FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms FREE PRESS Vol. XLII No. 114 | INDORE | WEDNESDAY | OCTOBER 1, 2025 | Pages 14 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. 38281/83 www.freepressjournal.in Sports MAA SIDDHIDATRI COLOUR: RED/ORANGE KIRMANI LAMENTS POLITICS OVER SHADOWING CRICKET P.13 ESTD-1983 iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: INDORE MONEY Govt pulls up e-comm cos for price hike despite GST cut UJJAIN PUNE BHOPAL NASHIK MUMBAI E-paper Edit Kerala’s fears echo in India P.6 Cinema Let the music play… P.14 UNMASKING OF A CAMPUS CONSPIRACY Atul Gautam INDORE The corridors of Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya (DAVV) have witnessed moments of dissent before. But nothing prepared the university for the chilling revelations spilling out of the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET). What began as stray whispers of ragging has transformed into something far more sinister—a Nepal-style ‘Gen Z protest’ allegedly orchestrated by seniors by coercing juniors into obedience through fear, manipulation and threats. FEAR IN THE FIRST YEAR The anti-ragging committee’s probe reads less like a stu- fp Briefs CHENNAI Fierce finger pointing in TN The stampede at actorpolitician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) rally in Karur, which left 41 people dead and over 60 injured, has spiralled into a political and legal storm, with the Tamil Nadu government, rival parties, and Vijay himself trading charges while mourning families await justice. GEN-Z PLOT TAKES DAVV BY STORM dent complaint and more like the script of a digital-age thriller. Seniors, it found, had drafted first-year students into building the skeleton of an online agitation. Their instructions were precise: create fake email IDs, set up dummy Twitter handles, retweet dictated messages and push hashtags until they trended. But this wasn’t activism born out of conviction. It was coercion dressed as revolution. Juniors were told refusal meant ‘batching out’—a dreaded punishment where non-compliant students were ostracised, isolated and denied the basic support system of peers. The intimidation was re- 5 dead as bike, truck collide A tragic road accident on National Highway 719, has claimed five lives including a child. The accident occurred between Etawah and Bhind. According to police reports, Bhola Khan, a diver from Bhind, was returning from Etawah on his bike when a speeding truck hit him. The collision struck another bike carrying four people including two children. The impact was so severe that three individuals died on the spot, while two others succumbed to injuries on the way to district hospital. Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL The state government on Tuesday transferred 24 IAS officers, including the collectors of 12 districts. Among them are the collectors of Bhind and Dindori, who were shifted following disputes with local legislators. Bhind collector Sanjeev Shrivastava had a heated exchange with BJP MLA Narendra Singh Kushwaha lentless. Freshman Vivek Sharma, under orders from senior Aman Patel, was forced to delete WhatsApp messages from peers’ phones, scrubbing away any digital traces that could incriminate the ringleaders. Another student, Umang Agrawal, was compelled to create a WhatsApp group chillingly titled Senior Introduction. That group soon became a command centre, where orders trickled down and fear trickled up. Their phones, their ident- SHIV SAGAR MEETING As the committee dug deeper, the roots of the conspiracy emerged from a clandestine gathering at Shiv Sagar restaurant in Indore. What should have been a casual hangout became the stage for plotting. Present that evening, investigators say, were seniors Aman Patel, Adarsh Makwana, Aditya Sharma, Sunil Ahirwar, LATE NIGHT DEVELOPMENT : ED raids infra giant PATH Group head office in Mhow SIR UPDATE | 21.53 lakh new names added, 68.5 lakh struck off. There are now 7.42 crore registered electors , a drop of nearly 6% EC’s releases final voter list Dheeraj Kumar PATNA Under scanner over ‘links’ with Anil Ambani Group/ Our Staff Reporter INDORE/MHOW In a major operation, Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday launched a major search at the head office of Central India’s leading infrastructure company — Prakash Asphalting & Toll Highways (India) Limited (PATH Group) on 76 Mall Road, Mhow Cantonment. The search was a part of an investigation into company’s alleged financial links with Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG). The PATH Group, founded in 1996, operates in 16 states with over 6,000 employees and a footprint at more than 70 locations. Known for its projects in highways and flyovers, the company has been under the radar of various law enforcement agencies for long. A decade ago, the Income Tax Department’s Investigation Wing had unearthed significant tax evasion and evidence of financial irregularities during a raid on the group. Sources claimed that the current action was a fallout of the ongoing probe against ADAG. The probe had unearthed a financial trail revealing long-standing connections between Reliance Infrastructure and the PATH Group. In the early hours of Tuesday, seven ED vehicles arrived at PATH’s Mhow office. The team sealed the main gates and initiated the search. The operation was backed by the ED’s Sub-Zonal Office in Indore. Sources revealed that one of PATH Group’s directors is believed to own stake in Indian Street Premier League (ISPL) Mumbai team — a franchise co-owned by Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan. This connection is also being scrutinised as part of the ongoing financial investigation. Currently, ED teams are examining documents, financial records and digital data retrieved from the premises. Bhind and Dindori collectors shifted after face-off with MLAs 24 IAS officers transferred WHAT charges did the committee recommend against the accused? WHY did the vice chancellor call it an “act of revenge”? HOW did the police step in—and what action is now on the cards? ities, even their silence— everything was weaponised. The image of wide-eyed firstyear students, just weeks into college life, being turned into foot soldiers for someone else’s scheme, is a haunting one. In a curious twist, the university’s proctorial board met late Tuesday and dismissed the anti-ragging committee’s findings of a “Gen Z” link, calling them exaggerated. Yet, with police now involved and digital evidence under scrutiny, the board’s denial may not be the final word. See Nation BHIND READ ON P3 Naman Pandey, Yashasvi Mishra, Dhaval Choudhary and others. The discussions, masked under the pretext of hostel discipline, spiraled into calculated intimidation. It was in that smoky room of whispered threats and clinking glasses that Patel allegedly floated the idea of disabling hostel CCTV cameras—a brazen attempt to blind the system. His younger brother, Anuj Patel, a first-year student illegally residing in the hostel, served as his proxy inside the juniors’ circle, funnelling orders and ensuring fear seeped into the fresh batch. For DAVV, the Shiv Sagar meet has become more than a footnote—it is the smoking gun suggesting premeditation, not mischief. recently, while Dindori collector Neha Marvya had differences with MLA Omprakash Dhurve. Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Harendra Narayan has been appointed Chhindwara collector. Seoni collector Sanskriti Jain replaced him as BMC commissioner. Neeraj Kumar Vashist, who was deputy secretary of former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and currently serving as director Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Tribe has been shifted as collector Pandurna. Suresh Kumar, Collector Panna, has been shifted as Officer on Special Duty cum Commissioner Chambal Division, Morena; Sheelendra Singh, Collector Chindwada as Additional Secretary, Urban Development and Housing Department; Neha Marvya, Dindori Collector as Director, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Tribe; Sanjeev Shrivastava, Bhind Collector, as Additional Secretary Public Works Department. 4Continued on | P8 The Election Commission on Tuesday released the final electoral rolls in Bihar after carrying out a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) ahead of the upcoming assembly elections. The revised list has been published on the poll body’s official website, and voters can check and verify their details online at https://voters.eci.gov.in, through a mobile app, or by SMS. According to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Bihar, the state now has 7,41,92,357 registered voters. Of them, 3,92,07,604 are male and 3,49,82,828 are female, while 1,725 voters have been identified as third gender. The final list also shows that 4,03,985 electors are aged 85 years or above, and 14,01,150 are young voters between the ages of 18 and 19. Voters with physical disabilities account for 7,20,709. Altogether, 21.53 lakh new names were added during the revision process. More than 36,000 voters had lodged claims to add their names, while 2.17 lakh sought removal of names. Nearly three lakh voters were issued notices for failing to submit the required documents. At the same time, the commission struck off nearly 68.5 lakh names from the rolls. These included deceased per- sons, transferred voters, and duplicate entries identified during the SIR. As a result, the final electoral roll records a total of 7.42 crore electors, a drop of about 6 per cent compared to the 7.89 crore registered as on June 24. 4Continued on | P8 Out of 21 govt nursing colleges, only four recognised for 2025-26 231 GNS, 188 BSc nursing colleges, all pvt, get recognition Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL Out of 21 government nursing colleges in Madhya Pradesh, the Nursing Council has given recognition for 2025-26 to only four. Cumulatively, these four government-recognised nursing colleges have 515 seats.  These four colleges are: Government College of Nursing, GMC, Bhopal; Government College of Nursing, Indore; Government College of Nursing, GM, Rewa, and Government College of Nursing, Ujjain. The 17 government nursing colleges that did not make the cut this year include the ones at the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC) and Pandit Khushilal Sharma Govt Ayurveda College and Institute in Bhopal.  Besides, 231 GNM (General Nursing and Midwifery) and 188 BSc nursing colleges have been given recognition. On directions from the High Court on a PIL alleging irregularities in granting recognition to nursing colleges, the CBI had inspected 308 colleges and found 66 unfit in the first round of its probe. In the second round, the number of unsuitable colleges increased. None of these unsuitable colleges figures among those that got recognition. A total of 33 new nursing colleges and 360 existing ones had applied for renewal in the 2025-26 session. Howard Lutnick signals BOOST FOR INDIA LIKELY H1B visa overhaul PTI NEW YORK/WASHINGTON US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has indicated that the H1B visa process will undergo “a significant number of changes” before February 2026, when the newly announced one-time fee of USD 100,000 for H1B applications is set to take effect. “This procedure and process goes into effect in February of 2026, so my guess is going to be, there are going to be a sig- nificant number of changes between now and 2026,” Lutnick said in an interview with NewsNation on Sunday. He added that the high fee would reduce the rush of ap- plicants. “At least it shouldn’t be overrun with these people. But I think you’re going to see a real thoughtful change going forward. And that’s what I expect will happen.” “There’s going to be a variety of changes; they’re talking about changes - how to get the lottery, should it still be a lottery? But that will all be resolved by February,” he said. “But as of right now, there’s going to be a one-time fee of USD 100,000 to get in.” 4Continued on | P8 FP News Service MUMBAI U.S. President Donald Trump’s sharp increase in visa costs is prompting American corporations to accelerate the transfer of high-end work to India, reinforcing the country’s position as the global hub for Global Capability Centres (GCCs) that manage everything from finance to product design, Reuters reported. India, the world’s fifth-largest economy, already hosts more than 1,700 GCCs, accounting for US firms eye India centres as Trump’s H-1B clampdown raises costs and risks over half of such facilities worldwide. Once regarded as back-office support units, these centres now drive complex innovation — from creating advanced automobile dashboards to leading pharmaceutical research. 4Continued on | P8 Naqvi gets cornered After 26/11, US said don’t start war, claims Chidambaram over trophy fiasco FP Online Haridev Pushparaj MUMBAI The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has put up a defiant stand and raised strong objections against the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President Mohsin Naqvi, also Pakistan’s Interior Minister, for India not receiving the Asia Cup trophy after the victory against Pakistan in Sunday’s final. As per reports, during the Council’s AGM held in Dubai on Tuesday, the BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla and former treasurer Ashish Shelar put up their defiance against Naqvi’s act on Sunday where he refused to budge on India’s position of not receiving the trophy from him but from an Emirates Cricket Board official. 4Continued on | P8 NEW DELHI Former Union home minister P Chidambaram on Monday, September 29, revealed that the then Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government decided not to launch military action against Pakistan after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks amid international pressure, especially from the United States. Chidambaram said that “retribution crossed my mind", but the government decided not to carry out any Retribution crossed my mind but... US said not to start war P Chidambaram Former Union home minister military action against the neighbouring country. The former union minister made these remarks during an interview with ABP. Notably, Chidambaram took charge as the Union Home Minister days after the attack. He said that the entire world told New Delhi not to "start a war." 4Continued on | P8