Monday, July 21, 2025 | Vol. 68 No. 247 | 28 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 Statehood is our right; hybrid system is unacceptable: Jammu & Kashmir CM James Anderson says he feels out of place clubbed alongside Tendulkar as part of ATT Cinema Chandra Barot, director of Big B’s iconic film Don, passes away at 86 Edit For all its worth, Aadhaar is just a hyped-up ID document MONSOON SESSION | Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju says impeachment motion will be brought against Justice Varma and that 100 MPs have signed the notice Govt is ready to discuss Op Sindoor in Parliament oorvi Shah is empowering young women from lessprivileged backgrounds to become future leaders in STEM. Turn to the Mumbai page to find out how. SEE CITY P PM MODI TO VISIT UK, MALDIVES Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI: The government will respond in Parliament to US President Donald Trump’s claims on Operation Sindoor during the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament, the all party meeting convened to ensure smooth functioning of both Houses was informed on Sunday. The meeting was also informed that the Centre has also decided to bring an Impeachment motion against former High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma for which over 100 MPs have signed a notice. The meeting, which was chaired by Union Minister and Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha JP Nadda and attended by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, and Ministers of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal and Dr L Murugan, was told by the government representatives that the Centre was prepared to take up discussion on the issues being raised by the Opposition, but within certain limitations. 4Contd on | Nation Scrutinised new I-T Bill to be tabled PTI NEW DELHI FPJ News Service NEW DELHI Prime Minister Narendra Modi will undertake a two-nation visit to the United Kingdom and the Maldives from July 23 to July 26, the Ministry of External Affairs announced on Sunday. During his visit to the UK, Prime Minister Modi is expected to unveil the bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which was announced by both countries on May 6. In the official announcement, the Ministry of External Affairs said, “During the visit, Prime Minister Modi will hold wide ranging discussions with Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the entire gamut of IndiaU.K. bilateral relations. They will also exchange views on issues of regional and global importance.” PM Modi will also meet King Charles III. The trade deal was announced by Prime Minister Modi on May 6, calling it “ambitious and mutually beneficial.” Prior to the announcement on social media, he had a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Starmer. 4Contd on | Nation A report of the parliamentary committee set up to scrutinise the new Income Tax Bill, 2025, which would replace the sixdecade old Income Tax Act, is to be tabled in the LS on Monday. The 31-member Select Committee, chaired by BJP leader Baijayant Panda, was appointed by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to scrutinise The new Income Tax Bill, 2025, which was introduced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 13 in the Lok Sabha. The Committee has made 285 suggestions and at its meeting on July 16 adopted the report on new I-T Bill, 2025, which will now be tabled in the House for further action. The simplified Income Tax Bill, which is half the size of the Indo-Pak WCL match called off Haridev Pushparaj MUMBAI The India Pakistan veterans fixture of the World Championship of Legends, scheduled to be held on Sunday, was cancelled by the organisers literally at the eleventh hour giving in to prevailing sensitivities in India after the Pahalgam attack. The move came after fierce social media backlash triggered by the sensitivities of the April 22 Pahalgam attack. It’s been over three months since the Pahalgam massacre and the subsequent India- Pakistan military conflict, and the cancellation comes even though the government has quietly gone ahead to let Pakistan entry into Indian venues. The Hockey Asia Cup in August, Junior Hockey World Cup in November-December, Junior Shooting World Cup in September and the World Para Athletics Championship in October are some of the major events where the Indian government has given its approval for Pakistani participation. Vinay Madhava Gowda The Karnataka government has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising four senior IPS officers to probe shocking allegations of “secret burials” of hundreds of women, allegedly sexually assaulted and murdered near Dharmasthala -a pilgrimage centre in Dakshina Kannada district. The temple is run by the influential Jain Heggade family, with Rajya Sabha MP Veerendra Heggade currently serving as its administrator. The allegations first surfaced as a social media campaign but quickly escalated after a man, claiming to be a former employee of the temple, submitted a letter to the Dakshina 4Contd on | Nation Shashi Tharoor chooses nation over party Agencies KOCHI Kannada Superintendent of Police (SP) on June 21. In it, he confessed to having buried hundreds of bodies of women, allegedly raped and murdered, at the behest of his manager. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor defended his decision to align with the government on Operation Sindoor at an event in Kochi, saying nation came before the party. When a high school student asked him a question linked to the ongoing unease with his party, Tharoor said, “While I have been steering clear of such political discussions in public, I felt a student deserved a response,” he posted on X, sharing a video of his reply. Referring to criticisms from within his party, Tharoor said, “Politics is, unfortunately or otherwise, in any democracy, it’s about competition. And as a result, when people like me say that we respect our parties, we have certain values and convictions that keep us in our parties, but we need to cooperate with other parties in the interest of national security… sometimes the parties feel that is disloyal to them. And that becomes a big problem.” 4Contd on | Nation 4Contd on | Nation 4Contd on | Nation SIT lens on burials in Dharmasthala BENGALURU 1961 Income Tax Act, seeks to achieve tax certainty by minimising the scope of litigation and fresh interpretation. The new bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha, has a word count of 2.6 lakh, lower than 5.12 lakh in the I-T Act. The number of sections is 536, as against 819 effective sections in the existing law. offgrid Opioids for sex charge on Indian-origin Dr Agencies NEW YORK An Indian-origin doctor from Secaucus was charged with prescribing opioids in exchange for sexual favors, as well as defrauding Medicaid in New Jersey, U.S. Attorney Alina Habba announced. Dr. Ritesh Kalra, 51, was charged in a five-count Complaint with three counts of distributing opioids outside the usual course of professional practice, not for a legitimate medical purpose, and in exchange for sexual favors, and two counts of healthcare fraud, Habba said in a statement. Houston County View reported that Kalra made his initial appearance on Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge André M. Espinosa in Newark federal court and was released on home incarceration and an unsecured $100,000 bond. He is prohibited from practicing medicine and prescribing medication and will be required to shut down his medical practice while the case is pending. “Physicians hold a position of profound responsibility— but as alleged, Dr. Kalra used that position to fuel addiction, exploit vulnerable patients for sex, and defraud New Jersey’s public healthcare program,” added Habba. “By allegedly exchanging prescriptions for sexual favours and billing Medicaid for ghost appointments, he not only violated the law but endangered lives. Our Office will continue to pursue those who turn their medical licenses into tools for personal gain and sexual gratification.” Kalra, an internist in Fair Lawn, allegedly operated a pill mill out of his medical office, where he routinely prescribed high-dose opioids—including oxycodone—and promethazine with codeine to patients without a legitimate medical purpose. Between January 2019 and February 2025, Kalra issued more than 31,000 prescriptions for oxycodone, including days when he wrote upwards of 50 prescriptions. 4Contd on | Nation Eviction order on Tardeo highrise’s top 18 floors Urvi Mahajani MUMBAI In a strong rebuke to what it called “a glaring case of misuse of the legal process to protect illegalities,” the Bombay High Court has directed occupants of the 17th to 34th floors of the 34storey Wellingdon Heights building in Tardeo to vacate their flats within two weeks. The court refused to grant any stay on its order, noting that these upper floors have been illegally occupied since 2011 without an Occupation Certificate (OC) or Fire NOC. “We cannot grant any relief to any litigant if such relief is in the teeth of the provisions of law, more particularly when it concerns occupation of premises that have no OC and endanger human safety,” a bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Arif Doctor said on July 15. The detailed order copy was made available late Saturday night. The building, developed by M/s Satellite Holdings, has an OC only up to the 16th floor. The remaining 18 floors have been occupied for over a decade despite repeated notices from the BMC and the absence of clearance from the fire department. The court was hearing a plea filed by Sunil B. Jhaveri (HUF), a member of the Society. Separate petitions have been filed by the society and some flat purchasers seeking protection and time to regularise the construction. They argued that efforts were being made to bring the flats in line with sanctioned plans. 4Contd on | Nation PIC: VIJAY GOHIL Bombay High court has ordered occupants of 17th to 34th floor of Wellingdon Heights to vacate in 2 weeks Furore over rummy in Maha Assembly Kalpesh Mhamunkar MUMBAI Maharashtra’s Agriculture Minister Manikrao Kokate has once again landed in controversy after a video allegedly showing him playing the online card game 'Rummy' during a live Legislative Council session went viral on social media. The video was posted Eight farmers are dying by suicide every day in Maharashtra. Despite this, ministers are busy playing games in the Assembly instead of addressing farmers' concerns. The government is completely lost, and its priorities are shameful. – Rohit Pawar by NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) MLA Rohit Pawar on platform 'X', sparking widespread criticism and raising serious questions about ministerial conduct in the legislature. In the video, Kokate appears to be playing the mobile game on his phone while the Assembly proceedings were underway. 4Contd on | Nation