive 15-day search operation involving drones and forest teams, culminating in their safe return. The incident began on August 14, when the pet elephants were released near the rhino rehabilitation area in the South Sonaripur Range. The very next day, Gajraj, seemingly intoxicated by the spirit of love, broke his chains and fled into the dense forest. Not content to go alone, elephants Kamalkali, Suheli, Kiran, Kaveri, Sulochana, and Chameli followed him on this unexpected adven- 4Continued on | P6 Many questions remain unanswered, allegations of cover-up Aritra Singha KOLKATA Apart from the protesting students constant claim that the truth behind RG Kar rape and murder on trainee medic is being supressed, the Free Press Journal now got the hold of the three chilling calls that were made from the hospital authorities to the parents of the victim to inform that their daughter is ‘dead’. In the three calls within half an hour, three different things were told to the victim’s parents.”In the first call that came around 10:30 am, a woman was heard saying to the victim’s father that her condition is bad and she was requesting The victim’s mother on Thursday told a Bengali news channel that when they went to see their daughter’s body it was covered with a green cloth but the photographs that went viral of the body had blue cloth. Now, questions are being raised whether the cloth was changed by someone them to come to the hospital as soon as possible. Amid constant requests to know what exactly happened to his daughter, the woman said that the doctor can only inform the same. In the second call a woman identifying herself as assistant superintendent of the hospital calls and says that they are ad- After rape case, calls for MLA Mukesh’s resignation Free Press News Service T’PURAM Pressure is mounting across the political spectrum and the public for the resignation of CPM MLA and senior actor M Mukesh for his alleged involvement in a sexual harassment case following the revelations made by a junior film actor. The police have filed a case under nonbailable sections against the MLA, but he got some r e l i e f T h u r s d ay when a sessions court in Ernakulam issued orders not to arrest him for the next six day. Incident took place in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve. All elephants found after 15-day search ture. Once the news of Gajraj and his companions' disappearance reached the authorities, the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve swung into action. Multiple teams of forest workers and mahouts were deployed, and drone cam- mitting the victim to emergency as her condition is not good and again requested the parents to visit the hospital as soon as possible. The victim’s mother in the second call was heard asking whether her daughter is having ‘fever’ as she was on duty,. 4Continued on | P6 Nuclear sub INS Arighat commissioned Agencies VISAKHAPATNAM INS Arighat, the second nuclear-powered ballistic missile 4Continued on | P6 eras were flown over the forest to track the elephants. Even a team from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) was brought in to assist with the search. “As Dudhwa shared border with Nepal we were bit scared that if these elephants cross the border it would be difficult for them to bring them back,” said a forest ranger. submarine, has been commissioned into the Indian Navy at Visakhapatnam. India's second nuclearpowered ballistic missile submarine, INS Arighat, was commissioned into the Navy on Thursday at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. The submarine, an upgraded version of INS Arihant, represents a major step forward in India's naval capabilities and strategic nuclear deterrence. INS Arighat is expected to be armed with K-15 ballistic missiles, which have a range of 750 kilometers, adding significant strength to the Indian Navy's arsenal. 4Continued on | P6 4Continued on | P6 Love-struck Gajraj escapes with 6 female elephants Biswajeet Banerjee rived in Katni on Thursday to conduct the probe, sources said. Congress state president Jitu Patwari and media department chairman and former minister Mukesh Nayak visited Katni to meet the victims. They are all sitting on a dharna outside the GRP office in Katni. "A 60-year-old woman was beaten inside a police station simply because she is a Dalit? Her 15-year-old grandson was also assaulted What does this say about Madhya Pradesh now? It has become a hub for atrocities against Dalits. 3 chilling calls made to dead doc’s parents offgrid LAKHIMPUR KHERI CM takes cognisance Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said on his X account, "An old video of beating of GRP Katni police station cops is getting viral on social media. After I took cognisance of it, I have asked DIG Rail to go to the spot for probing the incident. As per the preliminary probe, I have ordered suspension with immediate effect of then GRP police station in-charge, a head constable and four constables".