FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms Vol. 15 No. 63 | BHOPAL | MONDAY | AUGUST 18, 2025 | Pages 12 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 FREE www.freepressjournal.in Sports ‘My intent in video was to talk about Brevis’ batting, not... P.10 fp ESTD-1983 iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: BHOPAL UJJAIN MONEY PRESS PUNE INDORE NASHIK SURENDRANAGAR Eight charred to death Eight persons, including five women and two children, were charred to death after the car carrying them collided with an SUV, landed in a roadside ditch, and burst into flames in Gujarat's Surendranagar district on Sunday, police said. The horrific accident occurred on a highway near Dedadara village in Wadhwan taluka at around 3:40 pm when the car was headed towards Surendranagar city from Kadu village. Brand Sutra Love Has A New Language P.12 GORAKHPUR UP gets green hydrogen plant Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday inaugurated the state's first and the country's second green hydrogen plant at Khanimpur village in Gorakhpur district, set up by Torrent Gas and Torrent Power, an official statement issued here said. Calling it a milestone in clean energy transition, Adityanath said green hydrogen represents the "energy of the future". GURUGRAM Shots fired at Elvish’s home Unidentified attackers opened fire outside the residence of controversial YouTuber Elvish Yadav in Haryana's Gurugram early Sunday morning, triggering panic in the upscale locality. Police said the firing took place between 5.30 and 6 a.m. when three bikeborne assailants sprayed more than two dozen bullets at Yadav's house before fleeing. The bullets struck the ground and the first floors of the residence. PANAJI BITS Pilani student dead A 20-year-old student of the BITS Pilani campus in Goa has been found dead in his hostel room, police said on Sunday. According to police, the report of the post-mortem conducted at the district hospital in Margao has remained inconclusive, and the viscera were sent for toxicological tests to ascertain the exact cause of his death. The student, Kushagra Jain, was found lying unresponsive on his bed in a sideward sleeping position in the hostel room at Vasco in South Goa district at around 11 am on Saturday, a senior police official said. Maha Guv Radhakrishnan named NDA’s V-P candidate Agencies INDIA bloc likely to discuss joint candidate today NEW DELHI The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Sunday announced Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan as its candidate for the upcoming Vice Presidential election, scheduled to be held on September 9. The announcement was made by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National President JP Nadda during a press conference following the party's Parliamentary Board meeting held in the national capital. At the parliamentary board meeting, we all unanimously decided on the VP candidate, Mr CP Radhakrishna. We discussed the VP candidate with all our al- The opposition INDIA bloc leaders are likely to discuss their joint candidate for the post of vice-president at a meeting of floor leaders on Monday morning. Sources said the INDIA bloc leaders would meet at the office of Mallikarjun Kharge, the leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, at 10.15 am on Monday liance party (NDA)earlier as well. We will discuss our opposition party as well to smooth the VP election..." Nadda said. Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan is currently serving as the 24th Governor of Maharashtra, a post he assumed on July 31, 2024. He previously served as the Governor of Jharkhand from February 2023 to July 2024. He also held additional charge as the Gov- ernor of Telangana and Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry between March and July 2024. A veteran BJP leader, Radhakrishnan, was elected to the Lok Sabha from Coimbatore twice and previously served as the Tamil Nadu BJP State President. The Election Commission had earlier announced that polling for the Vice Presidential election will take place on September 9, with Modi accuses Oppn of maintaining unjust, regressive laws while in power PTI NEW DELHI Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday took a swipe at Opposition leaders, saying that those "who dance with a copy of Constitution on their head" had maintained unjust and regressive laws while in power, trampling the spirit of the Constitution. Addressing an event in the national capital after inaugurating two expressways, the prime minister also said that opposition parties have not been able to digest the success of BJP in Delhi and its adjoining states of Haryana, Rajas- than and Uttar Pradesh. He said: "Ye jo log samvidhan sar par rakh kar naachte hain na, woh samvidhan ko kaise kuchalte the, woh Baba Saheb (Ambedkar) ke bhavna ko kaise daga dete the, woh sachai main batane jaa raha hoon. (Those people who are dancing with a copy of Consti- tution on their heads, how they used to trample the Constitution and betray B R Ambedkar ideas, I am going to tell you the truth now.)" "You will be astonished after hearing this. Our sanitation workers in Delhi are fulfilling huge responsibilities. We should thank them every morning. "Earlier governments used to treat them like slaves," he said, adding that there was a provision in the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act that sanitation workers could be jailed for a month on failure to report for duty without prior notice. 4Continued on | P8 counting of votes scheduled for the same day. The last date for filing nominations is August 21, while candidates can withdraw their nominations until August 25. The Vice Presidential post fell vacant after Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned on the first day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament on July 21, citing health reasons. 4Continued on | P8 SIT to present status report on Vijay Shah case in SC today Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL 4Continued on | P8 European leaders to join Zelenskyy for meeting with Trump today FP News Service BRUSSELS JABALPUR Jabalpur Police have arrested four men in connection with the daring bank robbery that shook Khitola on August 11. Armed assailants looted 14.875 kg of gold and Rs 5.08 lakh in cash from ESAF Small Finance Bank in a swift, meticulously planned 15-minute operation. The arrested have been identified as Rais Lodhi, Sonu Varman, Hemraj and Vikas Chakraborty. Police said the gang had rented a house in the area to plan the heist and used motorcycles to escape after the crime. CCTV footage helped investigators trace the suspects, leading to recovery of Rs 1.83 lakh in cash, an illegal weapon, live cartridges and two motorbikes. However, the main accused remains at large, believed to be carrying the bulk of the stolen gold. The robbery occurred around 9 AM on Monday, when a group of armed men stormed the ESAF office. 4Continued on | P8 Several European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, will join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for his meeting at the White House with US President Donald Trump on Monday, as reported by the CNN. Trump seeks trilateral summit as early as Aug 22 US President Donald Trump has told European leaders after his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that he wants to arrange a trilateral summit with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as soon as August 22, US media reported European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also confirmed that, on Zelenskyy's request, she will join the meeting with Trump and other European leaders. In a social media post on X, the European Commission President wrote, "This afternoon, I will welcome @ZelenskyyUa in Brussels. Together, we will participate in the Coalition of Willing VTC. (See world) PTI JAMMU Seven members of four families, including five children, were killed in two separate incidents of cloudburst and landslide in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir early Sunday, officials said. The calamity struck Jodh Ghati village of Rajbagh and Bagra village of Janglote amid heavy overnight rains in the district, leading to increase in the level of water bodies and submerging many low-lying areas, they said. The cloudburst in Kathua came three days after flash floods triggered by cloudburst struck Chisoti village in Bhopal to host India vs NZ veteran series in Oct Smita BHOPAL are scheduled for October 12, 13 and 15 at Faith Club, Old Campion School and Sanskar Valley School grounds. New Zealand’s teams, New Zealand A and New Zealand B, will face Bhopal’s Urban Tigers and Central Strikers. The Bhopal teams comprise 18 local players and six from Indore. Nearly 26 players from New Zealand will participate, with the teams playing prior friendlies in Delhi. The Faith Club and Old Campion grounds can host around 1,000-1,500 spectators, while Sanskar Valley matches will be closed to the public. Ratnadeep Saksena, president of Veteran Cricket India, said the event aims to promote sports among people aged 40-60 and encourage fitness through friendly competition beyond professional retirement age. “Players retire from competitive cricket at 30-35, but often remain fit for decades after. Our goal is to bring such veterans together to play friendly matches,” Saksena said. He also revealed plans to invite veteran players from Canada for future matches in Bhopal. CECSPEAK Agencies NEW DELHI The Chief Election Commisioner of India on Sunday refuted allegations of "vote theft" by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and asked him to either furnish a signed affidavit or apologise to the nation for his remarks. The CEC also termed the allegations of bias by the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabhas as an "insult" to the Constitution of India. "...An affidavit will have to be given or an apology should be made to the country. Teesra koi vikalp nahi (There is no third option.) If the affidavit is not received within 7 days, it means that all these allegations are baseless..." CEC Gyanesh Kumar said while addressing mediapersons at a briefing at the National Media Centre in the national capital. Rahul Gandhi had on August 7 addressed a press conference in New Delhi which he » A lie, if repeated time and again, does not become truth » How can EC discriminate between political parties » EC does not distinguish between the opposition and the ruling party » Political parties firing from EC's shoulders presented Congress' research on voting in the Mahadevapura Assembly in Karnataka, a part of the Bangalore Central parliamentary constituency. Gandhi alleged "vote chori" (vote theft) of 1,00,250 votes including duplicate voters, invalid addresses, and bulk registrations of votes at single locations. Rahul Gandhi further pointed out an instance of 80 people registered in a single address in Mahadevapura. Rahul Gandhi had alleged that the poll body is "destroying evidence" through the di- Why just me, not BJP: RaGa over affidavit PATNA Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday launched the 1300km Voter Adhikar Yatra from Sasaram in Bihar, and asked why the Election Commission (EC) was asking only him to submit an affidavit on his vote-theft allegations and not from BJP when it had also made the similar allegations a few days ago. Rahul said, "When I held a press conference on vote theft, the Election Commission asked me for an affidavit. But when BJP leaders held a press conference a few days ago, no affidavit was demanded from them.” He said that the EC was asking him to submit an affidavit that his data was correct when the data belonged to the apex poll body itself. “Why am I being asked for an affidavit?" he wondered. The Voter Adhikar Yatra will cover more than 20 districts in 16 days. It will conclude with an INDIA bloc`s rally in Patna on September 1 4Continued on | P8 rective deleting CCTV footage from polling booths. He alleged that the EC was only preserving CCTV and webcasting footage of the election process for only 45 days after the whole process is completed, unless the election result is challenged in court. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar today said, "We saw a few days ago that photos of many voters were presented to the media without their permission. 4Continued on | P8 Rahul, Tejashwi launch ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ The ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav began from Sasaram on Sunday with a massive rally at the Airport Ground. The event saw the presence of senior leaders, including RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Rabri Devi, CPI-ML General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, Bhupesh Baghel and VIP chief Mukesh Sahani.Flagging off the yatra, Lalu Prasad Yadav briefly addressed the crowd ‘Merely crying cannot make out case of dowry harassment’ NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has held that mere fact that a woman was crying, cannot per se make out any case of dowry harassment. Justice Neena Bansal Krishna made the observation while dismissing a petition against the discharge of a husband and his family from charges of cruelty and dowry harassment. According to the prosecution, the woman, married in December 2010, faced harassment and dowry demands from her husband and in-laws. 4Continued on | P8 7 killed in Kathua cloudburst, landslide in a first Bhopal will host international cricket friendlies for the first time this October, featuring veteran players aged 50-60 from India and New Zealand. Three martches of 40 overs will be played between two teams from New Zealand and two local Bhopal teams, representating India. The matches, organised by Veteran Cricket India (VCI), Give affidavit or apologise, no third option: CEC to Rahul Dheeraj Kumar The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the controversial remarks made by Tribal Affairs Minister Vijay Shah on Colonel Sofia Qureshi will present its third status report in Supreme Court on Monday. Initially, the SIT was expected to submit the report last Wednesday, but the next hearing and submission are now scheduled for August 18. SIT chief and IG Jabalpur Pramod Verma, who heads the team formed under Supreme Court instructions, confirmed the timeline. 4 held in ESAF Bank heist, mastermind still elusive Agencies E-paper Edit Creating a defence shield P.6 markets to remain resilient; GST reforms, Wang Yi’s visit in focus V-P POLLS | Polling will take place on September 9 Briefs MUMBAI Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir on August 14, leaving 60 people dead and more than 100 injured. Officials said while five persons, including a man and his two minor sons, lost their lives in Jodh Ghati which was hit by the cloudburst, snapping access to the village and causing damage to several mud houses, a mother-daughter duo lost their lives in landslide triggered by rains at Bagra village of Janglote. Shubhanshu returns to India to rousing welcome PTI NEW DELHI Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla returned to India early Sunday to a rousing welcome by a large number of people waving the tricolour and beating drums at the airport here to celebrate his historic visit to the International Space Station (ISS). Shukla, who became the second Indian to undertake a spaceflight as part of the Axiom-4 mission, and his backup astronaut-designate Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair were welcomed at the airport by Union Minister Jitendra Singh, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, and ISRO Chairman V Narayanan. "Thank you sir. Surely feels good to be back home," Shukla posted on X in response to Singh's post welcoming after receiving him at the airport. Shukla's wife Kamna and son Kiash were also present at the airport to welcome him home after a nearly one-year stay in the US training for the space flight, which finally took place from June 25 to July 15. A large crowd waving the national tricolour had gathered at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here to welcome Shukla to the sound of drumbeats. The government has proposed a special discussion in the Lok Sabha on Monday on the subject 'India's first astronaut aboard the International Space Station -- Critical role of the space programme for Viksit Bharat by 2047 -- to mark Shukla's return to India. Constitutional validity doesn’t mean desirability: Ex-CJI to ONOE panel PTI NEW DELHI Former chief justice of India Sanjeev Khanna has told a parliamentary committee scrutinising the simultaneous election bill that the constitutional validity of a proposal in no way amounts to a pronouncement upon the desirability or necessity of its provisions. In his written opinion to the committee, Khanna, however, said that arguments related to the dilution of the country's federal structure may be raised about the constitutional amendment bill, as he listed the various claims made supporting and criticising the concept, sources said. Most of the experts, who have shared their views with the committee headed by BJP MP P P Chaudhary, have rejected the charge that the proposals are unconstitutional but have flagged some issues with the current provisions of the bill. Khanna, who is scheduled to interact with the committee on Tuesday, has joined a few other former chief justices of India in raising concerns over the extent of power given to the Election Commission in the bill. 4Continued on | P8