Tuesday, June 3, 2025 | 30 Pages | `5 & for State (+4 pages) `6 Reg.No MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 1541/1957 M.p.c.s office Mumbai. PIN 400001 THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL Vol. 68 No. 206 | Leader in E-paper circulation l www.freepressjournal.in ● EDITIONS: ● MUMBAI ● INDORE ● PUNE ● BHOPAL ● NASHIK ● KONKAN ● E-paper ● Member: Audit Bureau of Circulation (July to December 2024) NATION If it helps party, will definitely contest Bihar assembly poll: Chirag Paswan Briefs Russian S-400 delivery Russia remains committed to delivering the final two S-400 Triumf air defence squadrons to India by 2025–26, confirmed Roman Babushkin, Deputy Chief of Mission in New Delhi. India signed a $5.43 billion deal in 2018 for five squadrons; three have already been delivered. Babushkin stated the system performed "very efficiently" during recent India-Pakistan tensions, reaffirming its strategic value. The S-400 can neutralise diverse aerial threats over long distances, bolstering India's defensive capabilities. Despite geopolitical headwinds, Russia has kept to its schedule, underscoring enduring defence ties between the two countries amid broader global realignments. Musk’s XChat encryption Elon Musk has launched XChat, a new encrypted messaging service within X (formerly Twitter), aiming to transform it into a Westernstyle “everything app.” Features include end-to-end encryption, vanish mode, file sharing, and video/voice calls. Musk says XChat uses “Bitcoin-style encryption” and a brand-new architecture. Currently in beta for select subscribers, it mimics capabilities of WhatsApp and Telegram but within X’s ecosystem. Musk envisions X integrating banking, media, dating, and social networking. With over 600 million monthly users, Musk hopes XChat will deepen user reliance on the platform and give him an edge in the super app race. Shukla to head BCCI Rajeev Shukla will serve as interim BCCI president after Roger Binny turns 70 in July, hitting the age limit for office-bearers. Shukla, 65, currently vice-president, will assume charge until elections in September. A seasoned cricket administrator and Congress MP, Shukla previously chaired the IPL and has longstanding BCCI ties. Binny, a 1983 World Cup winner, had taken over from Sourav Ganguly in 2022. His departure continues a trend of cricketing greats serving brief stints atop India’s wealthiest sports body. Shukla’s appointment ensures continuity ahead of the board’s next AGM and potential power realignments within Indian cricket. Waqf portal on June 6 The Centre is set to advance the Waqf Act by launching the UMEED portal (Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency, and Development) on June 6, media reports said. The portal aims to facilitate the registration of Waqf properties, which must be completed in six months. The State Waqf Board will oversee the registration process. Properties not registered within the stipulated time will be considered disputed and referred to a tribunal. Several petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Waqf Act. The Centre has urged the SC to reject the pleas, arguing that the impugned law does not infringe upon GAMES Cinema Has Bollywood run out of ideas? Industry veterans weigh in RCB and Virat Kohli’s 18-year wait to meet Punjab Kings’ tenacity in IPL final today Edit Op Sindoor truth has dawned on Bogota, then why Dili-dally? SIKKIM DISASTER | Landslide triggered by heavy rain hits military camp, kills 3 Army men; 6 other soldiers missing 1,678 tourists evacuated, over 100 still stranded FPJ News Service GANGTOK As many as 1,678 tourists, stranded in Sikkim's Lachung and Chungthang following landslides triggered by heavy rainfall and flash flooods over the past several days, were evacuated on Monday. Over 100 others remain stranded in Lachen, DGP Akshay Sachdeva said. Stranded tourists were evacuated when the Border Roads Organisation repaired the road to Mangan's Lachung. Sachdeva said 1,678 tourists stranded in Lachung and Chungthang towns for days left for Gangtok via Phidang near Dzongu town by 284 vehicles and 16 motorcycles. The DGP, who received the tourists at Phidang, said Man- gan Collector Anant Jain and SP Sonam Detchu Bhutia led the convoy to ensure the visitor's safe departure. “The convoy of vehicles, carrying tourists—737 men, 561 women and 380 children—crossed via Theng check post and arrived in Phdang before heading for the state capital,” an official said. The Sikkim DGP said efforts were on to evacuate over stranded 100 tourists from Lachen. Earlier on Sunday, three army men perished and six were missing in a military camp landslide at Chhaten. The incident that took place at 7 pm near Lachen town in Mangan. 4Contd on | nation 4See also | nation Rescuers search for the six missing Army men at Chaten in Lachen in Sikkim on Monday PIC: PTI Tesla not keen on making in India Agencies NEW DELHI Global EV giant Tesla is not interested in manufacturing cars in India but keen on es- tablishing showrooms in the country, Union Heavy Industries Minister H D Kumaraswamy said on Monday. US President Donald Trump has said that if Tesla Political red line drawn, says CDS OP SINDOOR IANS SINGAPORE The Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's premier security forum, witnessed a rare yet pointed exchange between military leaders of India and Pakistan, amid escalating tensions following the recent Pahalgam attack. According to sources present at the event, India's Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Anil Chauhan, sent an unambiguous message that New Delhi's patience with crossborder terrorism has reached its limit. General Chauhan, speaking in a closed-door session on regional security threats, made a forceful reference to India's recent Operation Sindoor-a precision military campaign targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and across the border. 4Contd on | nation ATS lens on Thane as 22 sites raided Ashish Singh and Narendra Gupta MUMBAI In a major counter-terrorism operation following the recent terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22, the ATS and Thane Rural Police conducted extensive search operations across 22 locations in Thane district, targeting suspected radical elements. The joint operation commenced shortly after midnight on June 1 and continued until the afternoon of June 2. More than 400 personnel from Thane Maharashtra State ATS raids Padgha on Shahpur Nashik Rd on Monday. PIC: ANIL SHIINDE Rural Police were deployed at potential hotspots in the Padgha and Borivali areas. 4Contd on | nation were to build a factory in India to circumvent that country's tariffs, it would be "unfair" to the US. "Tesla... They are more (interested) only to start show- rooms. They are not interested to (start) manufacturing in India," Kumaraswamy told reporters here. 4Contd on | nation Free parking in SoBo now Shefali Parab-Pandit MUMBAI After a sting operation exposed a parking scam in the Kala Ghoda area, the BMC decided not to renew contracts with 24 private parking contractors in the 'A' ward. As a result, free parking is now available at ten major spots in Colaba, Fort, Nariman Point, and Cuffe Parade. This has brought a relief to citizens in South Mumbai, where there were many complaints about operators overcharging or collecting money without proper authorisation. During a BMC-led sting operation on April 19, the parking contractor at Kala Ghoda was caught overcharging and allowing parking in no-parking zones. Former BJP corporator Makarand Narwekar had written to the Municipal Commissioner demanding that pay-and-park services be made free after contracts expire on May 31. 4Contd on | nation Tesla... They are more (interested) only to start showrooms. They are not interested to (start) manufacturing in India. HD Kumaraswamy Minister for marketing in the making Ravikiran Deshmukh MUMBAI Maharashtra is to have a Minister for Marketing who will head the five biggest agricultural produce market yards in Maharashtra and will supervise day-to-day trading of agricultural produce as well. Based on the concept of the Model Act introduced by the central government, the state will notify five market yards as national markets. These have an annual turnover of more than 80,000 metric tonnes and where 30 percent of agricultural produce comes from two or more states. Of the 305 market committees that control the local market yards, five qualify for the Market of National Importance (MNI), where the day-today affairs are to be controlled by the state government and not by the elected bodies. The five market yards include Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) in Navi Mumbai, along with Pune, Nagpur, Solapur and Latur districts. A few more will be added to the list, sources say. The proposal to announce the MNI in Urvi Mahajani MUMBAI The art world is agog with excitement with the proposed auction of 25 rare paintings of the master MF Husain, valued at over Rs 25 crores, on June 12 pursuant to an order of Justice Riyaz Chagla of Bombay high court. The much-waited auction will take place at Hamilton House, J.N. Heredia Marg, Ballard Estate. These high-value paintings were secured by the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Why Padgha? ATS sources say Padgha has been developed as the hub of terror suspects in recent years and the Maharashtra ISIS module had self-declared Padgha as a ‘liberated zone’ and as ‘Al Sham’. The suspects were motivating impressionable Muslim youth relocate to Padgha. When last time NIA raided Padgha and nearby Borivali area, they found that all members of ISIS Maharashtra module were operating from PadghaBorivali, where they had hatched conspiracy to spread terror. Ltd (NAFED) after a nod from Bombay high court. In 2006 the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had initiated a probe into the Swarup Group and its chairman Swarup Srivastava for alleged misappropriation of Rs 150 crore of the Rs 236 crore lent by NAFED. Srivastava had created a huge sensation in the art world in 2007 by commissioning Husain to paint 100 paintings with each painting costing Rs 1 cr, which was a princely sum then. 4Contd on | nation Cong tensions mount over terror talks RAJIT GUPTA TOPS JEE-ADVANCED FPJ News Service FPJ News Service NEW DELHI NEW DELHI Congress leader Salman Khurshid has voiced concern over growing political divisions back home, even as he and other MPs carry India’s anti-terrorism message abroad as part of an all-party delegation.In a post on X, Khurshid wrote, “When on mission against terrorism, to carry India's message to the world, it's distressing that people at home are calculating political allegiances. 4Contd on | nation FPJ News Service New fossil study reveals ancient marine reptile had scaly flippers like sea turtles. Plesiosaur soft tissue offers clues to how the long-necked creatures once lived and swam. MUMBAI reported New Scientist. Discovered in Germany back in 1940, the fossil was buried in a museum garden during World War II to pro- Hate speech plaint against Nitesh Rane Manoj Ramakrishnan MUMBAI Delhi zone's Rajit Gupta topped the IIT entrance JEE-advanced and secured the all India rank (AIR) 1. The results of the Joint Entrance Exam-Advanced were announced on Monday. Saksham Jindal, who got 332 has ranked 2. He is another IIT Delhi zone candidate. IIT Bombay zone's Majid Mujahid Husain with 330 marks ranked 3. IIT Kanpur was the conducting institute for JEE-Advanced. As many as 1,80,422 candidates appeared in both papers 1 and 2 Rajit Gupta & Devdutta Majhi on May 18, said officials. An official said, “In the exam, 54,378 candidates have qualified. Of them, 9,404 are female.” Rajit Gupta, a resident of Rajasthan's Kota, scored 332 of the 360 marks, and is the Common Rank List top ranker. 4Contd on | nation Turtle-like skin found on sea monster Plesiosaurus tion of Plesiosaurus incorporating a long neck, compact body, and four propulsive flippers, has not changed for nearly 200 years 4Contd on | nation 25 HUSSAIN WORKS TO BE AUCTIONED new discovery A remarkable fossil is giving scientists—and the rest of us—a rare glimpse into the skin of a creature , Plesiosaurus , that ruled the oceans when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. For the first time, researchers have studied the preserved soft tissue of a 183million-year-old plesiosaur and found that this sea monster had skin strikingly similar to that of modern sea turtles. The classic life reconstruc- Maharashtra awaits cabinet nod. The report of the cabinet subcommittee headed by Marketing Minister Jaikumar Rawal (BJP) has already been submitted. According to sources, the proposal is waiting for a nod from Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, who heads the NCP and is likely to lose control over the Pune Market Yard. The move by the BJP-led Mahayuti government is likely to trigger a fresh debate, say the sources. The move is sure to create ripples in areas where the big market yards exist, since the market committees elected by farmer representatives are political strongholds of local leaders and have vote banks. tect it from bombing. It then spent over 75 years in storage until finally being re-examined in 2020. The results published in New Scientist recently are making waves. Unlike most ancient reptile fossils that show only bones, this one—nicknamed MH7—preserved patches of skin. When a team led by Miguel Marx from Lund University in Sweden put it under the microscope, they made an eye-opening discovery: the flippers were covered in tiny, hard scales, while the rest of the body had smooth skin. “This plesiosaur was like a mix between a green sea turtle and a leatherback,” said Marx. “I expected it to have smooth skin all over, but instead we found this fascinating blend.” The scaly flippers may have given it extra strength for swimming or even helped it crawl along the seafloor in search of food—something modern turtles and dolphins are also known to do. Meanwhile, the smooth body likely helped reduce drag, allowing the animal to glide through water with ease. This discovery is important because very few plesiosaurs have been found with soft tissue preserved. Muslims have reacted angrily to Maharashtra fisheries minister Nitesh Rane's recent statement on Bakri Eid, asking the community to celebrate their festivals according to the rules of 'Hindu Rashtra'. Rane had commented before the media, saying that the 'Hindutva Wadi' government would open its 'third eye' and give lawbreakers their due. Bakri Eid, the festival of sacrifice, is scheduled between June 6 and 7. Muslims said that Rane's comments constituted hate speech. Advocate Abid Abbas Sayyed, who filed a formal representation to the Chief Justices of the Supreme Court and the Bombay High Court, apart from the state government, seeking registration of an FIR against Rane, said that the comments were for 'incendiary hate speech.' Rane was not available for a comment. Sayyed said that Rane, who is currently functioning both as a Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and a Cabinet Minister in the Government of Maharashtra, has not only violated the law but has also been undermining the secular and democratic 4Contd on | nation