The Editorial Page: Dear Gen Z, join the system. Change happens in mundane politics 12 THUrSDAY, JUNE 4, 2026 JoUrnalism of CoUrage AhMeDABAD, lAte cIty, 22 PAges ₹5.00 l www.indianexpress.com DA I ly f R o M : A h M e DA B A D , c h A N D I gA R h , D e l h I , j A I P u R , ko l k AtA , l u c k N o w , M u M B A I , N Ag P u R , PAt N A , P u N e , VA D o DA R A Capital morning inferno 21 killed in hotel blaze, 12 foreign nationals; building had 26 rooms but permit only for 6 Most victims were patients seeking treatment in nearby hospitals, caregivers; hotel owner arrested Police round up Bangladeshi immigrants in ahmedabad on Wednesday. BhuPeNDRA RANA 362 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants identified in Gujarat: State govt Alok singh, sakshi Chand, Pragynesh & Gayathri mani New Delhi, June 3 Two foreign nationals hang from a window as fire engulfs the building in hauz rani area of south delhi on Wednesday. AP full coverage lhotEl hAD no fIrE noc: PolIcE ProbE lPolIcE, cIVIc boDy, GoVt DEPtS EnGAGE PAGES 16,17 In blAME GAME lfIVE forEIGn nAtIonAlS EScAPED blAzE by MInutES TWenTy-One people, including 12 foreign nationals, were killed in a fire that destroyed a ground-plus-fivestorey building operating as a bed and breakfast (B&B) establishment in Malviya nagar in South Delhi on Wednesday morning. Police said the foreign nationals belonged to Liberia, nigeria, and Mozambique in africa, and Bangladesh. Most of them were medical tourists who had come to India for treatment, or were accompanying patients. The hotel, called Flourish Stays B&B, is located in a narrow lane in hauz rani, diagonally across the street from Max hospital in Saket. Senior police officers said there were 26 rooms in the establishment, more than four times the maximum permissible number of six. Most or all rooms in the building are believed to have been occupied at the time of the fire. The building had only one entry and exit. It allegedly did not have a no-Objection Certificate from the Fire Department. The tragedy, among the biggest fire disasters of the past few decades in Delhi, came four days after a building undergoing illegal additions collapsed »COntinUeD On PAGe 2 Happening 3 mOnths After WOrlD CUP Win today Suryakumar removed lPrime minister Narendra Modi and Venezuela's Acting President Delcy Rodriguez, who is on a five-day visit to India, are expected to discuss energy cooperation, among other issues, during their talks. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com gujarat PAGE 4 SurAt AccIDEnt: MAny yEt to bE IDEntIfIED, SAMPlES tAkEn as T20 captain, may lose place in team too Devendra Pandey Grieving family members at max hospital in saket, south delhi, on Wednesday. gAjeNDRA yADAV suryakumar Yadav in consultation with coach Gautam Gambhir, have decided that India should go with a new skipper from here on. under Surya's captaincy, the team did win the T20 World Cup, but keeping his form and »COntinUeD On PAGe 2 Father in ICU, son rented rooms to be near him: 8 of extended family dead Bangladeshto nigeria:farfrom home,agonising waitandsearch Drishti Jain, mishal mussaddique & nirbhay thakur Drishti Jain, Divya A & sakshi Chand New Delhi, June 3 FOr hOurS at a stretch Wednesday, members of the aggarwal family moved between hospital corridors and mortuaries, showing photographs on their phones and clinging to hope. Some waited outside the aIIMS mortuary. Others stood inthecrowdedcorridorsofMax hospital and aIIMS Trauma Centre,refreshingtheirphones forupdatesthatnevercame.By evening,theirworstfearscame true: eight from the extended family had perished in the hotel blaze. The family had come to Delhi after radhe Shyam ag- business as usual By EP UNNY garwal, a man in his 70s, had been in the Intensive Care unit of the Max hospital in Saket for »COntinUeD On PAGe 2 New Delhi, June 3 The DIFFerenCe was stark. Familiesandrelativescrowded mortuaries and hospital corridorstotryandidentifytheirkin who perished in the hauz rani hotel blaze Wednesday morning, but very few showed up lookingfortheforeignnationals who died in the city they came to seek medical treatment. Families of most foreign nationals — 12 died while others weresaidtohavebeeninjured– were far from Delhi, in Bangladeshandcountriesacrossafrica, some unaware of the incident. Officials said identification of the dead and notification to »COntinUeD On PAGe 2 TMC fault lines in the open: 58 of 80 MLAs back rebel as LoP E. explained Atri mitra & ravik Bhattacharya The DIVIDe in the Trinamool Congress (TMC) was out in the open Wednesday. For the first time, a group of 60 rebel MLas seized control of the legislature party in West Bengal, elected expelled legislator ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of Opposition, and secured recognition from the assembly Speaker. This effectively puts the control of the legislature party out of party chairperson and former CM Mamata Banerjee’s hands, though the rebels, in their letter to the Speaker that was signed by 58 MLas, recog- Is Delhi next? The concern in the TMC now is that after the split in the state, its parliamentary party, which is led by Abhishek Banerjee, could be next. The TMC has 29 Lok Sabha MPs and six Rajya Sabha members. A split there will help the BJP push through key pieces of legislation without any hitch. nised her as the overall leader of the party. The new LoP also »COntinUeD On PAGe 2 l acTion daYs afTer candleliGhT ProTesT, adminisTraTion denies link UP crackdown: Three coaching centres sealed days before recruitment exam, student anxiety simmers manish sahu prepare for the uttar Pradesh Police Constable recruitment examination, which is schedTWICe a day for the last two uled for june 8-10 and will see days, Priya rajput, a young job nearly 28 lakh aspirants comaspirant from uttar Pradesh’s pete for just over 32,000 posts. Gorakhpur, and Pankaj Singh With just days to go, every fromneighbouringDeoriahave hour of study matters. But the been making anxious trips to coaching institute where they theircoachingcentre had enrolled is page 1 in Prayagraj, hoping among three promito find its gates renent ones sealed by opened. Instead, the Prayagraj Develthey are met each time by opment authority (PDa) on locked doors and official seals May 31, which claims the buildpasted across the entrance. ings were operating without Both are in their 20s and completing mandatory have left their hometowns to formalities. Lucknow, June 3 anchor one of the coaching centres which faced action. MANIsh sAhu express news service Ahmedabad, June 3 Kolkata, June 3 Mumbai, June 3 Three MOnThS after he led IndiatotheT20WorldCuptitle on home soil, Suryakumar yadav has been removed as the captain and is unlikely to find a place in the team for the shortestformat.Thiscomesaheadof the tours of Ireland and england starting later this month. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), in consultation with the team management and selection committee, will appoint a new captain for the new cycle. “The selection committee, BCCI and team management, Dy CM: 6,200 people investigated, ‘Operation Delta Hunt’ to continue The action came days after the owners of the three institutes participated in a candlelightmarchinPrayagrajonMay 29, held by aspirants for competitiveexaminations.Theirdemands:releaseofscorecardsfor theuttarPradeshPoliceSub-Inspector examination held on March14-15,whoseresultswere declaredonMay7;cancellation of the Lekhpal recruitment test conductedonMay21overwhat they claim are irregularities; and greater transparency in recruitment processes. The PDa, though, denied »COntinUeD On PAGe 2 Ahmedabad The GujaraT government identified 362 “illegal” immigrants from Bangladesh living in the state, said Deputy Chief Minister harsh Sanghavi on Wednesday evening. The action came after raids were carried out across the state earlier in the day. "atotalof6,200peoplewere under investigation, but police detained only those who were most suspicious. after verification, 362 individuals were confirmed to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh (by Wednesday evening). Meanwhile, an investigation of more than 780 people is still underway, and [the raids] will continue through the night," Sanghavi said at a press conference in Gandhinagar. earlierintheday,jointcommissioner of police (ahmedabad City) Sharad Singhal confirmed that they identified 166 illegal immigrants out of 300odd suspects during the raids that were named ‘Operation Delta hunt’. however, these numbers were likely to increase. Sanghavi confirmed that most of these illegal immigrants from Bangladesh were found to be living in the districts of ahmedabad,Surat, Vadodara, rajkot, and Bharuch. Sanghavi also said that they hadcaughtsomeallegedillegal immigrants attempting to flee during the state-wide raids in the early hours of june 3 (Wednesday). "Check posts were established at railway stations, bus stands and highways during the raids to catch those trying to flee. The police apprehended another 18 people who weretryingtoescapetheraids," he said. The deputy CM went a step further and said that action would also be taken against those found to have given shelter to the illegal immigrants. "a special police team is now investigating the people who gave them (the immigrants)shelterandjobs.Wehad previously said that nobody is to employ or give residence to anyone without document »COntinUeD On PAGe 2