eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE ‘The journey of an outsider is very different from an insider’ LUCKNOW,LATECITY JANUARY19,2025 16+4PAGES,`6.00 KARTIK AARYAN DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA 5 MONTHS AFTER KILLING OF DOCTOR SPARKED PROTESTS RG Kar rape-murder accused guilty, sentencing tomorrow WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT MEETING ON FEBRUARY 14 IN CHANDIGARH Centre invites farmers for talks, Dallewal accepts medical aid RAAKHI JAGGA LUDHIANA, JANUARY 18 MOVING TO end the impasse over the farmers’ protest, the Centre Saturday invited farmers for talks next month to discuss their demands. Their leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who has been on a fast unto death since Union Agriculture Ministry Joint Secretary Priya Ranjan with Dallewal. Express November 26 last year, accepted medical aid around midnight. Thebreakthroughcameafter a delegation of officials from the Union Agriculture Ministry, led by Joint Secretary Priya Ranjan, met Dallewal and held a meeting with the representatives of his Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-political) and the Kisan CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 on his journey from Gwalior to Mumbai INSIDE SITAPUR CONG MP BOOKED FOR RAPE ON WOMAN AIDE’S COMPLAINT PAGE 3 PM DISTRIBUTES 65 LAKH PROPERTY CARDS UNDER CENTRAL SCHEME P 9 GAZA TRUCE DEAL TO TAKE EFFECT TODAY PAGE 12 Saif case: Another ‘suspect’ held, this time in Chhattisgarh, but question mark on role VIJAY KUMAR YADAV, JAYPRAKASH S NAIDU & DHEERAJ MISHRA MUMBAI, RAIPUR, JANUARY 18 R G Kar rape-murder case accused Sanjoy Roy at the Sealdah court in Kolkata on Saturday. Express I am grateful to the court, only I know what I have lost, says victim’s father TANUSREE BOSE KOLKATA, JANUARY 18 FIVEMONTHSaftertherapeand murder of a young doctor at the state-run R G Kar Hospital in Kolkata shook the city and sparkedprotestsacrossthecountry, a Kolkata court Saturday declaredprimeaccusedSanjoyRoy guilty of the offence. The quantum of sentence will be pronounced Monday by Additional District and Sessions JudgeAnirbanDasof theSealdah court. Thebodyof the on-duty doctor, who had been raped and killed, was found on the hospital premises on August 9. Prime accused Roy, who was arrested a day after the incident, had been booked under BharatiyaNyayaSanhitasections 64 (rape), 66 (punishment for causing death or resulting in a persistent vegetative state) and 103 (punishment for murder). Pronouncing the verdict in open court, judge Das told Roy that the accusation against him was that on August 9 “you entered RG Kar and you attacked the doctor and she died and (you) also sexually assaulted her”. He saidBNS sections 64, 66 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 I have three daughters, can understand the pain, says convict’s mother RAVIK BHATTACHARYA KOLKATA, JANUARY 18 SITTING NEAR the door to her home in Sambhunath Pandit Lane, some 6 km from the Sealdah court, Malati Roy had been waiting for the verdict in the R G Kar Hospital rape-murder case in which her son Sanjoy Roy was the accused. Told that he had been found guilty by the court, Malati said, “I have three daughters, I under- A 31-YEAR-OLD man was detained from a train in Durg, Chhattisgarh,inconnectionwith the attack on actor Saif Ali Khan inside his Bandra home, though topinvestigatorsmaintainedthe man remains a suspect and not A screengrab shows the suspect purchasing a mobile phone cover near Dadar (West) railway station in Mumbai an accused. A senior IPS officer from the MumbaipoliceoverseeingtheinvestigationtoldTheIndianExpress, “The suspect detained in Durg doesnotappeartobetheaccused, but we have sent a team (to Chhattisgarh) to verify. Mumbai policecontinuetoputeffortsinto their hunt for the culprit.” RPF officials in Chhattisgarh said the man was on board the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 stand their (the victim’s parents) pain. … Let him get any punishment he deserves. Even if the court says hang him, I will accept it.” Roy’s sister Sabita, who lives down the lane, said, “What my brotherhasdoneissomethingunthinkable and horrific. My heart breaks saying this but he should gettheultimatepunishmentifhe has done it. The victim was a woman like me, and a doctor.” Roy’s mother and sister did CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 In calibrated move, RBI loosens grip, lets rupee depreciate against US dollar Since Dec 10, rupee has depreciated 2.12% against US dollar to touch 86.62 GEORGE MATHEW & HITESH VYAS MUMBAI, JANUARY 18 IN WHAT appears to be a shift in strategy, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has seemingly relaxed its control over the rupee, allowing it to depreciate against the US dollar over the past month. The apparent change in stance marks a departure from the RBI's previous defence mechanisms, which were more rigid. In fact, it had tightly managed the rupee's movement to preventsharpdepreciationsince September 2024 till about a month ago. The rupee, which was movingintherangeof 84-85forquite some time, logged its steepest single-day fall in nearly two CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 FOREX RESERVES FALLING (in $ bn) DATE Jan10,’25 Nov29,’24 Nov1,’24 Sep27,’24 RESERVES 625.87 658.09 682.13 704.88 (all-timepeak) RUPEE DECLINING (Rupee against US $) 86.62 83.52 Sep23,’24 Jan17,’25 Kho Kho Kho: A 22-year-old’s journey from collecting scrap to stacking medals PAGE 1 ANCHOR SHIVANI NAIK MUMBAI, JANUARY 18 FOR AS long as he can remember, like all other members of his family, Ramji Kashyap spent a huge chunk of his day stacking corrugated cardboard sheets. Instead of the soundless drudgery,the22-year-oldisnow stacking up medals and giant winners’ cheques as India’s best Ramji Kashyap during a match at the ongoing Kho Kho World Cup in New Delhi contemporary kho kho star. GrowingupinVelapurvillage inMaharashtra’sSolapurdistrict, his father, two brothers and sisterwouldsetoff eachdaytodeal in bhangaar or kabaad (scrap). Ramji,meanwhile,spenthistime securing discarded packaging materials and tattered clothes. Asthedullbrownmountains of bhangaar aroundhimgrew,so did his love for kho kho — asport he fell in love with after he was admitted to the hamlet’s only English-medium municipal school. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Lucknow