Monday AXELSEN, aN SE-yOUNG CRUISE TO EASY TITLE WINS AT iNDIA oPEN 20 January, 2025 Double Olympic gold medallist Viktor Axelsen secures third India Open title as Olympic & world champion An dominated right from word go 3rd epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard Axelsen wins India open for record third time X.com/TheMornStandard south korea impeached prez formally arrested Hours after his arrest stoked rioting by his supporters, Yoon’s lawyers said he remains defiant in his refusal to answer questions over martial law declaration Page 9 Viktor Axelsen An Se-Young great dane erases malaysia heartbreak A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS l New Delhi l J8.00 l PAGES 12 Viktor Axelsen erased the disappointment of falling in the opening round of Malaysian Open super 1000 last week to the same opponent. For An, it was an effortless 21-12 21-9 win over P Chochuwong. Malaysian duo of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin, who ended India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty’s run in semis pocketed the doubles title | P11 Peace dawns on Gaza after 15 months of war Techie gets free phone ‘from bank’, loses `2.8 cr Hamas releases three hostages; hardliner quits Netanyahu’s govt express news service @ B’luru AGENCIES After the ‘dubious parcel at Customs’ scam and ‘digital arrest’ scare, cyber fraudsters have come up a new trick to reach your money: a gift of a free mobile or tablet which gladdens the receiver. This one is delivered to the doorstep from unknown people, claiming they are from banks. The mobile is likely be cloned, and once the receiver inserts a SIM card, all banking details and OTPs are shared with the con gang. One such case was registered with Whitefield CEN police station, of a techie losing `2.8 crore. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Whitefield) Shivakumar Gunare said this new type of cyber scam was recently reported in the city, after a fraudster posing as a private bank representative sent a mobile phone as a gift to the software engineer. The fraudster claimed the bank had approved a credit card for the victim, and due to his good credit score, he was eligible to receive a free mobile phone. The fraudster had earlier contacted the victim with a credit card offer, and convinced him to take the card. Following this, a new mobile phone was sent to the techie’s address. The victim inserted a SIM card into the phone, which had pre-installed cloning software. This software was configured in such a way that no messages or emails from the bank would be received on his device. A week later, the techie noticed that funds were debited from his Fixed Deposit account. Since the phone was cloned, the OTPs sent by the bank were redirected to the fraudster’s account. Upon enquiring at the bank, the victim learnt that the money had been siphoned off by fraudsters. THE much-awaited ceasefire in the Gaza Strip took effect on Sunday following an almost three-hour delay after Hamas was late to name the three hostages it plans to release first. The truce, which started at 11.15 am local time (2.15pm IST), is the first step toward ending the conflict between Israel and Hamas, and returning the remaining hostages abducted in Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack. Hamas blamed the delay in handing over the names on “technical field reasons,” and said it is committed to the deal announced last week. An Israeli official confirmed that Romi Gonen, 24, Emily Damari, 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, were released in the evening. Gonen was abducted from the Nova music festival, while the other two were kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Damari is an Israeli-British dual citizen. Hamas was supposed to provide the three names before the start of the ceasefire. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin election WHat will the migrants vote for? As polls near, the diverse migrant communities vocalise their sentiments and concerns, with issues — ranging from civic infrastructure to cultural neglect — that would shape their voting preferences | P4 MAJOR FIRE AT KUMBH MELA NO CASUALTIES REPORTED  A major fire broke out at the Kumbh Mela site in  Prayagraj on Sunday after a suspected leak from an LPG cylinder caused an explosion  The fire is believed to have started at Geeta press  tent in Sector 19 around 4 pm  The blaze quickly spread and engulfed around 40 tents   15 fire tenders were pressed into action and the  blaze was brought under control within an hour | p8 TRUMP to be sworn in today; celebrations, protests in washington Scores of protesters take to streets for causes they believe are under threat, as Donald Trump returned to Washington to celebrate with family, supporters and allies ahead of his inauguration | P9 Displaced Palestinians walk through the destruction caused by Israeli offensive in Rafah, as a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas went into effect Sunday | AfP Netanyahu said the militants had not lived up to their commitment. In the interim between 8.30 am and when the ceasefire took hold, Israeli fire killed at least 26 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry . Israel’s hardline national security minister Itamar BenGvir, meanwhile, said his Otzma Yehudit party was quitting the government in protest over the ceasefire agreement. BenGvir’s departure weakens Suspected Bangladeshi man 121 farmers end fast at Khanauri border arrested in Saif attack case dallewal takes medical aid S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai harpreet b a j wa @ Chandigarh A group of 121 farmers who were on a hunger strike at the Khanauri border in support of their leader, Jagjit Singh Dallewal, ended their indefinite protest on Sunday after he received medical assistance. Farmer leaders, however, declared that Dallewal would continue his fast until a law guaranteeing a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops was enacted. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella organization for the farmers’ union that led the 2020-21 farmers’ protest, has decided to send memorandums to MPs instead of holding a protest outside their offices on January 20. The SKM will now focus on the Republic Day tractor rally and general body meeting called on January 24. The farmers ended their fast by sipping juice in the presence of DIG Mandeep Sidhu and Patiala SSP Nanak Singh. Faced with Dallewal’s deteriorating health and the Centre not agreeing to their demands, 111 farmers joined his fast unto death on January 15 and sat on the Haryana side of the border near Khanauri. On January 17, 10 more farmers joined them. The 70-year-old Dallewal, who has refused any medical aid since he sat on the fast-unto-death on November 26, on Saturday agreed to take medical assistance following the Centre’s invitation for talks on February 14. The SKM welcomed the decision of the fasting farmer leader to receive medical support and wished him a quick recovery and good health. The SKM leadership called upon all farmers to rise in protest against the Centre and force it to roll back its antifarmer policies, which were earlier attempted to be imposed through the three now-repealed agriculture laws. But now, attempts are again being made to impose these laws through the so-called National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing, they said. MUMBAI police on Sunday arrested Shariful Islam Shehzad, a suspected Bangladeshi national, in connection with the attack on actor Saif Ali Khan. He was produced before a local court, which remanded him in five days in police custody . Shehzad, 30, was arrested from Thane’s Labour Camp area, where he used to work as a housekeeper in a bar. “Prima-facie, the accused is a Bangladeshi and he changed his name to Vijay Das after entering India illegally He came . to Mumbai some 5-6 months ago. The accused used to work in a housekeeping agency said ,” Dixit Gedam, deputy commissioner of police, Zone 9. While seeking 14 days police custody in court, the prosecution said the police was looking to probe if there was an “international conspiracy” behind the attack. It submitted 15 reasons for seeking 14 days custody, including detailed interrogation to determine the route he took from Bangladesh to India, how he entered the country, and who all helped him in the process. Police also wanted time to probe how the accused man- Illegal entry, name change Police take Shariful Islam Shehzad for medical examination before producing him at a court, in Mumbai, on Sunday | PTI aged to live under a false identity It said custodial interro. gation is necessary to determine if anyone instigated him to commit the crime. However, the court gave the police only five days custody . During the hearing, defence lawyer Sandeep Sherkhane said the police made the arrest without proper investigation and that his client was residing in India for several years with family “First . of all, Saif Ali Khan has never made any statement or does not have any grievance Police say Shariful Islam Shehzad Mohammad Rohilla from Bangladesh entered India illegally. He also changed his name to Vijay Das. He used to work for a housekeeping agency but became unemployed recently with anyone that would create a threat for him from Bangladesh or any other country. He does not have any international cases. They (police) changed the angle of the case just because the accused is Bangladeshi,” he said. Dinesh Prajapati, another defence advocate, said the police did not produce any document to prove the Bangladesh link. Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh police said a suspect who was detained at Durg railway station on Saturday was released on Sunday morning. Netanyahu’s coalition but will not affect the truce. The ceasefire deal was announced last week after a year of intensive mediation by the United States, Qatar and Egypt. The 42-day first phase of the ceasefire should see a total of 33 hostages returned from Gaza and the remaining Palestinian prisoners and detainees released. Negotiations on the far more difficult second phase of this ceasefire should begin in P9 just over two weeks.  BJP, AAP spar over Kejriwal convoy attack A nup V er m a @ New Delhi A day after Arvind Kejriwal’s car was “attacked”, both AAP and the BJP exchanged accusations on Sunday. While AAP claimed to have uncovered the opposition’s conspiracy behind the attack, the BJP firmly denied the allegations. AAP asserted that video evidence and photographs reveal a close connection between the attackers and BJP leader Parvesh Verma. They said the assailants’ criminal history exemplify a disturbing pattern of politically motivated violence. In a statement, Kejriwal slammed the BJP saying, “They , are losing elections badly and resorting to deadly attacks. My life is dedicated to the country and society, and we are campaigning for people’s welfare.” In response, Verma said that the three youths involved in the attack stated in their testimony that the driver hit the brakes, but Kejriwal gestured to move the car forward, which resulted in the car running over them. He said that if Kejriwal labels those questioning him as BJP goons or his (Parvesh’s) family, then the 1,09,000 voters in New Delhi constituency are his family  More reports on page 3 . Express read short circuit jammu & kashmir sovereignty haryana watery grave ndrf raising day rss meet 32-year-old woman, 2 minor sons among four killed in Ghaziabad fire Mysterious illness claims all six children of a family in Rajouri FIR against Rahul in Assam over ‘fighting Indian State’ remark Khaps demand ban on live-ins, parental consent for marriages 3 persons die in Bihar boat capsize, `4 lakh ex-gratia announced `3 lakh crore projects approved for Andhra in six months, says Shah India’s strength lies in truth of oneness, says Mohan Bhagwat Four of a family, including a 32-year-old woman and her two children were charred to death after a fire broke out in a house in Ghaziabad due to short circuit early on Sunday. According to officials, the family was sleeping when the fire broke out. The deceased have been identified as one Gulbahar, her two minor sons, and a relative’s son who has been staying in the house. The woman’s husband Shahnawaz escaped unhurt. Fire fighters have recovered the bodies after dousing the fire. A high-level inter-ministerial team formed by Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday visited Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district where a mysterious illness is wreaking havoc, killing another person in Budhal village. A family on Sunday lost the sixth and last surviving child to the mysterious illness, taking the death toll to 17 in the village, where a new graveyard has come up for the victims. The deaths took place within weeks in three families linked to each other in the remote village. | P8 An FIR was registered against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Guwahati for his reported remarks on “fighting the BJP, the RSS, and the Indian State itself.” The FIR, lodged by one Monjit Chetia with the Panbazar police station, reads, “…These remarks were made with deliberate design and calculated intent to undermine the sovereignty and integrity of the Indian State and to provoke rebellion against the democratically-elected Central government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.” The khap panchayats in Haryana have demanded amendments in the Hindu Marriage Act, including a ban on live-in relationships, mandatory parental consent for love marriages, retaining 18 years as the minimum age to solemnise marriages, prohibition of marriages from the same village, neighbouring villages or the same clan. The representatives of about dozen panchayats on Friday met Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini in this regard. | P3 Three persons, including a threeyear-old child, died and five others went missing after a boat capsized in the Ganga in Bihar’s Katihar district on Sunday. The boat, carrying 15 people, capsized near Golaghat in Amdabad area, officials said. Seven people have been rescued so far, and some of them managed to swim to the river bank, they said. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar condoled the deaths and announced an ex gratia of `4 lakh each for the family of the deceased. Union Home Minister Amit Shah highlighted that the Centre has approved projects worth more than `3 lakh crore for the state in last six months. As part of his two-day tour to Vijayawada, Shah addressed a gathering on the 20th Raising Day of the National Disaster Response Force in Krishna district on Sunday. He also inaugurated the southern campus of the National Institute of Disaster Management and the NDRF’s 10th Battalion campus near Vijayawada. | P5 RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday said that India’s strength lies in the truth of oneness, which is successful and victorious. Speaking at an RSS meeting in Vadayambadi in Kerala’s Kochi, he said the Hindu way of life offers solutions to all issues and brings ultimate peace to the world. He said the RSS is uniting the Hindu society and providing meaningful solutions to the world through the preservation of ‘Dharma,’ and “changes do not occur merely with the arrival of avatars.”