DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2024, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES After 5 years, retail inflation falls below 4% in July NEW HINDENBURG REPORT As Opp seeks JPC probe, BJP hits back: Fictitious report, bid to destabilise markets AANCHAL MAGAZINE NEW DELHI, AUGUST 12 AFTER REMAINING above the 4 per cent mark for nearly five years, retail inflation slipped to a 59-month low of 3.54 per cent in July mainly due to a high base effect, data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) showed Monday. The last time retail inflation rate was below the 4 per cent mark — a key level in the 4+/- 2 per cent band of medium-term inflation target set by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) — was in September 2019. Food inflation rate also slippedtoa13-monthlowof5.42 per cent in July, from 9.36 per cent in June. Food inflation has hovered between 8-9 per cent during the last eight months as prices of vegetables, cereals and pulses have stayed consistently elevated.Onamonth-on-month basis, however, the Consumer Price Index (combined), on which retail inflation is based, gained momentum across the categoriesoffood,clothing,housing and the overall index value. Accordingtoanalysts,retailinflation is expected to breach the 4 per cent mark in August 2024, stoked by food inflation. Data released separately showed the country’s factory output for June, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), eased to a fivemonth low of 4.2 per cent, mainly due to a slower growth in manufacturing output. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD ISI FORMER CHIEF ARRESTED, TO BE COURT-MARTIALLED: PAKISTAN ARMY LIZ MATHEW & VIKAS PATHAK NEW DELHI, AUGUST 12 COUNTERING ALLEGATIONS by US-based Hindenburg Research regarding SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and Adani Group, the BJP Monday rejected the Opposition's demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe. At a press conference held at the BJP headquarters, senior party leader and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad slammed the Congress demand SEBI RAPE AND MURDER OF DOCTOR AT RG KAR HOSPITAL Protests swell, Mamata sets cops a deadline to solve case Outrage after medical college principal appointed to another institution in a day ATRI MITRA KOLKATA, AUGUST 12 DOCTORS’ PROTESTS over the rape and murder of a junior doctoratastate-runmedicalcollege in Kolkata intensified on Mondayeveningaftertheprincipal of the medical college, who had resigned earlier in the day, wasimmediatelydeputedtoanother institution in the city. Earlier in the day, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjeesaidthatif thestatepolice are unable to solve the case by Sunday, it would be handed over to the CBI. A 31-year-old junior doctor wasfounddeadinaseminarhall at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on Friday, sending shockwaves through the state and prompting a protestbydoctorsatseveralhospitals.Policehavearrestedacivic volunteer,SanjayRoy,inconnection with the case. The Chief Minister on Monday met the family of the doctor, and later told reporters: “We are trying our best to solve the case. I don’t know how this type of incident can happen at a hospital.Policearegivingutmost importance to the investigation. If therearemoreaccused,andall are not arrested by Sunday, we willhandoverthecasetotheCBI – even though their success rate is low.” On the same day, the principal of RG Kar Medical College, Sandip Ghosh, resigned from his post.“Iambeingdefamedonsocial media. Some people are spreading false accusations against me. Students are being provoked to seek my removal. Thedeceaseddoctorwaslikemy child, and I want the guilty to be punished. As a parent, I am resigning,” he said. He was then deputed as principal of Calcutta National Medical College (CNMC). Protesting doctors, whose demands included the resignation of the principal as well as other top officials of the medical college, were angered by the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PROTESTS SPREAD RESIDENT DOCTORS in Delhi on Monday joined the strike, affecting services at several hospitals. AIIMS Delhi saw a 20% reduction in registrations in its OPD. resident doctors held candlelight vigils. In Maharashtra, resident doctors announced an indefinite strike from Tuesday. In Rajasthan, the Jaipur Association of Resident Doctors said they will go on a strike. REPORTS,PAGE5 Facing criticism, 5 dead, 200 incidents: Fear grips Hindus, leaders meet Yunus today Govt withdraws broadcast Bill draft Police in hiding, their absence gives attackers a free run NEW DELHI, AUGUST 12 EXPRESS INDHAKA SHUBHAJIT ROY DHAKA, AUGUST 12 Graffiti by students on a Dhaka wall. It reads: ‘Dhormo jar jar, Bangladesh sobar (Bangladesh is for all faiths).’ Shubhajit Roy looted the medicines, the computer system, and cash of about Rs 27,000 (in local currency). “My shop had medicines and equipment worth about Rs 21.5 lakh, they took away everything,”hetoldTheIndianExpress. He was terrified as he heard the mob was “looking for me,” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE MINISTRY of Information and Broadcasting is learnt to have withdrawn the new draft Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2024, which triggered a controversy and criticism over fears that the government was trying to exert greater control over online content. The draftBillhadraisedseveralquestions on the freedom of speech and expression, and the government’s powers to regulate it. Last month, the ministry had shared the new draft Bill with a handful of stakeholders and invited their comments. Atleastthreesources,includ- PAGE 8 for a JPC probe, accusing the Oppositionpartyof “seekingforeign help to discredit (and) destabiliseourfinancialmarkets and to create chaos in the country... by spreading anarchy on a fictitious report”. “AnyTom,DickandHarrysittinginaforeigncountrywillseek to destabilise India and they (the Congress)willsay‘JPC’.Theywill belittle India’s investors. They will belittle India’s stock market. That is their game. The JPC demand is a sham,” Prasad said. In its first official reaction to the Hindenburg allegations, the Union Ministry of Finance said it hadnothingtoaddaftertheSEBI and Buch had issued their statements. Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth told reporters: “The SEBI has given a statement. The concerned person has given a statement. I have nothing further to add.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Probing Chairperson of Investors in Adani stocks Emerging India Focus Fund EM Resurgent Fund Declared beneficial owner Trident Trust Company (Mauritius) Administered by MADHABI PURI BUCH & DHAVAL BUCH VINOD ADANI SET UP IN 2010 Assent Trade and Investment Pvt Ltd Subscribes to in Aug 2013 By May 2012 moved $100 mn Global Opportunities Fund Invested in 2015 Global Dynamic Opportunities Fund Operated by IIFL Capital Pte Ltd Sub-fund IPE Plus Fund 1 IN SEVERAL other cities, ATTACKS MAINLY IN BANGLADESH RURAL, BORDER AREAS SOUMYARENDRA BARIK GOVT & POLITICS WILL LAUNCH STIR IF JPC PROBE DEMAND NOT MET: CONGRESS From Vinod Adani to SEBI chief Protesters marched to R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on Monday. Partha Paul PAGE 12 ON AUGUST 5, Gopal Rajbongshi, who runs Manda Pharmacy in Dhaka, was at home when he saw visuals of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina leaving the country.Heroundeduphisstaff atthe store,toldthemtoshutshopand head home. By 4.30 pm, a group of people vandalised his pharmacy: they broke open the shutters, `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Fund Buch couple invested in part of structure under Sebi probe JAY MAZOOMDAR & SANDEEP SINGH NEW DELHI, MUMBAI, AUG 12 MAURITIUS-BASED IPE Plus Fund 1, which is at the centre of the controversy surrounding SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch, not only had investments by Vinod Adani, elder brother of industrialist Gautam Adani, but was also part of the investment structure used by two of the 13 overseas funds being probed by the market regulator for opaque fund flows into Adani Group companies since 2016-17. Information from multiple sources, including corporate records accessed by The Indian Express, the consortium of OrganizedCrimeandCorruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and additional information made available by US-based HindenburgResearch,showthat theinvestmentsbyMadhabiPuri CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 The key criticism THE NEW draft Bill faced criticism for including independent online news creators within its ambit — seen as government overreach. The ministry is now expected to rework and fine-tune the definition of who can be called a broadcaster. ing a senior government official and two industry executives, confirmed to The Indian Express that the ministry has now asked the stakeholders to return the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 To match Paris 2024, Los Angeles faces task Mission Impossible in 2028 Olympics BUSINESS AS USUAL EXPRESSAT OLYMPICS BY UNNY MIHIR VASAVDA PARIS, AUGUST 12 TOM CRUISE abseils from the roof, sprints towards the stage, picks up the Olympic flag from Simone Biles and zooms out of the Stade de France on a motorcycle. A Hollywood ending that few saw coming. And that marked the beginning of a mission impossible for the organisers of the 2028 Los Angeles Actor Tom Cruise performs during the closing ceremony of the Olympics at the Stade de France late Sunday night. Reuters Olympics—togooneuponParis. There might have been no warm bienvenue from the grumpy, anxious Parisians when theGamescametotheirdoorstep. Butwhenthetimecametobidau revoir, they found it hard to let go of this magical fortnight. “We saw ourselves as a people of diehard moaners. Instead, we found ourselves a nation of wild supporters,” Tony Estanguet, an Olympic championandtheorganisingcommittee head, said during Sunday’s closing ceremony. EvenEstanguetsoundeddisbelieving as he said those words toajoyouscrowdof 80,000-plus people.For17days,theyshedthe boring stereotype of the French being notoriously cynical and CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata