FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms Vol. XLII No. 68 | INDORE | TUESDAY | AUGUST 19, 2025 | Pages 14 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. 38281/83 FREE www.freepressjournal.in WORLD HUMANITARIAN DAY Sports Triple jumper Varkey latest to be caught in dope net P.13 ESTD-1983 iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: INDORE UJJAIN MONEY PRESS PUNE BHOPAL NASHIK MUMBAI E-paper Edit EC must rectify, not retaliate P.6 ‘India emerging as world’s most preferred investment destination’ World PHOTOGRAPHY Cinema Zakir Khan creates history P.14 TUG OF POWER | India navigates among Moscow, Beijing and Washington amid global power play Day DRI busts Rs 92crore mephedrone factory Juggling Act: Putin dials, Wang Yi visits, US warns Our Staff Reporter FP Desk BHOPAL 7 held under ‘Op Crystal Black’; links to Mumbai, Surat revealed NEW DELHI/WASHINGTON On a day marked by highstakes diplomacy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Ukraine, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar urged Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to ensure calm at the border, and in Washington White House trade adviser Peter Navarro warned that India’s oil trade with Moscow was funding Russia’s war. Together, the three developments underscored the tightrope India is walking in balancing ties with rival powers. Modi’s conversation with Putin came just days after the Russian leader met former US President Donald Trump in Alaska to discuss a permanent end to the Ukraine conflict. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, Modi underlined India’s long- fp Briefs NEW DELHI Rs 6,487 cr for electrification The government has approved works worth Rs 6,487 crore under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) to electrify 13.59 lakh households across the country, the Parliament was informed on Monday. The move is aimed at ensuring that every family, even in the remotest corners, has access to electricity, Minister of State for Power, Shripad Yesso Naik, said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha. SURAT Rs 25 cr diamond robbery in Surat Diamonds worth `25 crore were stolen from DK & Sons Diamond Company at Kapodra during the three-day public holiday. It is considered as one of the biggest heists in Gujarat's Surat. According to the police, the thieves gained entry into the fourth-floor office in Kapoorwadi, cut open the safe with a cutter, and fled with rough diamonds and cash. The miscreants smashed the CCTV cameras. My friend, President Putin, for sharing insights on his recent meeting with President Trump in Alaska Narendra Modi Prime Minister External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in New Delhi on Monday. standing call for peace and told Putin that New Delhi would “offer its full support” for efforts to resolve the war, raging since February 2022. He later posted on X, thanking “my friend, President Putin, for sharing insights on his recent meeting with President Trump in Alaska,” and reaffirmed India’s commitment to backing all peace efforts. The two leaders also discussed bilat- eral cooperation and agreed to remain in close touch. Meanwhile, across Delhi, Jaishankar held talks with Wang Yi and stressed that “the basis for any positive momentum in our ties is the ability to jointly maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas.” He said the de-escalation process along the Line of Actual Control must move forward, and added that India CM YADAV MEETS PM FOR SECOND TIME IN 19 DAYS Trump meets Zelenskyy, says reasonable chance of ending the war Will suspense IANS NEW YORK Chief Secretary Anurag Jain was in Delhi for two days. He went to Delhi on Sunday morning and returned from there on Monday evening. Jain met Governor Mangubhai Patel at Rajbhawan after returning from there. Our Staff Reporter US President Donald Trump welcomed Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the White House in a friendly atmosphere on Monday after a cavalcade of European leaders arrived to back him for talks that could be pivotal for ending the war with Russia. As they sat down for their talks, Trump said: "If everything works out well today, we'll have a trilat (trilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin) — and I think there will be a reasonable chance of ending the war when we do that." Their meeting followed Trump's summit with Putin on Friday in Alaska. 4Continued on | P8 BHOPAL Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has met Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the second time in 19 days. Yadav met Modi at the Parliament House on Monday. Before this meeting, Yadav and Modi held talks for 45 minutes on July 31. A decision on the Chief Secretary, together with other issues, may have figured in the talks between Yadav and Modi. Chief Secretary Anurag Jain is retiring on August 31.  There is confusion over whether a new CS will be appointed or Jain will get an extension. After the CM’s meeting with the PM, there is hope that the mist over the issue may disperse. Yadav also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and it was his fourth trip to Delhi in the past 20 days. Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI The INDIA bloc of Opposition parties plans to bring an impeachment notice against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar for lashing out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who has repeatedly made “vote chori” (vote theft) allegations against the Election Commission. On Sunday, the CEC had demanded that Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, either submits an affidavit to buttress his claims or apologise in seven days for his allegations and insinuations. Following a meeting of eight parties, Deputy Leader of Con- gress in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi asked why EC was silent on the issues raised by Gandhi regarding discrepancies in the Mahadevapura electoral roll, the high voter addition in Maharashtra between the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections and on the deletion of video data. “The CEC did not reply to the important questions being raised by the political parties and ran away from his responsibility,” he said, adding that it would have been better had the official “answered all the valid questions asked by the Opposition” and not “raised questions on political parties and attacked them”. 4Continued on | P8 COLLEGE ON FAKE DOCUMENTS Our Staff Reporter Masood is the secretary of the Aman Education Society, which runs the Indira Priyadarshani College of Management. The court is hearing a petition over the college operating for the past 20 years on fake documents. Also, taking note of its approximately 1,000 students, the court stated that the college can continue to operate as long as it does not accept new students for the upcoming academic year.  4Continued on | P8 As Jain was the centre’s choice as CS, it is the Central Government which will decide the issue of his extension. 4Continued on | P8 CM invites PM to MP Chief Minister Mohan Yadav invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the state. He requested Modi to inaugurate the metro rail in Bhopal and Kisan Sammelan. Yadav informed the Prime Minister that Swadeshi Abhiyan had been launched in the state. In the past one year and four months, his government launched a major campaign for industrialisation. He said MOUs over Rs 30,00,000 crore had been signed with industrial houses, which would generate jobs for 21 people. Oppn mulls impeachment of CEC, says he acted like BJP spokesperson BHOPAL The Principal Bench of the High Court in Jabalpur on Monday instructed the Bhopal Police Commissioner to register an FIR against Congress MLA Arif Masood within three days.  CS was in Delhi for 2 days, met Governor on return over CS end? FIR against Cong MLA Masood in 3 days; college can run: HC Constitutes SIT led by ADG, to file report in 45 days and China must be guided by “mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest.” The two sides also reviewed trade, connectivity, pilgrimages, river data sharing and global issues. Wang will meet NSA Ajit Doval for boundary talks on Tuesday before calling on Modi. But even as India tried to balance its two giant neighbours, criticism came from Washington. In an opinion piece in the Financial Times, Navarro accused India of acting as a “global clearinghouse for Russian oil” and warned that its closeness with both Moscow and Beijing made it risky to transfer advanced US military technologies to New Delhi. Taken together, the phone call, the border talks and the American warning reflect the delicate act of diplomacy India now faces — engaging Russia, managing China, and convincing the West of its reliability. NOT AFRAID OF CEC THREATS: RAHUL Dheeraj Kumar PATNA A day after the Chief Election Commissioner issued an ultimatum to Rahul Gandhi to substantiate his allegations of “vote chori”, the Congress leader intensified his attack, accusing the Election Commission of using the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls as a "new weapon" to disenfranchise eligible voters. Speaking in Gayaji, Gandhi declared, 4Continued on | P8 Hamas accepts 60-day Gaza ceasefire Online Report In a major crackdown, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has busted a mephedrone manufacturing unit worth Rs 92 crore in Bhopal, arresting seven people in raids conducted across Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. The operation, code-named ‘Operation Crystal Black’, was carried out with help from police units in Surat and Mumbai. The illegal drug unit was unearthed in Jagdishpur (Islamnagar), Huzur tehsil on August 16, where officials seized 2 minor sisters drown in deep pit, contractor booked Our Staff Reporter INDORE Mumbai connection In swift follow-up action, DRI apprehended a key cartel member from Basti, Uttar Pradesh, who oversaw supply of raw materials from Bhiwandi (Mumbai) to Bhopal. Two more suspects—chemical suppliers from Mumbai— were also arrested, along with a transporter who moved the chemicals to Bhopal. Investigations revealed a hawala network was used to transfer funds from Surat and Mumbai to Bhopal. One person handling the financial transactions was held in Surat. 61.20 kg of mephedrone in liquid form, along with a cache of chemicals and processing equipment. The raided facility was a se- cluded structure, carefully shielded from public view to avoid detection. 4Continued on | P8 After failed NSUI, YC experiments, Rahul turns to Cong Nitendra Sharma Two girls, aged 12 and 15 drowned in a deep pit dug for the construction of a culvert under Sanwer police station limits on Sunday afternoon. The tragic incident believed to have occurred when the girls were playing near the pit and accidentally fell into it. According to police, the deceased were identified as Bashkanya and her sister Anushka, daughters of Bhagwan Chauhan, a resident of Chimli village. Their father informed police that a culvert is being constructed on the road behind his house and the road work is still underway. Contractor Bhupendra, a resident of Ujjain district, had dug a pit nearly 25 feet deep to collect sand for the culvert’s construction. During rains, the pit got filled with water, but the contractor neither filled it back nor made any safety arrangements around it to prevent accidents. Due to this alleged negligence, Bashkanya and Anushka Chauhan drowned. Police have registered a case against contractor Bhupendra under relevant sections of the BNS and further investigation is underway. DCC DISPARITY BHOPAL The former president of the Congress and present Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha has launched a ‘Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan (organisation restructuring campaign).’ The party’s district unit presidents have been elected through this campaign. The observers sent by the party to districts to select candidates submitted their reports. The issue was discussed with various leaders of the party. Finally, it was the AICC that selected the DCC presidents. In the selection process, based on Rahul Gandhi’s plan, the state party unit did not have any role in many places. This is the third experiment of Rahul that he is doing with the Congress. He has already used the formula to reorganise the NSUI and Youth Congress. Rahul started holding internal elections in both these organisations. An NGO conducted the elections in the There is disparity in selecting DCC presidents In some places, very strong candidates have been given the charge, but there is adjustment some places NSUI. In the Youth Congress, too, the election process was held. The Congress’s new leadership emerged from the NSUI and Youth Congress. Mukesh Nayak, Jitu Patwari, Rajkumar Patel and many other senior Congress leaders have the NSUI background, but strong leadership has stopped emerging from these two organisations. In appointing the district presidents, Rahul did the same experiment with the party as he did with the NSUI and Youth Congress. 4Continued on | P8 3 killed as under-construction water tank wall collapses Our Staff Reporter Hamas on Monday said it had accepted a proposed hostage release deal that includes a 60day ceasefire in war-torn Gaza, news agency Reuters reported, amid continued fighting in the region. However, according to Saudi channel Al Arabiya, the proposal represents a compromise between a full ceasefire and a temporary truce, which includes the release of the remaining hostages and a gradual withdrawal of the Israeli military from Gaza. The development came as thousands of Palestinians fled their homes in eastern areas of Gaza City. INDORE In a tragic incident, three people lost their lives while another sustained injury after the wall of an under-construction water tank collapsed amid heavy rain under Rajendra Nagar police station limits on Monday afternoon. The incident occurred inside the under-construction Smart City-III project at Shiv City Colony, where a 200,000-litre underground water tank was being built. The wall, made of cement bricks collapsed and buried four people under the debris. They were rushed to Rameshwar the hospital, where three were declared brought dead. Officials believe the accident occurred due to negligence by the contractor, who Gautam Rajesh was constructing the tank without proper columns or safety measures. 4Continued on | P8 offgrid Shux gifts Modi Tri-colour that travelled to space PTI NEW DELHI Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla who became the first Indian astronaut to travel to the International Space Station (ISS). Shukla, who was part of the Axiom-4 commercial mission to the ISS from June 25-July 15, met the prime minister at his Lok Kalyan Marg residence. Modi welcomed Shukla, who was wearing an ISRO astronaut's jacket, with a warm hug and walked with him with his arm on the astronaut's shoulder. Shukla gifted the prime minister the mission patch of the Axiom-4 mission and the Indian tricolour that he had taken with him to the ISS. This Indian tricolour was fluttering in the background on the ISS when Shukla interacted with Modi on June 29. "Had a great interaction with Shubhanshu Shukla. We discussed a wide range of subjects including his experiences in space, progress in science & technology as well as India's ambitious Gaganyaan mission. India is proud of his feat," Modi said in a post on X. The Lucknow-born astronaut was also seen showing pictures he had taken from the ISS on a tablet computer to Prime Minister Modi. Shukla was part of the Axiom-4 private space mission that lifted off from Florida on June 25 and docked at the International Space Station on June 26. He returned to Earth on 15 July. The prime minister interacted with Shukla on June 29 in the initial days of the Axiom-4 mission that had docked at the ISS.