THE SUNDAY Vol. 36 No. 26 | Sunday, March 23, 2025 32 Pages | `5 & for Pune `6 only | Reg. No. MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 46955/1988 M.p.c.s. office Mumbai-400001 FREE PRESS JOURNAL Leader in E-paper circulation l www.freepressjournal.in ● EDITIONS: ● MUMBAI ● INDORE ● PUNE ● BHOPAL ● NASHIK ● KONKAN ● E-paper Weekend Impact of new BCCI rules on IPL PLAY & PAUSE TRIAL BY FIRE | Supreme Court uploads report, video of cash purported to be found in Justice Yashwant Varma’s residence Delhi HC CJ submits report, calls for a deeper probe Online Report CJI names 3-judge panel NEW DELHI In an unprecedented move, the Supreme Court on Saturday uploaded on its website the reports and documents, including photos and video, with respect to the allegations of the discovery of unaccounted currencies at the home of Justice Yashwant Varma, sitting judge of the Delhi High Court. The inquiry report of the Delhi High Court Chief Justice Chief Justice Upadhyay and the response of Justice Varma have also been made public, reports Live Law. The Supreme Court also publicised the videos and photographs shared by the Delhi Police regarding the fire-fighting operation in Justice Varma's residence on March 14, when he was not present in his home. The video appended to the report clearly shows sacks containing cash currencies, some of which are burnt. The report submitted by the Chief Justice states that the incident occurred on March 14 in a storeroom where access to any person other than those residing in the official bungalow of Justice Varma is not there. Chief Justice Upadhyay was informed by the Delhi Police Commissioner in the evening around 4:50 pm on March 15. CBI shuts Sushant death case Somendra Sharma MUMBAI The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed closure reports in two cases related to late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, (in pic) including the case related to his death in 2020, the agency officials said on Saturday. The closure report indicates that there was no foul play in his death. "Yes, closure reports have been filed in two cases related to Sushant Singh Rajput. The reports have been filed in a Mumbai court. At this moment, we will not be able to comment further," said a CBI source. Rajput (34), stayed in his sixth floor duplex flat in the Mont Blanc Apartments near the Joggers’ Park in Bandra,with two cooks and a house help. A friend, from the film industry, was staying with him temporarily, the police had then informed. 4Contd on | Nation Online report NEW DELHI Justice Varma as well. Based on this visit, the report was made. The Chief Justice of India has constituted a 3-member committee to conduct an inquiry into the allegations against Justice Yash- Sandhawalia want Varma, Judge of the Delhi High Court, as part of the inhouse procedure. T h e Sivaraman members of the Committee are - Justice Sheel Nagu, Chief Justice of the Punjab & Haryana High Court; Justice Sheel Nagu GS Sandhawalia, Chief Justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh; and Justice Anu Sivaraman, Judge of the High Court of Karnataka, say Live Law and Bar and Bench. 4Contd on | Nation 4Contd on | Nation VARMA DENIES ALLEGATIONS I state unequivocally that no cash was ever placed in that storeroom either by me or any of my family members and strongly denounce the suggestion the alleged cash belonged to us. The very idea or suggestion that this cash was kept or stored by us is totally preposterous. The suggestion that one would store cash in an open, freely accessible and commonly used storeroom near the staff quarters or in an outhouse verges on the incredible and incredulous. It is a room which is completely disassociated from my living areas and a boundary wall demarcates my living area from that outhouse. I only wish that the media had conducted some enquiry before I came to be indicted and defamed in the press. –Justice Varma (Pic: inset) Thereafter, the Chief Justice visited the spot of the incident in person with the Registrar of the High Court, where he met Costs to be recovered from rioters: Fadnavis Iron hand: Chief Minister says the properties of the rioters would be sold to compensate for the losses We work as per our own way. If needed it (bulldozers) will be used. If anything wrong is being done it will be crushed. Nobody will be spared. – Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra Chief Minister FPJ Political Bureau MUMBAI Visiting his hometown Nagpur for the first time after the March 17 violence, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis vowed to deal with the rioters with an iron hand. Talking tough, he said the state government would recover the cost of the properties damaged during the violence from those who indulged in the violence. Their properties would be seized and sold to recover the losses, if the perpetrators of violence failed to compensate. Speaking with media persons after assessing the situ- ation in a meeting with the senior police officers, the Chief Minister emphasized that strict action would be taken against those who attacked police officers during the unrest. The police officers needed to be intolerant towards such things in future. If not dealt with firmly it may become routine, he warned. When asked if the state wwould act against the rioters based on the Uttar Pradesh model of using bulldozers, Fadnavis said, "We work as per our own way. If needed it (bulldozers) will be used. If anything wrong is being done it will be crushed and nobody will be spared." Those who circulated inflammatory content would be charged as co-accused for their role in inciting violence, the Chief Minister said adding, that it was too early to comment on a foreign or Bangladeshi link to the riots as the probe was underway. Those who circulated inflammatory posts on social media that aggravated the situation would be made co-accused because they facilitated in instigating people. 4Contd on | Nation `2 lakh fine for court hearing from loo Online report AHMEDABAD The Gujarat High Court recently imposed costs of Rs2 lakh on a 42-year-old man who joined virtual court hearing from a lavatory. The order was passed by Justice M K Thakker who observed that the act was unacceptable and lowered the dignity of the Court, reports the Bar and Bench. "In such scenario, the indecent act is not only unaccept- able but it is a shameful and is required to be strictly condemned. If Courts do not deal with such a person with strong hands then, that may result (in) lowering the dignity of the institution in the eyes of public,"  the Court said in its order of March 5. The man, Dhavalbhai Kanubhai Ambalal Patel, who is the son of the respondent in a case, had joined virtual hearing from a lavatory on February 17. A viral video related to the incident prompted an Goodlife Unlock hibiscus beauty benefits Shanmuga Kumar on forests and conservation COURT SAYS... ...the indecent act is not only unacceptable but it is shameful and is required to be strictly condemned. If Courts do not deal with such a person with strong hands then, that may result (in) lowering the dignity of the institution. inquiry and a report was sought by the Court from Sola Police Station to identify the person in the video. The investigation revealed that on February 17, someone joined the court hearing using the name “Kanubhai” but behaved in an indecent manner, leading to his removal from the session. The individual attempted to rejoin, but since he appeared to be in a lavatory, he was disconnected again. Later, the same person rejoined using the another case number. 4Contd on | Nation Sunday Read MK Raina on his memoir and theatre Vinod Kumar Shukla bags Jnanpith award PTI Joint Action Committee seeks 25-year delimitation freeze NEW DELHI Eminent Hindi writer Vinod Kumar Shukla was on Saturday named the recipient of the 59th Jnanpith Award, India's highest literary honour. He will be the first writer from Chhattisgarh to receive it. The 88year-old short story writer, poet and essayist, considered one of the greatest contemporary writers in the language, is the 12th Hindi writer to receive the award. The award carries a cash reward of Rs 11 lakh, a bronze statue of Saraswati, the goddess of learning, and a citation. The decision was made during the meeting of 4Contd on | Nation N Chithra CHENNAI In a first major united show against population-based delimitation exercise, the southern States along with Punjab and Odisha sent out a clear message from Chennai to the Union Government on Saturday – freeze delimitation for the next 25 years. The first meeting of the Joint Action Committee on Fair Delimitation, convened by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin at a star hotel, saw the attendance of Chief Min- Tamil Nadu CM Stalin gets together Chief Ministers and leaders of 7 states to send out a strong message isters Pinarayi Vijayan (Kerala), Revanth Reddy (Telangana), Bhagwant Mann (Punjab); Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar; Biju Janata Dal president Naveen Patnaik (videoconferencing); and Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K.T. Rama Rao, among others. The meeting resolved that the current number of parliamentary constituencies in the country must be frozen based on the 1971 Census for a quarter of a century more. Originally, the delimitation was frozen till 2001 and later this was extended by another 25 years until the census to be carried out after 2026. In both instances, a Constitutional amendment was required.   4Contd on | Nation 4See also | Nation Shapeshifting malware: Enigma of arrival E arlier this month, the Karnataka government announced that of the 20,092 cases of cybercrime it registered in 2024, only 1,284 had been solved. One of the challenges that the state is facing, according to officials, is polymorphic malware. It is infecting never before. It is much worse than a malware. Simply put, a malware is a By invitation Gautam S Mengle software designed for malicious purposes. The term is used to describe everything, from an information stealing virus that silently removes sensitive data from your phone, to a ransomware that encrypts all your data and holds it to ransom. Earlier, hackers used basic techniques to change the signature of their malware, such as inserting random bits of code or renaming files inside the malware to disguise its true purpose. As these methods become known, adaptions were made to spot and neutralize them. In 2017, for example, the WannaCry ransomware attack crippled hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide, locking users out of their own systems and demanding ransom payments in cryptocurrency. 4Contd on | Nation