DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA Digital scam trail tracked: Crores move in minutes across banks, state borders; officials watch as same ghost accounts used & reused The Indian Express findshowasingleparentinGurugramlostherlifesavings;followshermoneytoa ruralfamilyinHaryana,dailywagersinHyderabad;tracescracksthroughwhichallof itvanished 1 ACCOUNT TO 141 ACCOUNTS IN 3 LAYERS RITU SARIN GURUGRAM, JHAJJAR (HARYANA), HYDERABAD, JUNE 29 LAYER1 from Piyush’s ICICI Bank, Jhajjar (Haryana) HDFC Bank, Regent Plaza, Gurugram SEPTEMBER 4-5, 2024, TO PIYUSH, ICICI BANK, JHAJJAR (HARYANA) DAY 1 Rs 2.88 cr transferred between 2.45 pm-2.47 pm to Piyush account. From 2.52 pm-4.20 pm, money is moved out 28 ACCOUNTS IN 10 BANKS Of this, Rs 4.87 cr went to 11 ACCOUNTS in Sreenivasa Padmavathi Co-operative Urban Bank Hyderabad Rs 2.97 cr Piyush’s parents Ranbir & Shakuntala in Jhajjar, Haryana. Photos: Ritu Sarin P15 NEW DELHI, JUNE 29 transferred by 2.50 pm to Piyush account. By 3.19 pm, money moved out INTERVIEW NIRMALA SITHARAMAN UNION FINANCE MINISTER ReactingtoPresidentDonald Trump’sstatementlastweekthat an interim bilateral trade agree- ment (BTA) in the offing with New Delhi would “open up” the Indian market for America, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharamansaid:“Yes,wewould love to have an agreement, a big, good, beautiful one; why not?” In a free-wheeling interview with The Financial Express, Sitharaman said: “At the junction we are in, and given our growth goals and ambition to be ViksitBharatby2047,thesooner we have such agreements with CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 112 Work on for changes in two key laws, can open up civil n-sector 137 ANIL SASI 84 80 ‘No leader can dare to impose an Emergency. That’s the biggest positive consequence of that struggle’ RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD SENIOR BJP LEADER IDEA EXCHANGE, P 12 NEW DELHI, JUNE 29 The first is the easing of provisions in India’s nuclear liability law. Called the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010 (CLNDA), it sought to create a mechanism for compensating victims from damages caused by a nuclearaccident,andallocating liability and ● specifying procedures for compensation. But it was subsequently cited as an impediment by foreign E LEGISLATIVE GROUNDWORK is underway for multiple amendmentstotwooverarching laws governing the country’s atomic energy sector. The changes willalignthemwithlegal provisions globally, address festering investor concerns and set the stage for opening up India’s civil nuclear sector. EXPLAINED 30/06/2025 Govt sets up Narendra Jadhav panel to take a relook AHEAD OF the monsoon session of the Maharashtra legislature that begins Monday, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis revoked the government resolutions(GRs)issuedonApril16and June17onthecontentiousthreelanguagepolicy,inductingHindi as the third language in primary schools. The first GR had made Hindimandatorythirdlanguage for students from Class 1 to 5, whilethesecondonemadeitoptional. The CM also announced theformationof acommitteeled by Dr Narendra Jadhav to take a relook into the three-language policy in primary sections. The CM’s announcement on SundaycoincidedwithShivSena UBT’sstatewideagitationwhere activists burnt copies of the controversialGRstoprotestthe“imposition” of Hindi at primary school level. Addressing reporters at the Sahayadri Guest House after a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 HOW THE CONTROVERSY UNFOLDED April 16: Government issues GR introducing Hindi as the mandatory third language from Class 1 to 5 in Marathi and English medium schools under the Maharashtra State Board. April 22: Following criticism, education minister Dada Bhuse announces that Hindi would not be mandatory, promises a revised GR. June 17: A revised GR issued, stating Hindi would “generally” be the third language, allowing a teacher for other alternatives, if 20 students opted for it. It was criticised again as a backdoor cabinet meeting, Fadnavis said, “We discussed the three-languagepolicyatlengthinthecabinetanddecidedtocanceltheGRs THE WORLD DAY 2 LAYER3 Money transferred from 28 accounts in 10 banks TO RUSSIA LAUNCHES BIGGEST AERIAL ATTACK SINCE WAR STARTED: UKRAINE 141 ACCOUNTS IN 23 BANKS ACROSS 15 STATES PAGE 14 PM targets Cong: ‘Aimed during Emergency to enslave judiciary’ India would love a big, beautiful trade pact with US: Sitharaman AS THE July 9 deadline to avoid theUnitedStates’punitivereciprocaltariffsisdrawingcloser,the government has hinted at uninhibited deal-making with the world'slargesteconomy,butalso made an unequivocal commitmenttodrawdefinitiveredlines in the best interests of India’s farmers and livestock breeders. Two of 11 accounts traced to R Sharadha, a tailor, and N Ravinder, a carpenter TO HDFC Bank, City Court, Sikandarpur, Gurugram Maharashtrarevokes2 GRsonlanguagepolicy thatinductedHindi MUMBAI, JUNE 29 Rs 5.85 cr transferred on transferred on SEPTEMBER 4 and SEPTEMBER 5, 2024, from victim’s HDFC Bank, Gurugram AFTER BACKLASH OVER THIRD LANGUAGE EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE LAYER2 Rs 5.85 cr CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 PRASANTA SAHU & K G NARENDRANATH `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 AN EXPRESS INVESTIGATION - PART 1 TOMORROW: CRORES MOVE IN AND OUT OF A BANK BUT WHY NO ONE NOTICED REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2025, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES FROMAplushcondominiuminside an exclusive gated community in the National Capital Region to a small three-room house in a Haryana village and then through a rented room on a terrace in the suburbs of Hyderabad to 15 more states. All ittookwasjustafewminutesfor a sum of nearly Rs 6 crore to be stolen through this circuitous route to 28 bank accounts across the country, and 141 more later, before vanishing into thin air. Andthisisjustoneof the1.23 lakh cases involving Rs 1,935 crorethatwerereportedin2024, almost thrice the numbers logged in 2022, of digital arrests —wherescamstersscareandensnarevictimsthroughfakeinterrogations on video calls before cleaningouttheirbankaccounts. Tracking the trends being reported by state police forces and cyber fraud units all over the country, The Indian Express zeroed in on an illustrative case in Gurugram, involving a 44-yearold advertising executive. ● The blank editorial in The Indian Express after the Proclamation THEEMERGENCY 50YEARSON Address features clips of Morarji Desai, Vajpayee, Jagjivan Ram discussing period ‘Thousands held...people didnotbow down’:PMin MannKibaat Itsshadow—andlight AN EXPRESS SERIES PAGE 9 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY SCOUTINGFORSIX MID-AIRREFUELLERS, IAFBEGINSTECHNICAL EVALUATION PAGE 7 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, JUNE 29 PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi on Sunday invoked the Emergency during his monthly Mann Ki Baat radio address, saying: “Those who imposed the Emergency not only murdered ourConstitutionbutalsohadthe intention to make the judiciary as their slave.” Addingthat“peopleweretormentedonalargescale”,hesaid: “There are many such examples which cannot be forgotten.” His government marked June 25 as “Samvidhan Hatya Diwas”, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Emergency. Onthenightof June25,1975, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 imposition of Hindi. June 23: CM Devendra Fadnavis announces a pause and declares that a final decision on the three-language formula will be taken only after consultations with stakeholders. June 26: Education minister Bhuse declares that third language will be taught in Classes 1 and 2 only in spoken form, while reading and writing will be from Class 3. June 29: Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announces to revoke both the GRs amid political backlash. issued on April 16 and June 17, 2025. A committee will be formed led by Dr Narendra Jadhav CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 3 killed, over 50 injured in Puri stampede; SP, Collector transferred Family members of a victim at a hospital in Puri. PTI SUJIT BISOYI BHUBANESWAR, JUNE 29 I K Gujral was the Information and Broadcasting Minister during the Emergency. Express Archive When Indira asked Gujral to hold her raincoat: ‘You can’t do any other work’ VIKAS PATHAK NEW DELHI, JUNE 29 DECADESAFTERbeingeasedout as the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for his “softness” on mediacensorshipsoonaftertheimposition of Emergency, I K Gujral saidinaninterview,“Democracy anddemocraticinstitutionsarea package... You cannot be partly democratic and partly nondemocratic.” He added, “Therefore, once youstartcompromisingwithinstitutions of democracy, you cannot be democratic. And that applies even today, and that will apply for all times to come.” Gujral,wholaterbecamePM, was moved to the Planning Ministry, with the I&B Minister portfolio going to V C Shukla, who was seen as more pliant by CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THREE PEOPLE were killed and more than 50 were injured in a stampedeearlySundaymorning outside the Gundicha Temple in Puri, where thousands of devotees have gathered for the annual Rath Yatra. The incident occurred between 4 and 4.20 am at Saradhabali, just outside GundichaTemple,whensomevehicles passed through a crowded area.Eyewitnessesandfamiliesof the victims alleged that there werenoadequatepolicearrangements or officials to manage the swelling number of pilgrims. The dead were identified as Basanti Sahoo (42) and Pravati Das (52) from Khurda, and Prema-kantaMohanty(78)from Bhubaneswar. Hospital officials said that among the injured, some were admitted with serious wounds whileothersweredischargedafter receiving primary treatment. Expressing his condolences, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi suggested there CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Voice from inside one of India’s widest tunnels: ‘Can’t build by fighting with rock’ PAGE 1 ANCHOR DHEERAJ MISHRA KOTA, JUNE 29 THERE ARE many stories behind the 4.89-km-long, eight-lane tunnel on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway that cuts through Mukundra Hills in Rajasthan’s Kota. One of them is that of 58year-old Madhukar, who has built tunnels all his life. He started this project during Covid in 2021 at the north end, in what couldwellbehislastassignment before retirement in two years. Now,facedwithadifficult500m stretch—hecallsitthe“nalaportion”—Madhukarisdetermined to complete his ninth project successfully, and gets emotional while recounting his association with the tunnel. The tunnel, which falls between Ummedpura and Nayagaon village in Kota, is a key link of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway — one of the most ambitious projects of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) under the Bharatmala Pariyojna. With a width of 22 metres and a height The 4.89-km tunnel in Kota is a key link of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and passes through different rock masses and substrata that include sandstone, shale, siltstone, mudstone and limestone. NHAI & Dheeraj Mishra of 11 metres, it is also one of the widest tunnels in the country, passing through different rock masses and substrata that include sandstone, shale, siltstone, mudstone and limestone. In the project cluster, which is divided into 53 packages, the Ummedpura-Nayagaon tunnel is being constructed by a joint ventureof DilipBuildconLimited andAltis-HoldingCorporation.It was originally a 30-month projectscheduledtobecompletedin January 2024, but got delayed duetochallengesduringexcavation and is now likely to be completed by the year-end. “Hum rock se dosti karte hain, aap rock se dushmani karke tunnel nahi bana sakte (We befriend the rock, you can't make a tunnel by fighting with the rock). In this project also, we have come to the most difficult part, but we will pass it slowly. We have to justunderstandthebehaviourof the rock,” said Madhukar, a resident of Khagaria in Bihar, who is in charge of the blasting. HavingworkedindifficultterrainsacrossSikkim,Uttarakhand, MizoramandHimachalPradesh, Madhukar, who holds a diploma inmining,deconstructsthechallenge. “The top surface of the hill is in a zig-zag shape. We have CONTINUED ON PAGE 2