FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms FREE PRESS Vol. XLII No. 247 | INDORE | FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 13, 2026 | Pages 16 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. 38281/83 WORLD RADIO DAY www.freepressjournal.in ESTD-1983 iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: INDORE WORLD Sports WIN BIG, WARN LOUD P.14 BANGLADESH VOTES IN CRUCIAL POLL UJJAIN PUNE BHOPAL NASHIK MUMBAI E-paper Edit Case of the missing kids P.6 Cinema John Mayer’s magical Mumbai debut P.16 BIG PUSH | The go-ahead for the `3.60 lakh crore acquisition comes four days before French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to India The ‘Boat’ DAC CLEARS PURCHASE that refuses to drift away OF 114 RAFALE JETS PTI On the seventh day of the 10-day ‘Shiv-Navratri Festival’ at Mahakaleshwar Temple, the presiding deity was adorned in 'Manmahesh' form in Ujjain on Thursday FP Photo fp Briefs RAIPUR/BIJAPUR Forces raze Maoist memorials Security forces in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district on Thursday carried out antiMaoist operations during which they detected and destroyed improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and demolished memorial structures allegedly built by Maoists to honour their deceased leaders. The actions are part of ongoing efforts to restore normalcy. DORNIERS FROM HAL NEW DELHI The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on Thursday cleared capital acquisition proposals worth about Rs 3.60 lakh crore, including a longpending plan to procure 114 Rafale fighter jets under a gove r n m e n t- to - gove r n m e n t framework with France. The approval for the Rafale jets comes nearly 13 years after a similar acquisition was almost firmed up but could not be sealed. The decision was taken at a meeting of the DAC chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. Under the project, 18 aircraft will be supplied by Dassault Aviation in fly-away condition, while the remaining jets will be manufactured in India with over 50 per cent indigenous content to be met in phases, sources said. Though the defence ministry T did not disclose the cost of the Rafale procurement, it is expected to be in the range of Rs 2.90 lakh crore to Rs 3.15 lakh crore. The approval has come just four days ahead of French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to India. However, a formal contract is unlikely before the end of the year as the defence ministry will now negotiate with Dassault Aviation to finalise the cost and details of the weapons package. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will also have to give final approval to the programme. In April 2019, the Indian Air Force issued a Request for Information (RFI) to acquire 114 Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) at an estimated cost of USD 18 billion. The project was billed as one of the world’s biggest military procurement programmes in recent years. Other contenders included Lockheed Martin’s F-21, Boeing’s F/A-18 and the Eurofighter Typhoon. 4Continued on | P8 Nishikant Dubey opens gambit to expel Rahul Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has escalated its confrontation with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by filing a substantive motion in the Lok Sabha seeking his expulsion and permanent disqualification from contesting Woman accuses Uttam Swami of rape, demands security BJP MP wants Leader of Opposition disqualified permanently from contesting elections and sent out of Lok Sabha elections. The move comes a day after Gandhi’s sharp criticism of the government over the India–US interim trade deal, which he described as a “wholesale surrender” of national interests. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey submitted the notice to Speaker Om Birla, alleging that AI-171 CRASH Dhairya Gajara MUMBAI An Italian daily, Corriere della Sera, claiming that the final investigation report into last year’s Air India Flight AI-171 crash in Ahmedabad will fault the pilot, has triggered a storm Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL Close connections with MP Uttam Swami was born at Amarawati in Maharashtra. He has an Ashram at Banswara in Rajasthan. He has another Ashram in Salkanpur, MP, too. He has close connections with many people in MP, where the religious Guru has been active for 20 years. He is seen with many leaders of the BJP and the RSS. A few days ago, he met some senior leaders of the Congress, too. that after Swami had come to know that a complaint would be lodged against him, she began to receive threat calls. The purpose of such calls is to prevent her from lodging a complaint. 4Continued on | P8 Gandhi has consistently aligned with “anti-India forces” and deliberately undermined democratic institutions. Addressing the media, Dubey claimed Gandhi maintains links with organizations such as the Soros Foundation, Ford Foundation, and USAID, 4Continued on | P8 in aviation circles. While the Indian aviation community outright rejected the report as speculative and premature, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) clarified that the probe is still ongoing and that no final conclusions have been reached. The report, published on Tuesday, claimed that the AAIB was preparing to conclude that FP News Service NEW DELHI The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said India received an invitation from the United States to join the Board of Peace and is reviewing it. Addressing a weekly Media Briefing, MEA Official Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, "We have received an invitation from the US government to join the Board of Peace. We are currently reviewing this proposal and considering its implementation. India has consistently supported efforts to promote peace, stability, and dialogue in West Asia." He added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has welcomed all initiatives that pave the way for long-term and sustainable peace across Gaza. "As for the invitation from the Board of Peace, we are still in the process of reviewing it," The MEA also addressed concerns regarding recent revisions in the United States factsheet on the India-US interim trade agreement, emphasizing that the changes reflect “shared understandings” between the two nations. Jaiswal also underscored that the Joint Statement issued on February 7, 2026, remains the foundation of mutual understanding and cooperation. “The Joint Statement is the framework and continues to serve as the basis of our mutual understanding. Both sides will now work towards implementing this framework and finalising the Interim Agreement,” Jaiswal stated, adding that the amendments in the US document align with the spirit of the Joint Statement. The clarification comes after reports highlighted discrepancies between the initial US factsheet and India’s official statement. The White House subsequently released a revised version, softening language around India’s commitments. For instance, the original factsheet claimed India had “committed” to purchase over USD 500 billion worth of American goods, including agricultural products. The updated version replaced “committed” with “intends” and removed “agricultural” from the list, thereby easing concerns about binding obligations. Similarly, references to tariff reductions on “certain pulses” were deleted, preserving India’s protective stance on sensitive farm products. On digital trade, the earlier assertion that India would remove its digital services tax was dropped, with the revised version only noting India’s commitment to negotiate bilateral digital trade rules. 4Continued on | P8 Seattle to compensate `262 cr to student family AP The city of Seattle has reached a $29 million (roughly `262 crore) settlement with the family of a 23-year-old graduate student from India who was struck and killed by a speeding police officer in 2023. Jaahnavi Kandula was hit by Officer Kevin Dave, who was driving as fast as 119 kph in a 40-kph zone while re- sponding to a drug overdose call. He had his emergency lights on and had been using his siren at intersections. “Jaahnavi Kandula’s death was heartbreaking, and the city hopes this financial settlement brings some sense of closure to the Kandula family,” City Attorney Erika Evans said in a statement on Wednesday. “Jaahnavi Kandula’s life mattered. It mattered to her family, her friends and to our community,” Evans said. BANGLADESH MANDATE Sufia Chowdhury DHAKA As polling wound down at 4.30 pm on Thursday at a government residential college in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur, Nusrat Mahal was among the few voters still standing patiently in line. The sluggish pace told its own story. Voter turnout at the centre hovered below 50 per cent, a sharp drop from the usual 65–70 per cent recorded here in past elections. Across the capital, and much of Bangladesh, the enthusiasm that typically accompanies election day was muted. Fear, fatigue and political disillusionment appeared to have replaced the frenzy of campaigning by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its orthodox rival, Jamaat-e-Islami, along with Jamaat’s ally, Hefajat-e-Islam. The Awami League's boat symbol was missing from ballot papers in Bangladesh's general election for the first time in 30 years. “In the early hours there were hardly any voters,” Mahal said. “Those of us who live in Geneva Camp were worried. The army had been patrolling the streets all night, stopping vehicles. We thought there might be violence, so we waited to see how things unfolded.” Mahal’s family history mirrors one of Bangladesh’s most unresolved human tragedies. She is an Urdu-speaking descendant of refugees from Munger in India, who crossed into what was then Pakistan during the 1947 Partition. 4Continued on | P8 the aircraft’s fuel switches were manually turned off. It named the flight’s commander, Capt. Sumeet Sabharwal, as the “prime suspect” and suggested the act was “almost certainly intentional” rather than accidental. Citing sources within Western aviation agencies, the newspaper said Indian investigators had re-analysed “cleaned-up” cockpit voice recordings (CVR) at the National Transportation Safety Board laboratories in Washington in December. It claimed the audio analysis identified the pilot who moved the fuel control switches from the run to the cutoff position. According to the report, Western assessments suggested 4Continued on | P8 Delhi mulling invite to Board of Peace India is turning away from buying Russian oil: US offgrid SEATTLE FP Special Italian report blames pilot, AAIB terms it speculative An attack on Sanatan Dharma, says Swami A young woman has made allegations of rape against the religious Guru, Uttam Swami. Reacting to the allegations, Uttam Swami said it was an attack on Sanatan Dharma and a conspiracy to defame him. The woman sent a complaint to the deputy commissioner of police, Delhi, through an e-mail. Uttam Swami has political importance. These days, his religious preaching is underway in Jabalpur. The woman has sought security from the police, saying her life was in danger. She wrote to the police that Uttam Swami had sexually exploited her by taking her to different places. Besides raping the woman, he cheated her, and breached her trust. The woman wrote that she was in the process of lodging a formal complaint against Swami who had many followers. The woman further wrote he Ministry of Defence has signed a Rs 2,312 crore contract with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Transport Aircraft Division, Kanpur, for eight Dornier 228 aircraft with Operational Role Equipment for the Indian Coast Guard under the Buy (Indian) category. The Ministry said the programme will generate employment, strengthen HAL’s ecosystem, support MSMEs and create MRO opportunities. It reinforces Aatmanirbhar Bharat. Indian student Jaahanvi Kandula was killed by car being driven by speeding police officer in 2023 Kandula had been working toward a master’s degree in information systems at the Seattle campus of Northeastern University. Attorneys for Kandula’s family did not immediately respond to emails or phone calls seeking comment. The parties filed a notice of settlement in King County Superior Court last Friday. The local news website PubliCola first reported about the agreement. Kandula’s death sparked outrage and demonstrations, particularly after a recording from another officer’s body camera surfaced in which the officer laughed and suggested Kandula’s life had “limited value” and the city should “just write a check.” Diplomats from India sought an investigation into the incident. The city’s civilian watchdog later found that the comments by Officer Daniel Auderer, who was a union leader, damaged the department’s reputation and undermined public trust. Auderer was subsequently fired and has sued the city for wrongful termination. He said his remarks were intended to criticise how attorneys were likely to respond to the death. The police department also dismissed Officer Kevin Dave, the driver involved in the crash. 4Continued on | P8 Deeksha Pandey MUMBAI The Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs S. Paul Kapur told a US House subcommittee that India is gradually reducing its purchases of Russian oil. “The Indians have been reducing their purchases of Russian oil and diversifying away, which is what we wanted them to do. India has increased imports of US energy,” he said, suggesting that replacing Russian crude with American supplies, along with sourcing from other global producers, offered a viable path forward. At a hearing on South and Central Asia on Wednesday, Republican Congressman Keith Self raised concerns that ongoing Russian oil exports were continuing to bankroll Moscow’s war against Ukraine. “The sale of Russian oil continues to fund the Ukraine war,” Self said, pressing the administration on enforcement mechanisms. He asked, “How are you going to enforce or measure if India has stopped buying Russian oil?” and pointed to opaque trading practices such as thirdparty traders, blended cargoes, ship-to-ship transfers and socalled “ghost ships”, which are often used to mask the origin of crude. When pressed for clarity, Kapur avoided giving a direct answer, deflecting the question instead. He said, “I won’t be in the enforcement business. That will be, I think, probably my DOW colleagues, will be thinking about ships that are travelling around.”   acknowledged he did not have operational details. “I don’t know the details of how that’s going to be worked out. I’m happy to stay in touch with you about it,” Kapur said.  Despite the lack of specifics, Kapur told lawmakers that India has been “gradually shifting its sourcing strategy”. Kapur did not provide specific figures during the hearing but framed India’s evolving import mix as broadly aligned with US objectives.   He also highlighted ongoing defence cooperation. “We have also some potential purchases of weapons systems in the pipeline that will help India to protect itself better, 4Continued on | P8