MONDAY NEW TRADE ARRANGEMENTS WILL EMERGE IN TIME, SAYS JAISHANKAR 29 SEPTEMBER, 2025 50% epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the world will need a global workforce, while stressing India’s growing ties with S America and Caribbean IS THE TARIFF THAT INDIAN GOODS NOW FACE UPON ENTRY INTO THE U.S. X.com/TheMornStandard FOUR DEAD IN KYIV RUSSIA FIRES MISSILES, DRONES NEED TO ‘FIX’ INDIA, SAYS U.S. COMMERCE SECY Russia unleashed a barrage of drones and missiles on Ukraine overnight into Sunday, killing at least four people, with Kyiv suffering the heaviest assault A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS PAGE 9  NEW DELHI   J8.00 Lutnick said these countries have to understand that if “they want to sell to the US consumers, they’ve got to play ball with US President” PAGES 12 S Jaishankar Howard Lutnick ANSWER LIES IN CAPACITY BUILDING, SAYS EAM Speaking at an Observer Research Foundation (ORF) panel on the sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly session in New York, the EAM said it is important to build capacities for greater self-reliance, in this turbulent atmosphere. Jaishankar’s remarks come amid recent moves by the US to raise new H-1B visa fees and impose unilateral tariffs on India Blame game begins as Vijay’s Karur rally stampede toll rises to 40 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Karur/Chennai No matter the force size, when 10,000 to 20,000 people push against the police, it becomes uncontrollable Barricades, banners, flags and slippers left behind in the chaos of Saturday evening in Tamil Nadu’s Karur | EXPRESS S Davidson Devasirvatham, ADGP (Law & Order) A day after the stampede at actor-politician Vijay’s campaign rally at Velusamypuram in Karur, located 82km from Tiruchy the death toll rose to 40 , with the death of a 17-year-old boy on Sunday Of the deceased, . 17 were women and 10 were children, the youngest being only two years old. The bodies were released to the families and laid to rest. Before the dust settled, the opposition parties, AIADMK and BJP questioned the Tamil , Nadu police and Karur administration, alleging more police should have been posted at the spot given the crowds that throng the rallies of Vijay, Kollywood’s biggest superstar, and president of the fledgling TVK. While Chief Minister M K Stalin visited the survivors and bereaved at the Karur Medical College Hospital in the wee hours of Sunday, Deputy Rajeev Verma picked as new chief secretary Sexual ‘predator’ godman held, sent to police custody A N U P V E R M A @ New Delhi Traced to a hotel in Agra, iPad & three phones recovered from him DELHI THE Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued a notification on Sunday appointing IAS officer Rajeev Verma as the new Chief Secretary of Delhi. Verma, a 1992-AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory) cadre IAS officer, will replace incumbent Chief Secretary Dharmendra, a 1989-batch IAS officer of AGMUT cadre who will retire on September 30. Verma will take charge on October 1. Before being appointed as the Chief Secretary of the government of NCT Delhi, he has been serving as the Chandigarh Chief Secretary for the past one year. Earlier, he also served as the Chief Secretary of Puducherry . Born in 1966, Rajeev Verma is a native of Uttar Pradesh. He holds an MTech degree from IIT and has earned a Graduate degree in Computer Science from the University of Roorkee. He had earlier also served in the Delhi government as the Finance and Revenue Secretary between 2018 and 2022. He has also held key positions in Delhi’s Transport Department (DTC) and has held posts in the rank of Secretary and Additional Secretary levels at various departments in New Delhi. He started his career as the SDO at the Land Revenue Management and District Administration in Aizawl, Mizoram (1994-1996). Meanwhile, ADGP (Law & Order) S Davidson Devasirvatham cited overcrowding, heat stress and a sudden surge of people eager to see Vjiay, who arrived at the site three hours late, as reasons behind the stampede. Stating 500 police personnel were posted at the venue, he pushed back against criticism that police had denied permission for the event to be held at a larger site, claiming the original choice was a “high-risk” location. “No matter the force size, when 10,000 to 20,000 people push against the police, it becomes uncontrollable,” he said. For its part, the TVK has approached the Madras High Court seeking an independent probe. Raising doubts over the root cause of the tragedy and calling to preserve CCTV footage, it asked Justice M Dhandapani to take up a suo motu case. The judge, who will be sitting in the vacation court at the Madurai bench, agreed to hear the petition on Monday if filing formalities are completed.P5 HC raps ED for ‘arbitrary’ probe, grants bail to three P R A B H AT S H U K L A @ New Delhi EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi ‘GODMAN’ Chaitanyananda Saraswati, accused of sexually harassing 17 women students at a private institute in New Delhi, was arrested early Sunday morning in Agra after being on the run for days. A team from Delhi Police traced Saraswati (62) to a hotel in Agra, and arrested him at around 3.30 am, and later presented before a local court, officials said. One iPad and three phones were recovered from his possession. One of the phones had access to the CCTV footage of the campus and the hostel through which he monitored the students’ movement. Saraswati, a former chairman of the management institute in southwest Delhi, allegedly forced female students to visit his quarters late at night and sent them inappropriate text messages at odd hours. Investigators said Saraswati and his associates falsely projected proximity to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). While avoiding arrest, the accused allegedly kept changing places and hotels in Vrindavan, Mathura and Agra in Uttar Pradesh and used taxis to travel. To escape detection, he stayed in cheaper hotels, a police official said. During the investigation, it CM Udhayanidhi Stalin visited later in the day both opting not , to “talk politics”. Vijay who re, turned to Chennai Saturday night, took to social media on Sunday to announce financial assistance of `20 lakh each to kin of the deceased and `2 lakh each to the injured. “I know this is not a big amount in the face of such loss. Yet at this time, it is my duty as one of your own to stand with you in spirit,” he said. Operated bank accounts with multiple names The probe revealed that the accused used different names to operate multiple bank accounts and withdrew over `50 lakh after the FIR was registered against him, the officer added. He had allegedly submitted documents with varying particulars at the time of account opening. was revealed that the accused allegedly used different names and particulars to operate multiple bank accounts and withdrew over `50 lakh after the FIR was registered against him, the officer added. He had allegedly submitted documents with varying particulars at the time of account opening. “Multiple teams were formed to nab Saraswati. Based on inputs, we tracked him to a hotel in Agra’s Taj Ganj area and caught him from there around 3.30 am on Sunday a cop said. ,” Around 3.40 pm, he was produced before a Delhi court which sent him to five days’ po- lice custody granting investiga, tors more time to confront him with the testimonies of victims and electronic evidence. During court proceedings, the prosecution maintained that custodial interrogation was crucial, as Saraswati had allegedly molested several women and sought sexual favours. It was submitted that CCTV cameras had been installed at the institute to monitor the students. “Cameras were installed to monitor their movement— some in washrooms. Around 16 girls have filed complaints,” the prosecution said. THE Delhi HC has criticised the ED for what it termed a “manifestly arbitrary” approach in a `641 crore money laundering case, while granting bail to three accused. Justice Amit Mahajan, in an order dated September 26, granted bail to Vipin Yadav, Ajay and Rakesh Karwa, who were arrested in connection with an alleged scam involving fake investment schemes and false job promises. The court said the trio was entitled to bail on the ground of parity, especially as another person with a “graver role” was neither arrested nor made an accused. “Having not arrested an accused who appears to have a graver role than the applicants and not even arraigned a person named to have facilitated in arranging the mule accounts, the approach adopted by the respondent department prima facie appears to be manifestly arbitrary and the benefit of parity cannot be denied to the applicants,” the judge observed. The court also noted that the investigation in the predicate offence, being probed by the CBI, remains pending. The ED case stems from that offence. Ajay and Vipin were taken into custody on November 29, 2024, and Rakesh was arrested two months later, on January 29, 2025. India’s Tilak Varma (3rd L) congratulated by teammates after the match | AP TILAK & SPINNERS GUIDE INDIA TO GLORY IN DUBAI EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai ONE of the most toxic cricket tournaments in recent times finished with India beating Pakistan for a third time on the bounce in as many as Sundays. This one, the one that really mattered, saw them winning the Asia Cup for a ninth time under the Dubai lights on a tense Sunday night. Both teams had le git claims on lifting the title with 30 of the 40 overs done on a raucous occasion filled with subtext. In the end, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube and Sanju Samson held their nerves in the cauldron to guide India home in a relatively modest chase of 147 before Rinku Singh, playing his first ball of the tournament, lofted Haris Rauf over the in-field to spread scenes of unbridled joy and riotous celebration among the Indian team. While Varma’s unbeaten 53-ball 69 will brag headlines, India’s spin troika — Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav — did a lot of the damage after the Pakistan openers threatened to runup a big score. That’s when Suryakumar Yadav, turned full-time to his spinners. Luckily for him, Chakravarthy Patel and Yadav bent , the final of the Asia Cup, the first time the summit clash has featured these two nations in the over 40-year history of the tournament, P11 towards India. Modi lauds RSS for its selfless service, discipline R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi DIVINE PRESENCE A Durga Puja pandal decked up at Greater Kailash II in New Delhi on Sunday, the sixth day of celebration. | SAYANTAN GHOSH EXPRESS READ Hoax bomb threats at Delhi, Jammu airports Air India on Sunday received a mail on bomb threats to multiple airports across the country. Among them were Delhi’s IGIA, Jammu airport and Amritsar’s Sri Guru Ramdas Ji International Airport, said sources. An AI source confirmed the receipt of the e-mail. A source at Delhi airport also confirmed the same. “The bomb threat was later declared to be a hoax at IGIA,” he said.| P3 Rly overbridge in Bihar collapses, six injured At least six workers were injured when a portion of an underconstruction railway overbridge collapsed in Nalanda late on Sunday. The injured have been rushed to a government hospital. Local residents blame poor quality of materials used in the construction work for the incident. A district official said the cause of the collapse will be ascertained after a probe. PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday showered praise on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s ideological parent Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for its selfless service and discipline, brushing aside speculations about a rift between the ruling party and the Sangh. In his Mann Ki Baat address, Modi said the Sangh operates with the guiding principle of ‘nation first’ and its volunteers have been working tirelessly towards this goal. Noting that the RSS was founded with the aim of freeing Whenever a natural disaster strikes anywhere in the country, RSS volunteers are the first to reach there. This spirit of ‘nation first’ remains paramount in every action and every endeavour of millions of volunteers — Narendra Modi, PM the country from intellectual subjugation, Modi said the organisation’s journey since its inception in 1925 has been deeply inspiring. Modi’s latest commendation comes three days before the RSS completes 100 years on October 2. This is the third time in the recent past that Modi has lauded the RSS and its leadership. In his Independence Day address, he termed the organisation as the world’s biggest NGO that shapes citizens. On September 11, Modi commended the intellectual depth and empathetic leadership of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. The PM also said the govern- ment is working towards getting Chhath festival included in the UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Chhath is largely celebrated in pollbound Bihar. The PM urged the nation to adopt Swadeshi products during the ongoing festive season. “Make vocal for local your shopping mantra. Resolve, that for all times, you will buy only what is produced in the country Modi said ,” MISSING FOR SIX YEARS Sabarimala gold pedestal found from house of sponsor’s kin J A I S O N W I L S O N @ Pathanamthitta THE vigilance wing of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) has recovered the peedam (pedestal) of the dwarapalaka idols of Sabarimala temple from Thiruvananthapuram, six years after it went missing. A team led by the TDB vigilance and security SP Sunil Ku- mar V traced the peedam to the house of a relative of Unnikrishnan Potti, who had sponsored the gold-plating of the pedestal and idols, at Pulimathu in Venjaramoodu on Saturday Following the Global . Ayyappa Sangamam, Potti had kicked up a row when he told the media that the peedam was missing. Consequently the Ker, ala HC ordered the TDB’s vigilance wing to probe the matter and the “reduction” in weight of the plates. “In 2019, when discolouration was noticed, the sponsor sought permission to have the pedestal moved for maintenance. After the work, it did not go well with the idols, so he took it back again. Later, he claimed it had been returned and kept in the strongroom. However, it was not found there despite a thorough check. During questioning, we learnt that it had been kept in the house of one of his aides. When media reports of the missing gold-plated dwarapalaka idols surfaced, the aide got scared and approached Potti, after which it was shifted to a relative’s house,” a cop said. The official said, “If it was an unintentional mistake, he could have rectified it. He could have admitted it before the HC during any of his appearances.” Officials confirmed that the recovered peedam has been shifted to Sabarimala and a detailed report will be filed before the HC on Monday .