Tuesday, July 22, 2025 | Vol. 68 No. 248 | 34 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 V S Achuthanandan, one of India’s tallest communist leaders, passes away at the age of 101 VERDICT AFTER 19 YEARS | 2006 Mumbai train blasts that killed 189, injured over 800 FPJ HC acquits 12 persons in 7/11 blasts case 97ANNIVERSARY TH ASPIRING INDIA Urvi Mahajani MUMBAI Today's edition of The Free Press Journal includes a 4-page Pune anniversary supplement. Stormy start to Monsoon Session Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI The Monsoon Session of Parliament began on a tense note Monday, as Opposition parties forced multiple adjournments in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, demanding immediate discussions on the Pahalgam terror attack, Operation Sindoor, and the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar. They also raised questions over U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments on ceasefire talks related to the operation. Despite assurances from Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh that the government was ready for discussions, Opposition MPs disrupted proceedings, eventually walking out of the Rajya Sabha when their request for a debate on Bihar’s electoral roll revision was denied by the Chair. In the Lok Sabha, the House was adjourned four times. The first disruption occurred soon after Speaker Om Birla initiated Question Hour, following the reading of obituary references for those killed in the Pahalgam attack. Opposition MPs demanded a response from PM Narendra Modi regarding Operation Sindoor and Trump’s remarks about mediating between India and Pakistan. 4Contd on | nation Cinema Hansal Mehta strongly reacts to MAMI cancellation India will host this year’s chess World Cup from October 30 to November 27 In a severe setback for the Maharashtra government, the Bombay High Court on Monday acquitted 12 persons from the charges of carrying out bomb blasts in Mumbai trains in 2006 in which 189 people died and over 800 were injured, observing that the prosecution “utterly failed” to prove the case and that it was ”hard to believe they committed the crime”.  A special bench of Justices Anil Kilor and Shyam Chandak quashed and set aside the 2015 order of the special MCOCA court which sentenced five persons to death and seven to life in prison. One of the accused died in prison in 2022 due to COVID pending appeal. The judges said that the benefit of acquittal is extended to the deceased person as well.  The court also said the evidence relied on by the prosecution was not conclusive to convict the accused persons Edit The Grand Old Party needs cadre, not crutches, in Bihar Dhankhar quits citing health reasons Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI ■ VV Giri resigned as Vice President on July 20, 1969, to contest the presidential election after the sudden death of President Zakir Husain in May. ■ R Venkataraman resigned as Vice President in July 1987 after he was elected President when Giani Zail Singh’s term ended in July. Digital payment: UPI pips Visa FPJ News Service MUMBAI ■ Prosecution ‘utterly failed’ tenced,” the bench said  in a detailed 671-page judgment.  The court has directed their release forthwith, if not required  in any other case.  On July 11, 2006, RDX blasts at seven locations on the suburban rail network of Mumbai in a span of 11 minutes had claimed 189 lives and injured 827 commuters.  India’s Unified Payment Interface (UPI) has emerged as the global leader in fast digital transactions, with 18.39 billion transactions processing Rs 24.03 lakh crore in the month of June 2025. The transaction percentage rose 32% year-onyear compared to the same month last year at 13.88 billion, an IMF report said. The monthly transaction amounts to 50% of global digital payments, piping the likes of Visa, handling over 640 million daily transactions. Visa’s daily transaction is around 639 million. 4Contd on | nation 4Contd on | nation ■ Confessions result of torture ■ Even type of bomb used not clear and that the witness statements and alleged recoveries made from the accused have “no evidentiary value”.  “The prosecution has utterly failed to establish the offence beyond reasonable doubt against the accused on each count ... it is unsafe to reach the satisfaction that the appellants/accused have committed the offences for which they have been convicted and sen- AI flight slips off runway in Mumbai Dhairya Gajara 9 notices in 6 months MUMBAI A massive tragedy was averted at Mumbai Airport on Monday amid heavy rain as an Air India flight veered off the runway while landing which caused significant damage to the aircraft as well as the runway. While operations were shifted to the airport’s secondary runway to carry out repairs on the damaged part, no injuries were reported to the people on board. ine show cause notices were issued to Air India in connection with five identified safety violations in the last six months and enforcement action has been completed with respect to one violation, the civil aviation ministry informed the Rajya Sabha on Monday. N On the rainy morning of Monday, Air India flight AI2744 from Cochin made a hard landing at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) as it overshot the runway. According to official informa- tion, the flight landed at 9.27am but experienced a runway excursion, in which it suffered substantial damage on its wings, tyres and the engine’s outer cover. 4Contd on | nation ‘ED crossing all limits, SC dismisses ED plea in MUDA case guidelines required’ FPJ News Service Agencies NEW DELHI The Supreme Court on Monday expressed serious concern over the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoning Senior Advocates Arvind Datar and Pratap Venugopal for legal opinions given in the course of their professional duties. Terming the move a breach of lawyer-client privilege, the top court said it was “shocked” and indicated it would frame guidelines to prevent such actions in the future. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai and Justice K. Vinod Chandran was hearing a suo motu case that arose after media reports revealed the ED’s summons to the two senior lawyers. “How can lawyers be summoned like this? This is privileged communication,” the CJI remarked, adding, “We were shocked. I read about it on Bar & Bench and Live Law.” The summons had been issued during the ED’s probe into the grant of over 22.7 million Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOPs) worth more than ₹250 crore by Care Health Insurance to former Religare Enterprises Chairperson Rashmi Saluja. While Datar had given a legal opinion in favour of the ESOP issuance, Venugopal was the Advocate-on-Record. Following outrage from legal associations across the country, the ED withdrew the summons. The agency then issued a circu- NEW DELHI/BENGALURU The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the ED’s plea challenging the Karnataka HC’s decision to quash the summons issued to Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah’s SUPREME COURT BLASTS ED wife, B.M. Parvathi, in connection with lar mandating that no advocate the Mysuru Urban Develmay be summoned for legal adopment Authority (MUDA) vice without prior approval case. A bench comprising from the ED Director, and only Chief Justice B.R. Gavai and under exceptions provided in Justice K. Vinod Chandran Section 132 of the Bharatiya Sakquestioned the role of the ED shya Adhiniyam. in politically sensitive matters, “Let political battles be fought 4Contd on | nation before the electorate. Why are “Let political battles be fought before the electorate. Why are you being used?” you being used?” Expressing displeasure with ED’s conduct, it cautioned against its use for political purposes. Addressing Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, who appeared for the ED, the CJI said, “Please don’t compel us to open our mouths.” 4Contd on | nation offgrid Trump posts fake video of Obama arrest Agencies WASHINGTON Donald Trump has stirred fresh controversy after posting a bizarre AI-generated video of former president Barack Obama being arrested and jailed. The clip, shared on Trump’s Truth Social platform on Sunday, appears to be a response to explosive claims made by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who recently accused the Obama administration of orchestrating a “years-long coup” against Trump. In the AI video, Obama is seen declaring at a rally that “no one is above the law” before being handcuffed by law enforcement during a fabricated sit-down in the Oval Office with a grinning Trump. The clip uses real footage from November 2016, when the two met at the White House as Trump prepared to take office. The video then shows Obama being led away and subsequently seen wearing an orange jumpsuit in a federal prison, all of which is soundtracked by The Village People’s 1970s disco anthem “YMCA,” which has become the Republican’s personal theme tune. A still from the video shows Obama in a prison cell, while another captures the handshake between Trump and Obama in the Oval Office—the original footage that forms the basis of the AI creation. Trump’s post has intensified political tensions, as critics accuse him of attempting to distract people from the ongoing scrutiny over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The president’s social media post came shortly after Gabbard appeared on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures with host Maria Bartiromo. In the interview, Gabbard claimed Obama and his top intelligence officials had worked to “subvert the will of the American people” and orchestrated a coup to prevent Trump from governing. 4Contd on | nation Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday resigned from the position “to prioritise health care and abide by medical advice”. The development came hours after he chaired the Rajya Sabha as its Chairman on the first day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament. Incidentally, during the Budget Session of Parliament in March this year, Dhankhar was admitted to the cardiac department of AIIMS Delhi for three days after he had complained of chest pain and uneasiness. Vice President resigns hours after he chaired the Rajya Sabha on the first day of the Monsoon Session In his resignation letter to President Droupadi Murmu, Dhankhar wrote that he desires to resign “effective immediately” in accordance with Article 67(a) of the Constitution. In the letter, the Vice-President also expressed his gratitude to the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers for their “cooperation and support” and said he “learned much during his time in office”. Dhankar’s resignation does not appear to be a pre-planned decision because his office had only on Monday afternoon announced that he would be going on a “one- day visit to Jaipur on July 23, 2025” and that “during his visit, the Vice-President will interact with the newly elected committee members of Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI) Rajasthan at Rambagh Palace, Jaipur.” 4Contd on | nation