TIGRESS RETURNS DRACULA’S STORY 20 APRIL 2025 GUJARAT RIDE BUTTLER SHOW TO THRASH DELHI www.thestatesman.com X.com/thestatesmanltd. Fb/thestatesman1875 PAGE 12 SINCE 1818 PAGES 16 |` 5.00 |LC KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR WEATHER PARTLY CLOUDY SKY. SUSTAINED SURFACE WINDS (SPEED 10-20 KMPH). THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WOULD BE AROUND 38 AND 26 DEGREE CELSIUS RESPECTIVELY. RAINFALL: Nil RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 65 % TEMPERATURE Govt condemns minority leader’s killing in B’desh At least eleven killed, over a dozen injured in building collapse in Delhi ‘The killing follows a pattern of systematic persecution of Hindu minorities’ Min. 32 % Max: 39.5 °C (+2.7) (+4.2) SUN RISES 05:50 hrs MOON RISES 01:29 hrs Min: 25.8 °C SUN SETS 18:50 hrs MOON SETS 10:54 hrs THUMBNAILS STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 19 APRIL STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 19 APRIL The Indian Air Force's Surya Kiran Aerobatic Team (SKAT) performs during an air show, at Namkum Army Ground in Ranchi on Saturday. nANI 'Shut Parliament if SC makes laws': BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Saturday stirred controversy with a sharp statement directed apparently at the judiciary amid the ongoing Supreme Court review of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025. Dubey questioned the judiciary's role in legislative matters, suggesting that if courts assume the task of lawmaking, the existence of Parliament becomes redundant. I ndia on Saturday strongly condemned the abduction and brutal killing of a Hindu minority leader in Bangladesh and reminded the interim government in Dhaka to live up to its responsibility of protecting all minorities, including Hindus, without inventing excuses or making distinctions. ''We have noted with distress the abduction and brutal killing of Bhabesh Chandra Roy, a Hindu minority leader in Bangladesh. This killing follows a pattern of systematic persecution of Hindu minorities under the interim government, even as the perpetrators of previous such events roam with impunity,'' Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a social media post on the X platform. He said: ''We condemn this incident and once again remind the interim government to live up to its responsibility of protecting all minorities, including Hindus, without inventing excuses or mak- Indian student killed after being hit by a stray bullet in Canada shooting STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 19 APRIL An Indian student was killed in the town of Hamilton in Ontario, Canada, after being hit by a stray bullet during a gangland-style shooting, Hamilton police said. She has been identified as Harsimrat Randhawa from Punjab. According to police, Randhawa was studying at Mohawk College and was standing at the bus stop on her way to work when she was killed. The tragic incident took place on April 17 at approximately 7:30 p.m (local time). The Indian student was hit on the chest and rushed to a hospital, but succumbed to her injuries during treatment. “Hamilton Police are investigating a homicide after an innocent female bystander was struck by a stray bullet during gunfire on Upper James. On April 17, 2025, at approximately 7:30 p.m., Hamilton Police received reports of a shooting near Upper James and South Bend Road. When police arrived, they found a 21-year-old female with a gunshot wound to the chest. She was transported to hospital and later died from her injuries,” the police said. The police said that a passenger of a black Mercedes SUV fired at the occupants of a white sedan in a gangland-style shooting. One of the bullets hit Randhawa, an innocent bystander. After the shooting, both the cars fled the scene. Some of the bullets also pierced the window of a nearby residence where the occupants were watching television a few feet away. Fortunately, no one was injured in the home. The police have started an investigation into the case and efforts are on to catch the occupants of the cars involved in the firing. The Consulate General of India, Toronto, said that they were saddened by the tragic death of the Indian student and that they are extending all necessary assistance. Govt alerts public about online booking scams targeting religious pilgrims STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 19 APRIL The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs has alerted the public about online booking frauds, especially those targeting religious pilgrims and tourists across the country. These frauds are being perpetrated through fake websites, deceptive social media pages, Facebook posts, and paid advertisements on search engines like Google, an official press note said. These scams involve the creation of professional-looking but fake websites and social media profiles, and WhatsApp accounts offering services such as: Helicopter booking for Kedarnath, Chaar Dhaam; Guest house and hotel booking for pilgrims; Online cab/taxi service bookings; and Holiday packages and religious tours. Unsuspecting individuals, upon making payments through these portals, often realise they have been duped when no confirmation or service is received, and the contact numbers go unreachable. People have been advised to exercise extreme caution. They have been asked to always verify the authenticity of websites before making any payments, verify before clicking on “sponsored” or unknown links on Google, Facebook, or WhatsApp, cross-check bookings only through official government portals or trusted travel agencies, report such websites immediately at the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal: www.cybercrime.gov.in or call 1930 in case of any frauds. ing distinctions.'' Roy was a resident of Basudebpur village under Shatagram Union and served as vice-president of the Biral unit of the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad. He was widely respected within the local Hindu community. The post mortem of Roy, who was allegedly abducted and beaten to death earlier this week in Dinajpur district, Biral upazila, Bangladesh, has been completed, police said on Saturday. According to reports, Roy had received a phone call around 4:30 p.m. on Naveen Patnaik elected BJD president for 9th term BHUBANESWAR, 19 APRIL NaveenPatnaikwasre-elected president of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) for a ninth term on Saturday. Addressing party leaders and workers after the formaldeclaration,MrPatnaik described the period from 2000 to 2024 ~ during which the BJD held power ~ as the "golden era" of Odisha’s development, asserting the state had become a model for others across India. Mr Patnaik attributed the party’s defeat in the 2024 elections to the inability to counter what he called the "false narrative" propagated by the BJP. “We narrowly lost the last election despite securing more votes than the BJP. We failed to effectively counter the misinformation. Even now, the creation of false narratives remains their key strategy,” he said. SNS Wednesday. His wife, Shantana Roy, told a local daily that the call was allegedly made by the perpetrators to confirm his presence. About 30 minutes later, four men arrived and forcibly took him. Witnesses said he was taken to Narabari village and brutally assaulted. That evening, his unconscious body was returned to his family in a van. Locals helped rush him to the Biral Upazila Health Complex and later to Dinajpur Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared him dead. (File photograph) At least eleven people were killed and nearly a dozen injured as a four-storeyed residential building collapsed in north-east Delhi’s Mustafabad early this morning, police said. Police said they were informed about the incident at around 3:02 a.m. The building, which is said to have some unauthorised construction, belongs to one Tehsin, who also died in the collapse. According to the Delhi Fire Service (DFS), they were alerted about the incident at 02:50 a.m, following which 9 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. So far, 22 people have been rescued and shifted to the GTB Hospital, out of which 11 were declared brought dead by the attending team of doctors, a police official said. Among the deceased were the owner of the building, 60-year-old Tehsin, his wife Zeenat, son Chan and Daughter in law Chandani. The other deceased were identified as Danish (23M), Naved (17M), and Reshma (38F), Nazeem (30M), Tehsin (60M), Shahina (28F), Afreen (4F), Afan (2M), Ishaq (75M) and sixyear-old Anas. Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (North East) Raman Lamba told The Statesman that the rescue operation was completed in the evening, which was carried out by Delhi Police, NDRF and DFS. Mr Lamba added that PM to visit Saudi Arabia next week STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 19 APRIL Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay an official visit to Saudi Arabia from 22-23 April at the invitation of Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom, Mohammed bin Salman. This will be the PM's third visit to the Kingdom. His previous visits took place in 2016 and 2019. The visit follows the state visit of Prince Salman to New Delhi in September 2023 to attend the G20 Summit and co-chair the first meeting of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Saturday. India and Saudi Arabia share close and friendly ties with a long history of sociocultural and trade contacts. As strategic partners, the two countries share strong bilateral relations across various areas, including political, defence, security, trade, investment, energy, technology, health, education, culture and peopleto-people ties. India’s relations with the Kingdom have evolved into a stronger and enduring partnership in the past decade, expanding into many strategic domains, with growing investment commitments, broadening of defence cooperation and intensive high-level exchanges across sectors. ''The visit of the PM reflects the importance India attaches to its bilateral relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It will pro- vide an opportunity to further deepen and strengthen our multi-faceted partnership, as well as to exchange views on various regional and international issues of mutual interest,'' the MEA added. Saudi Arabia is India's fifth-largest trading partner and India is Saudi Arabia's second-largest trade partner. During 2023-24, India's imports from Saudi Arabia reached $ 31.42 billion and exports to Saudi Arabia were worth $ 11.56 billion. In 202324, bilateral trade stood at $ 42.98 billion, with Indian exports at $ 11.56 billion and imports at $ 31.42 billion. Major commodities of export from India to Saudi Arabia include engineering goods, rice, petroleum products, chemicals, textiles, food products, and ceramic tiles. whereas, major commodities of import for India from Saudi Arabia are crude oil, LPG, fertilizers, chemicals, plastic, and products thereof, etc. India-US trade talks: Key negotiations to begin in Washington next week AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 19 APRIL A team of negotiators, led by Commerce Secretary-designate Rajesh Agarwal, is likely to travel to Washington, DC, next week to advance discussions on the proposed India-US Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA). The high-level meetings are expected to take place over three days starting 23 April, according to reports. As per officials, the agenda for the talks has been finalised and will cover an extensive range of issues spread across 19 chapters. These include key areas such as tariffs, non-tariff barriers, rules of origin, trade in goods and services, customs facilitation, and regulatory cooperation. This round of talks is being closely watched, with both New Delhi and Washington aiming to conclude an early harvest agreement before the fall deadline. India and the US have targeted to conclude the first phase of the BTA by the fall (September-October) of this year, with an aim to more than double the bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030, from about $191 billion currently. Both the nations are working to sign the first tranche of a BTA to bring down tariffs before the agreed timeline of the fall of 2025 as the the terms of reference for the pact have already been finalised. “India and US Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) terms of reference have been finalised when the US team was here. The first tranche negotiations will start virtually on the various chapters within this week, and the talks in the physical mode may start at the end of the month," Additional Secretary, Commerce, Rajesh Agarwal said this week "India has decided to go for a path of trade liberalisation with the US," Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal told journalists. He said both India and the US would benefit if the trade deal is wrapped up before the fall of 2025. "When we said we want to do a first tranche of BTA with the US by fall, that doesn't mean we can't do it before fall. If we end up doing the BTA before fall, then it will be good for both India and the US," he added. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is also set to embark on an official visit to the USA and Peru, beginning 20 April, where she is slated to participate in multilateral dialogues to showcase India’s economic dynamism. an investigation into the matter is being launched, including a registration of FIR against the builder, as the owner died in the incident, in due course of time. The MCD in a statement stated that the property is located in an unauthorised colony characterised by a densely populated area with narrow lanes. The structure was reported to be around 20 years old and was fully occupied, it added. The field staff of the Maintenance, Building, and Sanitation Departments are currently engaged in clearing the debris from the site as well as surrounding properties to ensure safety and support rescue operations. CCTV footage of the collapse had gone viral on social media in which the building is seen collapsing like placards. The neighbours recalled the horror of the collapse stating that they felt that an earthquake had struck the city. “Two men and two daughters-in-law stay here. The oldest daughter-in-law has three children, the second daughter-in-law has three children, right now we don't know anything. They are nowhere to be seen,” told an eyewitness to a news agency. (SEE P2) India calls out Pakistan’s shenanigans in OIC AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 19 APRIL India on Saturday again slammed Pakistan's repeated attempts to highlight matters concerning India's internal affairs at the meetings of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). At a media briefing organised ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day visit to Saudi Arabia next week, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri debunked Pakistan's false claims and attempts to misuse the forum. “It is a habit of long standing, one that we have regularly spoken out against and also raised with our friends and partners in the OIC. There is a certain view about these shenanigans that Pakistan practices in the OIC on the part of our colleagues and friends amongst the other members of the OIC but we will continue to share our views and bring to their attention what exactly we think of these attempts that Pakistan habitually makes," Mr Misri told reporters in New Delhi. The OIC, an organisation with a membership of 57 states spread over four continents, terms itself as the "collective voice" of the Muslim world and endeavours to "safeguard and protect" the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony among various people of the world. Over the last many years, India has called out the need to correct some of the misperceptions about India that are perpetrated by countries like Pakistan in the OIC, asserting that the platform should not subverted by these vested interests for comments on internal affairs of India or for anti-India propaganda through biased and one sided resolutions. India has also maintained that OIC has no locus standi in matters strictly internal to India, including that of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral and inalienable part of India.