WEDNESDAY DE KOCK RETURNS TO MUMBAI INDIANS Seasoned South African opener Quinton de Kock returned to his old base Mumbai Indians for a base price of `1 crore. Spencer Johnson remained unsold, while Anrich Nortje, who came with a base price of `2 crore, was enlisted by LSG, which opened the bidding for the South African pacer 17 DECEMBER, 2025 T HE TOP 3 HIG HEST- PAID PLAYERS epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard TRUMP $10 BN DEFAMATION SUIT AGAINST BBC US President is suing the BBC for $10 billion over a TV docu he claims was ‘false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious’ PAGE 9 A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS  NEW DELHI  J8.00  PAGES 12 D25.5 cr CAMERON GREEN Uncapped? No worries, IPL can make you rich SEVERAL PLAYERS WHO HAVE NOT PLAYED FOR INDIA HAD THEIR BIGGEST PAY DAY AT THE IPL MINI AUCTION. A LOOK LIFE-CHANGING DAY OVERSEAS STARS REVEL Kartik Sharma (19), `14.2 cr. Prashant Veer (20), `14.2 cr. Mangesh Yadav (23), `5.2 cr. And Auqib Nabi (29), `8.4 cr. From 19 to 29 year old, these uncapped players’ lives will change forever. If Veer’s father is a contractual teacher in UP earning `10,000 a month and supporting a family, Nabi began his journey in Baramulla where there is hardly any cricket infrastructure. For Sharma, it is a reward for pursuing a sport his father too pursued as a profession. Their houses burst into emotional celebrations. If the youngsters were spotted by scouts during state T20 leagues, for Nabi, it was a reward after years of toil without much return | P11 Australian all-rounder Cameron Green became the highest-paid overseas star, signed by Kolkata Knight Riders for `25.5 crore. Matheesa Pathirana (`18 crore) and Mustafizur Rahman (`9.2 crore) were also signed by KKR who made the most of the big purse. Sunrisers Hyderabad saved up their purse and went after Liam Livingstone (`13 crore) while Lucknow Super Giants went big for Josh Inglis (`8.6 crore). The trend continued with overseas seamers and explosive all-rounders in great demand D14.2 cr KARTIK SHARMA T20 GENERATION IN DEMAND CSK head coach Stephen Fleming called them the “T20 babies”, up and coming stars in domestic cricket between 19-23 who were scouted and fought for at the auction table. This is a generation that grew up on IPL and were spotted in state T20 leagues It helped that this was a mini-auction and the purse is as big as it gets, but teams were keen to invest in younger talent with the T20 game evolving faster than ever. It will be interesting to see how these players and teams look by the time next mega auction comes along Celebrations broke out in J&K’s Baramulla district after local cricketer Auqib Nabi Dar secured a lucrative `8.40 crore deal at the IPL auction. Dar, a resident of Sheeri town in north Kashmir, was picked up by Delhi Capitals for the hefty sum, triggering scenes of jubilation in his neighbourhood. D14.2 cr PRASHANT VEER `215.45 cr TOTAL MONEY SPENT AT THE AUCTION 35 AS MANY AS 35 OF THE 77 PLAYERS SIGNED AT THE AUCTION ARE UNCAPPED INDIANS (1 UNCAPPED AUSTRALIAN) Bondi Beach assailant G-Ram-G bill introduced in LS amid din had roots in Hyderabad CONG’S NATIONWIDE PROTESTS TODAY P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi Sajid migrated to Australia in ’98; no India connect to radicalisation C H I T H A LU R I R EVA N T H A N D BA L A C H A U H A N @ Hyderabad/ Bengaluru SAJID Akram, 50, one of the perpetrators of the Bondi Beach mass murder in Sydney , had migrated from Hyderabad to Australia in November 1998, Telangana Director General of Police B Shivadhar Reddy said on Tuesday . Sajid and his son Naveed, 24, massacred Jews on Sunday while the latter were observing the first day of Hanukkah, killing 15 people. Sajid was shot dead on the spot by the police while Naveed was injured. After the attack, the Australian police raided Sajid’s house and found his Doodhbowli in Hyderabad address on his passport, sources told this daily . A commerce graduate from an autonomous minority college in Hyderabad, Sajid migrated to Australia on student visa in search of better livelihood. His student visa was transferred in 2001 to a partner visa and later Resident Return Visas. “His first job was as a salesman in a mall in Sydney. He later married Venera Grosso of European origin. The couple UKRAINE FRESH PEACE PLANS FOR RUSSIA SOON Prez Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that proposals being negotiated with US officials for a deal, after which American envoys will present them to the Kremlin. | P9 EXPRESS READ PM conferred Ethiopia’s highest civilian honour Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Tuesday conferred Ethiopia’s highest civilian honour, The Great Honour of the Nishan of Ethiopia, by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali. The award was presented during a ceremony held at the Addis International Convention Centre. | P7 Gunfire sparks fresh tensions in Manipur Gunfire was heard on Tuesday night in Manipur’s Bishnupur district bordering Churachandpur district, sparking fresh tensions among people in the strife-torn state. Locals of Torbung and Phougakchao Ikhai areas reported hearing gunshots. (From left) Naveed and Sajid Akram ISIS footprint According to unconfirmed reports, Naveed was associated with Isaac El Matari from Sydney, who had declared himself the IS commander for Australia and was jailed in 2021 for terrorist offences had two children — 24-year-old son Naveed (the second Bondi shooter) and a daughter. Since 1998, Sajid visited Hyderabad on six occasions primarily for property issues. His last visit was in 2022, to settle his property share with his elder brother, who lives with their widowed mother and his family in Tolichowki in Hyderabad. The relationship between the sib- lings was not courteous,” sources on condition of anonymity told this newspaper. Sajid did not even show up when his father died in 2009. His dad worked for the UAE army and returned to Hyderabad after retirement. That is when he built the house in Tolichowki. “The family is in shock because Sajid never displayed any extremist ideology. Surprisingly he did not have many , friends in Hyderabad, who could throw light on his radicalisation,” the sources added. The DGP said the factors that led to their radicalisation appear to have no connection with India. In Australia, Sajid obtained a firearm licence for ‘recreational hunting’. Weeks ahead of the Bondi massacre, Sajid and Naveed flew to the Philippines and received “military training”. They arrived on November 1 and left on November 28. Sajid had travelled using his Indian passport. Naveed is an Australian citizen. He was earlier assessed by authorities in 2019 for his alleged links with IS but was cleared for not posing any ongoing threat. THE Lok Sabha on Tuesday witnessed fierce protests from Opposition members after the government introduced a new bill to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Several Opposition MPs demanded that the new bill—Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, 2025—be sent to a Parliamentary panel. Amid the buzz that the government is determined to clear the bill in the current session, INDIA bloc leaders have decided to meet at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s chamber at 10.15 am on Wednesday for a strategy session. The Congress has also issued a Whip mandating its MPs to WITH deletions of more than 58 lakh alleged dead and bogus voters from the list, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday released the draft electoral rolls for West Bengal after completing Phase I of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. As per the draft electoral rolls, the names of 7,08,16,631 voters have been included in Phase I of SIR in the state. Of these, the ECI has identified about 1.66 crore voters who may be called for hearings to verify their documents again. In January 2025, there were 7,66,37,529 voters o n t h e l i s t . Wi t h 58,20,898 voters, who are either dead or have permanently shifted, dropped, the official electors count is now 7,08,16,631. The commission said the deletion list includes voters whose names appeared in the January 2025 electoral rolls but do not figure in the post-SIR draft rolls. With assembly elections likely early next year, the draft rolls—along with a detailed, booth-wise list of deleted voters and reasons for deletion— have been uploaded on the West Bengal Chief Electoral Offic- Leading the attack, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the bill would eliminate the legal guarantee of employment for rural workers and increase the financial burden on states. She alleged it will give the Centre power to pre-determine the funds and the areas of allocation, thereby ending the demand-based system. MAJOR PILE-UP Court rejects ED chargesheet against Gandhis in Herald case U D AYA N K I S H O R E @ New Delhi Cranes clear the charred remains of a bus after a fog-hit pile-up involving several buses and cars triggered fires on the Yamuna Expressway in Mathura on Tuesday morning. At least 13 were killed. In all, across UP, 25 people were killed and 59 injured in a series of fog-linked accidents. Inset: People help an injured person | PTI | P4 41.85L voters deleted from Raj rolls under SIR The State Election Commission in Rajasthan has released a draft list of voters whose names have been removed from the roll under the SIR. According to the commission, the draft list includes 41.85 lakh voters who have been deleted from the rolls for various reasons. er’s (CEO) website, the ECI voter portal, and ECINET application. Voters can check their names in the draft rolls either online or offline, the ECI said. A press statement issued by office of state CEO Manoj Kumar Agarwal said all claims and objections in the draft rolls can be made between December 16 and January 15, 2026. Hearing and verifications will be made from December 16 to February 7. Final rolls will be out on February 14. Agarwal’s statement added that a search could be made with the elector’s name or their photo identity card number on the mentioned websites. An elector could also check their name in the list with select BLOs. A copy of the draft rolls from each polling booth will be available with these BLOs. Voters can also approach booth level assistants of parties. be present in the Lok Sabha for the next three days as VB-G RAM G and other key legislations are likely to come up for consideration and passage. On Tuesday, after introducing VB-G RAM G Bill, Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the government not only believes in Gandhi but also follows his principles. 25 KILLED IN UP ROAD ACCIDENTS IN A DAY Stage set for battle for Bengal in ’26: Draft roll out, 58L voters deleted S U B H E N D U M A I T I @ Kolkata The Congress will hold protests across the country on Wednesday against VB-G RAM, alleging the Centre is trying to dismantle a rights-based welfare scheme and attack Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy. Senior leader K C Venugopal, in a letter to all state Congress chiefs, urged them to organise protests at all district headquarters Congress MP Shashi Tharoor termed the bill a retrograde step, saying the 40% financial burden on states will lead to “delays in wage payments, a reduction in the number of workdays, and ultimately the destruction of the scheme itself ”. After staging a walkout from the House, the Opposition leaders held a protest at the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the Parliament complex. Separately, in a post on X, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi alleged Prime Minister Narendra Modi had always opposed the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi and had been trying to weaken the rural employment scheme. “Modiji has a deep hatred for two things — the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi and the rights of the poor,” he said. NIGHTCLUB OWNERS Luthra brothers deported from Thailand, held; Goa cops get two-day remand E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ New Delhi ROMEO LANE CHAIN of restaurants of the accused has presence in 37 cities in India and three international venues Patiala House Court Gaurav, 44, and Saurabh, 40, Luthra, co-owners of Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub in Goa, were produced before Judicial Magistrate Twinkle Chawla in the Patiala House Court, which allowed Goa police a two-day remand. They would be taken to Goa at 11 am on Wednesday. GAURAV and Saurabh Luthra, owners of the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub in north Goa’s Arpora, where a massive fire killed 25 people on December 6, were handed over to the Goa Police on a two-day transit remand on Tuesday Earlier . in the day, they were arrested after they landed in Delhi following their deportation from Thailand. The brothers will now be taken to Goa for questioning. The Indian Embassy had to issue two emergency certificates because the External Affairs Ministry had impounded and later cancelled the Luthra brothers’ passports. During the court proceedings, the Luthra brothers were seen breaking down in tears and embracing their family members, an emotional moment that unfolded inside the court premises. The Delhi-based businessmen had fled to Thailand within two hours after the blaze. They booked tickets to Phuket on the intervening night of December 6 and 7, when the Goa Police and Fire Services were still engaged in rescue operations at the nightclub. Indian authorities had approached Thai officials, as well as Interpol, to seek the brothers’ deportation. India also issued a Blue Notice through Interpol. The two were spotted during an outing in Phuket and detained in their hotel room in Thailand following a request from India on December 11. CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 IN a huge relief to Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, a Delhi court on Tuesday refused to take cognizance of a chargesheet filed against them by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money-laundering case related to the National Herald ‘scam’. Special Judge Vishal Gogne said the prosecution complaint (the ED’s equivalent to a chargesheet) filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was not maintainable, since the case was not lodged on the basis of an FIR lodged by any investigat iv e a g e n c y. “Cognizance of the offence defined under ‘Proceeds Section 3 and of crime’ punishable under Section ED had claimed 4 is declined. that there was The complaint laundering of is dismissed,” “proceeds of the court said. crime” derived The court, from alleged however, said fraudulent since Delhi Po- takeover of the lice had regis- properties of tered an FIR Associated in the case. the Journals Ltd, ED could make the publishers further sub- of National missions in Herald that case, if it newspaper. wished. Apart from the Gandhis, Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda, and Sunil Bhandari, along with Young Indian and Dotex Merchandise, were also made accused in the case. The ED had initiated its investigation on the basis of a private complaint before a metropolitan magistrate, in which he accused the Gandhis and others of cheating, criminal conspiracy criminal breach , of trust, and misappropriation of property .