THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL Vol. 67 No. 237 | FRIDAY | JULY 5, 2024 | 28 Pages | `5 & for Pune `6 only www.freepressjournal.in Briefs Plea against NEET retest Over 50 successful Gujarat-based NEET-UG candidates, including several who have been ranked first, have moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to restrain the Centre and the National Testing Agency from cancelling the controversyridden exam. They have sought a direction from the top court to the Union Education Ministry to probe, identify and take strict action against students and others who indulged in unfair practices like paper leak and impersonation in the NEET-UG exam conducted on May 5 this year. The fresh plea by 56 students has been filed days before a top court bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud is scheduled to hear as many as 26 petitions seeking reliefs like re-test and probe into the conduct of the examination plagued by allegations of malpractices. MUMBAI INDORE The Congress has written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, flagging "inaccuracies" in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address while replying to the Motion of Thanks to the President's address. The Opposition has also flagged Hamirpur MP and former Union minister Anurag Thakur's speech. SMOKING GUN: In a stunning claim that he has called a "smoking gun", senior lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani has alleged that a businessman with Chinese links had commissioned the report by short-seller Hindenburg Research which led to shares of Adani Group firms taking a hit. NASHIK KONKAN E-paper Member: Audit Bureau of Circulation (Jan to Dec 2023) Cinema Justin to perform at AnantRadhika’s sangeet ceremony Edit The TISS Story: Is Mumbai Being De-Intellectualised? T20 TSUNAMI | Ocean of fans wait by the sea for hours, braving rain & shine, for Team India to show up BUMRAH IS 8TH WONDER of all homecomings DANCING AT WANKHEDE BHARATMATA Virat Kohli praised Jasprit Bumrah, India's player of the tournament, saying, "I'll sign the petition for Jasprit Bumrah to be the eighth wonder of the world right now." The crowd at Wankhede cheered in agreement. The celebrations at Wankhede were marked by Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma dancing on the field. Later, the players engaged with the fans, distributing signed balls and taking selfies, much to their delight. KILLING FIELDS OF KALWA HOSPITAL - II 21 newborns lost their lives in June S Balakrishnan & Prashant Narvekar THANE PM’s Russia visit in July Congress flags ‘inaccuracies’ BHOPAL Conservatives could plunge to a record low of less than 127 seats in UK polls Haridev Pushparaj PM Narendra Modi will visit Russia from July 8 to 9 for the 22nd India-Russia annual summit that will review the entire range of multifaceted ties between the two countries, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has announced. PM Modi will later travel to Austria, which will be the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to that country in 41 years, it said. It will also be PM Modi's first visit to Russia in nearly five years. His last visit was in 2019 when he attended an economic conclave in the Far East city of Vladivostok. So far, 21 annual summits have taken place alternately in India and Russia. PUNE WORLD NATION Out on bail, Hemant Soren back as Jharkhand Chief Minister fp EDITIONS: Reg.No MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 1541/1957 M.p.c.s office Mumbai. PIN 400001 MUMBAI MUMBAI NEVER LETS YOU DOWN he Wankhede Stadium was shrieking with joy as Rohit Sharma stepped onto the field. But such was the din that his attempt to address the crowd was drowned in a cacophony of deafening cheers. "Mumbai never disappoints. On behalf of the team, we would like to thank the fans,’’ said Rohit Sharma to the applauding fans. As he spoke, he made it a point to praise his teammate Hardik Pandya, which elicited chants of "Hardik, Hardik" from the frenzied crowd. A visibly moved Hardik stood up and acknowledged the fans, adding to the euphoria. It was a moment of redemption for him as he had been jeered and heckled at the same venue. T If ever there was a homecoming to epitomise homecomings, this was it! India knows how to put out a hero’s welcome and when it comes to world champions, all the stops are pulled out, evidence of which was on display at Marine Drive. It was literally a traffic-stopping phenomenon, bringing a much-driven south Mumbai to a halt for several hours. A World Cup was coming home after 13 years and how could the country miss the opportunity to let the world know what it meant to them? The rain gods too showered their blessings on this momentous occasion. Tens of thousands of people were gathered on both sides of the iconic ‘Queen’s Necklace’, brandishing all the Team India paraphernalia they could muster, starting from 3pm or so. People from all walks of life, across all age groups, united by their love for the team, stood and waited. However, their champs were late to the party. Minutes turned to hours and it was 7.30pm by the time before they rewarded their devotees with a darshan. They do say all good things take time. Rohit Sharma and his men touched down in the city a little after 5pm on Thursday, after their Vistara flight got the famous ‘water salute’ on landing at Terminal 2 of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, which thankfully enough, held its own. The Indian team had flown in from New Delhi around 3.42pm, having breakfasted with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after their return from Barbados in the wee hours of the morning.      Finally, the T20 world champions burst in on the scene at Marine Drive, in the promised open bus. Skipper Rohit Sharma and outgoing coach Rahul Dravid waved jubilantly to the throngs and the bus trundled on towards its eventual destination: Wankhede Stadium. An excited Suryakumar Yadav was seen posing for the shutterbugs while animatedly acknowledging fans looking out for him and his victorious brethren. As per the official itinerary, the two-hour open bus parade – from the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) in Nariman Point to Wankhede Stadium – started a little after 7.30pm, with a sea of humanity waiting by the sea. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the team, experiencing adulation of this order from the teeming multitudes and they savoured every moment of it. Delayed though the victory parade was, this time, the procession started after dusk, unlike the 2007 event, which had been a daytime affair. The night parade added an extra dimension, with the bright lights of Marine Drive ensuring that the spectacle would peak by the time it reached Wankhede Stadium. BOYS MEET MR INDIA An unwritten rule is that trophies or medals won by teams or individuals are supposed to be touched by only those who have won them. In keeping with the convention, when the Indian team posed for pictures with PM Modi, the latter didn't touch the T20 World Cup trophy, and only held the hands of Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid. As many as 21 newborn babies died last month in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the government’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital in Kalwa, Thane district. This is the same hospital where 18 patients had died in a span of 24 hours in December 2023. Incidentally, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s home turf is Thane; he had visited the hospital in 2023 and ordered its revamp. But little seems to have changed since then. When contacted by The FPJ on Thursday, the hospital dean, Dr Rakesh Barot, confirmed the 21 deaths (six septic and 15 non-septic). He said the numbers were not alarming, considering the fact that most Andheri flyover slab falls on car Shefali Parab-Pandit MUMBAI Rohit dedicated the trophy to the entire nation and the fans, who have waited for 11 years. Virat Kohli of the neonates were brought to the hospital in a critical state, after efforts to save them in private hospitals had failed.  Head of the paediatric department Dr Jayesh Panot said, “Most of the children concerned were the ones who did not receive treatment in the golden minute, which is the minute just after birth. 4Contd on | Nation Manned deep space and sea missions by ’25 Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI the WEH to minimise traffic lights for vehicles moving towards Vile Parle and Bandra. "The flyover, built by the Public Works Department in 1990, was transferred to the BMC by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) in 2022. Constructed under a build-operate-transfer model, the space under the bridge was intended for commercial use, but construction temporarily ceased due to litigation. We have informed the concerned contractor about the incident and instructed them to carry out necessary steps to avoid further mishaps," said a senior civic official. India’s first human space mission Gaganyaan, for which four astronauts have been selected, and the first Deep Sea mission, with a crew of three, will both take place by 2025, Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said on Thursday. Singh, while speaking at a media event, said four astronauts – of which three are Group Captains and one Wing Commander -- have been selected for Gaganyaan. The four group captains are Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, Ajit Krishnan, and Angad Pratap; the wing commander is Shubanshu Shukla. The Gaganyaan mission aims at sending a manned three-day mission to space, which will orbit 400 km above Earth before returning. Similarly, Samudrayaan', the initiative of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, 4Contd on | Nation 4Contd on | Nation 4Contd on | Nation I couldn't connect with emotions of seniors who cried that night (after 2011 World Cup triumph) but now I do. This is the first time in 15 years that I have seen Rohit show so much emotion. CM Shinde had ordered a total revamp of the govt-run medical facility on his home turf Thane after 18 deaths in 24 hours in December 2023 A slab from a flyover in Andheri fell on the bonnet of a moving car on Thursday afternoon. Fortunately, no injuries were reported. The incident occurred around 3:20 p.m. on the Western Express Highway (WEH) near Gundavali Metro Station. The civic officials of K East ward, the Mumbai Fire brigade and police rushed to the spot and the area was cordoned off. However, officials clarified that the fallen slab was a commercial structure under the bridge, not a part of the bridge itself. The Andheri flyover was one of the flyovers built over off-grid Hands off Baba; for now, heat on sevadars Biswajeet Banerjee LUCKNOW In a significant development in the Hathras stampede case, the police have arrested six ‘sevadars’, including two women, associated with the organizing committee. It is understood that the members of the organising committee would oversee the crowd management and did not allow the local administration to take up the job; they were also responsible for collecting donations. Apart from this a reward of Rs1 lakh has been announced for the arrest of the main organizer, identified as Dev Prakash Madhukar. However, the police have not yet questioned Bhole Baba, the main protagonist behind the satsang. According to Aligarh range IG Shalabh Mathur, they will question the baba, if need be. "We will make arrests based on what the investigation reveals... We will question the baba, if necessary. It is too early to say or comment whether he has a role. He has not been named in the FIR, which has held the organizers responsible. The permission was taken by the organizing committee, and members of the panel have been arrested," said IG Mathur. He said SOG teams have been deployed across all districts at the zone level to identify and apprehend the remaining accused. Evidence collected from the scene is being incorporated into the ongoing investigation. Four of the arrested sevadars are residents of Hthras and the rest hail from Mainpuri. Mathur said the sevadars have revealed that the stampede occurred when a crowd surged towards Baba's vehicle to collect his ‘charan ki dhool’ but the sevadars intervened, causing a commotion and the ensuing chaos. He said these sevadars often obstructed police from taking photos and videos of the event and were known for their aggressive behaviour. 4Contd on | Nation CJI’s caution call as markets surge Agencies MUMBAI Security personnel keep vigil outside the 'ashram' of preacher Surajpal alias Bhole Baba in Kasganj. PIC: PTI Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Thursday advised market regulator SEBI and the Securities Appellate Tribunal to exercise caution amid a significant surge in equity markets and pitched for more tribunal benches to ensure that the "backbone is stable". Inaugurating the new SAT premises, CJI Chandrachud pitched for authorities to consider opening up new benches of the SAT given the higher workloads because of higher quantum of transactions and newer regulations. Referring to newspaper articles calling the crossing of the 80,000 points milestone by the BSE as an ecstatic moment, where India is entering a "stratospheric domain", the CJI pointed out that such events 4Contd on | Nation