FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms Vol. XLI No. 129 | INDORE | WEDNESDAY | OCTOBER 16, 2024 | Pages 14 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. 38281/83 FREE www.freepressjournal.in Sports This team has shown no growth in last three years: Mithali ESTD-1983 iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: INDORE MONEY UJJAIN PRESS PUNE BHOPAL NASHIK MUMBAI E-paper Edit Diplomacy must to end disputes P.8 Domestic air passenger traffic rises 6% in Sept Cinema Catching the cyber criminals P.14 Freed from 16yrs of captivity, Ranu breathes her last in hospital Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL The 40-year-old woman named Ranu Sahu, who was allegedly held captive by her husband and in-laws in the Jehangirabad area of the city for 16 years, and was rescued by the police nine days ago, died during treatment at the hospital on the intervening night of Monday-Tuesday. According to the police, Sahu’s in-laws have still not confessed to having harassed and tortured her. Mahila Thana police station TI Shilpa Kaurav told Free Press that after being rescued, Ranu was admitted to Chirayu Hospital in the city. At the time of her rescue, police found her tied to a pillar in the house. Police said Ranu was a mere skeleton weighing only 25 kg. TI Kaurav said five days ago, she had shown signs of slight improvement, but her condition suddenly deteriorated on Monday late at night, and at around 3 am, she died. “During nine days of treatment at the hospital, Ranu could not give any statements to either police or the tehsildar,” she said. However, more sections of BNS shall be slapped against her husband and his kin. WAITING FOR PM REPORT Investigating officials at the Mahila thana police, who have been spearheading the case, told Free Press that Ranu’s post-mortem had been carried out in the presence of her family members on Tuesday. After the arrival of the post-mortem reports on Wednesday, the exact reason behind her death would be known. The investigating officials further added that Sahu’s father, Kishan Lal Sahu, had alleged that Ranu was being deprived of food and water by her in-laws, who demanded dowry from her. On the other hand, Sahu’s husband, Yogendra and his kin have refuted allegations of dowry harassment and said that she was mentally unstable, owing to which they used to keep her in seclusion. MORE CHARGES IN OFFING he Mahila thana police will slap more sections against the accused husband and his kin. The police were unable to record her statement during treatment. T RANU’S HUBBY RUNS A COSMETIC SHOP Sources at the Mahila Thana police station told Free Press that Ranu married Yogendra in 2006. As alleged by Ranu’s father Kishan Lal, her in-laws had barred her from meeting him since 2008. Yogendra, as per sources, runs a cosmetic shop in the Barkhedi area of Jehangirabad. POLLS: Counting of votes to take place on November 23 Maha to vote on Nov 20, J’khand on Nov 13 & 20 Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI fp Briefs NEW DELHI SC trashes PIL against ex-CJI Miffed over the allegations levelled by a litigant against former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, the Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea and ordered the security personnel to remove him from the courtroom. The litigant levelled allegations against the former CJI following which a bench comprising Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma asked the security personnel to escort him out of the courtroom.Arun Ramchandra Hublikar filed a plea against his "illegal termination" from the service while seeking an inhouse inquiry against the former CJI for dismissing a plea previously in the service dispute. The Election Commission on Tuesday announced the Assembly election schedule for Maharashtra and Jharkhand. Maharashtra will vote in a single phase on November 20, while Jharkhand will vote on November 13 and 20. The votes for both states will be counted on November 23. In Maharashtra, the Mahayuti alliance—Shiv Sena (Shinde), BJP, and NCP (Ajit Pawar)—faces a challenge from the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition of Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and NCP (Sharad Pawar). In Jharkhand, the ruling JMM-RJDCongress alliance, led by Chief Minister Hemant Soren, will take on the BJP and JD(U). Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, along- PRIYANKA TO MAKE HER DEBUT NEW DELHI Elephant calf killed by train hit An elephant calf was killed and two other jumbos were injured after being hit by a goods train in Odisha's Sundargarh district, forest officials said. The incident took place around 9.30 pm on Monday on the Howrah-Mumbai line near Bondamunda in Bisra range of the Rourkela Forest Division. A herd of 23 elephants came on the tracks after being chased by local people, the officials said. BHOPAL : Budhni and Vijaypur by-elections will be held on November 13, and the results will be announced on November 23. Process for filing papers, which will begin from October 18, will continue till October 25. The scrutiny of the papers will be done on October 28, and the last date for withdrawal of names is October 30. After Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan fought the Lok Sabha election from Vidisha, Budhni assembly seat fell vacant. The Vijaypur seat fell vacant after Forest Minister Ramniwas Rawat defected from Congress to the BJP. 4Continued on | P6 4Continued on | P6 4Continued on | P6 side Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, detailed the timeline for Maharashtra, where the Assembly’s term expires on November 26. The gazette notification Air turbulence over social media threats FP News Service NEW DELHI Bomb threats posted on social media handles have become the latest flight disruptors this week, throwing the itineraries and lives of fliers, especially those of the long-haulers, into disarray.  In a replay of the events of Monday, on Tuesday too, seven flights, including one bound for the United States, were affected following the receipt of bombthreat messages through a so- cial media handle on the same day. Security agencies had to rush into action by undertaking specific counter-terrorist drills at various airports, official sources said. The threats, issued by handles on the microblogging platform, X, came a day after three international flights originating from Mumbai received bomb threats, distressing hundreds of passengers and airline crew. The messages posted on Monday too were fortunately declared hoaxes. Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL With ten planes receiving ten bomb threats in less than 48 hours, causing one of them to be diverted to a remote airport in Canada, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security has said that it is investigating the episode. According to sources, an X handle issued threats on Tuesday to five flights – an Air India Express flight from Jaipur to Bengaluru via Ayodhya (IX765), a SpiceJet flight from Darbhanga to Mumbai (SG116), 4Continued on | P6 4Continued on | P6 he Singapore Armed Forces on Tuesday scrambled two fighter jets to escort an Air India Express plane away from populated areas following a bomb threat. Finally, the aircraft landed safely at Singapore's Changi airport. The Air India Express plane operating flight IX 684 from Madurai to Singapore had received a bomb threat. T 7 flights were affected on Tuesday, after threats were posted on X; on Monday, three international flights were similarly threatened Bina MLA says she is still in Congress In her reply to Assembly Speaker’s notice, Congress MLA from Bina said that she had not left Congress party and had not joined BJP, sources said on Tuesday. LoP Umang Singhar had filed a petition against the former Congress MLA from Vijaypur, Ramniwas Rawat and Nirmala Sapre under the anti-defection law on July 5. According to the petition both the Congress MLAs had joined BJP during Lok Sabha elections. MLA Rawat had announced joining BJP, and submitted his resignation to the Assembly Speaker. Later he became minister. MLA Sapre had also joined the BJP during Lok Sabha elections, but she had not resigned from the Congress party or the Assembly membership. Sources said that the MLA had counter-attacked the LoP by saying that he should provide proof that she had joined BJP. ESCORTED BY JETS Meitei, Kuki, Naga MLAs meet in Delhi BHUBANESWAR will be issued on 22 October, the last date for nominations is 29 October, scrutiny is on 30 October, and the final date for withdrawal of candidatures is 4 November. By-polls to 48 Assembly seats and two Parliamentary seats will also be held in two phases on November 13 and 20. These include Kerala’s Wayanad seat where Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will make her electoral debut. The party on Tuesday nominated her from the seat, which was vacated by her brother and MP Rahul Gan- NEW DELHI Aiming to bring a lasting peace in strife-torn Manipur, MLAs belonging to the Meitei, Kuki and Naga communities met here on Tuesday for the first time since ethnic violence broke out in the state 17 months ago, sources said. The meeting was called by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in an attempt to iron out differences between the Meitei and Kuki communities, and find an amicable solution to the ongoing conflict. dhi to retain the family pocket borough of Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh. By-elections will also be held in nine UP constituencies. The by-elections have taken centre stage, particularly in view of the BJP's disappointing performance in the recent general elections. Reports of internal discord within the state BJP have added to the high stakes in these by-polls, as the party aims to regain its footing. FP News Service Vijaypur, Budhni bypolls on Nov 13 maritime defence Outsiders dent unity efforts: Rajnath PTI VIKARABAD (TELANGANA) In a message to the neighbouring countries who share maritime boundaries with India, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday stressed that maritime security is a col- lective effort and inviting "outside forces" to the doorstep would dent efforts for unity. Speaking after laying the foundation stone for a Very Low Frequency (VLF) Naval Station at Vikarabad near Hyderabad, he said maintaining peace in the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean region should be top priority. Cooperation of India's friendly nations is essential in this effort, as even if one country is left out, the nation's security will be at risk, he said. 4Continued on | P6 Deal signed for 31 predator drones Agencies NEW DELHI In a big boost to the armed forces, India has signed a deal with the United States to acquire 31 MQ-9B Predator drones. The Indian Navy is likely to get 15 of the drones, which will be the 'SeaGuardian' variant while the Army and the Air Force will be allotted eight 'SkyGuardian' Predator drones each. Sources said that the total cost of the deal is likely to be under $3.5 billion. The deal for acquiring the drones from American manufacturer General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GAASI) under a Foreign Military Sales contract between the two governments was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security earlier this month The MQ-9B Predator drone is a variant of the MQ-9 'Reaper' developed by GA-ASI and is categorised as a high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Just the tip of the iceberg Indian minister in the cross-hairs of the Canadian government V Sudarshan MUMBAI Investigations by the multidisciplinary team created by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in February this year have placed a senior minister in the cross-hairs of the Canadian government, the Washington Post revealed on Monday. In a report (‘Canada alleges much wider campaign by Modi government against Sikhs’) that was published around the same time as the extraordinary disclosures which claimed the Indian missions in Canada orchestrated criminal activity targeting Canadians, the Post quoted senior unnamed Canadian officials as saying they were in possession of evidence that the minister, a member of the “inner circle” was involved in the events. According to the Post, “Conversations and texts among Indian diplomats include references to “a senior official in India and a senior official in RAW” who have authorized the intelligence-gathering missions and attacks on Sikh separatists.” And that “senior official” was identified by the Canadians as a senior minister.” In a press conference on Thanksgiving Monday (a holiday), convened to underline the Canadian intent and seriousness, the RMCP said, “We reached a point where we felt it was imperative to confront the government of India.” 4Continued on | P6