FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms FREE PRESS Vol. 15 No. 60 | BHOPAL | THURSDAY | AUGUST 14, 2025 | Pages 16 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 www.freepressjournal.in Sports HITMAN STRIKES AGAIN P.14 fp Briefs NEW DELHI J&K statehood hearing today The Supreme Court would on Thursday hear a plea for the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. A bench of Chief Justice of India B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran is likely to hear the matter, according to the causelist. On December 11, 2023, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the revocation of Article 370, even as it ordered that assembly elections be held in Jammu and Kashmir by September 2024 and its statehood be restored "at the earliest". JAIPUR Pak spy arrested The guest house manager of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Jaisalmer, who was detained on suspicion of spying for Pakistan, has been arrested by Rajasthan police on grounds of substantial evidence. Mahendra Prasad, the accused, was produced before a court in Jaipur on Wednesday and was sent to a two-day police remand. JAIPUR 11 killed in road accident A pickup van crashed into a parked truck in Rajasthan's Dausa district in the early hours of Wednesday, killing 11 Uttar Pradesh residents, including seven children, and injuring eight others, police said. The passengers of the pickup vehicle were returning to their village in Uttar Pradesh's Etah after visiting Khatu Shyam and Salasar Balaji temples when the accident occurred on Manoharpur highway around 4 am, Dausa SP Sagar told PTI. EDITIONS: BHOPAL UJJAIN WORLD PUNE INDORE NASHIK Cinema ‘I am better than her’ P.13 The teams used caustic soda to neutralise the gas, and it took around 1-½ hours to contain the leakage, Inspector Yadav added. The gas caused tears and irritation in the eyes and breathing problems for those affected. However, none of them complained of any serious problems. The officials and personnel engaged in rescue work wore masks.  Inspector Yadav said primary investigations suggest that the raw material at the store got wet, triggering the leakage of chlorine gas.  TIRANGA YATRA | Warning that any future misadventure at border will receive strongest reply ever, CM Mohan Yadav says... 3-judge SC bench to hear stray dog case today Leakage of chlorine gas at a factory in the Industrial area on JK Road on Wednesday afternoon caused panic among locals and workers, leaving many with eye irritation and breathing difficulties for some time.  DM Kaushalendra Vikram Singh has ordered a joint inquiry into the incident by the Chief Medical and Health Officer and the Bhopal Municipal Corporation, instructing that the report be submitted within two days.  The incident occurred around 3.30 pm at a factory manufacturing chlorine tablets. It is reported that chlorine gas started leaking from a storage used for keeping raw materials at the factory. The gas quickly spread outside the premises, forcing the locals and workers to move away while using masks and other protective ARMY CAPABLE OF TAKING BACK PAKISTAN PUNJAB Our Staff Reporter INDORE Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav here on Wednesday said that the Indian Army is capable enough to take back that part of Punjab which went to Pakistan at the time of partition. ‘If Pakistan did any misadventure again, it will get strongest reply ever. Our Army is capable of reclaiming the partitioned part of Punjab,’ he said while addressing a Tiranga Yatra in the city and blaming Congress for partition in 1947. He also attacked Congress for attacking constitutional bodies for its failure to win CM Mohan Yadav leads Tiranga Yatra in Indore on Wednesday elections. ‘They put a question mark on Supreme Court and Indian Army. Congress lost elections because of its wrong policies but it holds Election Commission responsible,’ he said. The CM also claimed that Congress leaders issue such statements which please people of Pakistan and China. Post Kothari, Uma transfer, SEIAA holds 5 meetings, 100 cases get EC SC hearing on deemed permission has been put off Our Staff Reporter The State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) is back on track after the transfer of Principal Secretary Navneet Kothari and IAS officer Uma Maheshwari. The government transferred both the officers on July 23. Additional Chief Secretary Ashok Barnwal was given the additional charge of the environment department. The charge of Environmental Planning and Coordination Organisation (EPCO) was given to Deepak Arya. The executive director of EPCO is the member secretary of SEIAA. After the transfer of the two officers, the dispute between the chairman of SEIAA, SN Singh Chouhan, and the officers of the authority came to an end. After the change in the environment department, more than five meetings have been MPBSE Class 10, 12 exams from Feb 7 PTI PUNE 4Continued on | P8 4Continued on | P8 Temple desecrated in US BHOPAL The signboard of a Hindu temple was defaced in the US city of Indiana, an incident described by the Indian consulate as "reprehensible". The "hateful act" took place at the BAPS Swaminarayan Temple in Greenwood city, the temple's official public affairs account said in an X post on Tuesday. This was the fourth time in less than a year that a BAPS temple has been targeted, it said. The Indian Consulate in Chicago took strong note of the act and called it "reprehensible". "Desecration of main sign- Rahul claims threat to life over remarks on Savarkar board of the BAPS Swaminarayan Temple in Greenwood, Indiana is reprehensible," it said in an X post, adding that it has raised the matter with the law enforcement authorities for "prompt action". 4Continued on | P8 NEW YORK The Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education (MPBSE) has announced the timetable for Class 10 and 12 examinations for the year 2026. According to an official notification, the examinations will be conducted from February 7 to March 3, 2026 in a single shift from 9 am to 12 noon at the designated examination centers across the state. Citing the success of Operation Sindoor, Yadav stated that today’s India not only hits targets within the country but also on foreign soil. Cong leader Rahul Gandhi has told a Pune court hearing a defamation case against him that he could face harm from the followers of the ideology of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and Nathuram Godse, and providing "preventive protection" is the state's constitutional obligation. Gandhi, who is facing a defamation case filed by Satyaki Savarkar, grand-nephew of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, made the claim in an application before the special court for cases against MPs and MLAs here. The case, the trial of which is yet to start, pertains to certain comments allegedly made by Rahul Gandhi against V D Savarkar, freedom fighter and Hindutva ideologue. The application -- filed before Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Amol Shinde by Gandhi's lawyer Adv Milind Pawar -- said that complainant Satyaki Savarkar had admitted that he is also a direct descendant, through maternal lineage, of Nathuram Godse and Gopal Godse, principal accused in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. PTI Our Staff Reporter held in the past 20 days and over 100 cases disposed of. The department has given green clearance in mining, construction and other cases. Because the SEIAA was not holding meetings, several cases were pending for green approval. SEIAA is regularly holding meetings to dispose of the cases pending for a long time. On the other hand, 237 cases, which were disposed of under the provision of deemed permission, are yet to be solved. Pic Anand Shivre offgrid Indian educational institutions suffered more than two lakh cyberattacks and nearly four lakh data breaches in just nine months, a pilot study has revealed. The study, titled "Exploring Cyber Threats and Digital Risks to Indian Educational Institutions", was conducted under Cyber- Peace Foundation's flagship e-Kawach initiative in collaboration with DELNET, Resecurity and Autobot Infosec. It was released on Wednesday along with the launch of the "Cyber First Responder" initiative, aimed at equipping students, faculty, librarians and staff with skills to counter cyber threats, deepfakes and misuse of artificial intelligence. The nine-month study, conducted between July 2023 and April 2024, found more than 8,000 unique usernames and 54,000 PTI NEW DELHI After widespread protests across the country following a top court verdict on relocation of stray dogs in Delhi-NCR, a new three-judge bench of the Supreme Court will hear the suo motu case on Thursday. A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N V Anjaria will hear the matter. The directions to permanently relocate all strays from streets to shelters "at the earliest" were passed by a bench comprising Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan on August 11. When some petitioners in another stray dogs-related case mentioned their plea while referring to the August 11 verdict before the Chief Justice of India B R Gavai, he said he "will look into it". On August 11, a bench of Justices Pardiwala and Mahadevan observed instances of dog bites had given rise to an "extremely grim" situation and ordered the permanent relocation of all strays in Delhi-NCR "at the earliest". On Wednesday, the lawyer referred to a May 2024 order passed by a bench led by Justice J K Maheshwari relegating petitions relating to the stray dog issue to respective high courts. 4Continued on | P8 unique passwords being used in brute-force attacks. Commonly targeted usernames included "root" and "admin", while weak passwords, such as "123456" and "password", were frequently attempted. "Indian educational institutions are likely five times more vulnerable to data breaches than counterparts with stronger cyber practices," the report warned, adding that breaches could lead to impersonation of faculty, phishing attacks, deepfake content, theft of sensitive research data and leakage of exam papers. Vice Chancellor of National Law University-Delhi Prof. (Dr) G S Bajpai said resilience in the digital era means transforming systems in response to a disruption. 4Continued on | P8 EAM heads to Moscow, Chinese FM to visit Delhi as RIC wakes up NEW DELHI In a sign that the Russia–India– China (RIC) trio is stirring back to life, New Delhi and Moscow will see back-to-back high-level visits this month. On August 21, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will sit down in Moscow with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov to talk trade, security, and ways to work together on the global stage. The meeting follows NSA Ajit Doval’s recent trip to Moscow, where he met Russian President Vladimir Putin. Before that, on August 18, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will arrive in Delhi for talks with Doval. His visit comes just days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first trip to China in five years for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit. Modi is expected to meet both Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines. The flurry of meetings comes against a tense backdrop. US President Donald The renewed bustle comes as all three RIC nations—Russia, India and China—seek closer ties in the face of mounting global tensions and US trade pressure Trump has hit both India and China with steep import tariffs—50% on India, including a 25% “penalty” over its Russian oil and arms purchases— while also waging a trade war with Beijing. The friction has nudged India and China into tentative cooperation: scaling back troop tensions in Ladakh, reopening pilgrimages, and exploring direct flights and media exchanges. 4Continued on | P8 Modi may visit US next month Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to address the annual high-level session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September, according to a provisional list of speakers issued by the UN here. The 80th session of the UNGA will open on September 9. The high-level General Debate will run from September 23-29, with Brazil as the traditional first speaker of the session, followed by the US Sonia became voter before getting Indian citizenship: BJP PTI NEW DELHI The BJP alleged on Wednesday that former Congress president Sonia Gandhi was registered as a voter before she became an Indian citizen, as the ruling party stepped up its counteroffensive amid the Opposition's charge of "vote-chori" against the government and the Election Commission. "Sonia Gandhi's tryst with India's voters' list is riddled with glaring violations of electoral law. This perhaps explains Rahul Gandhi's ‘LS polls be considered null and void’ Hitting back at the BJP for claiming irregularities in seats contested by some top opposition leaders, the Congress on Wednesday said the data shared by the ruling party points to its collusion with the Election Commission (EC) and demanded that the 2024 Lok Sabha polls be considered "null and void" for being held on "fake voter lists" fondness for regularising ineligible and illegal voters, and his opposition to the Special Intensive Revision," BJP's IT department head Amit Malviya said on X. He posted a copy of the electoral roll form of the official residence of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, claim- ‘Terror threat’ scribbled near Jagannath Temple PTI 2L cyberattacks hit edu institutions in 9 months PTI E-paper gear. Piplani police station Incharge Inspector Chandrika Yadav said the factory was closed on Wednesday. Police received information regarding the incident from workers of adjoining factories. The adjoining buildings and factories were evacuated, and senior officials were informed. SDM, Govindpura, Ravish Kumar Srivastava, also reached the spot, and SDRF and NDRF teams, along with the fire department, were roped in to contain the leakage.  Our Staff Reporter 4Continued on | P8 NEW DELHI MUMBAI Edit Cards don’ tmake one Indian P.6 Trump keen to seal truce at Alaska meet: Macron BHOPAL BHOPAL One Indian Army soldier was killed while foiling an infiltration bid in the Uri sector on Wednesday morning, and search operations are still ongoing in the area, said an official. The Army had killed two terrorists in the same area a few days ago. According to an official statement, the Indian Army foiled an infiltration attempt in the Uri sector early this morning. A few days ago, the Army had eliminated two terrorists in the same area. iii QUALITY @ VALUE CHLORINE GAS LEAK SPARKS PANIC URI Infiltration bid foiled ESTD-1983 PURI Two graffiti threatening that "terrorists will demolish the Jagannath Temple" in Odisha's Puri were found on the wall of a small temple near the 12thcentury shrine on Wednesday, triggering resentment among devotees, police said. The threat written in the Odia language was found on the wall of Maa Budhi Thakurani's temple located at Bali Sahi, a senior officer said. 'Terrorists will demolish the Srimandir. Call me, or else there will be destruction', a threat was written in one graffiti. "There are several phone numbers mentioned on the wall of the temple. Words such as 'PM Modi', 'Delhi' were also mentioned," a Puri resident said. Puri SP Pinak Mishra, who visited the spot, said, "We have taken cognisance of the matter and are taking it very seriously. We have got some information, and police teams are being formed to arrest those who are behind such a threat." 4Continued on | P8 ing that her name was added during the revision of the rolls with January 1, 1980 as the qualifying date. "Her name first appeared on the rolls in 1980 three years before she became an Indian citizen and while she still held Italian citizenship," Malviya claimed. 4Continued on | P8 Ask Pakistan: US declines to confirm F-16 loss IANS NEW DELHI The US government has reportedly declined to provide specific answers regarding the fate of Pakistan Air Force-operated F-16 fighter jets during ‘Operation Sindoor’. The US State Department stated, “We refer you to the Government of Pakistan to discuss its F-16s,” according to NDTV.The U.S. reportedly maintains continuous oversight of Pakistan’s F-16 fleet through US contractors known as Technical Support Teams (TSTs). 4Continued on | P8