BHUBANESWAR l friday l september 19, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l JEYPORE EDITION Visas of certain Indian business executives revoked: u.s. embassy The visas of a few Indian business executives were revoked for their alleged involvement in trafficking of fentanyl precursors, the US said decision to rein in trafficking of drugs fentanyl overdose deaths tipping point The embassy’s decisions is in keeping with the Trump Administration’s efforts to keep Americans safe from dangerous synthetic narcotics. “Individuals and organizations involved in illegal production, trafficking of drugs to US, along with their families, will face consequences including being denied access to US,” affirmed Chargé d’affaires Jorgan Andrews ■ ■ The US embassy in Delhi said the Trump administration has already taken critical steps to confront this crisis through a series of executive orders that secure its borders and combat drug trafficking | P7 Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid and drug. There have been reports in US of drug overdose deaths from consumption of fentanyl 70% of US’ 1,07,000 drug overdose deaths in 2024 were from fentanyl CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Fresh Rahul-CEC sparring on ‘vote theft’ in Karnataka Six missing, 2 dead as rain batters U’khand na r e nd r a s e t h i @ Dehradun TWO people were killed, five rescued alive while six people are missing as landslides and flooding triggered by heavy rain flattened more than 40 houses in four villages of Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Thursday . The deceased were identified as Narendra Singh (42) and Jagdamba Prasad (70). Of the six people still missing, four are from Kuntari Lagaphali and one each is from Kuntari Lagasarpani and Dhurma. All four affected villages — Kuntari Lagaphali, Kuntari Lagasarpani, Sera and Dhurma — come under the Nandanagar area, 260 km from Dehradun. Nandanagar is already reeling from land subsidence. Four people were rescued alive in Kuntari Lagaphali and one in Dhurma village, the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) in Dehradun said. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami directed officials to ensure adequate arrangements is made for shelter, food and water and other amenities for those affected. Those seriously injured, including a child, were airlifted to AIIMS in Rishikesh, Dhami told reporters in Gopeshwar after speaking to officials. P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi SDRF personnel during a search operation in Nandanagar area of Chamoli district in Uttarakhand on Thursday. The four villages affected by the rain-related landslides and floods are located about 260 km from Dehradun. Six people — four from Kuntari Lagaphali and one each from Kuntari Lagasarpani and Dhurma — are still missing, SDRF officials said | pti Nato-style agreement to treat attack on one country as attack on both India weighs Pak-Saudi def pact J AYA N TH J A C O B @ New Delhi Sebi clean chit to Adani on Hindenburg allegations B E N N K O CH U VEE D A N @ Mumbai Markets watchdog Sebi on Thursday dismissed all charges levelled by the now-shuttered US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research against the Adani group, its founder Gautam Adani, his brother, and a few top executives including the group’s chief financial officer Jugeshinder Singh. The Hindenburg report had accused the group of share price rigging, insider trading, accounting fraud, and using offshore tax havens and shell firms to route funds. Sebi said its probe found no violation of regulations and that there were no related-party transactions. Accordingly, the watchdog decided to “dispose of the instant proceedings against noticees (Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone, Adani Power, Adicorp Enterprises, Gautam Adani and his brother Rajesh Adani) without any direction”. The final orders issued by Sebi’s whole-time member Kamlesh Chandra Varshneya also exonerated group chairman Gautam Adani and his brother Rajesh. Reacting to the order, Gautam Adani said that it reaffirmed his and the group’s stand that Hindenburg’s claims were baseless, adding that “those spread false narratives owe an apology”. Nepal govt says March 5 elections on track Nepal’s interim government on Thursday said it is preparing with “one-pointedness” to conduct the parliamentary elections scheduled for March 5 next year and assured that the polls will be held on time | P9 INDIA on Thursday said it would assess the security implications of the newly signed Strate gic Mutual Defence Agreement between nucleararmed Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, amid concerns over shifting power dynamics in the Middle East and South Asia. The pact, signed on Wednesday during Pak Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ’s official visit to Riyadh, marks a major upgradation of defence ties between the two countries. It includes a mutual defence clause that says “any aggression against either of the two countries shall be considered as an aggression against both”. The accord was signed in the presence of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de-facto ruler, and Pakistan’s powerful army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, highlighting its strategic weight. The agreement, finalised days after Israeli airstrikes on Qatari soil targeting Hamas leaders, has the potential to reshape regional security alignments as many Gulf states are now questioning the long-term I m p l i c at i o n s f o r I n d i a 1 India to assess the Pak-Saudi pact’s impact on national security and regional stability 2 Future military conflicts with Pak could technically evoke a response from Saudi Arabia Energy security, diaspora safety India is expected to weigh not just the military dimensions of the pact and also its broader strategic implications on energy security, diaspora safety, and the evolving balance of power in the Gulf. Over 8 million Indians live and work across the Gulf, with a substantial population in Saudi Arabia Pak PM Shehbaz Sharif (left) with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after signing a pact in Riyadh | AP reliability of the US as a security guarantor. It also comes months after the military conflict between India and Pakistan following Phagalgam attack. Reacting to the development, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) offered a measured response. “We have seen re- woman constable’s murder Trouble mounts for Deepak with lens on 1st wife’s death sister three to four months after their marriage. AparA day after Commissioner- na had even lodged an online ate Police unraveled the complaint with the Commisgruesome murder of traffic sionerate Police back then. constable Subhamitra Sahoo At about 8 pm on March 17, at the hands of her husband, he telephoned us and inDeepak Rout, his first wife’s formed us that she had sussister lodged a complaint tained injuries in an acciwith police and d e n t n e a r sought a thorough Khuntuni,” read Roprobe into her sibjalin’s complaint. ling’s death in a It further alleged road mishap. that Deepak had On March 17, he Subhamitra’s shifted Aparna to a telephoned us murder brought the and informed us private hospital in that she had focus back on the acCuttack, where she sustained cidental death of succumbed. “We injuries in an Deepak’s first wife, suspect it was a accident near Apar na Priyaplanned murder by Khuntuni. We darshini, who was a suspect it was a Deepak to receive revenue inspector planned murder the insurance policy (RI). Apar na’s payout,” said Rojato receive the younger sister, Roja- insurance money lin. She requested lin Rout submitted a the city police to Rojalin Rout, complaint to police probe her sister’s Aparna’s sister commissioner S Dev death. Meanwhile, DCP Datt Singh alleging that Deepak had possibly Jagmohan Meena placed killed her to receive the in- Deepak under suspension on Thursday Police also arrest. surance policy payout of ed his relative and an associ`1.5 crore. Aparna and Deepak had ate on the day for assisting married in April 2018. “He him to dispose of the victim’s Continued on P5 . started harassing my elder body  A s i s h M e h ta @ Bhubaneswar India worried about nuclear proliferation as Pak is expected to provide N-cover to the Saudis 3 ports of the signing of a strategic mutual defence pact between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said. Pakistan’s decades-old alliance with Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest sites, is deeprooted in shared faith, strategic interests, and deep econom- ic interdependence. It also includes a longstanding military partnership. Between 1,500 and 2,000 Pakistani troops are currently deployed in Saudi Arabia, providing operational, technical, and training support, including to the kingdom’s air and land forces. While defence cooperation between the two nations is not new, formalising it into a mutual defence pact to include the nuclear umbrella marks an escalation that is likely to trigger close scrutiny in New Delhi. A senior Saudi official, speaking to the international media, acknowledged the complexities involved regarding India — a key Saudi partner.“Our relationship with India is more robust than it has ever been. We will continue to grow this relationship and seek to contribute to regional peace whichever way we can,” the official was quoted as saying. When asked whether Pakistan would provide Saudi Arabia with a nuclear umbrella, the official said: “This is a comprehensive defensive agreement that encompasses all military means.” Such comments are likely to be watched closely in India. In yet another exposé on ‘vote theft’, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday claimed large-scale irregularities in Karnataka’s Aland constituency, accusing Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar of ‘protecting those murdering democracy’. Rahul charged that 6,018 voter names were deleted in Aland in a systematic manner using software, adding the CEC was complicit in the deletion as he refused to provide crucial data and take any action despite repeated requests from the Karnataka CID. However, the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer in Karnataka claimed it had handed over all information required for the probe to the Superintendent of Police, Kalaburagi district on Sept 6, 2023. In Delhi, the ECI said, “No deletion of any vote can be done online by any member of the public, as misconceived by Gandhi.” The fraud was exposed by chance when a booth-level officer discovered that her uncle’s vote had been deleted after a neighbour applied for the deletion of his vote, said Rahul. “However, the neighbour denied it. Some other force hijacked the process,” he added. Although the Karnataka CID sent 18 letters to ECI in a span of 18 months seeking destination IPs, device ports and OTP trails of the fake Form 7 applications, the poll body has not Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at a press conference in Delhi | Parveen Negi ECI must stop protecting vote thieves. They should release all evidence to the CID within a week Rahul Gandhi, Cong leader responded so far, he alleged. The deletions, he added, were at the top 10 booths where Congress holds strong influence and had won eight of them. Rahul said that an automated program chose the first name from each booth to delete votes, with mobile numbers from outside the state used to file fake applications. “Someone set up a centralised criminal operation to steal elections. In Aland, this operation filed 6,018 deleted applications by impersonating voters using automated filling of online EC forms,” he said. Suryakant, a Karnataka resident, said his identity was used to delete 12 voters in 14 minutes; however, he was unaware of the deletions. Chabahar port in trouble as US ends sanctions waiver India’s key strategic connectivity project to Afghanistan and Central Asia is under a new challenge as the United States announced it will revoke the sanctions exemption for operations at Iran’s Chabahar Port from September 29 | P7 Cong gives notice for no-trust motion against govt Express News Service @ Bhubaneswar Just 15 months in power, the BJP government in the state is facing a no-confidence move with the Congress submitting a notice on the first day of the monsoon session of the Assembly, on Thursday . A delegation of Congress MLAs and the lone CPM MLA Laxman Munday submitted the notice for moving no-confidence motion to the Assembly secretary Satyabrata Sahu under section 117 (1) of the rules and procedures of the House. The notice said, “This House expresses no confidence in the present Council of Min- Ready to face Opposition, retorts BJP Bhubaneswar: Even as the Congress moved a non-confidence motion notice against the government, the ruling BJP said it was ready to face the opposition on every issue. After a meeting of the BJP legislature party chaired by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Parliamentary Affairs minister Mukesh Mahaling said the BJP has the numbers and the move by Congress was just a political stunt. “The government is working hard to fulfil the aspirations of people and welcomes every discussion in their interest but the Opposition has some other agenda,” he said. The BJPLP meeting was attended by the party’s national general secretary Tarun Chugh and state unit president Manmohan Samal. isters led by Mohan Charan Majhi.” Leader of the Congress legislature party (CLP) Rama Chandra Kadam told mediapersons that they have submitted the notice of no-confidence against the government and urged the Speaker to accept it for moving a no-confidence motion. He said that the notice has the signature of all the 14 Congress MLAs and one member of the CPM. Congress has also sought the support of BJD, the main opposition party, on the motion. “We had requested the BJD to bring a no-confidence motion against the government in the House. However, Congress has taken the initiative as the BJD did not make any move in this regard,” he said. Later, Kadam and senior Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati met deputy whip of the Opposition Pratap Deb and BJD MLA from Balikuda-Erasama Sarada Jena in the Assembly chamber of the leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik to discuss the issue. However, the BJD does not seem to be interested to support a Congress-sponsored noconfidence motion against the government.  Continued on P5 express read Govt mulls financial aid for old Durga Puja pandals Madras HC orders mop-up counselling for NEET-SS ‘Respect all religions’: CJI clears air on temple remarks Bhubaneswar: The state govt is mulling to provide financial assistance up to `1 lakh to the oldest Durga Puja pandals in the state, to help them continue with their tradition of worshiiping ‘Mrunmayee Murti’ of the Goddess during Dussehra | P2 Chennai: The Madras High Court has ordered the DGHS attached to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Medical Counselling Committee to conduct mop-up counselling for NEET-Super Specialty 2024-25, to fill the vacant seats | P5 New Delhi: “I respect all religions,” clarified the Chief Justice of India BR Gavai in wake of the online and social media criticism over his comments in a recent matter in which he rejected a plea over the reconstruction of a Lord Vishnu idol | P7