HYDERABAD l friday l February 13, 2026l `9.00 l PAGES 36 l LATE CITY EDITION seattle to pay $29 million to kin of indian student who died in ’23 The family of Jaahnavi Kandula, who was killed in Jan 2023 when she was hit by a speeding police car in Seattle, will receive $29 mn in settlement had gone to u.s. on student exchange callous remarks drove lawsuit Jaahnavi, 23, was hit by a police car driven by officer Kevin Dave as she was crossing a street in Seattle on January 23, 2023.  Dave was driving at more than 119 kmh when he fatally hit Jaahnavi. The student hailed from Adoni in Andhra Pradesh, and was studying in a Bengaluru college from where she was sent to the US on a student exchange programme ■ ■ The lawsuit by Jaahnavi’s parents was in “reference to callous remarks” made by Seattle police officer Daniel Auderer, who said Kandula’s life had “limited value” and they should just write a cheque Dave was fired subsequently, while Seattle’s civilian watchdog found Auderer’s comments damaged the department’s reputation | P9 100 feet away jaahnavi was thrown after being hit by the car CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Inflation cools to 2.75% Govt green light to procure 114 Rafales as govt overhauls index J a v a r ia Ra n a @ New Delhi Veg prices tumble under new CPI series with 2023–2024 as base year P U S H P I TA D E Y @ New Delhi RETAIL inflation eased to 2.75% year-on-year in January , helped largely by a sharp fall in prices of key vegetables and pulses, even as jewellery and select food items registered price rise, government data released on Wednesday showed. The latest inflation print also marks the first release of the Consumer Price Index with a revised base year of 2023-2024, replacing the 2011-12 series. The revision, based on the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023–24, expands the basket to reflect current consumption patterns, especially the growing role of services and digital spending. The data, released by the Ministry of Statistics and Prog ramme Implementation, showed that inflation in rural areas stood at 2.7% while urban inflation was marginally higher at 2.77%. Food inflation, measured by the Consumer Food Price Index, was 2.13%. A steep fall in prices of essential kitchen staples played a major role in keeping headline inflation contained. Garlic Food sheds weight; housing gains Categories Food and beverages Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels Transport Clothing and footwear Health Personal care, social protection & miscellaneous goods and services Furnishings, household equipment & routine household maintenance Information and communication Education services Restaurants and accommodation services Paan, tobacco and intoxicants Recreation, sport and culture prices fell 53.05%, onion 29.27%, potato 28.98%, arhar (tur) dal 24.90% and peas slipped 15.56% on an annual basis. At the same time, some items witnessed extraordinary inflation. Silver jewellery soared 159.67%, tomato prices 64.80%, copra 47%, gold, diamond and platinum jewellery 46.77%, and coconut oil shot up 40.44%. The revised series expands the basket from 299 items to 358. Rural house rent has been CPI 2012 Weight (%) 42.617 16.888 6.394 6.527 5.9 CPI 2024 Weight (%) 36.753 17.665 8.796 6.383 6.1 4.006 5.038 3.656 4.469 3.323 3.513 3.246 2.38 1.547 3.609 3.333 3.348 2.989 1.516 included, as have modern consumption elements such as OTT subscriptions, online services, and CNG/PNG. Outdated items like VCRs and cassette players have been removed. The updated series also incorporates e-commerce prices in 12 major cities. “New items have been added to capture changes in the economy and consumer behaviour,” MoSPI secretary Saurabh Garg recently told this newspaper. World leaders gather in Delhi for AI summit jaya n th jac o b @ New Delhi INDIA is set to host one of the most consequential technology gatherings of the decade as the AI Impact Summit kicks off at Delhi’s Bharat Mandapam on February 16. The first global AI summit to be held in the Global South, the five-day event brings together world leaders, policymakers, and the biggest names in artificial intelligence under one roof. Seven Presidents, two Vice Presidents, and nine Prime Ministers have confirmed their presence, signalling that AI governance is at the centre of global diplomacy . Among the Presidents are Brazil’s Lula da Silva, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Estonia’s Alar Karis, Slovakia’s Peter Pellegrini, Sri Lanka’s Anura Dissanayake, Serbia’s Aleksandar Vucic, and Switzerland’s Guy Parmelin. The summit, which will conclude on February 20, will see PMs from nine countries— Armenia’s Nikol Pashinyan, Bhutan’s Tshering Tobgay Croatia’s , Andrej Plenkovic, Finland’s Petteri Orpo, Spain’s Pedro Sánchez, Greece’s Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Netherlands’ Dick Schoof, Kazakhstan’s Oljas Bektenov, and Mauritius’ Navinchandra Ramgoolam. Industry leaders include Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. The summit will serve as a platform for discussions on the impact and future of AI. Today’s Matches 11am: Australia vs Zimbabwe (Colombo), 3pm: Canada vs UAE (New Delhi), 7pm: USA vs Netherlands (Chennai) WITH THIS ISSUE CITY’S BEST WEEKEND GUIDE 36 PAGES, INCLUDING 24 OF INDULGE (TABLOID) Polling officials begin the counting of votes cast in Bangladesh’s national parliamentary election, in Dhaka, on Thursday | AP Counting begins after peaceful B’desh polls Yunus call to uphold democratic decency “I call upon political parties and candidates to uphold democratic decency, tolerance and mutual respect even after the final results are announced. Differences of opinion will exist, but in the national interest, we must remain united,” Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus said The first significant results may be available overnight... Voting was peaceful though there were a few minor disruptions in some districts -Bangladesh Election Commission INSIDE C ounting of votes began in Bangladesh on Thursday evening after peaceful polling earlier in the day for the crucial general elections to elect Parliament members and decide on a referendum on constitutional reforms. While the interim gover nment and the election commission hailed the process, deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina called the polls “a well-planned farce” and demanded a “free, fair Bayezid Milky and inclusive elections Senior journalist based under a neutral caretaker government”. in Dhaka At the time of going to the press, there was no official word on the polling percentage, though the poll rolls had nearly 13 crore voters. What was visible though was a good turnout in the morning, but no subsequent voter rush at polling booths for the rest of the day. People just came in ones and twos to cast their ballots. Without going into the numbers, the election commission claimed the turnout was satisfactory . This is a straight fight between the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by Tarique Rahman, 60, and an 11-party alliance led by the Bangladesh Jamaat e Islami and the nascent National Citizen Party (NCP). As per initial trends, BNP candidates appeared to be leading the race with Jamaat struggling to put up a decent show. In the early rounds of counting for the referendum, negative votes were more than the ‘yes’ votes. Top BNP and Jamaat and NCP leaders said they would accept the verdict if the process is not rigged.  Continued on: P9 CIVIC BODY POLLS: COUNTING TODAY I P4 AHEAD of French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to India next week, the defence ministry on Thursday accorded acceptance of necessity (AoN) for capital acquisition proposals worth around `3.6 lakh crore, including the much awaited gover nment-to-gover nment deal for 114 Rafale multi-role fighter aircraft estimated at about `3.25 lakh crore. The final contract for the jets is unlikely to be signed before early 2027, sources said. The AoN marks the first formal step in the procurement process, after which commercial negotiations and contract finalisation follow. The time- line for conclusion varies depending on the negotiations. Under the proposal, the Indian Air Force is expected to receive 88 single-seat and 26 twin-seat Rafale fighters. Around 18 aircraft are likely to be delivered in fly-away condition, while the remaining 96 will be manufactured in India with up to 60 per cent indigenous content. Sources said the overall Rafale package includes an estimated `2.5 lakh crore for the aircraft and associated systems, with weapons and support elements taking the total value to around `3.25 lakh crore. This includes procurement of 100-120 SCALP airlaunched cruise missiles, for More anti-submarine P-81s for Navy cleared New Delhi: The DAC also approved the acquisition of six more P-8I long-range reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft for the Indian Navy, for `28,000 crore, to strengthen surveillance `2,700 crore. The missile was used during Operation Sindoor to strike targets in Bahawalpur and Muridke in the early hours of May 7. The contract will incorporate provisions for upgrading Revanth: Willing to hand over probe into BRS corruption cases to CBI Indian Rafales to the future F5 standard once available, while the existing fleet would be brought up to the F4 configuration, which includes enhanced sensor fusion, improved connectivity and expanded weapons capability . The DAC also approved procurement of additional longrange surface-to-air missiles for Project Sudarshan Chakra. The proposal pertains to replenishment of missile stocks for the S-400 air defence system, with around 280 missiles estimated to be worth approximately `3,000 crore. Among other approvals, the DAC cleared buy of Air-Ship Based High Altitude Pseudo Satellites for Air Force. CM: 500 acres for high-speed rail hub near airport e x p r ess News S e r v ice E N S @ Hyderabad Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday said his government was willing to hand over all cases related to corruption and scams during the previous BRS government, including alleged irregularities in power purchases, to the CBI. He alleged that the Centre had not acted on the Kaleshwaram case despite the state government submitting written requests six months ago. “If BJP and BRS have no faith in state agencies investigating the phone-tapping and power purchase agreement cases, we will hand over the cases to the CBI once Union Minister G Kishan Reddy writes a letter to the state government,” he said. Rejecting allegations against the Congress in the Makthal incident, Revanth said the party did not need to murder a BJP candidate for one seat. He added that if BJP had doubts, the Centre could order a CBI probe into the death of Mahadevappa. Revanth questioned why the ED had not arrested former minister KT Rama Rao in the Formula E race case, stating that the money trail was clear. During an informal interaction with reporters in Delhi, he alleged a lack of cooperation from the Union government in Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday informed Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw that the state would allot 500 acres near Shamshabad airport for proposed high-speed rail corridors connecting Hyderabad with Chennai (778 km), Bengaluru (586 km) and Pune (556 km). He suggested that the corridors originate from Shamshabad, citing the presence of the international airport, and said the Hyderabad–Chennai route should pass through Amaravati, with a link sanctioned from there to Bandar Port to facilitate faster movement of goods from the dry port. During a meeting with Vaishnaw in Parliament, Revanth said Shamshabad would emerge as a tri-junction if the Bengaluru and Pune corridors were developed near the airport. He urged the Centre to begin land acquisition and start work on the three corridors. Vaishnaw responded positively and assured that work would begin. Revanth also requested that the Krishna–Vikarabad railway line be taken up fully with central funds, reiterating that the state government was ready to bear the entire land acquisition cost.  continued on P4 @ Hyderabad Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy presents a memento to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on Thursday CM: Will Kishan apologise for Singareni allegations? The chief minister said that all papers regarding Singareni would be tabled and debated in the Assembly and asked if Union Minister G Kishan Reddy would apologise if his allegations that there was a scam in Singareni were proven to be false. Revanth also made it clear that his government was not tapping anyone’s phone. the phone-tapping investigation, noting that it took 20 months to question the main accused, Prabhakar Rao. He said he had directed officials to file a chargesheet in the case. Stating that the SIT questioned former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao based on information provided by Prabhakar Rao, Revanth emphasised that this did not mean the BRS supremo was treated as a witness. “The SIT will decide how to investigate the case and under which sections,” he said, denial of treatment HC directs state govt to list policy on emergency medicare T G Naidu @ Hyderabad The Telangana High Court on Thursday directed the state government to file, within three weeks, a comprehensive counter affidavit along with its policy decision and guidelines on emergency medical care services. The direction was issued while hearing a suo motu PIL initiated on the basis of a letter addressed to the Chief Justice by advocate Bathini Komuraiah. A bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin took note of allegations relating to the denial of medical treatment to a patient at the Mahbubabad district hospital. The bench also directed the Registry to tag the present PIL with a similar pending PIL concerning alleged deficiencies in emergency medical services. In that case, it was alleged that ambulance services were denied to an SC girl on the ground that she was not carrying an Aadhaar card.  continued on P2 Siddu: Karnataka seeks equity, not generosity | P5 adding that his government was not tapping anyone’s phone. On the fire accident at the State Forensic Science Laboratory Revanth said no evidence , related to the vote-for-note case was stored there. Calling NTR a national leader, he said he supported the demand for a Bharat Ratna for him and announced that an NTR statue would be installed at Ameerpet. Revanth said the process of taking over Hyderabad Metro Phase 1 from L&T would be completed by March 31.