FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms Vol. 14 No. 80 | BHOPAL | TUESDAY | SEPTEMBER 3, 2024 | Pages 16 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 FREE www.freepressjournal.in World HARRIS CAMPAIGN READIES LABOUR DAY ESTD-1983 iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: INDORE UJJAIN MONEY PRESS PUNE BHOPAL NASHIK MUMBAI E-paper Edit K’taka CM faces tough challenge P.8 Govt says PM’s S’pore visit to boost cooperation in chips Cinema Sudhanshu breaks his silence P.16 No trial in 6.9K corruption cases probed by CBI: CVC Sand mafia crushes PTI NEW DELHI Over 6,900 corruption cases probed by the CBI were pending trials in different courts, 361 for more than 20 years, according to the latest annual report of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). Besides, as many as 658 corruption cases were pend- ing CBI investigation, 48 for more than five years. Of the total of 6,903 cases under trial before courts, 1,379 were pending for less than three years, 875 for more than three years and up to five years and 2,188 for more than five years and up to ten years, as on December 31, 2023, the anti-corruption watchdog said. As many as 2,100 cases "It is expected of the CBI to complete investigation within one year of registration of case. Completion of investigation would imply filing of charge sheet in a court of law wherever warranted, after receipt of sanction from the competent authority, if required," it said were pending trial for more than ten years and up to twenty years, and 361 for more than 20 years, said the CVC's annual report 2023. "It was noted that 6,903 number of cases were pend- ing trials as on December 31, 2023. It is a matter of concern that 2,461 cases were GOOD NEWS: This will be the shortest route between the two cities CCEA nod to new railway line between Indore & Mumbai fp The 309 km line will boost trade and tourism Briefs KOLKATA CBI arrests Sandip Ghosh The CBI on Monday arrested the former principal of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital Sandip Ghosh in connection with the alleged financial misconduct at the establishment, officials said. Ghosh was questioned for the 15th day at the agency's Salt Lake office over the alleged rape and murder of the RG Kar hospital post-graduate trainee on August 9. He was later escorted to the CBI's Nizam Palace office in Kolkata which houses the agency's anticorruption wing and was shown as arrested. BAHRAICH (UP) Wolf attack: Child killed, woman injured A toddler was killed and a 70-year-old woman injured in separate wolf attacks in the Mahsi division of this district, officials said on Monday. District Magistrate Monika Rani said this was the eighth death in wolf attacks since July 17. Seven children were among those killed in the attacks and about 30 injured, she said. RAMPUR Leopard caught in UP's Rampur A leopard, spotted near the human population in the Maswasi area here, was rescued by the forest department on Monday, officials said. Earlier on Sunday, the department had captured and rescued another leopard near the Jauhar University campus of the district. Pg7 NEW DELHI Bail to Nair in PMLA case In a relief to former AAP communication in-charge Vijay Nair, the Supreme Court on Monday granted him bail after nearly 23 months of incarceration in a money laundering case stemming from the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, observing that liberty is "sacrosanct" and needs to be respected in cases involving even stringent laws. A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti also relied upon the legal principle of "bail is rule and jail is exception" referred to by a bench headed by Justice B R Gavai. Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI The Union Cabinet on Monday approved a new 309 km long railway line that would provide the shortest rail connectivity between the major commercial hubs of Mumbai and Indore. This new line, will pass through two districts of Maharashtra and four of Madhya Pradesh, and bring several unconnected areas on the rail map. The project, which would cost Rs 18,036 crore and is scheduled to be completed by 2028-29, was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Econ- omic Affairs (CCEA) in a meeting that was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The construction of the project will also generate 102 lakh mandays of direct employment. On the necessity of the project, it was conveyed that the line between Indore and Manmad will provide direct connectivity, improve mobility, and enhanced efficiency and service reliability for Indian Railways. The project is part of the PM-Gati Shakti National Under this project 30 new stations will be constructed and along with the aspirational district of Barwani, about 1,000 villages and 30 lakh people will be connected to the railway network Master Plan for multi-modal connectivity through integrated planning. The project is also expected to boost tourism in the region as it would provide easy access to various tourist and religious places of Ujjain and Indore region, including Sri Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga Temple. 4Continued on | P6 Ex-CEO of Sidhi panchayat IAS Rahul Namdev to face probe Rural Devpt Dept In the past two will write to GAD years, technical Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL The difficulties of a 2017-batch IAS officer Rahul Namdev Ghote may increase in the coming days. An inquiry may be conducted against Ghote in connection with the irregularities in rural development work at Kusmi block in Sidhi district. The Panchayat and Rural Development Department will write a letter to the General Administration Department seeking an inquiry against Ghote. Ghote was shifted from the post of CEO of the Sidhi district Panchayat on August 21 as deputy secretary to Mantralaya. work approval worth crores of rupees was issued without the nod of the competent authorities According to the MNREGA Act, the collector and Panchayat CEO can take a decision on engaging agencies to carry out any work. The officials committed a lot of irregularities in the construction work in Kusmi. Incomplete works were shown as complete and payments made. Work order for construction of PCC road, drains, bridges, culverts, stop dams, returning wall and other works were done without the SC proposes to lay down pan-India demolition guideline How can houses be razed without following law, asks Apex Court PTI NEW DELHI With several state administrations flattening the houses of those involved in criminal cases with bulldozers, the Supreme Court on Monday questioned how can anybody's house be demolished just because he is an accused. The court said it will lay down the guidelines on the issue that would be enforceable across the country. "How can anybody's house be demolished only because he is an accused? Even if he is a convict, still it can't be done without following the approval of proper authorities. When Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Prahlad Patel came to know of it, he sent a team from Jabalpur to inquire the case. During the inquiry, it came to light that there were massive irregularities in the construction work. The government is taking action against the guilty officials on the basis of the inquiry report. Rural Engineering Services engineer Himanshu Tiwari has been suspended. CEO of Kusmi Janpad Panchayat SN Dwivedi has been working there for ten years. Apart from that, several officers’ involvement in the irregularities has come to light. According to sources, the names of many senior officers associated with the case have also been exposed. CM THANKS PM MODI CM Mohan Yadav has expressed gratitude towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the project. This railway line will connect those districts of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra which remained devoid of railway line so far. In all 30 railway stations will be constructed. This project will result in better connectivity to Badwani district and is going to provide direct benefit to one thousand villages and around 30 lakh population. The project will help in increasing the number of tourists\pilgrims to places like Indore and Ujjain including Mahakaleshwar temple. pending for more than 10 years at the end of 2023," it said. The CVC report said that 12,773 appeals/revision, filed by the CBI and by the accused, were pending in different high courts and the Supreme Court. Of these, 501 were pending for more than 20 years. 4Continued on | P6 AAP MLA Amanatullah arrested by ED PTI NEW DELHI The Enforcement Directorate on Monday arrested AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan as part of a m o n e y laundering i nve st i gation against him and some others linked to him, official sources said. He was taken into custody under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after the agency conducted a search at his residence in Okhla area of the national capital that was launched just after 6 am. They said some questions were put to Khan during the searches but he remained "evasive" and hence was arrested. 4Continued on | P6 tribal youth under tractor-trolley Youth’s kin blame a local BJP leader for the incident FP News Service SINGRAULI Representative pic A tractor-trolley laden with illegally mined sand crushed a tribal youth in Ganni village under Sarai police station, Singrauli district, late Sunday night. The youth identified as Indrapal Agriya died at the district hospital in the early hours of Monday, the police said. The incident took place after the youth reportedly told the tractor-trolley driver not to enter his farmland. As his objection enraged the tractor-trolley owner Lale Baish, president of the BJP’s Gannai unit, he told his men to beat up the youth. Afterwards, Baish and his men crushed him under the wheels of the tractor-trolley. The incident took place when Baish was transporting sand illegally mined from Pateer river. On getting information, the relatives of Agriya rushed to the spot and took him to a community health centre from where he was referred to the district hospital where he was declared dead. Additional superintendent of police Shiv Kumar Verma said he had received information through dial-100 that someone crushed Agriya, resident of Gannai, under the wheels of a tractor-trolley. War of words Congress leader Praveen Singh alleged that a BJP leader was behind the incident. The police are working under the ruling party’s pressure, Singh said, adding that the law and order situation in the district has worsened. The BJP leaders are harassing the tribal people and forest officials, he alleged. BJP legislator Rajendra Meshram said the Congress was in the habit of accusing the BJP for everything happening in the state. He said he had nothing to say about the Congress’s allegations, as the police were doing their work. According to Verma, the youth was taken to Sarai health centre where the doctors said there were no external injuries on his body. Then he was referred to the district hospital where he was declared dead, Verma said. A case was registered against the culprits on the grounds of a complaint filed by youth’s family and that legal action would be taken against the accused, Verma said. US citizen found dead in Radisson hotel ED searches at four places across state in RGPV scam Our Staff Reporter Houses of ex-VC and suspended registrar of RGPV searched INDORE A 36-year-old United States (US) citizen died under mysterious circumstances in Radisson hotel under Vijay Nagar police station limits on Monday, a pol i c e official said. He was found dead when one of his acquaintances visited to meet him. The police believe that he might have died due to a heart attack. However, the body was sent for autopsy to ascertain the exact cause behind the death. 4Continued on | P6 Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths have conducted searches at more than four places across the state, in connection with the multi-crore scam that took place in Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya, said officials here on Monday. In Bhopal the searches were made at the house of the then vice-chancellor Dr Sunil Kumar and suspended registrar RS Rajput of the university. The raid, which took place between 5 and 6 am in Lake Pearl Garden, Bhopal, R S Rajput’s house resulted in the collection of documents and evidence related to allegations of money laundering against Rajput. Rajput was asleep at his residence when the team arrived, said sources. They seized the mobile phones of Rajput and his wife and are currently examining documents related to various bank transactions kept at the house. The ongoing investigations have resulted in the arrest of Kumar Mayank, the then manager of RBL Bank Bhopal, Ramkumar Raghuvanshi, the former manager of Axis Bank Pipariya, and Sunil Raghuvanshi, co-secretary of the Dalit Sangh organisation in Sohagpur. In Narmadapuram district the searches were conducted in Pipariya where the NGO is situated in which the amount was transferred. 4Continued on | P6 RSS hints at support for caste census Cong opens front against SEBI chief PTI PTI NEW DELHI PALAKKAD procedure as prescribed by law," a bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan said. The court, however, said it will not protect any unauthorised construction or encroachment on public roads. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Uttar Pradesh, referred to an earlier affidavit filed by the state in the matter. He said the affidavit states that merely because a person was alleged to have been a part of some offence can never be a ground for demolition of his immovable property. The Congress on Monday levelled fresh conflict of interest allegations against SEBI C ha i r p e rson Madhabi Buch and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to come clean as the head of the appointments committee of the cabinet on her appointment. The opposition party said the Supreme Court should take cognisance of these fresh revelations and demanded that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairperson should be dismissed immediately. 4Continued on | P6 4Continued on | P6 eyes and people also wait to see the almighty through their eyes. God Mahakal, who is referred as ‘Sanharak’, encourages everyone’s enthusiasm. He said that uniqueness of this year’s Rajsi Sawari is that SC-ST people participated. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) said on Monday it has no objection to collecting data on specific communities or castes, provided that the information is used for their welfare and not exploited as a political tool for electoral gains. Addressing the media here after a three-day coordination conclave called Samanway Baithak in this district, Sunil Ambekar, RSS Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh, said caste and caste-relations were a "very sensitive issue" for the Hindu society and it is an important issue "for our national unity and integrity". He was responding to a query on caste census. 4Continued on | P6 4Continued on | P6 ROYAL PROCESSION: The seventh and final procession of Baba Mahakal was taken out amid traditional fanfare in Ujjain on Monday evening Shahi Sawari to be called Rajsi Sawari? Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL The name of Lord Mahakal’s ‘Shahi Sawari’ could be christened as ‘Rajsi Sawari’ in the coming time. An indication in this regard came when Chief Minister Mohan Yadav tweeted on Monday that ‘Today, last Rajsi Sawari of Baba Mahakal is being taken out in Ujjain. It’s not mere ‘ Sawari’ rather it is a direct connection of Baba with the public. I welcome the pilgrims who arrived from country and abroad in Rajsi Sawari of Mahakaleshwar,’ he said. Shedding light on the Rajsi Sawari, he said that god wants to see this world by his