eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE More Than Sushi AHMEDABAD,LATECITY AUGUST24,2025 Ramen bars, kawaii-themed cafés: India is in the middle of a Japanese dining boom 14+4PAGES,`6.00 ‘NO U.S. PRESIDENT CONDUCTED FOREIGN POLICY SO PUBLICLY’ GUJARAT PATIDAR AGITATION: A FIGHT FOR RESERVATION SYRIAN NATIONAL DETAINED FOR ‘COLLECTING FUNDS IN NAME OF GAZA’ PAGES 4, 3 After ED, CBI moves against Anil Ambani with ‘`2,929-cr bank fraud’ case Selectively singledout... deniesall charges:His spokesperson MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL NEW DELHI, AUGUST 23 THE CENTRAL Bureau of Investigation(CBI)Saturdayfiled a case against industrialist Anil Ambaniandconductedsearches athisresidenceandthepremises of Reliance Communications in connectionwithanallegedbank fraudwhich,theagencyclaimed, caused a loss of over Rs 2,929 crore to State Bank of India (SBI). The CBI obtained the search warrants from a Mumbai court Friday. “The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a criminalcaseonAugust21against M/sRelianceCommunicationLtd (RCOM),Mumbai,itsDirectorAnil D Ambani, unknown public servantsandunknownothersonthe allegations of defrauding the bank,andtherebycausingwrongful loss of Rs 2,929.05 crore to the bank,”aCBIspokespersonsaidin a statement. A spokesperson for Anil Ambani said the industrialist had been “selectively singled out”and“stronglydeniesallallegations and charges”. The CBI move comes days after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered a case against Anil Ambani and questioned him over an alleged “Rs 20,000 croreloanscam”.Atthetime,the Anil Ambani group had denied the charges and said that it CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Jaishankar hits out at US tariff, says talks on, ‘lines not cut’ Tariff unjustified & unfair... India red lines on farmers: EAM DIVYA A NEW DELHI, AUGUST 23 DAYS AFTER he targeted President Donald Trump's administration from Moscow over the additional tariff on India for Russian oil purchase, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday reiterated that the US tariff was “unjustified and unfair”, and said it was being ‘Tariff being presented as oil issue’ wrongly “presented as an oil issue”. He also underlined that India has certain “red lines” and would not compromise on protecting the interests of its farm- CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Trump names key White House aide as envoy to India with regional role SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, AUGUST 23 SEVENMONTHSafterassuming office for a second term, US President Donald Trump has nominated a key member of his White House team, Sergio Gor, as the new US ambassador to India. Gor will also be Trump's X/SergioGor Sergio Gor is a key member of the White House team Special Envoy for South and CentralAsianAffairs,indicatinga wider role. The 38-year-old's nomination comes at a critical juncture when bilateral ties have nosedived after the Trump administration imposed 50 per cent tariffs on India, mainly citing the purchase of Russian oil. Gor's CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, AUGUST 23 THE DEPARTMENT of Posts, under the Ministry of Communications, on Saturday decided to temporarily suspend the booking of all types of USbound postal articles with effect from August 25, except letters, documents and gift items up to $100 in value, an official statement said. This comes after the US, on July 30, withdrew the duty-free de minimis exemption for goods valued up to $800 from August 29. This means that all international postal items destined for the US, regardless of their value, willbesubjecttocustomsduties CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT Negotiations to start soon on GE engine for Tejas Mk2 jets French major Safran to power indigenous 5th-gen AMCA AMRITA NAYAK DUTTA NEW DELHI, AUGUST 23 TWO YEARS after state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and US defence major General Electric (GE) Aerospace signed a pact to jointly produce fighter jet engines, the two sides will begin commercial negotiations on the deal shortly, The Indian Express has learnt. Additionally, the Defence Research and Development Organisation(DRDO)hasfinalised FrenchmajorSafrantojoinhands with the Bengaluru-based Gas Turbine Research Establishment E Key to fighter jet ● squadron INDIA HAS been making efforts to produce combat jet engines by partnering with a global engine manufacturer and, in this light, the HAL-GE pact was seen as historic. However, the delay would have a cascading effect on India’s LCA Mk 2 programme, key to building its fighter jet squadron strength to manufacture an advanced jet engine in India which will power India’sindigenousfifthgeneration Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA). Officials familiar with developments on the HAL-GE pact said the aim is to conclude commercial negotiations within the next three months and finalise the deal to co-produce the F414 engines, which will power the Light Combat Aircraft Mk2 jets for the IAF. In June 2023, GE Aerospace signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with HAL to produce fighter jet engines. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 TWO VILLAGES AS PHASE-2 DEADLINE NEARS One village readies papers, another asks: Why are they making us do it? SANTOSH SINGH PURNIA, AUGUST 23 IN HIS white kurta and dhoti, Biranchi Paswan, 75, looks every bit a politician. Nephew of Bihar’s first Dalit Chief Minister Bhola Paswan Shastri, Biranchi, a small farmer, has never dabbled in politics, but the Election Commission’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has given him a cause. Thesedays,hehasbeenrallyingpeopleinBairgachhi,avillage that’s barely six km from Purnia town and the ancestral base of his famous uncle, to ensure that WHAT WILL NOT Screen Awards 2025 Former sanitation COUNTINBIHAR to go digital with worker behind YouTube tie-up Dharmasthala secret burial claims held ‘Illegal’: Gujarat HC revokes remission of TADA convict in Cong MLA’s murder in 1989 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE MUMBAI, AUGUST 23 ADOPTING A digital-first approach, The Indian Express Group is bringing back the prestigiousScreenAwardsthisyear in collaboration with YouTube, offering open access to global audiences. For the first time ever, Bollywood’s biggest stars will share the spotlight with YouTube’s most influential creators, who will be woven into every leg of this three-month-long festival — from red carpet and behind-the-scenes content to creator-led storytellingandfanengagement. The winners will bechosenbytheScreenAcademy, an independent, not-for-profit body of acclaimed filmmakers, artists and cultural voices. Speaking on the collaboration, Gunjan Soni, Managing Director — India, YouTube said: “We are thrilled to be the digital home for the Screen Awards, bringing a cultural icon to its next chapter. YouTube is wherebillionsof fansconnect with the entertainment they love, and we’re excited for them to experience one of cinema’s biggest nights in an immersive way. By bridging Bollywood’s biggest stars with YouTube’s most influential creators, we are buildinganengagedcommunity for an iconic event and unlocking CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Truck accident has ripples in US policy — and in a village in Punjab KAMALDEEP SINGH BRAR & ANJU AGNIHOTRI CHABA AMRITSAR, CHANDIGARH, AUGUST 23 THE FAMILY of Harjinder Singh, who was involved in an accident inFloridathatkilledthreepeople, acasethatledtotheUnitedStates haltingvisasforcommercialtruck drivers, is still grappling to come to terms with the news playing outthousandsofkilometresaway. ers and small producers. Jaishankar,however,saidtalks on the India-US trade deal were ongoingdespitetensions.“Weare two big countries, we need to haveconversations...andthelines are not cut, people are talking to eachother,andwewillseewhere that goes,” he said. Earlier, the US negotiators’ visit to India, scheduledforthesecondhalfofAugust, was “halted” for now. Tariff fallout: India suspends most postal services to US from August 25 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM EXPLAINED DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA Harjinder Singh allegedly took an illegal turn on Florida Turnpike, killing 3 “We don’t want to keep talking about it. We are sorry for the three deaths in the accident. He made a mistake, but it wasn’t an intentional crime,” said his brother,Tejinder.“Hecanbepunished for the mistake, but it shouldn’t be treated as if he intended to kill.” OnAugust12,Harjinder(30), who migrated to the US in 2018 throughthedunkiroute—anetworkof humansmugglingoperations — allegedly took an illegal CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 every elector whose name has made it to the draft roll submits her documents to one of the three Booth Level Officers (EC- Voters submit their papers at Bairgachhi. Santosh Singh appointed BLOs) in the village. As part of the second phase of the SIR, electors have time CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Silence of the state government for ‘quite a long time’ appears that the State was ‘complicit’, observes court EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE The sanitation worker (wearing mask) at the site of an alleged burial at Dharmasthala earlier this month. PTI File EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE BENGALURU, AUGUST 23 A FORMER sanitation worker at the temple town of Dharmasthala, who claimed to havecarriedoutdozensof secret burials of bodies there between 1995 and 2014, has been arrested by a Special Investigation Team of the Karnataka police for allegedly providing false information after SIT searches for bodies yielded no results. The former sanitation worker, C N Chinnaiah, 45, was arrested on Saturday morning. Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara confirmed the arrest and stated that it was part of effortstofindthetruthbehind theallegationsof "secretburials" in Dharmasthala. The arrest of the former sanitationworker,wholedtheSITon a two-week search of the bodies in forests around Dharmasthala between July 29 and August 12, comes at a time when the opposition BJP in Karnataka has proposed a state-wide protest over what it calls the anti-Hindu stance of the Congress government because of the probe. Several aspects of the “secret burials” investigation, which began in July, have been unravellingoverthelastcoupleof weeks on account of the lack of evidence to substantiate claims — including that of an elderly woman who has filed a complaint stating that her daughter, a medical student at Manipal, went missing in Dharmasthala in the year 2003. “This probe was started based on the information provided by the complainant. He has been arrested, and based on CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 VADODARA, AUGUST 23 THE GUJARAT High Court on Friday held that the 2018 remission granted to TADA convict Aniruddhsinh Mahipatsinh Jadeja,whowassentencedtolife imprisonment in the 1989 murder of Congress MLA Popat Sorathiya, by then Additional Director General of Police, Jail and Administrative Reforms, is “illegal” and “without authority of law”.ThecourtdirectedJadeja to surrender by September 18. The 90-page order of Justice Hasmukh Suthar begins with a verse of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishadtostatethat“eventhe weak may prevail over the strong” and ends with “BE You so High, the Law is above you”. The order was pronounced after hearing a petition filed by the grandson of Sorathiya. The Congress MLA was shot dead by Jadeja on the IndependenceDayduringaflaghoisting ceremony at Sangramsinh High School in Gondal.Jadejawasapprehended Aniruddhsinh Mahipatsinh Jadeja was directed to surrender by September 18 on the spot and the case was tried under the TADA Act. While the sessions court had acquitted Jadeja as 45 witnesses turned hostile, the state had movedanappealintheSupreme Court and in 1997, Jadeja was convicted for murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, it was only in April 2000 that Jadeja was nabbed after being on the run for almost three years. In2017,thestategovernment issued a resolution granting remission to certain convicts, including those serving life sentences who had completed 12 years in prison. Although Jadeja's case was not considered at that time, in January 2018, his son submitted an application to the then Additional DGP, Jail, TS Bishth, seekingthathefatherbegranted remission.Thecourtorderstates that Bishth, by a letter on the same day — January 29, 2018 — directed the Superintendent of Junagadh District Jail to grant Jadeja remission, citing that he had completed 18 years of sentence. The court order states, “It is declared that the direction issued by (TS Bisht, now retired)...to(theSuperintendent, JunagadhDistrict)byletterdated January 29 2018 is without authority and does not have any force of law and is a nullity and that premature release of (Jadeja)isillegalandwithoutany authority of law and consequently, (Jadeja) is directed to surrender before the Jail Authority within a period of two weeks from (August 22).” The court order states that Bishth did not follow the report CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Spotted by Dhanraj, India women team goalkeeper puts Gujarat on hockey map PAGE 1 ANCHOR MIHIR VASAVDA MUMBAI, AUGUST 23 THE TWO Ds synonymous with Surat — dhandho (business) and diamond — never interested BansariSolanki.Growingup,she wanted to be an engineer like her father. “Aeronautics,” she smiles. Sport — hockey, specifically — was not even an afterthought. Until, after a few twists of fate, she was spotted and mentored by the legendary India forward Dhanraj Pillay, then nurtured by Olympian Romeo James to be- come one of India’s finest goalkeepers currently. A decade after her seemingly improbable journey began, Solanki has put Gujarat, a state with little-to-no tradition in the sport, on the world hockey map. According to hockey historian K Arumugam, the 24-yearold,whoispartof theIndiateam for next month’s Asia Cup in Hangzhou, China, is the first woman from the western state to represent the country. She is alsothefirstfromGujarat--male orfemale--toplayforIndiaafter Vadodara-born Gobind Savant, who played as a left-half in the silver medal-winning team at the 1960 Olympics in Rome. Vadodara has been central to Solanki’s rise as well. She started playing “for fun” after a teacher introduced the sport at her school. That fun turned into sort of an obsession as Solanki watched the Hockey India League (HIL) matches on television. By the time she entered her teens, she was completely smitten, and when she heard about the academy Pillay had started in Vadodara, she packed her bags and moved to thecitytwohoursnorthof Surat. “In Gujarat, there was no hockey at all,” Solanki tells The IndianExpress.“Istartedplaying just for fun at my school. Then, Dhanraj Pillay Sir came to Gujarat and he provided me with the platform.” Solanki accidentally became a goalkeeper. Playing for her Bansari Solanki (2nd from right) with other goalkeepers and Dutchman Dennis van de Pol, the goalkeeping coach. Express school team, she started as a defender. However, for one of the matches, the team was without a goalkeeper. “I was a little tall and fat, so the coach told me, ‘you become our goalkeeper',” Solanki laughs. Ironically, one of the world’s fiercest goal-scorers, who made a career by outwitting the goalkeepers, became her guru. Pillay remembersSolankias“thehardworkinggirlwhoaskedthemost number of questions”. The Sports Authority of Gujarat had appointed the former India captain as the executive director and chief coach of its newly-established hockey programme. “In that role, I travelled to different corners of Gujarattoscoutplayersandheld selection trials. That’s how I came across Bansari, who appeared at a selection trial in Vadodara,” Pillay says. “Her parents fully supported her,whichwasessentialbecause Gujarat had no hockey history. She was hardworking, which is alwaysacoach’sdelight.Andshe was curious, always asking the right questions. We had 35 girls and 35 boys, and Bansari emerged as one of the finest players in that group,” he says. One time, Pillay recalls, his protege penned an “emotional tribute” for him. Solankiremembers her early years training under Pillay fondly. “He was my biggest inspiration, having come from a humble background to reach great heights. With him around, I had a lot of hope that if such a legend is my coach, maybe I can achieve something too,” she says. Solanki became a key player in Pillay’s academy team that travelledacrossGujaratforcompetitions. Romeo James, the Olympian who was the coach of theNationalHockeyAcademyin NewDelhi,noticedherperformances and picked her in 2017. In the first few months of livinginDelhi,Solankihadfrequent bouts of homesickness. “Vadodara was just a couple of hoursawayfromSurat.ButDelhi is very far… and culturally very different since most of the players were from the Northern states,” she says. “But at the end of the day, we were all 16-17 years old with a common interest: hockey.” Soon, she was immersed in the new routine. James has CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad