FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms FREE PRESS Vol. XLII No. 5 | INDORE | FRIDAY | JUNE 13, 2025 | Pages 14 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. 38281/83 www.freepressjournal.in Sports Cdr Gauri Mishra pedals to glory at World Masters Games 2025 P.12 ESTD-1983 iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: INDORE UJJAIN MONEY PUNE BHOPAL NASHIK MUMBAI E-paper Edit When love becomes a lie P.6 ‘Digital infra devpt game-changer’ Cinema ‘It’s your choice of focusing... P.14 Dreamliner plunges after takeoff Slams into medical hostel 241 of 242 aboard feared dead Toll 265 Many medicos perish PROBE ASSURED Agencies AHMEDABAD Melvyn Thomas AHMEDABAD At least 265 people were killed on Thursday when an Ahmedabad-London Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner (AI171) plane carrying 242 passengers and crew crashed into the BJ Medical College UG hostel mess in Meghani Nagar almost immediately after takeoff. It also killed an undetermined number of people in the college hostel just off the perimeter of the airfield. It is possibly the worst air tragedies and triggered an immediate and frantic emergency response. There was no official count of those killed even hours after the crash which turned the plane, carrying a full load of fuel for its long-haul flight, into a ball of fire, as it exploded when it crashed. Pieces of the aircraft NEW DELHI Gender gap: India 131 of 148 India has ranked 131 out of 148 countries in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2025, slipping two places from its position last year. With a parity score of just 64.1 per cent, India is among the lowestranked countries in South Asia, according to the report released on Thursday. body and fuselage and tyres were strewn all over the area when fire services reached. The aircraft issued a Mayday call, a signal that the aircraft was in distress, immediately after take off at 1.38 pm and thereafter there was no communication. It had managed to climb barely 600 feet whenit began losing altitude. At that height the Boeing which was eleven years old, was visible till it dropped . It quickly lost altitude, skimmed into the trees outside the airport and crashed into the building where junior doctors and nurses were partaking lunch in the mess. Thick black smoke billowed out and was visible for miles as people rushed to the spot hearing the explosion. It was just a couple of minutes after take-off. 4Continued on | P8 Scenes of chaos as Ex-CM Rupani was in the plane plane struck hostel Agencies FP News Service AHMEDABAD AHMEDABAD Former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani was believed to be on board the Londonbound Air India plane that crashed near the Ahmedabad airport soon after take-off on Thursday, a BJP leader said. "Vijay Rupani was going to London by the Air India flight," said senior state BJP leader Bhupendrasinh Chudasama. Ruani, a member of the BJP, served as the 16th Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2016 to 2021 for two terms. He was a member of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly, representing Rajkot West. "I am going to the city civil hospital to inquire about him," Chudasama told reporters. A fellow passenger apparently took a picture of Rupani aboard the ill fated flight AI 171, shortly before take off and shared it. He is the second person who was a CM of Gujarat to have died in a plane crash. On September 19, 1965, Balwant Rai Mehta died when the aircraft he was flying in took fire from Pakistan as it was flying over the Rann of Kutch at the height of war. Mehta was going to Mithapur for a routine visit. With him were his wife Sarojben, aides, a journalist, and two crew members. The aircraft was flying near the Rann of Kutch, close to the international border, when it was mistakenly identified by Pakistani radar as a potential threat. When Flight AI171 hit the roof of BJ Hospital's medical intern building, its debris flew in all directions, some landing in the civil hospital's canteen area directly affecting young medical professionals and hospital staff. Videos circulating online show a chilling scene: a large section of the plane, including a wheel, resting precariously on the roof of the intern doctors’ hostel at BJ Medical College. According to a doctor present at the Civil Hospital, the hospital's canteen area was also struck. It's estimated that 30 to 50 students and staff were in the US BEGINS EVACUATING STAFF FROM WEST ASIA AP WASHINGTON The United States is drawing down the presence of staffers who are not deemed essential to operations in the Middle East and their loved ones due to the potential for regional unrest, the State Department and military said on Wednesday. The State Department said it has ordered the departure of all nonessential personnel from the US Embassy in Baghdad based on its latest review and a commitment "to keeping Americans safe, both at home and abroad." The embassy already had been on limited staffing, and the order will not affect a large number of personnel. Defense Secretary Pete Heg- As talks hit an impasse, Washington begins to move non-essential staff out of the region and IAEA finds Iran in non-compliance seth "has authorised the voluntary departure of military dependents from locations" across the region, US Central Command said in a statement. The command "is monitoring the developing tension in the Middle East." Speaking at the Kennedy Center in Washington on Wednesday evening, President Donald Trump said, "They are being moved out, because it could be a dangerous place, and we'll see what happens. We've given notice to move out, and we'll see what happens." Tensions in the region have been rising in recent days as talks between the US and Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear programme appear to have hit an impasse. Trump, who has previously said Israel or the US could carry out airstrikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities if negotiations failed, gave a lessthan-optimistic view about reaching a deal with Iran, telling the New York Post's "Pod Force One" podcast that he was "getting more and more less confident about" a deal. 4Continued on | P8 A vicinity at the time, with local reports confirming at least 30 students sustained injuries from the impact. 4Continued on | P8 Retail inflation falls to 6-yr low of 2.82% PTI NEW DELHI Retail inflation dipped to an over six-year low of 2.82 per cent in May due to subdued food prices, remaining below the RBI's median target of 4 per cent for the fourth consecutive month, according to government data released on Thursday. Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based retail inflation was 3.16 per cent in April and 4.8 per cent in May 2024. The previous low was in February 2019 at 2.57 per cent. On easing inflation, the Reserve Bank effected a jumbo rate cut of 50 basis points last week, taking the total to 100 bps since February. SEE MONEY offgrid Ayodhya to honour Ram temple movement icons Biswajeet Banerjee AYODHYA In a move that seeks to enshrine the memory of the heroes of the Ram Mandir movement, the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has decided to name several major buildings within the Ram temple complex after prominent leaders who played pivotal roles in the decades-long struggle. This initiative is aimed at not only paying tribute to these figures but also inspiring future generations with their stories of sacrifice and determination. The decision was taken during a Trust meeting where trustees deliberated on the naming of an auditorium, service centers, and other key buildings. They unanimously agreed that the structures within the complex should reflect the spirit and legacy of the movement. Trust has decided to name major buildings within Ram temple complex after leaders who played pivotal roles in struggle The temple complex will also have four grand entrance gates, which had already been designated to be named after revered Jagadgurus. Among the new buildings, a 500-seat auditorium under construction on the southern side of the Ram Janmbhoomi complex will be named after Ashok Singhal, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader who played a strategic and inspirational role in mobilizing support for the temple movement. The auditorium is scheduled to be completed by April 2026. The main entrance to the pilgrim facility center will The Lucky Survivor bear the name of Baba Abhiram Das, who is credited with placing the idol of Ram Lalla inside the disputed structure on the night of December 22–23, 1949. The pilgrim facility center itself will be named after Mahant Avaidyanath, a central figure in the temple movement and the spiritual guru of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. 4Continued on | P8 hmedabad police has said there was at least one survivor. According to reports, the sole survivor of the crash was 40-year-old V i s h w a s h Kumar Ramesh, a British-Indian, who lives in London and was in Ahmedabad visiting family. He said he had lived in London for 20 years and had travelled to India with his brother who was also on the plane. “30 seconds after take off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. DID SEAT SWAP SHIELD HIM? News18 has found Ramesh Viswash Kumar is marked against seat 11J, though his boarding pass says 11A. The question is, did a last-minute seat change lead to his miraculous escape? Details surrounding Ramesh’s survival are still emerging and are scarce. Initial police statements confirmed Ramesh was found in seat 11A 4Continued on | P8 of the aircraft. Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu, who visited the crash site, assured that a fair and thorough investigation would be carried out to uncover the cause behind the tragic incident. "We are going to do a fair & thorough investigation, and probe why this incident happened. We still have to find out the numbers. We will go to the depths of why this incident happened," Naidu told the media. He denied to give details of casualties in the incident as rescue operations are still underway. A high-level team from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), including the Director General and Director of Investigation, is enroute to Ahmedabad to begin a detailed inquiry into Thursday's fatal crash of Air India flight AI-171, an official said. The AAIB, which functions under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, is the national authority tasked with probing civil aviation accidents and serious incidents. The bureau's man- SEE NATION AFTER RAJA’S MURDER Burqa-clad Sonam reached Indore & hid for 14 days thought she’d escape suspicion entirely.” The conspirators hoped the investigation would drag for months. But Meghalaya Police stayed one step ahead—and unravelled the script before it played out. Our Staff Reporter INDORE In a chilling twist to the Raja Raghuvanshi murder case, Meghalaya police revealed on Thursday that his wife and prime accused Sonam Raghuvanshi lived undetected in Indore for 14 days—watching the investigation unfold from the shadows. After the murder on May 23, Sonam donned burqa provided by Vishal Chauhan, sent by Raj from Indore, and vanished from Shillong in a hired taxi. Her escape route was serpentine: first to Guwahati, then a bus to Patna via Siliguri. From Patna, she reached Bihar’s Ara district before taking a train to Lucknow. Finally, she arrived in Indore by bus on May 26—three days after the crime. The most chilling detail: Sonam was in Indore on June 2, when Raja’s body was discovered in a deep gorge in Meghalaya’s Sohra. She remained here silently until June 8, monitoring developments from a rented flat. Following the reports on the tourist guide’s revelation about the couple were accompanied by the three, Raj asked Sonam to leave Indore. Sources said it was her lover and co-accused Raj Kushwaha Sonam's victim act cut short who made all arrangements— food, groceries worth Rs 5,000 delivered to her door, a hideout flat, and steady communication. While the city reeled in shock, Sonam lay low. Sonam was to pose as abducted victim In a darkly premeditated twist, the murder accused had hatched a plan to have Sonam Raghuvanshi reappear in Siliguri—dressed in black, disheveled, and claiming she had been abducted and trafficked to Bangladesh. It was meant to be a masterstroke of misdirection. “They were banking on Raja’s body decomposing over time,” said East Khasi Hills SP Vivek Syiem. “With Sonam emerging days later as a supposed trafficking victim, they Sonam Raghuvanshi was en route to Siliguri to pose as an abduction victim when her scripted escape went awry. On June 8, Raj arranged a vehicle from Indore to Ghazipur, where she would eventually “resurface” with a false tale of abduction. But fate flipped the script. That same night, Meghalaya and UP Police arrested Akash Rajput, one of the co-accused. Raj panicked. Fearing the web collapsing, he called Sonam and told her to inform her family she’d “escaped.” She called her brother Govind—and surrendered to Ghazipur police. “I was forced to marry Raja” “I was forced to marry Raja,” Sonam allegedly confessed during interrogation, shedding light on what she claimed led her to betray and eliminate her husband. See page 2 4Continued on | P8