DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, JULY 18, 2025, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 NATO CHIEF THREATENED SANCTIONS OVER RUSSIA TRADE GURGAON LAND DEAL Securing our energy needs overriding priority for us: Govt on NATO warning ED names Vadra in chargesheet, attaches 43 properties linked to him and others SHUBHAJIT ROY & SUKALP SHARMA BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY NEW DELHI, JULY 17 IN A sharply-worded response to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte’s warning that countries like India, China and Brazil could be hit very hard by secondary sanctions if they continued to do business with Russia, the Ministry of External Affairs Thursday cautioned against “double standards” and underlined that “securing the energy needs of our people is understandably an overriding priority for us”. Also Thursday, a day after Rutte’s remark, Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said he didn’t “feel any pressure”, making clear that India does not see any oil supply disruption if its Russian crude imports get impacted 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 E 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. 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, while speaking to reporters 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) CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PRATIBHA SETU SCHEME UPSC opens window for those not in final civil services list, posts details for pvt jobs ANIL SASI 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. Despite being overqualified, he took up the only job that he managed to land after a desperate search – as an entrylevel administrative assistant in a public school on the outskirts of Delhi. Until he got a phone call from a Delhi-based corporate, which was fully updated about how he had fared in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination and evaluated him for his very pretty solid record in the penultimate stages of that exam, while taking into consideration his Masters degree, to eventually 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 UP Police: Over 30,000 held, 238 killed in 14,000 encounters since 2017 NEW DELHI, JULY 17 THE ENFORCEMENT Directorate, 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 attached 43 immovable properties 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 cleared of any wrongdoing. He is 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 the Rouse Avenue Courts against 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 arrayed as accused, the official said. 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 ‘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 ‘BJP is comfortable, we have 52,000 booth level agents in Bihar, will add 10,000 more’ SANTOSH SINGH Solicitor General Tushar Mehta LUCKNOW, JULY 17 PATNA, JULY 17 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 senior BJP leader Samrat Choudhary addresses the concerns over it, particularly regarding Bihar residents working outside the state, and says special attention should be paid to Kishanganj district. Excerpts from an interview: APURVA VISHWANATH NEW DELHI, JULY 17 DGP Rajeev Krishna MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL AKASH PRIME(D) IN LADAKH EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE THE UTTAR Pradesh government on Thursday claimed to have conducted over 14,000 encounters since 2017, arrested more than 30,000 criminals, killed 238 and injured over 9,000 in the leg during such operations. In a statement, DGP Rajeev Krishna said that acting on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s directives, the UP Police implemented an “aggressive crackdown on crime.” Over the past eight years, 14,973 operations have been carried out, resulting in the arrest of 30,694 criminals. Of these, 9,467 who attacked the police were shot in the leg, while 238 were killed in Extension of political witch hunt: Vadra encounters. The highest number of actions took place in Meerut Zone in western UP, where 7,969 criminals were arrested and 2,911 were injured. In Agra Zone, 5,529 criminals were arrested, with 741 injured, and in Bareilly Zone, 4,383 criminals were caught, with 921 injured. In the Varanasi Zone, police arrested 2,029 criminals and injured 620. In the commissionerate areas, Gautam Buddh Nagar DEFENDING ITS decision to lower the “safe harbour” protections for Internet intermediaries and social media platforms, and remove content through the Sahyog Portal, the Centre told the Karnataka High Court Thursday that algorithmic curation systems fundamentally differ from editorial processes in traditional media. “Unlike a newspaper editor’s conscious judgment or a TV producer’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 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE EXPRESS INTERVIEW SAMRAT CHOUDHARY BIHAR DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTER 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 hospital room at 7.15 am before fleeing 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-related dispute,” Inspector General 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. “Anyone entering the hospital is subjected to frisking 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 the exercise struggling to cover 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 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WHAT WILL NOT COUNT IN BIHAR AN EXPRESS SERIES PART 12 When Harry met 7: She promised marriage, life in Canada, duped many PAGE 1 ANCHOR DIVYA GOYAL GOPAL KHANNA/DORAHA (LUDHIANA), JULY 17 TILL JULY 10, Jasdeep Singh, 27, of Faizgarh village in Punjab’s Khanna city, was within touching distance of his Canada dream, all thanks to his scheduled ‘engagement’ to a framed photograph of Canada resident Harpreet Kaur, 24, aka Harry, at a hotel in Doraha, around 20 km from Khanna. Before the mangna (engagement) could take place, Khanna Police raided the hotel following a tip-off by Bathinda resident Rajwinder Singh, 28, Harpreet’s ‘fiancé’ since July 2024. Rajwinder, a resident of Dullewala village in Bathinda, says an accidental WhatApp voice note helped him blow the lid off the alleged racket. “Harpreet’s mother sent me a voice note meant for her. In the voice note, she discussed Harpreet’s July 10 engagement and the money they had to take from the Faizgarh family. She also tells Harpreet to reassure me regarding our wedding,” says Rajwinder, who has studied till Class 10. While the July 10 raid came as a shock for Jasdeep and his family, it was an eye-opener for Khanna Police too: Seven men from across Punjab — all of whom allegedly got engaged to her over the past two years by proxy, either over video calls “from Canada” or to her framed photograph — have accused the mother-daughter of taking lakhs of rupees from them under various pretexts in lieu of taking them to Canada after their marriage to Harpreet. While Khanna Police have arrested Harpreet’s mother The investigating officer, Assistant Sub-Inspector Harjeet Singh (right), shows a photo of Harpreet Kaur. Gurmeet Singh Sukhdarshan Kaur, her brother Manpreet Singh and their accomplice Ashok Kumar for allegedly duping men from Bathinda, Moga, Shahkot, Raikot, Barnala and Dharamkot seeking brides settled in Canada, a Look-Out Circular is expected to be issued soon against Harpreet, who went to Canada on a student visa and is currently there on a work permit. The police said the accused would target their victims either via matrimonial ads in newspapers or vicholas (local matchmakers). Explaining the modus operandi, Inspector Akash Dutt, Station House Officer (SHO), Doraha Police Station, says, “Sukhdarshan, the mother, would fix Harpreet’s marriage to men who wanted to settle in Canada but could not due to various limitations. Claiming to be very poor and having incurred huge debts to send Harpreet abroad, Sukhdarshan would soon start asking these families to compensate her for helping settle their sons in Canada. Since she readily agreed to bank transfers, the families didn’t suspect much.” In the case of at least one family, police said, Sukhdarshan allegedly gave them a written agreement as guarantee of marriage. Police say the duped families never approached the police since Sukhdarshan and Harpreet kept promising to return the money. Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Harjeet Singh, the investigating officer in the case, says, “Harpreet would initially take calls from her fiancés. In some cases, she would demand money for medicines, to pay her rent, college fee, etc. Her mother too would ask these families for money to pay for Harpreet’s return ticket to India. Soon, Harpreet would start ignoring their calls.” Sukhdarshan, ASI Singh says, would promise a wedding within 2-3 months of the proxy CONTINUED ON PAGE 2