FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms FREE PRESS Vol. XLII No. 45 | INDORE | WEDNESDAY | JULY 23, 2025 | Pages 16 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. 38281/83 www.freepressjournal.in Sports ICC women’s ODI rankings update P.14 ESTD-1983 iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: INDORE MONEY No revenue shortfall seen, aim to achieve deficit target: MoS Fin UJJAIN PUNE BHOPAL NASHIK MUMBAI Edit The curious case of Dhankhar P.6 Cinema ‘They treated me like a superstar’ P.16 DHANKHAR DEPARTURE | Prez accepts resignation, Oppn probes ‘deeper reasons’ SURPRISING EXIT, QUESTIONS ERUPT Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI As President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday accepted Jagdeep Dhankhar's resignation from the post of Vice President on India and the Union home ministry notifying his departure, the sudden decision triggered a firestorm of speculation on whether there was more to it than "to prioritise health care" as cited by the latter as reason for his surprise move. PM Narendra Modi wished him “good health”, and said in his message: “Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar Ji has got many opportunities to serve our country in various capacities, including as the Vice President of India.” But several opposition leaders raised doubts over why the lawyer-politician from Rajasthan actually stepped down and that too on the first day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament. Congress president and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge was reserved in his remarks. He said: “Only he (Dhankhar) knows the reason, We have nothing to say on this”. MP Manish Tewari said the "resignation remains somewhat of a riddle, which is at the moment wrapped in a mystery and rolled in an enigma.” However, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh expressed his apprehension that Dhankhar resigned after being slighted by some of his party colleagues. 4Continued on | P8 Push for Nitish as VP? “Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar Ji has got many opportunities to serve our country in various capacities, including as the Vice President of India. Wishing him good health.” Narendra Modi, Prime Minister ASI kills self, alleges harassment by cops Video of allegations goes viral, SP orders probe mid speculations over the next Vice President, a host of BJP leaders pitched for Bihar CM Nitish Kumar for the post. State ministers including Prem Kumar and Neeraj Kumar Bablu said it would be nice if Nitish was chosen. But senior JD(U) leader and minister Shravan Kumar said, “There is no question of Nitish Kumar leaving Bihar. He will lead the NDA to victory in assembly polls and enjoy another term in office.” A An assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of Gondan police station, Datia district, died by suicide after releasing a video exposing corruption in police department. ASI Pramod Pawan has made serious allegations of mental harassment and involvement in illegal activities against Gondan police station in-charge Arvind Bhadauria, Tharet police station in-charge Anfasul Hasan, constable driver Rupnarayan Yadav and constable Arvind Yadav. In the video, Pramod Pawan can be heard saying that he was opposing irregularities going on at the police station regarding gambling, satta and illegal sand mining for the past several days, due to which he was being harassed. As soon as the information of the incident was received, senior police officers and FS team reached the spot. The body was sent for postmortem, and officials have launched an investigation into both the suicide and the serious allegations made by the deceased officer. Osbourne dead: Ozzy Osbourne, the gloomy, demon-invoking lead singer of band Black Sabbath died Tuesday, just weeks after his farewell show. He was 76. Sibi removed from CM Secretariat 4Continued on | P8 BHOPAL: Sibi Chakravarthy has been removed as Secretary, Chief Minister. He will continue to function as MD, Madhya Pradesh Building Development Corporation. The buzz is this that Sibi failed to strike chord with CM and after arrival of Additional Chief Secretary, Neeraj Mandloi at CM Secretariat, changes have started to take place. Earlier Alok Singh was brought as Secretary, CM Secretariat. Agencies An Air India A321 plane's auxiliary power unit caught fire after landing at the Delhi airport on Tuesday afternoon. There was some damage to the aircraft, but passengers and crew members disembarked normally and are safe, an AI spokesperson said in a statement. "Flight AI 315, operating from Hong Kong to Delhi, experienced an auxiliary power unit (APU) fire shortly after it had landed and parked at the gate. The incident occurred n Senior ministers are believed to have met PM Modi and huddled in the office of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. n BJP MPs in RS were summoned and asked to sign a motion on the Justice Varma issue, sources said. n Some observers feel that Dhankhar, who had taken lead in taking on the judiciary over a host of issues, might have felt left out when it appeared that the motion was to be piloted in the Lok Sabha. IANS NEW DELHI Madhya Pradesh government has opposed the separation of OBC reservation of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh during hearing in the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The government further said that SC had provided relief to CG for implementation of 58 per cent OBC reservation and it is expected the same for Madhya Pradesh to clear way for recruitment. The petitioners said that cases in both the states are different. In Chhattisgarh there is 58 per cent OBC reservation while in Madhya Pradesh an act for 27 per cent OBC reservation (previously 14 per cent), has been passed in 2019 while 13 per cent posts in the government are still on hold. In CG, the state government had issued notification for 58 per cent OBC reservation in 2012 but the HC had rejected it saying that reservation cannot exceed the 50 per cent mark. The Election Commission of India has uncovered significant discrepancies in B i h a r ’s voter rolls as part of its ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, revealing that over 52 lakh electors are either deceased, have shifted constituencies, or are enrolled in multiple locations. The findings, released in a press note dated July 22, underscore the scale of the clean-up ahead of the draft electoral roll publication scheduled for August 1. The SIR process has mobilised an extensive network of nearly one lakh Booth Level Officers (BLOs), four lakh volunteers, and 1.5 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs) appointed by district presidents of 12 major political parties. Their coordinated effort aims to en- 4Continued on | P8 According to the Commission, 18.66L voters have been confirmed deceased 26.01L Have permanently shifted to other constituencies 7.5L Are enrolled at more than one location. sure that all eligible voters are accurately represented in the upcoming draft roll. An additional 11,484 electors remain untraceable. These anomalies represent 6.62 per cent of Bihar’s total electorate, which stood at 7.89 crore as of June 24, 2025. 4Continued on | P8 Gita Gopinath, the First Deputy Managing Director (FDMD) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), will be stepping down from her role in August 2025 to return to academia at Harvard University, the IMF announced. Gopinath, a trailblazer in international economics, will be taking on the role of the inaugural Gregory and Ania Coffey Professor of Economics at Harvard. The IMF’s Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva confirmed Gopinath’s departure and said a successor will be named “in due course.” Gopinath first joined the IMF in 2019 as Chief Economist, becoming the first woman to hold the position. Her leadership during a time of extraordinary global economic upheaval, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting macroeconomic disruptions, was widely recognised. In January 2022, she was promoted to First Deputy Managing Director, the Fund’s No. 2 position. In a post on X, Gopinath reflected on her nearly sevenyear tenure at the Fund and expressed gratitude for the opportunity to serve at one of the world's foremost financial institutions. The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay the "QR" code directive for eateries along Kanwar Yatra route in UP, Uttarakhand and directed all hotel owners along the route to display their licences and registration certificates in line with the statutory requirements. KANWAR YATRA If one hotel was earlier serving nonvegetarian, and for the purpose of better business they serve only vegetarian during the yatra, it will be an issue for the consideration of the consumer. The choice is of the consumer. Consumer is the king NEW DELHI 4Continued on | P8 4Continued on | P8 Kanwariyas gather to collect the Ganga water on eve of conclusion of Kanwar Yatra during the holy month of Shravan, at Har Ki Pauri, in Haridwar Uttarakhand Quality data centre gets Cabinet nod CM declares Tanvi the Great tax-free in MP Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL BHOPAL In a big leap towards data storage, the state cabinet on Tuesday approved the data strengthening scheme on Tuesday. Under this, a quality data centre will be established in the state, which will serve necessary data to government departments and help in making schemes or plans accordingly. This data centre will be one of the best in the country.  Recently, chief minister Mohan Yadav visited Spain where he saw a world level data centre and was highly impressed. After this, the state government decided to have its own high quality data centre. The cabinet also approved the proposal to renovate Gan- while passengers had begun disembarking, and the APU was automatically shut down as per system design," the statement noted. "The aircraft has been grounded for further investigations and the regulator has been duly notified," the spokesperson added. ‘Fuel switch check done, no issues’ ecalling that it was from the soil of Bihar that he had resolved to launch Operation Sindoor after the Pahalgam terror attack, PM Modi said in Motihari: "This is a new India - an India that spares no effort in punishing the enemies, mobilizing forces from both land and sky." R n It went against the government's plan to introduce the motion in the Lok Sabha and Dhankhar's move risked diluting its stand. Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL PTI AI flight catches fire after Delhi landing NEW DELHI n The government was apparently upset after Dhankhar accepted the opposition MPs' proposal against Justice Varma. EC set to trim 52L names from Bihar voters list SC directs eateries to display licences, registration WASHINGTON FP News Service but developments on Monday suggest faultlines were exposed over the motion to remove Justice Varma. Gita Gopinath to step down from IMF, set to Says ‘Consumer rejoin Harvard is the king’ IANS DATIA MP-CG’s OBC quota: State PRESSURE opposes POINTS? separate Why Dhankhar decided hearing to quit is still not clear, ‘NO PROBLEMS FOR FARMERS’ Our Staff Reporter dhi Sagar hydel power plant and Rana Pratap Sagar hydel power plant, Rajasthan. The project is a joint venture of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The estimated cost for renovation of five units (5x23 MW) of Gandhi Sagar hydel power plant is Rs 464.55 crore. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Tuesday announced that the Hindi film ‘Tanvi the Great’ will be tax-free in Madhya Pradesh. The Chief Minister made the announcement after watching the movie in a special screening on Tuesday. Yadav watched the film alongside veteran actor Anupam Kher, who directed the movie. Actress Shubhangi Dutt and child artist Viraj Aggarwal were also present during the screening. The Chief Minister praised Kher and his team for creating a purpose-driven film with a strong message. Kher called on Chief Minister Yadav at CM house and also presented his book Different but No Less to him. Directed by Kher, 4Continued on | P8 4Continued on | P8 uring the cabinet meeting, CM Mohan Yadav asked ministers to ensure uninterrupted fertilizer supply to farmers in their districts. He instructed that farmers should not face any problems in getting fertilizers. D n SC Bench SC flags gaps in NCLT bench postings, seeks plan from Centre Our Staff Reporter INDORE The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed concern over irregularities in the appointment and posting of members to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) benches across India, particularly highlighting the absence of fulltime judicial and technical members at the Indore bench. ‘There's an application filed by High Court Bar Association, Indore... it's disturbing... it says no full time judicial/technical member is posted at the NCLT Indore bench...(we) don't want to make it part of judicial order today. (But) something needs to be done to regulate transfers and postings in NCLT. There's a very deep problem,’ a bench comprising of Justice Surya Kant and Justice N Kotiswar Singh orally remarked to Attorney General R Venkataramani during a hearing on a batch of petitions concerning vacancies and appointments in various tribunals. The court's observation came in response to an application filed by the High Court Bar Association, Indore, which alleged that the NCLT bench in the city is functioning without any full-time judicial or technical members. While the apex court refrained from making these remarks part of its official order, it emphasised the urgency of the issue and directed the Union government and the President of NCLT to explore the posting of at least one judicial and one technical member at the Indore bench. A compliance report is to be submitted. 4Continued on | P8 ITAT denies Cong ₹199 cr tax relief FPJ Online MUMBAI The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal on Monday dismissed an appeal by the Congress party seeking tax exemption for the income of ₹199.15 crore during the assessment year 2018-19. The Tribunal rejected the party's claim for exemption on the ground that there was a violation of the conditions in Section 13A of the Income Tax Act, LiveLaw reported. The returns were filed late, the ITAT noted. "The assessee's return filed on 02.02.2019 is not within the 'due' date to make it eligible for the impugned exemption," ruled the coram of Judicial Member Satbeer Singh Godara and Accountant Member M Balaganesh. The Congress party had filed its income tax return on February 2, 2019, declaring nil income after claiming Section 13A exemption of ₹199.15 crore. However, this was filed after the extended due date of December 31, 2018, prescribed under Section 139 of the Income Tax Act for the assessment year 2018-19. The tribunal dismissed the party’s claim for exemption due to late filing of I-T returns and violations of cash donation limits During scrutiny proceedings initiated in September 2019, the Assessing Officer discovered that the party had received ₹14.49 lakh in cash donations exceeding ₹2,000 from various individuals. Section 13A(d), inserted by Finance Act 2017, mandates that political parties receive donations above ₹2,000 only through banking channels like account payee cheques or electronic transfers. The party's total receipts for the year were ₹199.15 crore against expenses of ₹197.43 crore, showing a surplus of only ₹1.71 crore. However, the assessment order dated July 6, 2021 denied the entire exemption claim, making the full receipt amount taxable. 4Continued on | P8