eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE Here He Goes Again NEWDELHI,LATECITY MAY26,2024 A few months ago, he was in hospital. Designer Rohit Bal is now back where he belongs FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT 16+4PAGES,`7.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, ` 12SRINAGAR) DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SPECIAL INVESTIGATION TEAM SET UP, TOLD TO FILE PRELIMINARY REPORT IN THREE DAYS At least 27 killed in weekend blaze at Rajkot amusement park, many children among dead ‘Fire spread in seconds... area was full of smoke’ Officials say gaming zone didn’t have NOC from fire dept; four detained GOPAL KATESHIYA RAJKOT, MAY 25 AT LEAST 27 people, including children,werekilledasamassive fire broke out at TRP, a private amusement park/ gaming zone, inGujarat'sRajkotonSaturdayafternoon.OfficialssaidTRPdidnot have a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the fire department. In a statement, the state governmentsaid27bodieshadbeen brought for post-mortem at the Rajkot Civil Hospital. Most of the bodies were charred, making identificationdifficult.“TheirDNA samplesarebeingdrawnforidentification...Theprocessisonatthe RajkotCivilHospitalpolicepostto collect DNA samples of family members so that the DNA can be matched,” the statement said. Rajkot District Collector Prabhav Joshi said most of the victims were children. Officials did not rule out the possibility of the toll rising. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 GOPAL KATESHIYA RAJKOT, MAY 25 Express The gaming zone that burned down in Rajkot on Saturday. Phase 6: Overall turnout dips to 61%, Anantnag-Rajouri touches 54% high Under attack, EC releases number of votes cast in five phases 58.70% polling in Delhi; only 57 seats left to vote EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, MAY 25 THE TURNOUT in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections in 58 constituencies across eight states and Union territories on Saturday was 61.01 per cent, according to the Election Commission (EC) data at 11.30 pm. The overall turnout in Delhi, where all the seven Lok Sabha constituencies voted in the sixth phase, was 58.70 per cent, down from 60.60 per cent in 2019. In2019,theseatswhichvoted on Saturday had recorded 64.73 percentpolling.Butthisdoesnot include the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency of Jammu and Kashmir, which was redrawn duringdelimitationin2022.The constituency saw 54.06 per cent polling on Saturday. The final turnout is likely to increase. Haryana saw the biggest dip in polling -- from 69.93 per cent in 2019 to 59.63 per cent this time.Amongtheotherstates,the turnoutwas54.03percentinUP; 55.24 per cent in Bihar; 79.30 in West Bengal; 69.32 per cent in CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, MAY 25 President Droupadi Murmu after voting at a ‘pink booth’, managed by women staff, in New Delhi, Saturday. Renuka Puri FULLCOVERAGE,PAGES8,9 THE CITY, PAGES 3, 4 DECISION 2024 HOW CONG, AAP ROLLS TO DATA: CAMARADERIE A POLLING PLAYED OUT AGENT’S DAY FACINGCRITICISM—andacasein theSupremeCourt—theElection Commission (EC) Saturday released the absolute number of electors who cast their votes in each constituency in the first five phases of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections,evenasitsaidtherewas “a pattern of false narratives and mischievousdesignstovitiatethe electoral process”. Unlike in 2019, when the EC released and later removed data on votes cast from its website due to alleged discrepancies between the provisional number of votes cast and those counted, the Commission only released the total number of electors and turnout percentage after each phase of voting this time. The EC’s silence on the absolute number of voters this time had led to an interim CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light makes Cannes history with Grand Prix win other 30 years to have another Indian film,” said Payal Kapadia as she picked up the prestigious Grand Prix for her debut feature, All We Imagine As Light, at the 77th Cannes Film Festival. Kapadia had entered the muchfeted Competition Section thirty years after an Indian film made the cut — Shaji N Karun’s Swaham was in the Competition line-up in 1994. There has been a long EXPRESSATCANNES SHUBHRA GUPTA CANNES, MAY 25 “THANKYOUverymuchCannes Film Festival for having our film here. Please don’t wait for an- CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 (From left) Cast members Hridhu Haroon, Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha and Chhaya Kadam, and director Payal Kapadia at the Cannes closing ceremony on Saturday. AP RELATED REPORT THE WORLD From Iran to India: 6 men, a fishing boat and a daring getaway on the high seas PAGE 1 ANCHOR ARUN JANARDHANAN CHENNAI, MAY 25 NOTHING ABOUT the day seemed extraordinary. On the morning of April 22, the sea crashing into the predawn darkness of the shore, the six fishermen hauled their nets, hooks, baits and food supplies onto the Express The fishermen left Iran on April 22, reached India on May 6 deck of the boat, and set sail. Just as they did every day. Except, that day, the six men in the boat had a daring plan: to flee their employer in Bandar-e Chiruiyeh, a harbour in the Iranian province of Hormozgan, andsailallthewaybackhometo India, a distance of over 1,500 nautical miles, threading the geopolitically volatile Strait of Hormuz before entering the forbidding, blue expanse of the Arabian Sea. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE FIRE at the Rajkot amusement park/ gaming zone on Saturdayspreadwithinseconds, and the narrow gates made escapedifficult, saideyewitnesses. “Plywoodandotherconstruction material lying in the area caughtfireallofasudden.Thefire spread within seconds and sent people running helter-skelter. A few staff members tried to put it out by using fire extinguishers, buttonoavail,”saidYashPatoliya, a visitor at the gaming zone. He said he was sitting in the reception area when the blaze began. “The gaming zone was a two-storey structure. The ground-floor had the reception area, and the floor above that had facilities like trampoline, bowlingetc.Wetriedtogotothe upper floor to rescue people, but CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MP man accused of raping 7 tribal girls, ‘posed’ as woman using voice change app ANAND MOHAN J BHOPAL, MAY 25 THE MADHYA Pradesh police are probing allegations that at least seven tribal girls in Sidhi district were lured and raped by a 30-year-old man, who used a voice changing app to pose as a woman college professor offering them scholarships. "We have arrested the accused, Brajesh Prajapati, and two other men, who assisted him by providing the phone number of thefirstvictim.Theaccusedused a voice changing application that is available on the app store, and posed as a female college professortotargetthesewomen.Allthe victims are from the tribal community and belong to financially weak families,” Sidhi SuperintendentofPoliceRavindra Verma told The Indian Express. The police said that four women have come forward so far, and the accused has CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PM Narendra Modi with Bihar Dy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha and LJP (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan in Patna on Saturday. PTI REFERS TO LAND-FOR-JOBS CASE In Bihar, PM warns of Tejashwi arrest, says INDIA bloc can do mujra for votes Dareyoutotouchme,notafraid:Tejashwi SANTOSH SINGH PATNA, MAY 25 REITERATINGHISallegationthat theINDIAblocwantstocarveout a quota for minorities, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the Opposition could perform “mujra” or do “slavery” for its “vote bank”, but he would thwart any attempt to diverttheSC,ST,OBCreservation. While he did not name RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Modi, who addressed a series of rallies in Bihar, also warned that the “countdown” for arrest had started for those behind the alleged land-for-jobs scam. Addressing a rally in Karakat, Modi said: “Main aaj Bihar ke lo- gon ko ek aur guarantee de raha hoon. Jinhone Bihar ke garibon ko lutkar naukri ke badle me zamin likhwayi hai, kaan kholkar sun lo, unka bhi jail jaane ka countdown shuru ho chuka hai. Yeh jaise hi helicopter me chakkar markar chakkar pura hoga, jail ka raasta tay ho jayega (Today, I am giving one more guarantee to the people of Bihar. Those who looted the poor to get land registered in lieuofjobsshouldlistencarefully, their countdown for going to jail has started. Once he completes his rounds on the helicopter, his road to jail will be decided).” Responding to his remarks later in the day, Tejashwi said in Patna: “It looks like the PM is afraid of losing the elections. A CONTINUED ON PAGE 2