FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms FREE PRESS Vol. XLII No. 55 | INDORE | SUNDAY | AUGUST 3, 2025 | Pages 16 ` 4 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. 38281/83 www.freepressjournal.in Sports queen meets queen P.16 ESTD-1983 iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: INDORE WORLD UJJAIN PUNE BHOPAL NASHIK Cinema B’wood’s real-life friendship... P.14 MODI BETS ON SWADESHI AMID GLOBAL TURMOIL Biswajeet Banerjee Those who strike at India will not be spared — even if they hide in Pataal Lok. My heart bled for the martyrs of Pahalgam. But as I had vowed to avenge the sindoor of our daughters, the blessings of Mahadev helped fulfil that promise – Narendra Modi, PM In a sharp retort to U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent remark labelling India a “dead economy,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday declared that India was on course to becoming the world’s thirdlargest economy. Addressing a public rally in his parliamentary constituency of Varanasi on Saturday, Modi urged Indians to adopt the spirit of "swadeshi" and boost the ‘Vocal for Local’ campaign amid growing global instability. “In these uncertain global times, every country is looking out for itself. India must remain equally vigilant,” Modi said, referencing the tariff hikes by the U.S. that now impose a 25% duty on Indian exports. “We must stand by our own. Every item in your homes must be made in India.” The Prime Minister’s push for indigenous goods comes against the backdrop of new American sanctions and rising economic protectionism. “Despite the global turbulence, India is rising. fp The world’s third-largest economy—that’s our destination, and we are not far,” Modi asserted, calling for national unity and consumer consciousness. Reaffirming his government’s development goals, Modi cited the Jan Dhan Yojana as a game-changer, noting that over 55 crore Indians had gained access to the banking system over the past decade. “This is the new India—empowered and inclusive,” he said. In a major outreach to rural voters, Modi released the 20th instalment of the PM-KISAN scheme, transferring ₹21,000 crore directly into the accounts of 9.7 crore farmers. “When SRINAGAR Three terrorists were killed in a gunfight between the security forces and the terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam district. The official said that after intelligence inputs about the presence of terrorists in the Akhal forest area of Kulgam district, joint forces, including the Army, the Central Reserve Police Force and Jammu and Kashmir Police, started a Cordon and Search Operation (CASO) on Friday. DURG Two Kerala nuns get bail Two nuns from Kerala and another person, accused of human trafficking and forced conversion, were released from Durg Central Jail in Chhattisgarh on Saturday after a court granted them bail holding that the case was based on "mere suspicion". Leaders of the Congress and ruling LDF in Kerala welcomed the news, and accused the BJP of ignoring the atrocities against minorities. NEW DELHI Court issues notice to Vadra A Delhi court on Saturday issued a notice to businessman Robert Vadra, husband of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, in connection with the Shikohpur land deal case. The Rouse Avenue Court took cognisance of the charge sheet filed by the ED in themoney laundering case and issued notices to a total of 11 individuals, including Vadra. No pause on Russian oil imports: Govt sources IANS NEW DELHI After US President Donald Trump claimed that India has stopped purchasing Russian oil, government sources on Saturday clarified there is no such pause on the oil imports from Russia. According to government sources, "India's energy purchases are driven by national interests and market forces. We do not have any reports of Indian oil firms halting Russian imports". There was, however, no official statement from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Trump's statement. "I understand that India is no longer going to be buying oil from Russia. That's what I heard, I don't know if that's right or not. That is a good step. We will see what happens," Trump told reporters in Washington, DC. Trump has threatened 100 per cent tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil unless Moscow reaches a major peace deal with Ukraine. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Friday that "You are aware of our broad approach to energy sourcing requirements, that we look at what is available in the market and the prevailing global situation. We are not aware of any specifics". 4Continued on | P8 I understand India no longer is going to be buying oil from Russia. That’s what I heard. I don’t know if that’s right or not, but that’s a good step. 4Continued on | P8 Urvi Mahajani MUMBAI Inquiries on to verify Tejashwi’s second voter card: EC sources PTI NEW DELHI The Election Commission on Saturday dubbed as "baseless" claims of RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav that his name was missing from the draft electoral rolls of Bihar as poll body sources said inquiries were on to understand the "reality" behind the second voter card. To prove that his name was not on the draft rolls, Yadav had entered a voter identity card number, which showed no records. While asserting that his name figures in the draft at serial number 416, officials said even if he still had any grievance, he should have followed the legal procedure laid down. Meanwhile, the EC sources said that the RJD leader used the electoral roll with EPIC no. RAB0456228 for filling his nomination papers on affidavit in 2020. "He was having this voter ID card number even in the electoral roll in 2015. His name with this voter card number exists in the draft electoral rolls too," an official pointed out. The other voter card with the number -- RAB2916120 -has been found to be nonexistent, and records from the last more than 10 years have been checked, the sources said. In the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, apart from Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit—who alleged they were tortured by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS)—certain prosecution witnesses (PWs) also claimed they were coerced into naming prominent right-wing leaders, including Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath. The special NIA court, in a detailed 1,036-page judgment released on Friday, cast serious doubts over the credibility of several witness statements recorded by the ATS. The court observed that some of these statements were extracted through coercion, rendering them inadmissible. Donald Trump They [ATS officers] were telling me to take the names of Yogi, Aseemanand, Indresh Kumar, Devdhar, Pragya, and Kakaji in his statement – Milind Joshirao, Key witness Special NIA Judge A.K. Lahoti, while acquitting all seven accused on Thursday, held that the prosecution failed to produce cogent and reliable evidence to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. One key witness, Milind Joshirao, told the court that the ATS had treated him like an accused while questioning him in October 2008. 4Continued on | P8 SRINAGAR: Authorities have suspended this year's annual Amarnath Yatra, just a week before its scheduled conclusion, due to the need for maintenance on the tracks damaged by recent heavy rainfall, officials said on Saturday. The yatra, which began on July 3, was scheduled to conclude on August 9. SC expresses unhappiness at slow progress of HSRP work in MP Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL Facilities through Vahan Portal will be available if a ve- Anurag Jain is retiring this month Out of six, four ex-chief secys get extension in past few years Nitendra Sharma Out of six former chief secretaries in the state, four were given an extension in past few years. They were: R Parshuram, BP Singh, Iqbal Singh Bains and Veera Rana. Anthony de Sa was, however, not given any extension. S R Mohanty and M Gopal Reddy, who were the chief secretaries during the Congress rule, had been removed before they completed their tenure. Chief Secretary Anurag Jain is retiring on August 31, and the state bureaucracy is abuzz with discussions over the extension of the tenure of his service. The Central Government recently extended the tenure of services of the chief secre- PTI NEW DELHI The Enforcement Directorate has arrested the managing director of an Odisha-based company that allegedly ran a "fake" bank guarantee issuance racket for business groups, including providing an alleged Rs 68 crore assurance for a Reliance Group company, official sources on Saturday said. The federal probe agency had launched searches in this money laundering case against a company named Biswal Tradelink located in Bhubaneswar on Friday. Biswal Tradelink Managing Director Partha Sarathi Biswal was taken into custody from Bhubaneswar on Friday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said. A court has sent him to the Enforcement Directorate's custody till August 6, they said. taries of Haryana and Chhattisgarh. Nevertheless, the chief secretary of UP was not given an extension of service. A decision has to be taken on the extension of the chief secretaries of MP, Maharashtra, and Bihar. Chief Secretary of Haryana Anurag Rastogi, Significantly advancing India’s future human space exploration, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched the country’s first analogue mission in Ladakh. The analogue station -the Human Outer Planet Exploration (HOPE) station -- formally inaugurated by Dr. V. Narayanan, Chairman, ISRO, has isolated aerospace engineer Rahul Mogalapalli and astrobiologist Yaman Akot. “This analogue mission is more than a simulation; rather, it is a rehearsal for the future,” said Narayanan during the inauguration. The duo will spend the next 10 days at the ana- logue site in Ladakh’s Tso Kar. It will test their physical and psychological en- Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI Congress leader Rahul Gandhi stirred a fresh political row on Saturday by alleging that former Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had once threatened him for opposing the controversial farm laws — a claim promptly rubbished by both the BJP and Jaitley’s son, Rohan, who reminded Gandhi that Jaitley had passed away in 2019, a year before the laws were even introduced. Speaking at the Congress Annual Legal Conclave at Vigyan Bhawan, Gandhi said, “I remember when I was fighting against the farm laws, Arun Jaitley ji was sent to threaten me. He told me, ‘If you continue opposing the government, we will have to act against you.’” Gandhi added that he retorted, “I don’t think you know who you are talking to.” However, the claim was Dead don’t threaten: Son According to Rohan, Arun Jaitley’s son, the farm laws were introduced in 2020, 13 months after Arun Jaitley's death in August 2019, making it impossible for his father to have been involved in any discussions about the laws. quickly met with incredulity and outrage. Rohan Jaitley, president of the Delhi and District Cricket Association, lashed out at Gandhi, calling the statement “a blatant lie.” He stated, “My father passed away in August 2019. 4Continued on | P8 HELMET RULE RAGE Both accused arrested Our Staff Reporter INDORE Panic gripped Shukla Petrol Pump on Chhota Bangarda Road after two miscreants threatened a staff member with a knife after being refused petrol for not wearing a helmet on Friday evening. Not only did he intimidate the employee but one of them also who retired on June 30, was given a one-year extension on June 30. On the other hand, Chief Secretary of Chhattisgarh Amitabh Jain, who also retired on June 30, was given an extension of three months. 4Continued on | P8 hicle has the high security registration plate (HSRP). The transport department has directed the regional transport officer to launch a drive for three months for HSRP. In the absence of HSRP, duplicate registration papers, change of address in RC Book, change of ownership, WhatsApp bans over 98L accounts MUMBAI: WhatsApp banned more than 98 lakh accounts in India during June, as part of its efforts to curb abuse and harmful activity on the platform, according to WhatsApp’s latest India Monthly Report. Of these, nearly 19.79 lakh accounts were banned proactively, before any user complaints were received, the report stated.In addition to banning accounts, WhatsApp also acted on grievances received from users in India.During the month, the platform received 23,596 complaints through its grievance mechanisms, out of which action was taken against 1,001 accounts. ISRO launches analogue mission in Ladakh IANS Gandhi claims threat over farm laws; BJP and Jaitley’s son call it a lie Youths pull out knife, throw matchstick at petrol pump HOPE NEW DELHI Rahul’s Jaitley remark backfires threw a lit matchstick at the pump in an attempt to set it on fire. However, the petrol pump staff acted swiftly and extinguished the lighted matchstick quickly. The terrifying incident was caught on CCTV cameras. Both the accused have been arrested. The incident occurred around 7 pm on Friday. The district collector's helmet mandate at fuel stations was enforced in the morning. 4Continued on | P8 HSRP must for Vahan Portal facilities Clock ticks for Chief Secy as bureaucracy holds its breath BHOPAL ED makes first arrest in Anil Ambani-linked loan fraud probe 4Continued on | P8 ATS forced witnesses to Amarnath Yatra name Yogi: NIA Court suspended Briefs 3 terrorists killed in J&K this money is transferred from Kashi, it becomes prasad for our annadatas,” he said. He also highlighted the government's commitment to women's empowerment, promising to create three crore “Lakhpati Didis”— women earning over ₹1 lakh annually—through self-help groups. “This alone will make the Samajwadi Party’s cycle wobble,” he joked. Inaugurating infrastructure projects, Modi launched widened roads and a new railway over bridge in Hardattpur to improve connectivity in eastern Uttar Pradesh. E-paper Nation When a major workforce... P.7 Trump: Take control of Fed Reserve from Powell VOCAL FOR LOCAL | India is on path to becoming world’s third-largest economy and must remain alert to its own economic priorities, says PM VARANASI MUMBAI durance in interplanetary conditions. “The mission is sched- uled to be conducted from 1st to 10th August 2025 at Tso Kar, Ladakh (elevation: 4,530 metres),” ISRO shared in a post on the social media platform X. The mission comes as India plans to launch astronauts to space by 2027 and to the Moon by the year 2040 as its space programme soars. to connect and shift hypothecation, issuance of permit, depositing road tax, cancellation of registration, issuance fitness certificate and other facilities will be stopped. There will be changes in the portal, too. The Supreme Court has expressed unhappiness at the slow pace of work of HSRP. The apex court has asked the government to submit a report again. The dealers, putting HSRP from April 1, 2019, have been also advised to feed its data. The progress of putting HSRP on vehicles is slow. 4Continued on | P8 Life sentence for Prajwal Revanna Vinay Madhava Gowda BENGALURU Prajwal Revanna, former MP from Hassan and grandson of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, has been sentenced to life imprisonment and fined Rs 10 lakh in one of the four rape cases filed against him. The Special Court for Elected Representatives in Bengaluru, presided over by Judge Santhosh Gajanana Bhat, delivered the judgment on Saturday, imposing a fine of Rs 5 lakh each for two counts of rape under Section 376(2)(k) and Section 376(2)(n) of the IPC. The court directed that Rs 7 lakh from the total fine be paid to the 47-year-old victim, who had worked as a domestic help in Prajwal's household. Before pronouncing the sentence, the court heard arguments from both the prosecution and the defence. Special Public Prosecutor Ashok Naik said the victim was completely helpless and The former MP has also been fined `10 lakh in one of the four rape cases filed against him was exploited by a powerful man who paid her a meagre salary of Rs10,000. He said Prajwal had recorded videos of the sexual assault and used them to emotionally blackmail the victim. He added that when the videos were leaked online, the victim attempted suicide and has since been unable to step out of her home. The prosecutor urged the court to impose the maximum punishment and a heavy fine, pointing out that the Supreme Court in the past had awarded up to Rs 25 lakh as compensation in similar cases. When the judge asked Prajwal if he had anything to say, the former MP broke down in court.