WEdNESdAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2026 Journalism of Courage koLkATA, LATE CITy, 18 PAgES ₹6.00 (₹12 in north East states, ₹20 in Andaman) l www.indianexpress.com DAILy FRoM: AHMEDABAD, CHAnDIgARH, DELHI, jAIPUR, koLkATA, LUCknow, MUMBAI, nAgPUR, PATnA, PUnE, vADoDARA Happening today lVice President C P Radhak- rishnan will visit Chhattisgarh to attend the third convocation ceremony of AIIMS Raipur. Track This and more on www.indianexpress.com Business as Usual By EP UNNY Police Free to act against those with criminal records CJP condition, Govt request: SC quashes student protest FIRs CJP calls off Sept 5 march; Centre given 3 months to work out compensation modalities for kin of students who ended lives ananthakrishnan g New Delhi, September 1 MEETInGakeydemandofthe Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) which spearheaded the Jantar Mantar protests in new delhi over exam paper leaks, the Supreme Court, acting Tuesday on requests by the Centre and some states, used its extraordinary powers under article 142 of the Constitution to quash FIRs registered across the country against students who participated in the protests. Followingtheorder,theCJP called off a protest march scheduled for September 5 in new delhi. “all the FIRs… are hereby quashed,” ordered a threejudge bench, comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and JusticevMohana,allowingapplications filed by delhi Police and the states of Maharashtra, Bihar, assam and West Bengal. onbeingtoldthatstateslike MadhyaPradeshanduttarPradesh too had registered FIRs against the protesters but had not approached the court for their quashing, the bench »continUed on Page 2 PM calls for dialogue: Conflict not confined to a region, impacts global energy and trade there” and “impacts global energysecurity,maritimetrade and supply chains” with the Global South bearing the brunt of the “consequences”. addressingtheSCosummit inKyrgyzcapitalBishkek,Modi said India’s position is that the “resolution of all tensions and conflicts is possible only through dialogue and diplomacy, not on the battlefield”. among leaders at the summitwasIran’sPresidentMasoud Pezeshkian. Modi and Pezeshkian met Monday for the first time since the start of the war . “In today’s interconnected At SCO, Modi seeks dismantling of terror infra as Pak’s Shehbaz listens shubhajit roy New Delhi, September 1 aS THE war in West asia completed six months and a peace deal remained elusive, Prime Minister narendra Modi told leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation organisation countries Tuesday that the crisis demonstratedthata“conflictinoneregion does not remain confined Prime minister narendra modi with chinese President Xi Jinping and russian President Vladimir Putin in Bishkek on Tuesday. REUTERS »continUed on Page 2 related rePort, Page 7 4 AKs among 12 weapons, NCLT special bench stays over 1,000 rounds stolen earlier order on Chandra’s from Secunderabad Cantt Rs 6.25-cr settlement plan nikhila henry & amrita nayak dutta Hyderabad, New Delhi, September 1 TWELvE WEaPonS, including four aK-203 assault rifles, seven pistols and an InSaS rifle, have been stolen from the high-security Secunderabad Cantonment near Hyderabad in Telangana. More than 1,000 rounds of ammunition and a pairofpassivenight-visionbinoculars were also stolen, according to defence sources. The incident came to light around7:50amonMonday.The armswereallegedlystolenfrom a storeroom on the premises of the20MadrasRegiment.Police sourcessaidtheareaisaccessed mainly by military personnel. Following a complaint by top army personnel, police »continUed on Page 2 george mathew Mumbai, September 1 l Lenders’exposure In a setback for Essel Group founder Subhash Chandra, a five-member special bench of the national Company Law Tribunal (nCLT) on Tuesday stayed the operation of the tribunal’s earlier order which allowed him to settle his personal insolvency proceedings HDFC Bank LIC Housing IndusInd Canara Bank Union Bank RBL Bank ₹775 cr ₹1,322 cr ₹240 cr ₹348 cr ₹164 cr ₹119 cr Franklin Templeton Edelweiss ₹729 cr ₹565 cr »continUed on Page 2 express investigation Jharkhand SIR faceoff: BJP agents seek to delete voters, BLOs raise red flag In Godda, one BJP agent burns 75 forms after Booth Level Officer asks questions; CEO says BLO cannot refuse forms shubham tigga Ranchi, September 1 aBduL Mannan Khan, Mohammad naushad, Mohammad Shafiq, Bibi Basilan, Mohammad aslam… With voter after voter in some booths in Jharkhand’s Godda district, a pattern has emerged over the pastmonthsincethedraftelectoral roll was published on august 5 as part of the state’s SpecialIntensiveRevision(SIR) — a BJP Booth Level agent (BLa) arrives with a stack of Form7sseekingtodeletevoters who figure in the draft roll; and most of these names, as mentioned above, are from the minority community. across at least four booths, BoothLevelofficers(BLos)have refused to accept these applications,aninvestigationbyTheIndian Express has revealed, flagging them as not genuine or not procedurally sound. BLos are employees of the state government, currently headed by a JMM-Congress alliance. The BJP has complained »continUed on Page 2 maheshtikri villagers who have complained to the Bdo. ExPRESS l oneagent,eightForm7s applications to delete 8 from voter roll filed by BJP agent sanjeev roshan Bibi abdul mannan khan Basilan mohammad naushad mohammad shafiq mirza Galeeb mohammad hasmuddin mohammad shamim mohammad aslam BehindForm7: deletionbut onlyafterprobe In Godda, Booth Level officers (BLos) of at least four booths have said that BJP workers have submitted Form 7s seeking deletion of multiple names. They have also claimed that theseformswere not in the proper format,andmanyofthesewere rejected, as instructed by the Blockdevelopmentofficer,Sriman Marandi. E. lWhat are the legal provisions for deletion from electoral rolls? Electoral Registration officers (ERos) are empowered by Section 22 of the Representation of the People (RP) act, 1950, to make corrections and deletions to the electoral roll either on their own or acting on applications made to them. In each case, they must conduct aninquiry,givetheelectorconcerned time to respond and then pass an order. »continUed on Page 2 Kolkata