FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms Vol. XLI No. 181 | INDORE | SUNDAY | DECEMBER 8, 2024 | Pages 18 ` 4 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. 38281/83 FREE www.freepressjournal.in Sports Shami to play last 2 Tests of Aussie tour P.17 fp Briefs BEIRUT ‘Insurgents at suburbs of Damascus’ Syrian insurgents have reached the suburbs of Damascus as part of a rapidly moving offensive that has seen them take over some of Syria's largest cities across the country, opposition activists and a rebel commander said Saturday. It was the first time that opposition forces reach the outskirts of the Syrian capital since 2018, when Syrian troops recaptured the region adjacent to the capital following a yearslong siege. It came after the Syrian army withdrew from much of southern Syria on Saturday, leaving more areas of the country, including two provincial capitals. The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Bhopal Zonal Office, on Thursday conducted search operations at four places in Sehore and Indore districts in connection with the case related to Manoj Parmar and others under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The search covered the residential premises of key persons, who were the beneficiary of the proceeds of crime or have actively aided or abetted such persons in the bank fraud. During the search, various incriminating documents and details of immovable and movable properties were seized. In the meantime, statements of certain persons were recorded and bank balance of Rs. 3.5 Lakh was freezed. Details of four immovable properties of key persons were also found during the searches. UJJAIN PUNE BHOPAL NASHIK Letter of Intent issued CM Mohan Yadav addressing Regional Industry Conclave at Naramdapuram on Saturday New Possibilities . Above 4k registrations were received for the summit. More than 3k MSME repre- Another act of violence targets Hindu worship in Bangladesh ISKCON-Kolkata, revealed that the attack occurred between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. According to Das, miscreants removed the tin roof at the back of the Rs 6 crore diverted The ED initiated investigation on the basis of an FIR and chargesheet filed by the CBI, Bhopal under various sections of the IPC against the senior branch manager of PNB i.e. Mark Pius Karari and Manoj Parmar. Scrutiny of FIR and chargesheet revealed that funds amounting to Rs 6 crore (approx) were availed as loan under the Pradhan Mantri Employment Generation Program (PMEGP) and Chief Minister Yuva Udhami Yojna (CMYUY) schemes, but were diverted and mis-utilised. During the investigation, bank account analysis revealed that the bank funds were diverted to various proprietorship concerns and firms and were subsequently withdrawn in cash for the purpose of investment in properties. Sources said that when the matter related with Parmar came to fore in 2017, PNB s Rajendra Mohan Nayar lodged a police complaint. At that time, Manoj Parmar was arrested and sent to jail. BJP s spokesperson Narendra Saluja said that industrialist Manoj Parmar is having connection with Congress party. temple and used petrol or octane to ignite the fire. "The deities of Sri Sri Radha Krishna and Sri Sri Mahabhagya Lakshmi Narayan, along with all items inside the temple, were completely destroyed," he said. 4Continued on | P6 E-paper Cinema Awaara Hoon Raj Kapoor’s Untameable... P.16 BHOPAL/NARMADAPURAM Investment proposals worth Rs 31400 crore were received during sixth Regional Investment Summit held in Narmadapuram on Saturday. Investment by various companies will create 40,543 jobs. The government allotted 531 acres of land to different industries. The specialty of the summit is that along with other regions of the state, around 60pc investment proposals have been received alone for Narmadapuram region. Investment proposals have been received in fields including PV Modules, Aluminum Frames, Green Hydrogen Production Plant, Lithium Battery Modules, Solar Panel manufacturing, Textile, new and renewable energy, IT Sector, food processing and others. Interacting with media persons after the summit, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said that his government wants to develop Narmadapuram as a new industrial hub. The tagline of summit was New Sky MUMBAI Readers’ corner A Controversial Pardon! P.8 Rebels closing in on Assad Our Staff Reporter ED searches four places in Sehore, Indore Our Staff Reporter INDORE MP gets proposals exceeding Rs 31K-cr KOLKATA BHOPAL/ASTHA EDITIONS: PRESS RIC NARMADAPURAM | 40,543 jobs will be created in different fields; region being developed as new Industrial Hub Aritra Singha Search covered premises of Manoj Parmar and other accused iii QUALITY @ VALUE WORLD Dhaka ISKCON centre torched In yet another troubling instance of violence against religious minorities in Bangladesh, an ISKCON Namhatta Centre was set ablaze in Dhour village, Dhaka district, early Saturday morning. The incident has left the Hindu community shaken and intensified concerns over their safety. Radharaman Das, Vice President and spokesperson for ESTD-1983 sentatives have participated and of them, many are interest in fields such as new and renewable energy, forest pro- During the summit, Letter of Intent was issued to 98 industrial units. A total of 163 acres of land will be allotted to them. Investment of Rs 910 crore will be done which will create job opportunities for 3900 people. duce, agriculture, food processing and tourism. 4Continued on | P6 Pope Francis's visit to India likely after 2025 PTI THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Union Minister George Kurian on Saturday said the muchawaited visit of Pope Francis to India is likely to happen after 2025, which has been announced as the "Jubilee Year" by the Catholic Church. He noted that India had already invited the Pope officially and Prime Minister Narendra Modi directly ex- tended him the invitation. The visit would be scheduled as per the convenience of Pope Francis, he told Asianet channel. Kurian was part of the delegation which reached Vatican to take part in the ordination of Archbishop George Jacob Koovakad as Cardinal by Pope Francis at a function to be held on Saturday. Ambulance bandit sparks highway havoc MoS Defence gets Rs 50L ransom threat IANS NEW DELHI Union Minister of State (MoS) for Defence, Sanjay Seth on Saturday confirmed that Delhi Police is investigating a threatening message he received demanding a ransom of Rs 50 lakh. The MoS reported that the extortion message was sent to his mobile phone on Friday evening. Subsequently, Seth also informed the DCP about the threat the same evening and met with senior police officials of the Delhi Police to discuss the matter. Seth stated, "I informed the Delhi Police yesterday itself. The DCP and other senior officials have been investigating the matter thoroughly and with full force." The MoS also reached out to Jharkhand DGP Anurag Gupta to file a formal complaint. Seth said, "My responsibility was to report the matter, and I have done so. Inspired by PM Narendra Modi's guidance, I remain focussed on my work, visiting areas and meeting people as usual. The police are doing their job effectively." Agencies NEW DELHI The Supreme Court of India will hear a series of petitions on 12 December challenging the constitutional validity of key provisions in the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991. This Act prohibits altering the character of places of worship as they stood on 15 August 1947 and bars legal claims to reclaim such sites. The case will be heard at 3:30 pm by a Seizing the opportunity, the thief, with a rap sheet longer than the highway, jumped into the driver’s seat and sped off. The stolen ambulance—now doubling as a getaway car— soon became the epicentre of a high-speed chase. With the police alerted, what ensued was a chaotic pursuit straight out of an action comedy. 4Continued on | P6 Ravikiran Deshmukh S Balakrishnan MUMBAI The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Saturday announced it is leaving the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) over a post on `X' by Shiv Sena MLC Milind Narvekar hailing the demolition of the Babri Masjid that the Shiv Sena (UBT) had placed in. The party state unit chief Abu Asim Azmi said he had taken the decision and conveyed it to the party chief, Akhilesh Singh Yadav. The party’s two MLAs Rais Shaikh and Azmi vented their dissatisfaction on "X". They were reacting to Narvekar's post which carried along with it a picture of Kar Sevaks atop the Babri Masjid and a picture of Balasaheb Thackeray as well, along with those of Uddhav, his son Aaditya and Narvekar himself. Rais Shaikh's post decalred: "This is to remind you that the Shiv Sena UBT party enjoyed enormous support from secular votes in the last two elections - Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha.” The Congress is furious with its ally, the Shiv Sena (UBT), since the latter's MLC Milind Narvekar has openly applauded the demolition of Babri masjid. In a post on the social media X (formerly Twitter) Narvekar, who is also a long-term personal assistant to his party chief Uddhav Thackeray, quoted thelate Bal Thackeray as stating that he is proud of those who demolished the masjid. For good measure Narvekar included a picture of the demolition and also photos of himself, Uddhav Thackeray and Aaditya Thackeray. The post was to mark the 32nd anniversary of the demolition which was followed by massive communal riots in Mumbai and other parts of the country. The post has exposed a major faultline in the MVA. It won't be surprising if the Congress decides to pull out of the MVA. 4Continued on | P6 4Continued on | P6 special bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justices P.V. Sanjay Kumar and K.V. Vishwanathan. The petitioners, including BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, Maharaja Kumari Krishna Priya (a member of the Kashi royal family), former MP Chintamani Malviya, retired army officer Anil Kabotra, religious leaders Swami Jeetendranand Saraswati and Devkinandan Thakur Ji, and advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, argue that the Act infringes on Our Staff Reporter The Special Investigation Team of the police claimed to have cracked a case, wherein Fixed Deposit (FD) of Rs 10 crore of the Madhya Pradesh Seed Certification Agency was withdrawn by the accused through concocted documents. A total of six accused have been arrested in the case and two more are yet to be nabbed. The police said that peon of the Madhya Pradesh Seed Certification Agency, Brijendra Das Namdev, is the main accused and he was arrested from Rewa. Namdev, in connivance with department’s class 3 employee Deepak Panthi and others, including agent Varun Kumar, Shailendra Pradhan alias Acharya Baba and branch manager of Central Bank of India (Branch Imami Gate) Noyal Singh, deposited two FDs of the Seed Certification Agency, each worth Rs 5 crore. Later, with the help of the bank manager, both the FDs were withdrawn and two Demand Drafts were prepared. In the meantime, agent Varun Kumar’s accomplice and senior sales manager of Yash Bank (MP Nagar) Dhananjay Giri helped Namdev in opening an account in which Rs 10 crore were transferred. Giri had shown Namdev as Seed Certification Officer. 4Continued on | P6 Rajnath's Russia visit Navy's new frigate to be commissioned IANS NEW DELHI The Indian Navy will commission its multi-role stealth-guided missile frigate INS Tushil in Russia's Kaliningrad on December 9. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be the chief guest of the event, to be attended by high-ranking Indian and Russian government officials. Rajnath Singh is set to leave for a three-day visit to Russia, starting December 8. On December 9, the Defence Minister will witness the commissioning of the Navy's latest missile frigate 'INS Tushil'. He will be accompanied by Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi in the commissioning ceremony. INS Tushil, an upgraded Krivak III class frigate under Project 1135.6, will be the seventh ship in the series. Six are already in service - three Talwar class ships, built at Baltiysky shipyard, St. Petersburg and three follow-on Teg class ships, built at Yantar shipyard, Kaliningrad. Upon commissioning, INS Tushil will join the 'Sword Arm' of the Navy under the Western Naval Command and will rank amongst the most tech- Congress furious MUMBAI Cops crack Rs 10cr FD embezzlement case FP News Service In a plotline that could rival any Bollywood thriller, a seasoned thief in Telangana upgraded his act by hijacking an ambulance and turning the Hyderabad Vijayawada Highway into his personal Fast & Furious set piece. The wild, siren-blaring escapade spanned over 150 kilometres, leaving a trail of chaos, baffled toll attendants, and exhausted cops. The drama kicked off in Hayathnagar on the outskirts of Hyderabad on Saturday. An ambulance driver, dutifully admitting a patient to the hospital, left his vehicle unattended. SP quits alliance SC to examine pleas on Places of Worship Act BHOPAL HYDERABAD Narvekar splits MVA wide open nologically advanced frigates in the world. Apart from the commissioning of INS Tushil, a slew of programmes were scheduled for the Defence Minister's Russia visit. Rajnath Singh and his Russian counterpart An- drey Belousov will co-chair the 21st meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military and Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGCM&MTC) in Moscow on December 10. The two leaders will review the multi-faceted relations between the two nations in defence, including military-to-military and industrial cooperation. They will also exchange views on regional and global issues of mutual interest. the rights of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs. They contend that the law prevents these communities from reclaiming places of worship and pilgrimage destroyed by invaders and violates their fundamental rights under Articles 25 and 26 of the Indian Constitution. These articles guarantee the freedom to practise, profess, and propagate religion and the right to manage religious affairs. 4Continued on | P6 US denies BJP allegations of anti-India agenda PTI NEW DELHI The US on Saturday rejected the BJP's allegations that organisations funded by the US State Department and elements in the American "deep state" were behind attempts to destabilise India through targeted attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and business tycoon Gautam Adani. A spokesperson at the US embassy described the allegations as "disappointing" and asserted that the US government has been a champion of media freedom around the world. The BJP alleged on Thursday that the US deep state colluded with the media portal OCCRP (Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project) and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to "damage" India's image. The BJP had cited Gandhi's use of reports by OCCRP to attack the Adani Group and to accuse it of having closeness with the government. "It's disappointing that the ruling party in India would make these kinds of accusations," the US embassy spokesperson said. The OCCRP, headquartered in Amsterdam, is a media platform that largely focuses on stories relating to crime and corruption.