The editorial Page: in disruptive times, an arc of trust to hold indo-Pacific together 8 TUESdAY, JULY 7, 2026 JoUrnaliSm of CoUrage AhMEDABAD, LATE CITy, 18 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 happening today lThe SC will hear a plea filed by DMK alleging that ministers in the Tamil Nadu government were 'actively influencing' witnesses in the CBI probe into last year's Karur stampede case. Track This and more on www.indianexpress.com business as usual By EP UNNY BhUPeNDer YADAv’S AIDeS DONATION ‘ThefT’ rOw: TrUST ACCePTS reSIGNATIONS Of ChAMPAT rAI, ANIl MIShrA Ayodhya temple Trust goes for key changes at the top, to appoint CEO l otherdecisions 3-member panel to recommend names for CEO; retired bureaucrat Krishna Mohan made interim General Secretary Maulshree Seth Lucknow, July 6 In ITS first meeting since allegations of donation theft at the Ram temple in Ayodhya surfaced, the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra, in its firstmajorshake-upsince2020, announced a sweeping organisational overhaul, including leadershipchangesandthecreation of a new chief executive officer (CEO) post, on Monday. The Trust accepted the res- ignations of two key members, general secretary Champat Rai and member Anil Mishra, and appointedseniorRSSfunctionary and retired Indian Forest Service (IFoS) officer Krishna Mohan as interim General Secretary. It also announced a three-member committee, comprising retired judge JusticePramodKohli,formerLieutenant General Vishnu Kant ChaturvediandSureshHaware, torecommendnamesforaCEO tomanagethetemplecomplex. l Trust gives records of donations received, spent. It received Rs 3,246 cr since its formation; Rs 2,370 cr spent on temple construction, related capital works l Trust removes Gopal Nagarkatte alias Gopal Rao from list of special invitees; he was in-charge of daily activities such as darshan shri ram Janmbhoomi Teerth kshetra treasurer govind giri and interim general secretary krishna mohan in ayodhya, monday. ANI Rai and Mishra had tendered their resignations after an FIR was lodged on June 25 and eight arrests were made in connection with the case. The Trust will meet again on July 22, by which time it expects the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case to submit its final report. The meeting will also consider filling three vacancies among trustees, one that arose followingthedeathofVimlendraPratapMishralastyearandtwofollowing Monday’s resignations. In a significant move, it »CONTINUeD ON PAGe 2 express special Facing backlash, govt likely to delay higher 25% ethanol blend in petrol Move comes on E. back of consumer Anil Sasi New Delhi, July 6 AMId A raging backlash over a rapid increase in the use of ethanol in petrol from 10% to 20%injustthreeyears,thegovernment is likely to push back the proposed shift to a higher blend of ethanol fuel E25 comprising 75% petrol and 25% ethanol. The government had originally planned to dispense petrol blended with 20% ethanol only by 2030. But the E20 fuel — 80% petrol and 20% ethanol what is the ethanol advantage? Ethanol has many positives including low carbon content, and lower dependence on import of fossil fuels. But a rapid increase in ethanol has triggered concerns, which the government plans to address before introducing E25. — is now the standard petrol variant available nationwide. While no formal date has been announced for dispensing E25 blended petrol, two government decisions over the last six weeks triggered fresh »CONTINUeD ON PAGe 2 July 3 order cites ‘administrative’ reason behind removal of PS express News Service New Delhi, July 6 In A rare move, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has simultaneously removed three key aides of Union Minister Bhupender Yadav. While the Private Secretary to the Minister has been shuntedouton“administrative grounds”,anAdditionalPrivate Secretary has been “prematurely repatriated”, and the appointment of another Additional Private Secretary has been “terminated”. The decisions were announced in separate orders Three arrested, search on for another suspect Landslide blocks Pune-Mumbai ‘Missing Link’ Workers and earthmovers clear the debris after heavy rainfall triggered a landslide near the ‘missing Link’ section of the Pune-mumbai expressway, in maharashtra, monday. Traffic on its mumbai-bound carriageway resumed monday night after 18 hours. NARENDRA VASKAR IT wAS The fIrST major monsoon disruption to the Rs 6,695-crore Missing Link, which was built to provide relief to the Mumbai-Pune Expressway’s traffic bottleneck area, barely nine weeks after its inauguration. The MUMBAI-BOUND CArrIAGewAY was closed after a landslide near the exit of Tunnel 2, the longest tunnel on the Missing Link — that cuts through the Sahyadri mountains. MeANwhIle, fOUr PeOPle, including three members of a family, were killed in a landslide and wall collapse, while another was swept away in a separate rain-related incident in Pune district on Monday. Page13 ravik Bhattacharya & Atri Mitra Kolkata, Baruipur, July 6 THE RAPE and murder of an 11-year-oldgirlinWestBengal’s South 24 Parganas district, and the subsequent mob violence and lynching of a local man on suspicion of being involved in the crime, put the Baruipur area on edge for the second day on Monday. The incident poses a major Trump delivers ‘assist’ of Convention centre, museum: Nod Two injured after lion World Cup, gets red card sought for work at Indira Point attacks in Amreli and reprieve for US player Bhavnagar: Forest dept nym USMnT (United States Men’s national Team). But he was there when his national team needed him the most — to rescind the red card brandished on USMnT striker Folarin Balogun for a foul on Tarik Muharemovic in the round-of-16 game against Bosnia and Herzegovina. express at World Cup Sandip G New York, July 6 USPRESIdEnTdonaldTrump has been a phantom figure at this World Cup. Heskippedtheopeningceremony and has not watched a single match, not even of the co-hosts who go by the acro- »CONTINUeD ON PAGe 2 the editorial page FIFA lets DonAlD trump, the bully, wIn pAge 8 dated July 3. The Indian Express reached out to top officials of the ministry for a comment on the changes, but did not receive any response. “…Shri Amar Singh, IRS (IT:2010), Private Secretary to the Hon’ble Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, is repatriated to his parent cadre, i.e department of Revenue, on administrative ground and relieved of his duties with immediate effect,” the ministry's order stated. Amar Singh, an Indian Revenue Service officer, was initiallyappointedasPrivateSecretary to Yadav in 2021, when the Minister held the Labour and Employment portfolio. Earlier a deputy Secretary, he was upgraded to director in 2024.Hisappointmentwas"for the period up to 07.09.2026 (i.e. for the balance period of his tenure of five years as Private »CONTINUeD ON PAGe 2 Minor’s rape-murder: Bengal district on edge, CM says will seek capital punishment explained concerns on mileage and fears of engine damage Purge in Minister’s office: PS, Addl PS shunted out, another Addl PS sacked Work to protect Great Nicobar lighthouse; won’t execute prohibited activity: Official Nikhil Ghanekar New Delhi, July 6 FROM A fortified lighthouse to a convention centre and museum, the directorate of LighthousesandLightshipsatSriVijaya Puram (Port Blair) has sought clearance from the Andaman and nicobar Coastal Zone Management Authority and the Environment Ministry to undertake protection and development work at Indira »CONTINUeD ON PAGe 2 »CONTINUeD ON PAGe 2 inside pAges 12, 13 l southernmostpoint express News Service INDIA Ahmedabad, July 6 Point, India’s southernmost location,onGreatnicobarIsland. Official documents reviewed by The Indian Express showtheproposedworkfallsin theecologicallysensitiveIsland CRZ (ICRZ)-1A and ICRZ-IVA categories. UnderICRZ-1A,nodevelopment activity is permitted except for certain specified purposes such as eco-tourism and the construction of roads and law-and-orderchallengeforthe SuvenduAdhikari-ledBJPgovernment, which has warned its politicalrivalsagainstgivingthe incident a communal colour. Former CM Mamata Banerjee and other Opposition leaders have criticised the government overtheincident,withBanerjee also alleging that she was prevented from meeting the victim’s family. So far, three people have been arrested in connection with the rape and murder. The Chief Minister has promised justice, saying the government wouldseekcapitalpunishment for those found guilty. He has alsosaidaSpecialInvestigation GREAT NICOBAR Galathea National Park Old Shastri Nagaram Beach Indira Point Lighthouse AT LEAST two incidents of lion attacks on humans were reported from Bhavnagar and Amreli districts since Sunday night — with the victims in bothincidentsnowundergoing treatment for their injuries in hospitals. In Bhavnagar, a sub-adult lionattackedamanandavideo of the incident surfaced on socialmedia.Inthevideo,thelion is seen sitting on top of the in- jured man and the latter is tryingtobreakfree,whilevillagers raise an alarm nearby. The incident was reported from Garajiya village of Palitanatehsilinthedistrict,which falls under Palitana Wildlife Range. Forest department officials identified the injured as Kalubhai Parmar, a resident of Garajiya village. The office of Range Forest Officer, Palitana Range, said in a statement that on June 5, a “prey was made” by a wild lion »CONTINUeD ON PAGe 2 pm In InDonesIA, to holD meet wIth presIDent, subIAnto toDAy two AssAm rIFles personnel kIlleD In Ambush In mAnIpur’s ukhrul l grouP seT uP by harvard Professor avi Loeb To advise WhiTe house, PenTagon, fbi and american inTeLLigence communiTy on unidenTified anomaLous Phenomena From Haryana judoka to Harvard scientist on new US council scouting alien life Sukhbir Siwach Americanintelligencecommunity on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena — or, as FROM A judoka in Haryana’s nASA calls it, observations of junior team in 2006 to a post- eventsintheskythatcannotbe doctoralresearcheratHarvard, identified as aircraft or known dr devesh nandal has come a natural phenomena. long way. He is now beginning Speaking to The Indian Exan even longer journey — in press over phone, nandal said, search of alien life. “Iwaschosentobeanexperton The 37-year-old scientist the council due to my expertise from Jatal village in in Astrophysics and page 1 Panipat was chosen Electronic engineerlastmonthtojointhe ing. Whether the UAP Science AdvisUAPareofterrestrial ory Council, a new advisory orextraterrestrialorigin,myexgroupsetupbyHarvardprofes- pertise will aid the team in apsorAviLoebtoadvisetheWhite plyingnumericalandstatistical House, Pentagon, FBI and the tools to decipher the origin of Chandigarh, July 6 anchor such events.” nandal is a postdoctoral researcherattheCenterforAstrophysics at Harvard & Smithsonian, with experience in theoretical modelling, stellar evolution and interpreting complex data. His role on the council will be to help separate real scientific explanations fromspeculation,andexamine “strange” observations using the same rigorous methods applied in modern astrophysics. “I expect to learn more about the fundamental principlesthatgovernouruniverse. Clearly, these anomalous events are puzzling various dr devesh nandal, a researcher at the center for astrophysics at harvard & smithsonian, at maunakea observatories in hawaii government agencies. I wish to apply scientific principles and expect to understand the physics that operates such ob- jects,” nandal said. The appointment comes against the backdrop of renewed government interest in the US in extraterrestrial life — a pursuit that has also led to raised eyebrows in the scientific community. In 2022, the US Congress held its first hearings on UFOs in five decades, and the militaryhassincepromisedgreater transparency on the subject. This year, on directions from President donald Trump, the Pentagon released a tranche of files containing descriptions of reportedsightingsonEarthand by astronauts, though none of- Ahmedabad fered conclusive proof of extraterrestrial life. Fornandal,meanwhile,the journey he has already completed matters just as much as the one he is about to begin. “My first time moving abroad to study engineering at the University of Leeds in the UK was a real eye-opening moment. Engineering and Astrophysics might sound similar to some, but in fact are quite different. I learned how to focus on tasks that have never been solved before... This allowed me to win the VITA-Origins fellowship(UniversityofVirginia) and later the Swiss national ScienceFoundationfellowship, which paved my way to the US, first at Virginia, now at Harvard,” he said. Back in Panipat, where his parents are based, nandal's father dr Sumer Singh nandal is a former deputy director (Sports)inHaryana'sYouthand Welfare department, and his mother dr Shakuntla nandal is a former sociology professor. Their excitement is palpable.“Heisnowpartofaselect group of scientists asked to apply modern science to one of today’s most debated topics. His role is not to assume »CONTINUeD ON PAGe 2