FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms Vol. 14 No. 123 | BHOPAL | WEDNESDAY | OCTOBER 16, 2024 | Pages 16 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 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 Our Staff Reporter Domestic air passenger traffic rises 6% in Sept 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 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. Cinema Catching the cyber criminals P.16 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 postmortem 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. 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 JHARKHAND Total seats - 81 Male voters 1.31 cr Female voters - 1.29 cr Polling stations - 29.5K 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. NEW DELHI Meitei, Kuki, Naga MLAs meet in 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. BHUBANESWAR 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 HowrahMumbai 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. The Election Commission on Tuesday announced the schedule for the Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. While Maharashtra will vote in a single phase on November 20, Jharkhand will go to polls on November 13 and 20. The counting of votes for both the states would take place on November 23. While in Maharashtra, the Mahayuti alliance comprising Shiv Sena (Shinde), BJP and NCP (Ajit Pawar) is seeking to stave off a stiff challenge from the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance of the Shiv Sena (UBT), the Congress and the NCP (Sharatchandra Pawar), in Jharkhand the Jharkhand Mukti MorchaRJD-Congress alliance government led by Hemant would be taking on the BJP and the Janata Dal (United). Making the announcement on polls in the two states, Chief Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar, who was flanked by Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, said in the case of Maharashtra, the term of whose Assembly expires on November 26, the gazette notification would be issued on October 22, the last date of filing nominations would be October 29, the scrutiny would take place the Budhni, Vijaypur bypolls on Nov 13 following day and the last date for withdrawal of candidatures would be November 4. Kumar said the Commission is committed to conduct of free, fair, participative, accessible, inclusive and safe election to the Legislative AsKumar said the Commission visited both the states to review the poll preparedness and ascertain state specific areas of concerns before announcing the dates. 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 MAHARASHTRA Total seats 288 Male voters 4.97 cr Female voters - 4.66 cr 1L plus polling stations Hoax calls ground 7 flights, AI jet lands at remote Canada airport Bina MLA says she is still in Congress PTI Our Staff Reporter NEW DELHI BHOPAL Seven flights, including one bound for the United States, received bomb-threat messages through a social media handle on Tuesday, prompting security agencies to undertake specific counter-terrorist drills at various airports, official sources said. The threats via microblogging platform X came a day after three international flights originating from Mumbai received bomb threats, causing trouble to hundreds of passengers and airline crew. The messages posted on Monday were declared a hoax. The sources said an X handle issued threats on Tuesday to seven flights -- an Air India Express flight from Jaipur to Bengaluru via Ayodhya (IX765), a SpiceJet flight from Darbhanga to Mumbai (SG116), an Akasa Air flight from Bagdogra to Bengaluru (QP 1373), an Air India flight from Delhi to Chicago (AI 127), an Indigo flight from Dammam (Saudi Arabia) to Lucknow (6E 98), an Alliance Air Amritsar-Dehradun-Delhi flight (9I 650) and an Air India ment-appointed Bomb Threat Assessment Committee. The flight landed safely, and the aircraft will be released for operations following all mandated security procedures," the spokesperson said. The SpiceJet aircraft landed safely at the Mumbai airport and was directed to an isolation bay as a precautionary measure. "All passengers disembarked normally and security agencies were immediately notified. 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. 4Continued on | P6 4Continued on | P6 An Air India Boeing 777 on a flight from Delhi to Chicago makes a landing at Canada's Iqaluit Airport Investigating: Aviation body after threats to 10 flights in 48hrs A fter ten planes received 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. Officials said Tuesday's threats were issued from an unverified handle on X, formerly Twitter. Express flight (IX 684) from Madurai to Singapore. The X handle has since been suspended by the platform after the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) wrote to cyber-security agencies. An Air India Express spokesperson told PTI in a statement that they, along with a few other operators, received a "specific" security threat from an unverified social media handle. "In response, security protocols were promptly activated as directed by the govern- 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 E-paper World 40 killed as Israel strikes north Gaza P.9 Rescued after 16-yr captivity, woman dies BHOPAL MUMBAI 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 Country signs mega Predator drones deal 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. India used diplomats, criminals to attack Canadians: Trudeau PTI ‘Same old story, for same old reasons’ WASHINGTON Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has accused India of choosing to use its diplomats and organised crime to attack its citizens and make them feel unsafe on their soil, calling it a "monumental mistake" by New Delhi. These remarks were made by Trudeau on Monday on a day India expelled six Canadian diplomats and announced withdrawing its High Commissioner from Canada and other "targeted" officials from Canada after strongly dismissing Ottawa's allegations linking the envoy to a probe into the killing of Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Canada has also announced expulsion of six Indian diplomats. India has been strongly rejecting Canada's charge of involvement of Indian agents in Nijjar's killing last year. The ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations in September last year of a "potential" involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar. Trudeau spoke to reporters on Monday, hours after the head of the RCMP laid out stunning allegations accusing agents of the Indian government of playing a role in "widespread violence" in Canada, including homicides, India on Tuesday trashed Canada's attempts to link Indian agents with criminal gangs in that country with official sources rejecting Ottawa's claim that it shared evidence with New Delhi in the Nijjar case. The sources also rejected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations that India was engaging in activities, including carrying out covert operations targeting Canadian nationals in his country. "Canadian PM Trudeau's press conference yesterday was the same old Trudeau saying the same old things for the same old reasons," said a source. and warned that it poses "a serious threat to our public safety," the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported. 4Continued on | P6