Tuesday, November 18, 2025 | Vol. 69 No. 37 | 30 Pages Reg.No MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 1541/1957 M.p.c.s office Mumbai. PIN 400001 THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL INDIA EDITION | www.freepressjournal.in ● Leader in E-paper circulation GAMES NATION SP leader Azam Khan, son Abdullah sentenced to up to 7 years in jail in dual PAN card case Harbhajan Singh slams under-prepared and excessively bowler-friendly surface like Eden SAUDI INFERNO | 43 of the deceased were from Hyderabad. 10 kids, 18 women among victims 45 pilgrims from India lose lives in Madina collision Agencies HYDERABAD A bus-tanker collision near Madina early Monday claimed the lives of at least 45 Indian Umrah pilgrims, most of them from Hyderabad. Only one passenger, Shoaib, survived after managing to break a window and jump out of the burning bus. The accident took place around 1.30 am, when the bus collided with a diesel tanker 25 km from the holy city. The survivor has been admitted to a Saudi hospital ICU and is in critical condition. Hyderabad City Police Commissioner V. C. Sajjanar said the group had travelled to Jeddah on November 9 and was scheduled to return on November 23. Of the 54 pilgrims, eight were in other parts of Saudi Arabia, while 46 were on the bus at the time of the crash. Among these 46 passengers, 43 were from Hyderabad, two from Cyberabad and one from Hubballi in Karnataka. The group included 18 men, 18 women and 10 children. Edit B’desh awards the death sentence to Sheikh Hasina Death sentence for Sheikh Hasina Agencies DHAKA Bangladesh’s deposed PM Sheikh Hasina was on Monday sentenced to death in absentia by a special tribunal for “crimes against humanity” over her government's brutal crackdown on student-led protests last year. The International Crimes Tribunal-Bangladesh (ICT-BD) held the 78-year-old responsible for orchestrating a violent state response to the unrest that swept the country between mid-July and mid-August last year. Hasina was handed the death penalty for ordering the use of deadly force against unarmed protesters, making inflammatory statements and authorising operations that led to the killing of several students in Dhaka and surrounding areas. Hasina, who has been in India since fleeing on August 5 following the collapse of her As many as 18 members of a family across three generations were in the bus, relatives said. Shaik Nazeeruddin, a retired railway employee from Vidya Nagar in Hyderabad, was travelling in the ill-fated bus along with his wife, son, three daughters and grandchildren on his way to Madina, his nephew Mohammed Aslam said. Families in Hyderabad became anxious when they were unable to contact their relatives. FPJ News Service Residents such as Mufti Asif, Mohammad Salman and Mohammad Burhan confirmed that several members of their families were among the pilgrims. Preliminary reports indicated that the collision was so severe that the bus was badly damaged, making rescue operations extremely Scan & Watch difficult. 4Contd on | nation PTI DHAKA Bangladesh’s interim government on Monday urged India to immediately extradite deposed PM Sheikh Hasina and her former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, hours after a special tribunal sentenced them to death in absentia for “crimes against humanity”. “We urge the Indian government to immediately hand over these two convicted individuals to the Bangladeshi authorities,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, according to the state-run BSS news agency. It said the existing bilateral extradition agreement between Bangladesh and India marks the transfer of the two convicts as a compulsory responsibility for New Delhi, where Hasina is living since her ouster. 4Contd on | nation I 4Contd on | nation The diplomat pointed out that this was not the first time a political leader had been tarThe death sentence issued geted. Begum Khaleda Zia, against Sheikh Hasina has chief of the main opposition come as no surprise to Bangla- party, the Bangladesh Nationdesh watchers in New Delhi. alist Party (BNP) was arrested Pointing to the long rivalry be- and then put under house artween the former rest in 2020. prime minister Her son Tarique ANALYSIS and Mohammed Rahman, the interim Yunus, the Chief chairman in the BNP, Adviser of the current interim in London since 2008, has government in the country, a stated he will return soon to senior diplomat stated that the fight elections scheduled for sentencing was the result of early 2026. “vindictive politics,” prevalent 4Contd on | nation in Bangladeshi political history. Ice breaker: 3-a-day LAC meets FPJ News Service MUMBAI For the first time since the violent clashes of 2020 pushed India–China relations into a deep freeze, New Delhi is signalling a genuine thaw — not through grand diplomatic theatrics, but through three modest conversations held every single day along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi revealed at the Chanakya Defence Dia- logue curtain-raiser in New Delhi that Indian and Chinese troops have met 1,100 times over the past year, a remarkable cadence averaging three ground-level interactions a day. These exchanges, quiet and routine, have become the backbone of a slow but steady normalisation process between Asia’s two largest armies. “There has been a lot of improvement in our relations since last October,” Dwivedi said during a live conversation at the Manekshaw Centre. “The cooperation at the ground level is very good. Both sides are showing flexibility.” This shift did not happen in isolation. The year-long turnaround was rooted in political signalling at the very top. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping met first in Kazan in October 2024 and again on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in Tianjin in August 2025 — their first sustained engagement after troops disengaged from As of date, there is a judgment, there is a law that says reservation will be confined to 50 %. Justice Surya Kant stayed within the constitutional ceiling. “How can reservation exceed 50%?” Justice Kant asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Maharashtra. Mehta said the election process was already underway and nominations were to be filed the next day. Justice Kant said the Court was mindful of the poll schedule but could not allow any breach of the constitutional limit. He added that Banthia Commission report, which Maharashtra relied upon, would have to be examined by the Court before any revised quota could be implemented. 4Contd on | nation vidual claiming to be from DHL’s Mumbai office. She was told a suspicious package in her name had been intercepted, allegedly containing three credit cards, four passports and MDMA. When she denied any link to the consignment, the caller claimed her identity had likely been misused and abruptly transferred her to someone posing as a CBI officer. What followed was a meticulously crafted psychological siege. The fake CBI officer warned her that cybercrimi- Daily frontline talks ease India–China tensions. 1,100 quiet meetings in one year signal a genuine thaw Depsang and Demchok, the last of the friction points in eastern Ladakh. Those meetings injected the “political direction” that the Army Chief says had been missing since 2020. Thousands of Indian and Chinese troops had been stationed eye-to-eye across the 832-km stretch in Ladakh after the Galwan clash, where at least 24 soldiers from both sides lost their lives. The standoff hardened diplomatic lines and froze military communication. “Once the political directions became clear, it benefited everyone,” Dwivedi noted. “They are biased and politically motivated. In their distasteful call for the death penalty, they reveal the brazen and murderous intent of extremist figures within the interim government to remove Bangladesh’s last elected prime minister, and to nullify the Awami League as a political force,” she said in a statement. Hasina said she was not afraid to face her “accusers” in a proper tribunal where the evidence can be weighed and tested fairly. “That is why I have repeatedly challenged the interim government to bring these charges before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague.” In recent media interviews, Hasina described the ICT as a "kangaroo court" run by her opponents. RUSSIA TRADE Trump ups sanction warning 4Contd on | nation Swearing-in on Nov 20? PTI Any country that does business with Russia will be very severely sanctioned. We may add Iran to the formula PATNA Donald Trump CNG COLLAPSE CRIPPLES CITY Kamal Mishra MUMBAI Mumbai was thrown out of gear on Monday after a major disruption in CNG supply brought thousands of autos, taxis, school buses, and other gas-run vehicles to a halt. An MGL spokesperson said the supply to their City Gate Station (CGS) at Wadala was disrupted on Sunday due to damage to a GAIL main gas pipeline within the Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertisiers Ltd’s Trombay premises. He said repairs are underway and the supply is likely to be fully restored by Tuesday afternoon. Late Sunday night, serpentine queues began forming outside the few operational pumps. On Monday, office- goers reported hour-long waits for autos and cabs, trip cancellations, and steep surge pricing on aggregator platforms. “Many drivers waited through the night in long queues, hoping to refuel. This is causing immense hardship to them,” said Rakesh Kumar Verma of Mumbai Rickshawmen’s Union. 4See also | city Techie’s `32-crore, 6-month ordeal A 57-year-old senior IT professional from Indiranagar, Bengaluru, has emerged as Karnataka’s biggest victim yet of the spiralling ‘digital arrest’ racket, losing an astonishing �31.83 crore over six months to cybercriminals who controlled every aspect of her life — from her bank accounts to her daily movements. The ordeal began on 15 September 2024, when she received a call from an indi- n her reaction, Hasina said the judgement has been made by a “rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate.” Ashwin Ahmad NEW DELHI Vinay Madhava Gowda ‘RIGGED’ NEW DELHI Don’t breach 50% OBC quota cap: SC BENGALURU government, faced two counts that centred on coordinated shootings of unarmed protesters in Dhaka’s Chankharpul and Ashulia areas. The tribunal concluded that her directives and rhetoric directly enabled lethal operations that left several students dead, including victims who were burned Scan & Watch after being shot. DHAKA SHARPENS Will have little effect EXTRADITION CALL LOCAL BODY POLLS The Supreme Court on Monday made it clear that Maharashtra cannot cross the 50% cap on total reservations for the upcoming local body elections scheduled for January 31, 2026. The Court said its earlier directions on OBC reservation had been misread by authorities while implementing new quotas based on the Banthia Commission report. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi was hearing pleas challenging the State’s decision to enforce a fresh reservation matrix for OBCs in local polls. The State’s move stems from the Banthia Commission’s findings, which were prepared after the Supreme Court’s Constitution Bench ruling in Vikas Kishanrao Gawali v. State of Maharashtra. In that judgment, the Court struck down the earlier 27% OBC quota and laid down the “triple test” for granting reservation in local bodies: setting up a dedicated commission, collecting empirical data on OBC backwardness body-wise, and ensuring that SC, ST and OBC quotas together do not exceed 50 %, Bar & Bench reports. The bench first asked the State to clarify how the newly notified reservation figures Cinema Himesh delivers show-stopping performance nals were monitoring her phone and movements, and any contact with local police or lawyers would jeopardise her family. With her son’s wedding approaching, fear overwhelmed judgement. She complied with every instruction. Within days, she was placed under what the fraudsters called “house arrest,” forced to keep her Skype camera switched on for long hours while she continued working from home. 4Contd on | nation SC restrains release of digital-arrest accused n its suo motu proceedings on the rising menace of “digital arrest” scams, the SC on Monday barred the release from jail of those accused of duping a 73year-old woman Advocate-on-Record. A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi took a stern view after AoR Vipin Nair drew attention to the ordeal faced by the woman lawyer. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court he had personally spoken to the victim during her distressing experience. The SC directions came as it continues to examine how crooks are misusing forged court papers and impersonating officials to extort victims under the guise of “digital arrests”. I The swearing-in ceremony of the new Bihar government is likely to take place in Patna on November 20, official sources said on Monday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with several senior NDA leaders and Union ministers, is expected to attend the oathtaking event. Sources indicated that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is likely to submit his resignation as the head of the outgoing government on November 19. Preparations for the ceremony are underway at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan. Earlier in the day, Bihar BJP president Dilip Jaiswal said that newly elected legislators will meet on Tuesday to elect their legislative party leader. He added that the oath-taking ceremony would “most likely” be held either on November 20 or November 21. Meanwhile, the outgoing NDA government held its last cabinet meeting on Monday, where the council of ministers “authorised” Nitish Kumar to recommend the dissolution of the assembly. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Choudhary US President PTI NEW YORK/ WASHINGTON said the cabinet passed a resolution recommending dissolution of the assembly on November 19. Kumar met Governor Arif Mohammad Khan soon after the cabinet meeting, accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and Chief Secretary Pratyaya Amrit. The cabinet also passed another resolution thanking the chief minister for the NDA’s landslide victory in the recent assembly polls, which it described as the alliance’s best-ever performance in the state under Kumar’s leadership. In the 243-member assembly, the NDA won more than 200 seats, with the BJP securing 89 and the JD(U) winning 85. A JD(U) source said the party will elect Nitish Kumar as its legislature party leader on Nov 19. 4See also | P15 US President Donald Trump has warned that any country that does business with Russia will be “very severely sanctioned”, as his administration and Republican lawmakers push ahead with tough legislation targeting Moscow. Responding to questions from reporters on Sunday, on whether it was time for Congress to pass measures aimed at pressuring Russia and President Vladimir Putin, President Trump said, “I hear they're doing that, and that’s okay with me.” He added, “They are passing legislation. The Republicans are putting in legislation…Very tough sanctions on any country doing business with Russia. They may add Iran to that. I suggested it.” “So any country that does business with Russia will be very severely sanctioned. We may add Iran to the formula,” Trump reiterated. A Bill introduced by Senator Lindsey Graham has proposed a 500% tariff on the secondary purchase and reselling of Russian oil. 4Contd on | nation