THE SUNDAY Vol. 37 No. 19 | Sunday, February 1, 2026 30 Pages | `5 & for Pune `7 | Reg. No. MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 46955/1988 M.p.c.s. office Mumbai-400001 FREE PRESS JOURNAL I N D I A N C OA ST G U A R D DAY INDIA EDITION | www.freepressjournal.in ● Leader in E-paper circulation l E-paper edition is not a replica of the print edition WEEKEND Weekend Creative minds of three verticals of KGAF share their experiences Sunday Read Suvir Saran’s candid revelations Tracing spiritual roots of Maghi Ganeshotsav Rajeev Raja on performing with Dharavi Rocks SWIFT MAKEOVER | She is allotted the Excise, Sports and Youth Welfare, Minority Devpt and Wakf departments. Fadnavis takes over Finance, Planning Sunetra Pawar is Deputy CM PTI Ravikiran Deshmukh MUMBAI Barely three days after her husband died in a plane crash, Sunetra Pawar, wife of late Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, was on Saturday sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister, becoming the first woman to hold the post in Maharashtra’s political history. A simple swearing-in ceremony was held at Lok Bhavan at 5 pm, shortly after her unanimous election as leader of the Nationalist Congress Party legislature party. With her induction, Sunetra Pawar scripted a historic first for the state, breaking a long-standing political glass ceiling. Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath of office and secrecy in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Released trove links Lutnick to Epstein Bill Gates & Howard Lutnick Agencies WASHINGTON In the documents released on Friday by the U.S. Justice Department emails suggest that Howard Lutnick, now Trump’s commerce secretary, visited Epstein’s private Caribbean island in December 2012. Emails show Epstein and Lutnick made plans to meet on Little Saint James, with Lutnick arriving by boat from St. Thomas with his wife, children and friends. On the morning of the visit, Lutnick’s wife wrote to Epstein’s secretary, “We are heading towards you from St. Thomas,” and asked where to anchor. A day later, Epstein’s assistant forwarded a note from Epstein to Lutnick that read in part, “Nice seeing you.” The emails appear to contradict Lutnick’s past public comments. In a podcast interview last year, Lutnick said he cut off ties with Epstein around 2005. Reached by phone on Friday, Lutnick said he could not comment on the island visit because he had not seen the newly released documents, adding, “I spent zero time with him.” 4Contd on | Nation 4See also | World From left, CM Fadnavis, Guv. Devvrat, Dy CM Shinde and RS MP Sunetra Pawar, during swearing-in ceremony Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, ministers and legislators. Soon after the swearing-in, the government announced the portfolio distribution. Sunetra Pawar has been allotted the Excise, Sports and Youth Welfare, Minority Devel- opment and Wakf departments. The allocation places her in charge of key social and revenue-linked portfolios, including state excise and youth-centric sectors, giving her oversight of departments dealing with sports promotion, minority welfare and regulatory administration. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has taken charge of the crucial Planning and Finance portfolios. These departments were earlier held by the late Ajit Pawar and are now directly under the chief minister’s control, signalling a consolidation of key economic decision-making within the CM’s office. 4See also | Mumbai PAK PM RECALLS HUMILIATION FPJ News Service MUMBAI Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has made an unusually blunt and public admission of the country’s economic distress, acknowledging that he and the Army Chief have had to travel the world seeking financial assistance, an exercise he described as deeply humiliating and corrosive to national selfrespect. Addressing leading exporters in Islamabad on Friday night, Sharif said the experience of approaching foreign governments and lenders for loans had left him and Army Chief Asim Munir feeling ashamed. “We feel ashamed when Field Marshal Asim Munir and I go around the world begging for money. Taking loans is a huge burden on our self-respect. Our heads bow down in shame,” the prime minister said, offering a rare glimpse into the desperation driving Islamabad’s economic diplomacy. Sharif ’s remarks came as he sought to underline the difficult choices his government has been forced to make amid Pakistan’s prolonged financial crisis. 4Contd on | Nation Balochistan ops turn deadly At least 70 terrorists, including operatives of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), were killed after a wave of coordinated attacks on security forces, law enforcement agencies and civilians at 12 locations across Pakistan’s Balochistan province, officials said on Saturday. Sources claimed the death toll among terrorists could be as high as 108. However, Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said in a post that 70 terrorists had been killed so far. He added that the counter-operations, which began late Friday night, were still continuing on Saturday evening. A federal minister said terrorists belonging to the BLA also targeted civilians in Gwadar during the attacks, prompting intensified security operations across the coastal district. Officials confirmed that 10 security personnel were killed in the violence, underscoring the scale and intensity of the ongoing operations in the restive province of Pakistan. See also World India preparing ground to get on Board of Peace? Pramit Jhaveri to exit Dorabji Tata Trust Palazhi Ashok Kumar MUMBAI Pramit Jhaveri will step down as a trustee of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT), adding momentum to a period of visible leadership and governance change at Tata Trusts, the philanthropic heart of India’s largest business group, according to people familiar with the matter on Saturday. In a letter addressed to Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata, Jhaveri said he did not wish to be considered for reappointment when his term ends on February 11, 2026. The communication, also copied to fellow SDTT trustees and Tata Trusts chief executive Siddharth Sharma, described his tenure as an honour. Sources said a Tata Trusts board meeting will be convened soon. Jhaveri served at Citibank as chief executive for nine years until 2019. He joined the Tata Trusts board in February 2020 during the late Ratan Tata’s chairmanship. The development follows board changes approved in early November, including the induction of Bhaskar Bhat and Neville Tata as trustees, and the appointment of Venu Srinivasan as vice-chairman of SDTT, in line with regulatory requirements. Sessions Court hands life term to Jogdhankar Jhanvi Kukreja, Shree Jogdhankar and Diya Padalkar KUKREJA MURDER Charul Shah Joshi MUMBAI A sessions court on Saturday sentenced 26-year-old Shree Jogdhankar to life imprisonment for the murder of 19year-old Khar resident Jhanvi Kukreja, holding that he knowingly pushed her from the second floor of a building, an act that carried a clear and fatal risk. Convicting Jogdhankar for murder, sessions judge S R Navander observed that pushing or throwing a person from a height of 15 to 20 feet inevitably carries the possibility of death. “It is common sense, which a prudent person must have. There is no claim that accused No. 1 is not a prudent man. In all probabilities, when he pushed or threw the deceased from the second-floor staircase, the only possibility was death,” the court said. The court, however, acquitted Kukreja’s friend Diya Padalkar, granting her the benefit of doubt. While the prosecution established Padalkar’s presence at the spot, the court held that her complicity in the crime was doubtful, noting that she had only a minor lip injury. “Her injury may also have been caused during the scuffle, but her role in causing the fatal injuries is doubtful,” the court observed. 4Contd on | Mumbai More than 200 dead in Congo’s Rubaya Coltan mine collapse New Delhi emphasises Gaza stability FPJ News Service MUMBAI Ashwin Ahmad NEW DELHI Diplomats say the timing of the India-Arab Foreign Ministers Meeting (IAFMM) is significant given that it comes just after President Donald Trump’s announcement of the Board of Peace (BOP), which will govern affairs in Gaza, and in the shadow of a possible attack by the US president on Iran. Senior diplomats say New Delhi’s meeting of foreign ministers representing 22 Arab nations is meaningless in practical terms because of India’s excellent bilateral relations with them all. However, the meeting conveys several points that New Delhi would like to make to the world, the foremost pertaining to the Board of Peace (BoP). Senior diplomats believe that while New Delhi would like to join the BoP to remain a credible player in the region, it does not wish to be seen as doing so at the behest of the US. It was here that the Arab nations could present a facesaving alternative. By formally inviting India to join the body, New Delhi would be seen as a credible alternative voice respected by the Global South. This endeavor seems to have succeeded. 4Contd on | Nation With West Asia and the Middle East grappling with multiple, overlapping crises, India and the Arab world share a strong interest in reinforcing forces of stability, peace and prosperity, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday. He emphasised that ending the Gaza crisis was a “widely shared priority”. Speaking at the 2nd India– Arab Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in New Delhi, S Jaishankar said the regional and global order is undergoing a profound transformation, driven by shifts in politics, economics, technology and demography. 4Contd on | Nation 4See also | World Agencies CONGO More than 200 people were killed this week after a landslide collapsed several tunnels at the Rubaya coltan mine in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to rebel authorities and local officials. The collapse happened on Wednesday at the Rubaya mines in North Kivu province, which have been under the control of the AFC/M23 rebel group since May 2024. The precise death toll remains unclear, but officials said the number of victims is high and may still rise as bodies remain buried. “More than 200 people were victims of this landslide, including miners, children and market women. Some people were rescued just in time and have serious injuries,” said Lumumba Kambere Muyisa, spokesperson for the rebel-appointed governor of the province. He said about 20 injured people were receiving treatment at health facilities. “We are in the rainy season. The ground is fragile. It was the ground that gave way while the victims were in the hole,” Muyisa added. An adviser to the governor said at least 227 deaths had been confirmed. He spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to brief the media. 4Contd on | Nation Melania the movie: Much ado about nothing e f FPJ News Service MUMBAI m l I AM THE KING There are bad documentaries, there are vanity projects, and then there is Melania — a film so profoundly empty that critics across continents appear to have reached a rare spiritual consensus: this is what nothingness looks like when it costs $40 million. The savaging began early and enthusiastically. The Guardian’s Catherine Shoard dismissed the film as “exhaustingly boring and chillingly vain,” a phrase so precise it deserves engraving on the Bluray that should never be made. She reports learning that Melania Trump “has no friends” and appears to inhabit “an entirely airless existence.” This is not character assassination; it is character autopsy. Cause of death: selfimportance. Her colleague Xan Brooks at The Guardian went further, calling the experience “pure, endless hell,” describing Melania as a “rare unicorn film that doesn’t have a single redeeming quality.” Dispiriting, deadly, unrevealing — three words that feel less like criticism and more like a coroner’s report. What passes for intimacy is an excruciating singalong with director Brett Ratner, where Melania announces her love for Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” First cuts are the deepest: Critics savage trumped up celluloid paean to Melania and “Thriller.” Shoard likened it to “Carpool Karaoke on the highway to hell,” which may be unfair to hell, at least conceptually livelier. Over at Variety, Owen Gleiberman calls the film “so orchestrated and airbrushed and stage-managed that it barely rises to the level of a shameless infomercial,” helpfully suggest- ing an alternative title: “Day of the Living Tradwife.” It is hard to improve on that, except perhaps by adding a content warning. The Hollywood Reporter’s Frank Scheck lands a body blow worthy of satire’s hall of fame: to call Melania a hagiography, he writes, “would be an insult to hagiographies,” noting end credits so lavish in praise “that North Korea would blush.” One imagines Kim Jong Un jotting notes. Nick Hilton in The Independent is almost poetic in his disgust, arguing that calling Melania vapid would insult “the plumes of florid vape smoke that linger around British teenagers.” He describes the film as “a void of pure nothingness” and “a ghastly bit of propaganda,” pausing only to note cameo appearances by Tim Cook, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos—as if capitalism itself wandered on set to nod approvingly. Even critics straining for civility could not hide their bewilderment. London’s Evening Standard wondered aloud whether the film was worth $40 million, concluding politely: “I can’t see it myself.” This may be the most devastating line of all. 4Contd on | Nation