Vol. 67 No. 235 | WEDNESDAY | JULY 3, 2024 | 27 Pages | `5 & for Pune `6 only Reg.No MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 1541/1957 M.p.c.s office Mumbai. PIN 400001 THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL LATE CITY EDITION www.freepressjournal.in NATION INDIA bloc govt will scrap EVMs, Agniveer scheme, says Akhilesh EDITIONS: MUMBAI INDORE PUNE BHOPAL NASHIK KONKAN E-paper WORLD Member: Audit Bureau of Circulation (Jan to Dec 2023) Cinema Girls Will Be Girls wins Grand Jury Prize at IFFL Nepal PM Prachanda refuses to quit despite looming coalition government Edit It is too early to judge the new laws HATHRAS TRAGEDY | Devotees scrambled to leave the ‘satsang’ due to overcrowding and heat after the sermon concluded; 108 women among dead, preacher missing 116 crushed in mad rush Biswajeet Banerjee LUCKNOW A devastating stampede snuffed out the lives of more than 116 devotees, including 108 women and 7 children, at a religious gathering in Hathras district (UP). The tragedy occurred as the ‘devotees’scrambled to leave the venue which was swarming with people. The excessive heat and the overcrowding added to the impulse to rush out after a sermon by religious preacher Bhole Baba concluded. The incident has sparked widespread outrage and grief, with authorities launching an investigation into the causes of the stampede. The preacher is untraceable. There were heart-rending scenes at the district trauma centre. Victims, both unconscious and dead, were carted to the centre in ambulances, trucks and cars. A woman sat crying among five or six bodies in a truck, urging people to help her get the body of her daughter out of the vehicle. As the hours went by and the official fatalities jumped, the crowd outside the trauma centre and the mortuary swelled. Twenty-seven bodies were brought to Etah district hospital and 75 to Hathras. Twelve of the deceased in Etah have been identified. The exact number of the injured is not yet known, but many have been hospitalized. Some were seen lying outside a government hospital, a wire agency reported. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi have expressed their condolences. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered an investigation Bhole Baba is not so bhole FPJ News Service HATHRAS Victims of the Hathras' stampede at a Trauma Centre at Sikandra Rao. PIC: PTI into the incident and directed the Additional Director General of Police and Commissioner to submit a report within 24 hours. Preliminary findings suggest that high humidity, suffo- cation and discomfort in the crowded venue led to the stampede. The event was held in a makeshift canopy, which was full to the brim. 4Contd on | Nation Bhole Baba – the self-styled godman whose ‘satsang’ witnessed the stampede – claims to be a former employee of the Intelligence Bureau (IB). Local residents, however, said he left his job in the state police 17 years ago to become a preacher. Suraj Pal, or Bhole Baba, as he is called by followers, hails from Bahadur Nagar in the Patiyali area of Kasganj district. According to a devotee, Bhole Baba had no religious mentor and soon after he took HOW IT HAPPENED: Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that after the event, when the preacher was coming down from the dais, a crowd of devotees suddenly swarmed towards him for his ‘spiritual’ touch. However, this is when the 'sevadars' stopped them and the situation veered out of control. Another version is that the stampede occurred when the sevadars stopped people from leaving the venue, so that the preacher and his retinue could leave first. An eyewitness said outside the venue the road is at a height with a drain below. One after the other, people started falling into it. Some got crushed in the melee. LATE NEWS: PERMISSION WAS GIVEN FOR 80,000 PERSONS. PM lashes out at ‘juvenile’ Gandhi Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar ON HINDU REMARKS: People will not forgive (them) for centuries… Hindu is tolerant. A conspiracy was hatched to falsely accuse Hindus. It was said that Hindus are violent. This is your character, thinking and hatred. NEW DELHI The Lok Sabha on Tuesday witnessed unprecedented din on the Opposition benches marred by incessant sloganeering, a prime minister who ignored the cacophony and went on relentlessly, dwelling on what he dubbed were Rahul’s juvenile outpourings, even as a visibly livid Speaker tried to restrain an unbridled opposition. Ignoring the commotion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeted the Congress and the INDIA bloc for having a divisive agenda and harped on its failure to win the Lok Sabha elections despite recourse to lies and a false narrative. In his reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address to both Houses of Parliament, PM Modi specifically attacked Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi for churning out ‘‘lies’’ about the Agniveer scheme and mini- ON DISPLAY OF ICONS: Citizens are hurt by display of photos of the icons. They have insulted our gods. Jinke darshan hote hain, unke pradarshan nahi hote. JUVENILE CONDUCT: PM bemoans balak buddhi [child-like intelligence] of Gandhi without referring to him by name. PM Modi uses wit and analogies to make his point PIC: PTI mum support price. Winding up the two-day discussion, Modi charged that the Congress was brazenly “arrogant,” even though it had not been able to cross the threshold of 100 seats for the third consecutive time. In zest, he likened Gandhi to a child who celebrated his 99 marks, even though those were secured not out of 100 but out of 543. 4Contd on | Nation A child was distributing sweets after getting 99 marks in an exam, but did not reveal that he got 99 out of 543, not out of 100. Another child came back from school crying because he was beaten up, but didn’t tell his worried mother that he was the one to abuse someone in school, tear a child’s book and steal someone’s tiffin. voluntary retirement, he had a 'vision;' since then he was engaged in spiritual pursuits. He normally hosts 'satsangs' every Tuesday and held a similar event in Mainpuri district last week. While his following extends to Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, both the preacher and his acolytes maintain a distance from the media. He does not have any official accounts on any platform.  Baba also does not wear saffron robes, preferring a white suit, occasionally withj a tie. His other preferred attire is kurta-pyjama. During the Covid pandemic, he had sought permission for hosting a ‘satsang’ in Farrukhabad district. According to one of the versions, on Tuesday the stampede occurred after servitors of Bhole Baba stopped people from leaving the venue, so that the preacher and his retinue could leave first. Since the stampede, Bhole Baba has been untraceable. According to media sources, he is on the run. Rahul expunged PTI Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has in a letter to Speaker Om Birla protested against the expunging of some of his remarks made dur- NEW DELHI India's markets regulator SEBI has issued Hindenburg Research a show cause notice for alleged "unfair trade practices" in its 2023 report against the Adani Group. The firm has dismissed the notice as 'nonsense' and an attempt to 'silence and intimidate' those exposing corruption. The Securities and Exchange Board of India, in the June 26 show cause notice, had charged Hindenburg of "deliberately sensationalising and distorting certain facts" in the January 2023 report on the Adani group as well as working with a New York hedge fund to make its bet. A show-cause notice is often a precursor to formal legal action that may include imposing financial penalties 4Contd on | Nation Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI ing the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address on Monday. He insists that his speech conveyed the “ground reality and the factual position” and charged that “taking off my considered remarks goes against the very tenets of Parlia- Insists he conveyed ground reality, says expunction against tenets mentary democracy”. Gandhi had during his speech attacked the ruling BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh and the government for the ham-handed manner in which it imple- mented the Agniveer scheme and failed to curb paper leak in NEET and other important examinations. Some of his remarks pertaining to all these issues were expunged. 4Contd on | Nation 2nd city tree fatality Mumbai: Yet another tree collapse fatality was reported in the city on Tuesday – the second in 24 hours. A 57-year-old woman died after a banyan tree fell on her near the ST depot in Parel. The incident took place on Sayani road at 10 pm on Tuesday. As per civic officials, the tree was uprooted by the high velocity wind. She was immediately rescued by the locals and rushed to KEM hospital in Parel. However, Mestry succumbed to her injuries. "The tree was 30 years old and had been trimmed. The lady was a ragpicker and must have been squatting at the spot when the tree collapsed," said a civic official. Car falls into pit, 5 die Pune: Five persons from Telangana were killed and another injured on Tuesday when the car they were travelling in veered off the road and fell into a roadside drainage pit along the Pune-Solapur highway in Pune district. Six persons, all in their late 20s, were travelling in the car from Mumbai to Telangana. Prima facie, the driver lost control on a slippery road amid heavy rain. ‘93 blasts suspect held after 31 years Aishwarya Iyer MUMBAI The Rafi Ahmed Kidwai (RAK) Marg police have re-arrested a suspect from the 1993 Mumbai Blasts after his disappearance 31 years ago. The accused, now 65, was first arrested when he was 31. Identified as Sayyad Nadir Shah Abbas Khan, the suspect was first arrested in 1993 by the RAK Marg police under sections of rioting, and attempted murder, among others. He was arrested along with his other partners, who were involved in the blasts. After the arrest, Khan was sent to judicial custody, from where  he got out on bail by some pretext. When the court summoned Khan for the next hearing, he did not attend. Despite multiple searches, he remained missing, prompting the court to declare him absconding. As per Khan’s 31-year-old record, he resided in Sewri, on Sakharam Lanjekar Marg area. When police visited this location to inquire about Khan, his family and relatives at Ismail Building refused to divulge any information, despite repeated attempts. 4Contd on | Nation Danve, leader of Oppn in Council suspended Rucha Kanolkar MUMBAI Hindenburg dubs notice as “nonsense” STATE MISHAPS Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council Ambadas Danve has been suspended for five days following an incident of alleged abusive behaviour in the House. This development has intensified the already heated political climate, with both the ruling party and the opposition becoming increasingly aggressive. The suspension, announced by Deputy Chairperson Neelam Gorhe, came in the wake of a contentious altercation that occurred in the Legislative Council on Monday. Following the announcement, the atmosphere in the House grew tense as opposition members were allowed to voice their concerns. However, when Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis objected, further 4Contd on | Nation off-grid Uddhav’s Man Friday makes political debut S Balakrishnan MUMBAI The 57-year-old Man Friday of Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, Milind Narvekar, received a huge boost on Tuesday when he filed his nomination for the state legislative council election in the presence of Thackeray Sr, Aaditya Thackeray, ex-CM Prithviraj Chavan and other senior leaders. This is the second time  a PA has been vested  with a political role. Dilip Valse-Patil was an assis- tant to Sharad Pawar for several years. He was later rewarded with a seat in the assembly and a ministerial post. Indications are that Narvekar too may get a ministerial berth if the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) recaptures power during the upcoming assembly polls. Narvekar started off as a ‘karyakarta’ of the Shiv Sena in the 80s, from Kandivli. During the course of his political work, he used to visit ‘Matoshree’, the Thackeray residence in Bandra east. The late Bal Milind Narvekar, the Shiv Sena UBT chief’s righthand man, files nomination for legislative council poll; may land ministerial berth should MVA return to power Thackeray, who had by then decided to groom Uddhav as his successor, was on the lookout for a good personal assis- tant for his son. Noticing a spark in Milind, he recruited him. After this, there was no looking back for Milind.  A low-profile person, he quickly learnt the ropes of Sena politics. He precisely understood the working style of father and son and quickly adapted to the Matoshree environment, it being an important power centre of Mumbai, frequently visited by the who’s who of politics, industry, trade unions, culture and sports. Milind cultivated and endeared himself to them. At the same time, he gained the trust of the Thackerays and became their go-to man.  Gradually, Milind became a power centre within Matoshree, beung approached by party office-bearers and cadres for favours. During elections, he was the most sought-after man by party workers, who mobbed him for party tickets to contest the civic, assembly and parliamentary polls. Whenever the party faced a crisis – like when Narayan Rane quit or Raj Thackeray raised the banner of revolt, Milind stood like a rock behind the leadership.  4Contd on | Nation fp Briefs CJI won’t comment Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, refused to say anything regarding the three new Criminal Acts which came into effect July 1, 2024, saying issues pertaining to these laws are pending before the top court. "These are issues are sub judice before the Supreme Court and maybe the other high courts as well. Therefore, I should not be speaking on anything likely to come up before the court." Earlier, the Supreme Court had refused to entertain a PIL challenging the new criminal laws saying that the laws were not in force. On May 19, the Supreme Court dismissed another PIL challenging the new criminal laws, saying that the petition was drafted in a casual manner. Neet PG paper prior to exam The NEET PG exam date will be announced by end of the week and it is likely to be conducted in August. The question paper will be prepared just a few hours before the exam. The entire process will be overseen by and expert panel headed by a former ISRO official. Bihar moves SC on quota The Bihar government has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Patna High Court verdict that has set aside the amended reservation laws in the state, which enabled the Nitish Kumar government to increase the quotas for Dalits, tribals and backward classes from 50 per cent to 65 per cent. In its June 20 verdict, the high court declared that the amendments, were "ultra vires" of the Constitution and "bad in law".