DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, JULY 18, 2025, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 NATO CHIEF THREATENED SANCTIONS OVER RUSSIA TRADE Securing our energy needs overriding priority for us: Govt on NATO warning E BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY SHUBHAJIT ROY & SUKALP SHARMA NEW DELHI, JULY 17 IN A sharply-worded response to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte’swarningthatcountrieslike India,ChinaandBrazilcouldbehit veryhardbysecondarysanctionsif theycontinuedtodobusinesswith Russia, the Ministry of External AffairsThursdaycautionedagainst “doublestandards”andunderlined that“securingtheenergyneedsof our people is understandably an overridingpriorityforus”. Also Thursday, a day after Rutte’s remark, Petroleum MinisterHardeepSinghPurisaid he didn’t “feel any pressure”, making clear that India does not see any oil supply disruption if itsRussiancrudeimportsgetimpacted because the country has diverse sources of oil and there is enough supply available in the market. Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, said, “We have seen reports on the subject and are closely following the developments. Let me reiterate that se- EXPLAINED Guard against double standards, says MEA; feel no pressure: Minister Puri Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri in New Delhi on Thursday. PTI Amid efforts to ● seal deal THE NATO chief’s warning comes at a time when Delhi and Washington are working to seal an interim trade deal before the pause on reciprocal tariff ends on August 1. Geopolitical shifts, freight economics and refinery economics will shape India’s crude sourcing decisions and diversification strategy. PRATIBHA SETU SCHEME NEW DELHI, JULY 17 FOR 32-YEAR-OLD Arun K, coming really close to qualifying in the Civil Services Examination, the most rigorous professional test in the country, was of little consolation. Having exhausted all his chances and a better part of his youth in trying to qualify, he was left with the same predicament faced by a majority of those who appear for this exam: belatedly starting professional life from scratch.Despitebeingoverqualified, he took up the only job that he managed to land after a desperate search – as an entry-level administrativeassistantinapublicschoolontheoutskirtsofDelhi. Untilhegotaphonecallfrom a Delhi-based corporate, which was fully updated about how he had fared in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examinationandevaluatedhimfor hisveryprettysolidrecordinthe penultimatestagesof thatexam, while taking into consideration hisMastersdegree,toeventually employ him at a mid-seniority grade and a salary that was multiples of what he was getting at the local school. The job position at the new employer was more in sync with his academic qualifications, and duly acknowledged his performance in what is regarded as the toughest qualifying examination in India. And for this, he has to thank an initiative of the UPSC called the Public Disclosure Scheme (PDS), through which the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Tablighi Jamaat ‘Covid’ case: Delhi HC quashes charges against 70 SOHINI GHOSH NEW DELHI, JULY 17 MORE THAN five years after the Tablighi Jamaat was accused of spreading Covid by organising an international congregation in Delhi, the Delhi High Court Thursday quashed charges in 16 FIRsandchargesheetsfiledinrelated cases involving 70 Indian citizens. Justice Neena Bansal Krishna told the open court that proceedings stand quashed. The 70 named as accused across 16 FIRs were charged primarily under sections of the IPC, including criminal conspiracy, for allegedly accommodating foreign nationals in mosques andtheirhomesduringthepandemic from March 24-30, 2020. The FIRs had also listed 195 foreign nationals but they were not named as accused in most chargesheets — the magistrate court did not take cognizance of the remaining chargesheets on theprincipleof double jeopardy. The Delhi Police’s Crime Branch initially registered an FIR under Section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897, and IPC sections 188, 269, 270, 120-B and 271, along with provisions of the Disaster Management Act 2005, against seven Indians. The Crime Branch then filed 48 chargesheets and 11 supplementarychargesheets,including under Section 14(b) of the ForeignersAct,1946,against955 foreign nationals, of whom 908 entered plea bargains before the magistrate court. Eight of them weredischargedinAugust2020, and 36 others acquitted in December 2020. No action was taken against three others who CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 GUJARAT UPSC opens window for those not in final civil services list, posts details for pvt jobs ANIL SASI curing the energy needs of our people is understandably an overriding priority for us. In this endeavour, we are guided by what is on offer in the markets, and by the prevailing global circumstances. We would particularly caution against any double standards on the matter.” He was responding to Rutte who,whilespeakingtoreporters after meeting US senators Wednesday, said, “If you are the President of China, the Prime Minister of India, or the President of Brazil, and you continue to trade with Russia and buy their oil and gas, then you know: if the man in Moscow doesn’t take the (Ukraine war) AHMEDABAD NAMED CLEANEST CITY; SURAT IN NEW SUPER LEAGUE P4 AMIT CHAVDA IS NEW GUJARAT CONGRESS PRESIDENT PAGE 3 AKASH PRIME(D) IN LADAKH EXPRESS NETWORK GURGAON LAND DEAL ED names Vadra in chargesheet, attaches 43 properties linked to him and others Extension of political witch hunt: Vadra MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL NEW DELHI, JULY 17 THEENFORCEMENTDirectorate, probing an alleged money laundering case linked to a land deal in Gurgaon’s Shikohpur, filed a chargesheet Thursday naming Robert Vadra, husband of Congress leader and MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, as an accused. The chargesheet was filed a day after the probe agency attached43immovableproperties linked to Robert Vadra and his entities including M/s Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd and others. In a statement Thursday, Vadra’s office maintained that the present proceedings were “nothing more than an extension of the political witch hunt by the present government” against Vadra. “Vadra is aware of reports suggesting that the Directorate of Enforcement has filed a Prosecution Complaint naming him as an accused before the Rouse Avenue Courts, Delhi. As the Court is yet to even take cognizance of the matter, he has not had the opportunity to examine the Prosecution Complaint. As a law-abiding Indian citizen, he has always and will continue to extend his fullest cooperation to the authorities and he is confident that at the end of it all, the truth will prevail and he will be clearedof anywrongdoing.Heis ED probe based on FIR registered on Sept 1, 2018 looking forward to the opportunity to defend himself and clear his name in Court,” it stated. The ED, an official said, after completing its investigation, filed a prosecution complaint in theRouseAvenueCourtsagainst 11 individuals/entities. Vadra, his entities including M/s Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd and others, Satyanand Yajee and Kewal Singh Virk including their entity M/s Onkareshwar Properties Pvt Ltd, have been arrayedasaccused,theofficialsaid. Cognizance of the prosecution complaint – the equivalent of a chargesheet filed by police – is yet to be taken by the court. The ED investigation was based on an FIR, registered on September 1, 2018 by Gurgaon police, alleging fraudulent purchase of 3.53 acres of land situated in village Shikohpur, Sector 83, Gurgaon by Vadra through his entity M/s Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd from M/s Onkareshwar Properties Pvt Ltd on February 12, 2008. “The probe revealed that a commercial licence was also obtained by Vadra on the land through his personal influence. A provisional attachment order CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WHEN HARRY MET 7: SHE PROMISED MARRIAGE, LIFE IN CANADA, DUPED MANY PAGE 13 ‘Surge in demand for domicile certificates Five gunmen walk into Patna suggests presence of hospital, shoot murder convict many immigrants’ India on Wednesday successfully test fired indigenously developed Akash Prime missile in Ladakh, customised to operate at an altitude above 4,500 metres, the Ministry of Defence said on Thursday. PTI Online curation systems unlike newspapers: Govt on safe Attackers flee on motorcycles; police say may be rival gang harbour call SANTOSH SINGH PATNA, JULY 17 Solicitor General Tushar Mehta APURVA VISHWANATH NEW DELHI, JULY 17 DEFENDING ITS decision to lower the “safe harbour” protections for Internet intermediaries and social media platforms, and remove content through the SahyogPortal,theCentretoldthe Karnataka High Court Thursday that algorithmic curation systems fundamentally differ from editorial processes in traditional media. “Unlike a newspaper editor’s consciousjudgmentoraTVproducer’s schedule, these automated decisions occur at massive scale and at lightning speed, often without transparent standards,” the government said in its submissions. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘BJP iscomfortable,wehave52,000booth levelagentsinBihar,willadd10,000more’ A CCTV grab of the gunmen inside Patna’s Paras Hospital on Thursday morning HIMANSHU HARSH PATNA, JULY 17 A MAN from Buxar, who faced several murder cases and was out on parole, was shot dead inside Patna’s Paras Hospital on Thursday morning, police said. The incident has triggered a renewed political storm about law and order in the election-bound state. Police sources said five men, all carrying guns, shot 36-yearold Chandan Mishra in his hospitalroomat7.15ambeforefleeing on motorcycles. “Buxar district’s notorious criminal, Chandan Mishra, who was out on parole for treatment, was attacked inside the hospital premises. The attackers are suspected to be members of a rival gang, or possibly Mishra’s own associates involved in a gang-relateddispute,”InspectorGeneral of Police Jitendra Rana said, adding that investigations are underway. Rana also said that security protocols at the hospital, including frisking of visitors, are being scrutinised.“Anyoneenteringthe hospital is subjected to frisking CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WITH the publication of the first draft of the electoral rolls after the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive just a week away, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and seniorBJPleaderSamratChoudhary addresses the concerns over it, particularly regarding Bihar residentsworkingoutsidethestate, andsaysspecialattentionshould be paid to Kishanganj district. Excerpts from an interview: Questions have been raised about the timing of the SIR, just months to go for the polls, with the Block Development Officers (BDOs) deployed for theexercisestrugglingtocover everyone. The EC is doing the SIR with the 2003 voters’ list as the starting point. It is going well across the state minus the Purnia division, especially Kishanganj district. While records show that CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE EXPRESS INTERVIEW SAMRAT CHOUDHARY BIHAR DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTER WHAT WILL NOT COUNTINBIHAR AN EXPRESS SERIES PART 12 Forced into exile, 300 people of a clan return to their village — 11 yrs later PAGE 1 ANCHOR BRENDAN DABHI AHMEDABAD, JULY 17 IT ALL started with a casual conversation between Alka, a cook, and her employer ASP Suman Nala last month. Nala, posted in the Danta division of Gujarat's Banaskantha district, asked Alka about her family and how often she visited hersasural(maritalhome).What Alka stoically told her next left the IPS officer shocked: Alka, alongwithscoresof membersof her extended Kodarvi clan, had to leave their village overnight afteroneof theirdistantrelatives was accused of murder. The year was 2014 and the exodus from Mota Pipodara village in Danta taluka was part of the tradition of “Chadotaru” – a tribal custom of justice wherein, in the case of murder, either a certainamount(orbloodmoney, as Nala puts it), is paid to the kin of the deceased or the entire family of the offender goes into exile. Nala learned that the Kodarvis, land owners in their native village, have been com- pelled to work as either farm labourers in other villages or as diamond polishers in Surat following their exile. Alka's own husband works in Surat in one such unit. On Thursday, it was a homecoming for 300 people from these 29 Kodarvi families who werewelcomedbacktotheirvillage, 11 years after they left it, through the efforts of Banaskantha Police. Gujarat's Minister of State, Home, Harsh Sanghavi was also present at the functionheldinthevillagetocelebrate the rehabilitation of the families. Thiswasnotthefirsttimethe Police officers talk to villagers who have returned to their village in Banaskantha. Police said their barren land has been levelled and made suitable for farming. Express familieshadattemptedtoreturn totheirvillage.Afewdaysbefore Alka's conversation with IPS Nala, the elders of the Kodarvi clan had submitted an applicationwiththepoliceseekinghelp in their rehabilitation to Mota Pipodara. As Alka shared all this information with ASP Nala, Banaskantha Superintendent of Police (SP) Akshayraj Makwana was alerted and soon, the police got involved in the matter. JR Desai, sub-inspector at Hadad police station, gathered details of the displaced families, contacted them, and initiated meetings with the village pan- chayat and elders of both communities to ensure peace and reconciliation. Over the next 20 days or so, police personnel engaged with all the parties involved, Desai said. Amid all this, an interesting nugget of information reached the police. The man from the Kodarvi clan, who had been accused of murdering a man from another clan during a party in 2014, had been acquitted by the trial court in 2017. What's more, he was able to go back to his village and restart from where he left while the rest of the members of his clan were living in extreme poverty, said SI Desai. After several rounds of negotiations, during which the community leaders were assured of being credited with a positive exercise while also being warned against disregarding the law, the Kodarvi community members could return to their village. These families possessed approximately 8.5 hectares of farmlandinthevillage.Incoordination with the District Inspector of Land Records, Banaskantha Police identified and measured this land. “The oncebarrenandovergrownland was levelled and made CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Ahmedabad