FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms Vol. XLII No. 11 | INDORE | THURSDAY | JUNE 19, 2025 | Pages 14 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. 38281/83 FREE www.freepressjournal.in Nation Mamata slams Centre for ‘mockery of democracy’ P.7 ESTD-1983 iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: INDORE MONEY ‘India does not and will never accept mediation’ PM declines invitation to stop over to meet US Prez on way back from G-7 summit PTI KANANASKIS fp Briefs NEW DELHI Voter I-cards in 15 days now The EC on Wednesday said voter identity cards will now be delivered to electors within 15 days. Till now, it took a little over a month for the Elector Photo Identity Card (EPIC) to be delivered to the voters, officials said. The new system will ensure real-time tracking of each stage, from the EPIC generation by the Electoral Registration Officer till the delivery of the card to the elector through the postal department. NEW DELHI Axiom-4 new date June 22 Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla's Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station has been postponed to June 22 to allow NASA to evaluate the operations on the orbital lab after the recent repairs in the Russian section, Axiom Space announced on Wednesday. The Axiom-4 mission, which marks the return to space for India, Hungary, and Poland, was earlier scheduled for lift-off from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on June 19 onboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. ‘I stopped the war’ Hours after holding a 35-minute phone conversation US President Donald Trump repeated his claim- for the fourteenth time- that he stopped a war between India and Pakistan. In comments to reporters, Trump described Modi as "a fantastic man" and asserted that the two countries will have a trade deal. "Well, I stopped the war.. I love Pakistan. I think Modi is a fantastic man. I spoke to him last night. egorically told the US President India has has never accepted any third-party mediation and would never accept it in the future. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said Misri said Modi and Trump were scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the G-7 meeting, but the US President left early to attend to the Israel-Iran situation. He said Trump insisted on having a conversation with Modi, after which the call was set up. "PM Modi clarified that no topics related to trade were discussed in connection with Operation Sindoor. He asserted that India has never accepted third-party mediation and will not accept such mediation," Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said in a statement. This was the first conversation between Trump and Modi after the launch of Operation Sindoor last month. The two leaders had spoken after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack when Trump had expressed his condolences and supported India in the fight against terrorism. 4Continued on | P8 Full diplomatic ties with Canada FP News Service MUMBAI India and Canada have agreed to appoint new high commissioners and restore full diplomatic services, marking a significant step toward mending strained relations after a year of tensions. The breakthrough came during a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Alberta on Wednesday. Modi is visiting Canada for the first time since 2015, at Carney’s invitation to attend the G7 Summit. PM Modi said he was confident that under Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s leadership, India and Canada Canada flags India ‘threat’ As PM Modi attended the final day of the G7 summit, Canada’s spy agency warned that India remains a persistent foreign interference threat. In its annual report to Parliament, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) also identified China, Russia, Iran and Pakistan as perpetrators of foreign interference, The Globe and Mail reported on Wednesday. The report was tabled in Parliament on Friday but CSIS posted it online on Wednesday, the day after the summit ended. 4Continued on | P8 could work together “in a positive way” and take bilateral relations forward. Speaking ahead of their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G7 Summit, Modi emphasised the importance of strengthening FASTag annual pass unveiled FP News Service Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways , Nitin Gadkari, on Wednesday announced the launch of a FASTag-based annual pass for private vehicles, priced at ₹3,000, effective from August 15. The move is aimed at ensuring hassle-free and affordable highway travel across India. In a post on X, Gadkari said the pass will be valid for one year from the date of activation or up to 200 trips—whichever comes first. It will be available exclusively for private noncommercial vehicles such as cars, jeeps, and vans. The annual pass will enable seamless travel on National PUNE BHOPAL NASHIK 4Continued on | P8 E-paper Sports Kangana in a new role P.12 Trump’s lunch an embrace for Pak Army chief PTI WASHINGTON US edging closer to join Israeli attacks on Iran Agencies US President Donald Trump will host Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir for lunch at the White House on Wednesday. "The President has lunch with the Chief of Army Staff of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan," an advisory issued by the White House said. The lunch will take place at 1 pm (local time, which is 10.pm Wednesday night IST) in the Cabinet Room of the White House. Trump had cut short his trip to Kananaskis, Canada, for the G7 Leaders' Summit, and he returned to Washington Tuesday morning amid escalating tensions in the Middle East with the latest Israel-Iran conflict. The White House's invitation to Munir is being projected by officials in Islamabad as a major diplomatic win, according to the Dawn newspaper. Field Marshal Munir, who was elevated to Pakistan's rare five-star rank last month in the first such promotion since Ayub Khan in 1959, during his US trip urged India to engage with Pakistan "as a civilised nation," rather than "attempting to impose regional hegemony", the paper reported. Speaking to members of the Pakistani American community on Monday evening, he rejected that Pakistan was behind the terrorist attack in Pahalgam. 4Continued on | P8 WASHINGTON President Trump said Wednesday that he had not yet decided whether the US military should join Israel's ongoing attacks on Iran, and he didn't believe it was too late to reach a deal with the Islamic Republic on its nuclear program, though he warned it was "very late to be talking." "I may do it, I may not do it, nobody knows what I'm going to do," . Trump told reporters when he was asked about the U.S. taking part in the strikes on Iran's nuclear and military facilities, CBS News reported.  Asked if he believed it was too late to negotiate a new deal to curb Iran's nuclear program — which he has made clear he wants the Iranian government to abandon completely — Trump said: "Nothing's too late." He added that the Iranians had sought talks, and said they had even suggested sending a delegation for discussions at the White House. "I said, 'it's really late. You know?' I said, 'it's very late to be talking,'" the president said, adding: "There's a big difference between now and a week ago," before Israel started Highways and National Expressways across the country. A dedicated link for activation and renewal will soon be made available on the Rajmarg Yatra app and on the official websites of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). Gadkari also stated that the average toll cost per trip will come down to ₹15 from August 15, 2025. The initiative, he said, addresses long-standing public concerns about toll plazas located within a 60 km range and aims to simplify toll payments via a single, affordable transaction. 4Continued on | P8 Urvi Mahajani The Bombay High Court has dismissed two petitions filed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) challenging arbitration awards worth over ₹538 crore in favour of the nowdefunct Indian Premier League The court upholds `538 cr arbitration awards to defunct IPL franchise (IPL) franchise, Kochi Tuskers Kerala. The dispute dates back to 2011, when the BCCI termin- Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Italian counterpart, Giorgia Meloni, met on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada. The two leaders greeted each other with a handshake, with Prime Minister Modi saying, "India's friendship with Italy will continue to get stronger." continue to get stronger, greatly benefitting our 4Continued on | P8 ated the Kochi franchise, alleging a breach of the franchise agreement. The franchise— backed by a consortium led by Rendezvous Sports World (RSW) and operated by Kochi Cricket Private Limited (KCPL)—had participated in only one IPL season that year. Aggrieved by what they termed a “wrongful” termination, both KCPL and RSW initiated arbitration proceedings. On June 22, 2015, an arbitral tribunal awarded ₹384.83 crore to KCPL and ₹153.34 crore to RSW, along with interest and legal costs. 4Continued on | P8 Our Staff Reporter emony at the Naval Dockyard here was presided over by Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan. Gen Chauhan underscored the Navy's remarkable transition from a "buyer's navy" to a "builder's navy", highlighting this as the backbone of the "country's Blue Water aspirations", according to officials. The 77-metre long warship is the largest Indian naval warship to be propelled by a diesel engine-waterjet combination. Falcon 2000 biz jet to roll out by 2028 Dhairya Gajara MUMBAI people!" The two leaders had a brief exchange during the summit. PM Modi and Meloni earlier met during the COP28 summit in Dubai. The two leaders clicked a selfie, and Meloni captioned the photo "Good friends at COP28, #Melodi". Earlier in the day, PM Modi arrived at the Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge according to five sources who spoke to the BBC's US partner CBS News. INDORE Falcon 2000 LXS will be made in Nagpur under a JV agreement between Dassault Aviation and Anil Ambani’s Reliance Aerostructure Limited (RAL). by the Dassault Reliance Aerospace Ltd (DRAL). At the Paris Air Show 2025, French military aircraft and business jets manufacturer Dassault Aviation joined hands with Anil Ambani’s Reliance Aerostructure Limited (RAL), a subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, to manufacture Falcon 2000 LXS business executive jets in India for the global market. 4Continued on | P8 You are the best, trying to be as you: Meloni tells Modi Meanwhile, in a warm exchange, Prime Minister Meloni told Prime Minister Modi, "You are the best. I am trying to be as you." Italy's PM posted a picture on X and said, "Italy and India, linked by a great friendship". Prime Minister Modi reshared the post and said, "Fully agree with you, PM Giorgia Meloni. India's friendship with Italy will hammering Iran with airstrikes. American strikes could involve using superior weaponry to hit an underground nuclear site at Fordo, Raja murder: Cops unmask Raj behind ‘Sanjay Verma’ offgrid Online Report Iran's supreme leader on Wednesday rejected US calls for surrender in the face of blistering Israeli strikes and warned that any military involvement by the Americans would cause "irreparable damage" to them. The second public appearance by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei since the Israeli strikes began six days ago came as Israel lifted some restrictions on daily life, suggesting that the missile threat from Iran was easing. Khamenei's speech came a day after US President Donald Trump demanded "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER" in a social media post and warned Khamenei that the US knows where he is but has no plans to kill him, "at least not for now." India on Wednesday announced launching 'Operation Sindhu' to evacuate Indian nationals from Iran as the conflict between Iran and Israel showed no sign of letting up. "India accords highest priority to the safety and security of Indian nationals abroad," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. More than 4,000 Indian nationals are living in Iran and half of them are students. The MEA said the Indian embassy in Tehran has evacuated 110 Indian students from northern Iran, assisting them in safely crossing over into Armenia on Tuesday. The students have travelled by road to the Armenian capital, Yerevan, under the supervision of the Indian missions in Iran and Armenia. PTI India will join the elite club of nations producing executive business jets as Dassault Aviation and Reliance Group announced the manufacturing of Falcon 2000 business jets in Maharashtra’s Nagpur. This will mark the first time that these high-end aircraft will be manufactured out of France ‘NO SURRENDER’ India launches Operation Sindhu VISAKHAPATNAM INS Arnala, the first warship in the anti-submarine warfare shallow water craft series equipped to conduct subsurface surveillance, search and rescue missions and low-intensity maritime operations, was inducted into the Indian Navy on Wednesday. The commissioning cer- Israeli air defense system fires to intercept missiles during an Iranian attack over Tel Aviv, Israel HC asks BCCI to pay Rs 538 cr to Kochi Tuskers MUMBAI cooperation across a range of sectors. “India-Canada relations are extremely important. We should aim for win-win cooperation in several areas,” he said. MUMBAI Navy inducts anti-submarine INS Arnala Private car owners to get annual pass at Rs 3,000 for 200 trips from August 15, says Gadkari MUMBAI PRESS Edit Murder not justifiable P.6 ‘India Inc key pillar of nation’s economic growth, development’ MODI’S STRAIGHT TALK | PM sets record straight with Trump who has repeatedly claimed credit for ceasefire post Op Sindoor Thirteen times after US President Donald Trump repeatedly claimed credit for ending hostilities between India and Pakistan Prime Minister Narendra Modi set the record straight with Donald Trump. He told the American President in no uncertain terms that India had paused the Operation Sindoor strikes on Pakistan following a 'request' from Islamabad. It was definitely not a result of mediation or offer of a trade deal by the US. In the call which lasted 35minutes on Tuesday, Modi cat- UJJAIN in Canada to attend the highlevel gathering. Canadian PM Mark Carney received PM Modi as he arrived at the venue of the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta. This marks his sixth consecutive participation in the G7 Summit and his first visit to Canada in a decade. PM Modi received a ceremonial welcome at the Calgary airport, where India's acting high commissioner, Chinmoy Naik, was among those who received him. The Prime Minister arrived in Canada after concluding his visit to Cyprus. PM Modi's visit to Canada marks a significant moment in bilateral ties following a phase of strained diplomatic relations. 4Continued on | P8 A new mysterious name stormed into the spotlight in the Raja Raghuvanshi murder case on Wednesday—Sanjay Verma, linked to Sonam Raghuvanshi—which became the hot topic of the day. Everyone had just one question on their lips: Who is Sanjay Verma, the man to whom Sonam made as many as 234 calls between March 1 and April 8. As family members claimed ignorance, the police quietly started pulling the thread of the mystery behind the number registered under the name Sanjay Verma on the Truecaller app. This number is currently switched off. Call records accessed by the police revealed extensive conversations between Sonam and the person using the number. By sunset, the mask had slipped—and what lay beneath was far more chilling. Sanjay Verma never existed. He was a digital shadow—a fake identity used by Raj Kushwaha, Sonam’s alleged lover, to hide in plain sight. Sources said that in the weeks leading up to the Meghalaya Police reached the maternal home of Sonam Raghuvanshi in Govind Nagar and questioned her family Pic: Anand Shivre 2nd murder weapon found Meghalaya police recovered the second dao (machete) used in Raja’s murder from the deep gorge with the help of SDERF team. The team managed to retrieve the weapon using metal detector. The police came to know about the second weapon following the recreation of murder at the spot. murder, Raj was playing a game, that too a dangerous one. 4Continued on | P8 First organised, pre-planned crime in Meghalaya: Minister Hek Meghalaya's Minister Alexander Laloo Hek on Wednesday said that Raja Raghuvanshi murder case was the first instance of an organised, pre-meditated crime in the state. "This Raja Raghuvanshi case is a first organised, pre-planned crime of Meghalaya," he said underlining government's commitment to ensuring swift justice and making the state crime-free.