FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms Vol. 15 No. 214 | BHOPAL | THURSDAY | JANUARY 15, 2026 | Pages 14 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 FREE www.freepressjournal.in Sports King Kohli reclaims ODI throne P.12 Five of a family killed, dozen injured in Berasia collision Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL/BERASIA Five members of a family were killed and over a dozen injured after a tractor-trolley collided with a pickup vehicle near Vidya Vihar School in Berasia, on Bhopal’s outskirts, late Wednesday night. Officials said the deceased were residents of Sironj, Vidisha district. They were travelling in the pickup from Sironj to Hoshangabad for a ritual bathing ceremony linked to a family member’s last rites. The collision occurred when a tractor-trolley coming from Rani Khajuri–Bairasia side rammed into the pickup near the school. The impact was severe, leaving several passengers trapped and critically injured. The injured were rushed to Berasia Government Hospital, where treatment is underway. 4Continued on | P8 Agencies NEW DELHI India on Wednesday issued a strong advisory asking all its nationals currently in Iran to leave the country immediately by available means, including commercial flights, as the security situation worsened sharply following widespread anti-government protests and a harsh crackdown by Iranian authorities. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also advised Indian citizens to avoid all travel to Iran until further notice, signalling New Delhi’s growing concern over the rapidly deteriorating conditions. “In view of the evolving situ- Projects worth `50 cr to `500 cr will be reviewed THE FINDINGS ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION Witnesses saw him drinking liquor, gin, whisky, beer BLOOD ALCOHOL LEVEL: 333 mg/100 ml: Over 4 times Singapore’s legal limit (80 mg) SAFETY LAPSES n Initially wore a life jacket, later removed it n Declined a second life jacket offered n Yacht captain warned friends about his intoxication OFFICIAL FINDINGS n Cause of death: Drowning n Injuries caused by rescue and CPR n No foul play suspected by Singapore police n safety gear and swam alone towards Lazarus Island. 4Continued on | P8 2 held with 10kg MD drug in Mandsaur Action follows similar drug seizure in Mumbai  FP News Service MANDSAUR In a joint operation of Mumbai and Jaora Police, two persons were arrested while they were allegedly trafficking 10 kg of MD synthetic drugs, in Hussain Tekri area of Mandsaur district on Tuesday evening. The arrests followed an earlier drug seizure in Mumbai. MONEY Wholesale inflation returns as deflationary spell ends UJJAIN PRESS PUNE INDORE NASHIK Neighbours warned: Will set region on fire if US attacks Amid the threats from US President Donald Trump to come to the aid of protesters in Iran, officials in Tehran issued a stern warning to its neighbours. Speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said that Tehran will “set the region on fire” – a very strong message for the US’s allies in the region ation in Iran, Indian nationals — including students, pil- grims, businesspersons and tourists — are advised to leave MUMBAI E-paper Edit Apex court split on the PC Act P.6 Cinema Flipperachi’s India tour announced Iran by available means of transport,” the Indian Embassy in Tehran said. It also urged Indians to exercise utmost caution, avoid areas of protests or demonstrations, remain in constant contact with the embassy and closely monitor local media. The unrest erupted late last month after Iran’s currency, the rial, plunged to historic lows, triggering protests over inflation, unemployment and economic distress. What began as economic agitation has since spread across all 31 provinces, morphing into a wider movement demanding political change. 4Continued on | P8 Rahul to meet families hit by water deaths Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, will visit Bhagirathpura in Indore on Saturday to meet families who lost members due to contaminated water, party leaders said on Wednesday. During his visit, he will attend different programmes. State general secretary Sanjay Kamle said Rahul Gandhi will meet affected family members and later hold a meeting with all elected members of the civic body belonging to Congress. He will also address party leaders gathered for demonstrations at 71 district headquarters across the state. On Saturday, Congress leaders will stage protests focusing on three issues -- Bhagirathpura deaths, changes in MGNREGA to G RAM G, and water audit. CM Pragati Portal to start in MP on pattern of Centre Zubeen was ‘severely intoxicated’, declined life jacket: S’pore court Popular Indian singer-songwriter Zubeen Garg was “severely intoxicated” and had declined to wear a life jacket before drowning off Lazarus Island in September 2025, a coroner’s court in Singapore was told on Wednesday. Garg, 52, was part of a private yacht party on September 19, a day before he was scheduled to perform at the North East India Festival in Singapore. He died later that day after being pulled unconscious from the water. Singapore police have said there is no suspicion of foul play. Opening the inquiry, the chief investigating officer said Garg initially wore a life jacket during his first swim but later removed it. When he decided to swim again, he was offered a second, smaller life jacket, which he declined. He then entered the water without any BHOPAL Indians as unrest turns deadly Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has said the state government will launch a CM Pragati Portal on the pattern of the PM Pragati Portal of the Central Government. Yadav made the statement at a press conference in Bhopal on Monday. SINGAPORE EDITIONS: EXIT IRAN NOW: Govt to Our Staff Reporter Agencies iii QUALITY @ VALUE CRISIS WARNING | MEA issues urgent advisory amid nationwide unrest, rising death toll and fears of wider regional escalation BHOPAL Coroner told singer ignored safety advice, tried to swim alone after heavy drinking ESTD-1983 According to police sources, on January 11, Mumbai Police arrested an alleged smuggler with 23 grams of MD. During interrogation, a Mandsaur link emerged, leading the police to intensify their investigation. Based on inputs, Mumbai Police later seized 3.5 kilograms of MD and confirmed that a significant quantity of drugs was being supplied from Mandsaur to Mumbai and other regions. 4Continued on | P8 Chief Secretary Anurag Jain, who made a presentation, said the state’s Pragati Portal was ready, through which Yadav would review the progress of projects. The projects from Rs 50 crore to 500 crore will be accepted through the portal, he said. MP has 209 projects in the project monitoring group, he said, adding that in these pro- jects 322 issues have been raised and 312 solved. Thirty-nine projects have been put up before the Prime Minister through the Pragati Portal. As many as 124 issues related to the projects came up, and 120 of them were solved. Nearly 108 projects worth Rs 2.61 lakh crore were completed, and they started functioning. On the other hand, work on 101 projects worth Rs 521 lakh crore is underway. Cong CM says NDA gave more aid: Yadav CM checks health services in Nagpur CM Mohan Yadav has said the Telangana Chief Minister, Revanth Reddy, once met him at the PMO. According to Yadav, Reddy told him that he had received more assistance from the NDA government. As Andhra Pradesh was made a separate state, Amaravati was being made its capital. CM Mohan Yadav said a large number of patients from state go to Nagpur for treatment. He said he had gone there to see health services in Nagpur. Yadav said those who had been responsible for children’s deaths in Chhindwara because of toxic cough syrup were sent to jail. Arrangements are being made so that medicine samples can be examined in the state, he said. 4Continued on | P8 P.14 MP-CERT foils cyber-attack on govt websites Our Staff Reporter THE ATTACK BHOPAL Websites of the Madhya Pradesh state government were targeted by IcePeony, a known APT group associated with cyber espionage against government infrastructure. Officials said the attack was successfully neutralised by MP-CERT. In December 2025, an SEO poisoning redirect attack alert was raised in the state. Acting promptly, MP-CERT and Madhya Pradesh State Electronics Development Corporation (MPSeDC) identified and neutralised the threat. The administration confirmed that no government services were impacted and no data was compromised. All digital services of the state continued to operate securely. Following the alert, MP-CERT and MPSeDC launched a 48-hour intensive monitoring and response exercise to validate containment, verify system integrity and ensure uninterrupted service delivery. Further analysis revealed the attack was not merely related to unauthorised betting or gaming links, but a statesponsored threat. MP-CERT also found that multiple other states had been infected by similar SEO poisoning redirect attacks. A detailed report was shared with CERT-In, GoI. echnical investigation showed the incident was not a simple redirect attack, but a highly sophisticated advanced persistent threat (APT). Malware reverse engineering revealed it was heavily obfuscated and evaded detection by standard antivirus tools. It masqueraded as legitimate IIS components using deceptive DLL names, employed heavy packing and runtime decryption, and demonstrated advanced defense evasion techniques. T THE REVIEW PSeDC conducted a comprehensive audit of government IT systems. Unnecessary access points were closed, obsolete websites removed and all servers patched and updated. Additional system-level security controls were implemented to strengthen defenses against future cyber threats. Cybersecurity improvements included SBOM implementation, source code analysis, and regular audits. Antivirus systems were enhanced using malware signatures shared by MP-CERT, improving detection and prevention across the state’s digital infrastructure. M