FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms Vol. XLII No. 112 | INDORE | MONDAY | SEPTEMBER 29, 2025 | Pages 14 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. 38281/83 FREE www.freepressjournal.in iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: INDORE MONEY Sports MAA KALARATRI COLOUR: PEACOCK ESTD-1983 `1.02 L cr investment in Indian food processing sector in offing Mithun Manhas takes helm P.12 UJJAIN PRESS PUNE BHOPAL Edit NASHIK MUMBAI E-paper A dark night in Karur Brandsutra Milking The Festive Season P.14 STAMPEDE SORROW | Toll 40; TVK leaders booked FREE PRESS Grief deepens, inquiry opens 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. 4Continued on | P10 ‘US needs to fix countries like India and Brazil’ Russia: India’s US relations won’t define ties with us Agencies 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 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. UNITED NATIONS: 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 DelhiMoscow 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. 4Continued on | P10 4Continued on | P10 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 INDIA IS ASIAN CHAMP, BUT ‘REFUSE’ TO ACCEPT TROPHY Agencies DUBAI Six of Glory, Spirit of Unity Rinku Singh congratulates batting partner Tilak Varma after the latter hit a six during the Asia Cup final against Pakistan at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, UAE on Sunday AP/PTI Dubai witnessed cricketing theatre at its finest as India clinched their ninth Asia Cup title, edging Pakistan in a tense final. Chasing 146, India crumbled early to 20 for 3, before Tilak Varma’s ice-cool halfcentury revived hopes. Pakistan, led by Sahibzada Farhan’s explosive 50, were cruising at 107 for 1, but Varun Chakravarthy’s spin trickery, Kuldeep Yadav’s triple strike and Axar Patel’s double blow triggered a stunning collapse of 9 for 33. (Detail on Sports Page) govt survey ‘More girls in MP choosing to marry after 21’ PTI BHOPAL In a notable shift in societal attitudes towards marriage, 62.5 per cent of girls in Madhya Pradesh are now preferring to marry after the age of 21, compared to 56 per cent in 2020, as per a government survey. This change is likely due to This change is likely due to girls prioritising education and career over marriage, and also government schemes providing support to them, experts feel girls prioritising education and career over marriage, and also government schemes providing support to them, experts feel. According to the recently released Sample Registration System (SRS)-2023, 62.5 per cent of girls in MP preferred to marry after the age of 21. These figures indicate a significant difference in attitudes towards marriage between girls in rural and P.8 urban areas. While 57.5 per cent of girls in rural areas preferred to marry after the age of 21, in urban areas the rate was 80.2 per cent. The national average for girls marrying after the age of 21 is 72.2 per cent, and Madhya Pradesh lags behind. 4Continued on | P10 WHAT THE COPS SAID According to TN DGP G Venkataraman and ADGP (Law and Order) S Davidson Devasirvatham: n 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 n Organisers expected a crowd of 10,000, police made preparations for 20,000, but 27,000 turned up n Waiting since morning without food and water, the crowd became restless n 500 cops led by the SP deployed in proportion to the turnout anticipated S hriniwas Joshi, Senior Post Master at Indore GPO, has turned blood donation into a lifelong mission. Turn to Indore page to find out how. SEE P3 Man shoots 19YO daughter FPNS/MORENA A man shot his 19-year-old daughter and threw her body into a river, as reported from Morena district on Sunday. According to information, the deceased was identified as Divya Sikarwar, a resident of Shivnagar in Civil Lines area. The case came to light after an anonymous call to Civil Lines police station on Saturday.  The caller informed that a gunshot was heard from the house of Bantu Sikarwar in Shivnagar 4 days ago, after which his 19-year-old daughter Divya went missing. 4Continued on | P10