Monday, September 29, 2025 8 MAA KALARATRI COLOUR: PEACOCK | 28 Pages | `5 & for State `6 THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL Reg.No MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 1541/1957 M.p.c.s office Mumbai. PIN 400001 INDIA EDITION | www.freepressjournal.in ● Leader in E-paper circulation STAMPEDE SORROW | Toll 40; TVK leaders booked; Vijay mourns ‘irreparable loss’, announces `20L compensation GRIEF DEEPENS, INQUIRY OPENS WHAT THE COPS SAID N Chithra CHENNAI A commission of inquiry, headed by retired Madras High Court judge Aruna Jagadeesan, on Sunday commenced probe into Saturday's “crowd crush” at Karur, which claimed 40 lives during actor and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leader Vijay’s rally. As the party came under sharp criticism from several quarters for the poor arrangement, the Karur Town police booked TVK general secretary ‘Bussy’ N Anand, joint general secretary Nirmal Kumar and the Karur unit secretary in connection with the tragedy. TVK, however, stopped short of alleging a conspiracy that led to the tragedy and approached the Madras High Court with a plea for an CBI inquiry. The Madurai Bench of the HC will hear the petition on Monday. Vijay, facing criticism for returning to Chennai instead of visiting the injured in hos- ajesh Shah turned one heartbreaking moment into a mission to feed millions. Turn to the Mumbai page to find out how. SEE CITY R Vijay Tilak: India victors in a nailbiter According to TN DGP G Venkataraman and ADGP (Law and Order) S Davidson Devasirvatham: ■ Permission was sought for 3-10 pm meeting. Crowd started coming in from 11am. Vijay was expected to reach at 12 noon. He arrived at 7.40 pm pitals, announced a compensation of Rs 20 lakh to each of the deceased and Rs 2 lakh for the injured. Expressing grief, he said in a social media post: "It is not a huge amount for the loss you have suffered. I know your loss cannot be replaced. It is an irreparable loss. However, it is my duty to stand next to you in this hour and share your grief." "My eyes and mind are clouded with sorrow. The faces of the people I met at the rally have been flashing in my mind ever since," he said. 4Contd on | nation ‘PAK REPLY BARES ITS TERROR FINGERPRINT’ Agencies UNITED NATIONS Haridev Pushparaj MUMBAI Tilak Varma’s sensational half-century and Shivam Dube’s timely knock of 33 powered India to a sensational five-wicket victory over Pakistan in the Asia Cup final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, on Sunday. Chasing 147 for victory, Varma slammed 69 studded with three fours and four sixes to remain unbeaten as India romped home at 150/5 in 19.4 overs. Earlier, India were in a spot of bother as in-form Abhishek Sharma was sent packing by Faheem Ashraf in the second over while Suryakumar Yadav was out to Shaheen Shah Afridi. Shubman Gill too fell to Ashraf. 4Contd on | nation 4See also | games LPG DELAYS? SOON, YOU CAN SWITCH SUPPLIER India has slammed Pakistan for responding to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's UN General Assembly remarks on terrorism, despite the neighbour not being named, describing Islamabad's reaction as an admission of its "longstanding practice of cross-border terrorism". "Pakistan's reputation speaks for itself. Its fingerprints are so visible in terrorism across so many geographies. It is a menace not only to its neighbours but to the entire world," said Rentala Srinivas, Second Secretary in the Permanent Mission of India to the UN. During his address at the UNGA General Debate on Saturday, Jaishankar, without naming Pakistan, said, "Major EAM bats for trade order External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said the world will increasingly require a global workforce and new trade arrangements would emerge despite uncertainties, as he underscored India's expanding engagement with Latin America and the Caribbean to diversify economic ties amid shifting global dynamics. Speaking at an Observer Research Foundation (ORF) panel on the sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly session on Saturday, he said trade would "continue to find a way" despite uncertainties. 4Contd on | nation international terrorist attacks are traced back to that one country." Referring to a "neighbour that is an epicentre of global terrorism", he said India has confronted the challenge of terrorism since independence. Later in the evening, in its Right of Reply, the Pakistani CBI begins probe into Palghar lynching case Somendra Sharma MUMBAI PTI NEW DELHI Unhappy with your LPG provider? In a move similar to mobile number portability, cooking gas consumers will soon be allowed to change their supplier without altering their existing connection, offering more choice and improved service. This could mean that a household using Indane Gas could switch to Bharat Gas or HP Gas without having to surrender its existing connection. Oil regulator PNGRB has invited comments of stakeholders and consumers by mid-October. PNGRB stated that in situations where a local distributor faces operational constraints, consumers often have limited alternatives, leading to hardship. 4Contd on | nation delegate accused India of attempting to "malign Pakistan" with "malicious accusations" about terrorism, even though Jaishankar had not named the country in his address while talking about the scourge of terrorism. 4Contd on | nation WANGCHUK’S WIFE TRASHES ALLEGATION OF PAK LINKS Agencies The CBI has initiated probe into the lynching of two sadhus and their driver by a large mob in Palghar in 2020. Fresh cases were registered by the CBI's Special Task Branch on September 11, following a request from the state government. According to the CBI, the cases were registered consequent to the consent of the Maharashtra govt through its notification dated February 6, 2024, for investigation in respect of the criminal case registered at Kasa Police Station for assaulting Sushil Giri Maharaj, Chikne Maharaj Kalpruksh Giri, both sadhus, and their driver, Nilesh Telgade. They were travelling by car to Surat. The lynching happened close to Gadchinchale village, near Chaukipada, Palghar. The mob also assaulted policemen who tried to stop the victims. LEH/NEW DELHI The mob threw stones, used lathis and other weapons, injuring several policemen. CBI has registered three separate cases on the complaints of Bhagwat Sonawane, sub-divisional police officer/DYSP, Jawhar Division, Palghar; Anandrao Kale, assistant police inspector, Kasa police station; and Sudhir Katare, police sub-inspector, Kasa police station. Even as curfew remained in force in violence-hit Leh for the fifth consecutive day on Sunday, jailed activist Sonam Wangchuk's wife Gitanjali Angmo trashed allegations of "Pakistan link" and financial irregularities against him. Terming the charge that Wangchuk incited the violence as "misplaced", she claimed that he has been protesting in the "most Gandhian way possible" and the "situation escalated" on September 24 due to the actions of the CRPF. Wangchuk has been arrested under NSA, two days after protests demanding Sixth Schedule status and statehood for Ladakh turned violent, claiming four lives. 4Contd on | nation 4Contd on | nation CBI’s Special Task Branch registered fresh cases on September 11 ■ Organisers expected a crowd of 10,000, police made preparations for 20,000, but 27,000 turned up ■ Waiting since morning without food and water, the crowd became restless ■ 500 cops led by the SP deployed in proportion to the turnout anticipated ‘US needs to fix countries like India and Brazil’ Agencies UNITED NATIONS understand that if you want to sell to the US consumer, right? You've got to play ball with the president of the US. So those are still coming. A bunch of countries left but the big ones maybe the big ones you know... India we’ll sort it out over time,” he said. Russia fully respects India’s national interests and the independent foreign policy being pursued by PM Narendra Modi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said, asserting that India's ties with the US or any other country cannot be a benchmark for New Delhi-Moscow ties. Lavrov said India and Russia share a “particularly privileged strategic partnership”. “These situations that might arise between India and the US or India and any other country, I can't consider them a criteria for relations between India and Russia,” he said on Saturday. Lavrov was responding to a question on India's continued imports of Russian oil despite US pressure on countries to reduce such purchases, and how Moscow views its ties with New Delhi in this context. Lavrov cited the recent meeting between PM Modi and President Vladimir Putin at the SCO summit in China. He added Putin is expected to visit New Delhi in December. 4Contd on | nation 4Contd on | nation Agencies WASHINGTON US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said that countries like India and Brazil “need to react correctly to America" and open their markets for American goods. He said the Trump administration has placed India among the "big ones" the US wants to settle trade disputes with. "We have a bunch of countries to fix like Switzerland, Brazil, India - these are countries that need to really react correctly to America. Open their markets, stop taking actions that harm America, and that’s why we’re off sides with them,” Lutnick told NewsNation on Saturday. He said that the issues would be sorted, but India must ‘play ball’ with the US. “The way that President Trump does deals, the first deal is always the best deal. And then the next deal is higher, the next deal is higher, the next deal’s higher,” Lutnick said. “Those, I think, will be sorted out, but they take time. And these countries have to Russia: India’s US relations won’t define ties with us Open their markets, stop taking actions that harm America, and that’s why we’re off sides with them Howard Lutnick, US Commerce Secretary