THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l sunday l february 15, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l late city EDITION Pannun murder plot: Nikhil Gupta to be sentenced on May 29 faces up to 24 years in jail on three charges Gupta, 54, pleaded guilty to murder-for-hire and two other charges in connection with his attempts to murder the Khalistani separatist Pannun. Following a plea bargain, he faces up to 24 years in jail. According to the US Department of Justice, Gupta was hired by Vikash Yadav, who worked for India’s Cabinet Secretariat, which houses the Research and Analysis Wing A US federal court will on May 29 sentence the Indian national accused of plotting to eliminate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York in 2023 sought to hire hitman for $100K job ■ ■ According to the indictment, at Yadav’s direction, Gupta sought to hire a hitman to murder Pannun. The Centre has dissociated itself from the plot against Pannun, dismissing it as a “rogue operation” The hitman hired by Gupta, was to be paid $1,00,000 to murder Pannun. But the killer-on-hire was an undercover officer | P8 Jun 30, 2023 when gupta was arrested in the Czech republic 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 Bangladesh she vote was Jamaat’s nemesis 2,309 children given clinical help as digital addiction takes heavy toll Voted across party lines to defeat its attempt to capture power In November, the parents of a Class VIII student in Ernakulam found that their 12-year-old son had transferred nearly `1 lakh from his mother’s bank account to a classmate to buy a newly launched mobile phone. Though the money was recovered through the intervention of parents and teachers, the boy became socially withdrawn and began displaying anti-social behaviour, prompting the family to seek help from a clinical psychologist. In another incident last month, a 16-year-old girl from Chottanikkara was found dead in a quarry, leaving behind a note suggesting distress over the alleged suicide of a Korean BNP head Tarique Rahman greets supporters after his party won the parliamentary election, in Dhaka on Saturday | PTI W omen in Bangladesh follow a distinct colour code on national red-letter days. On Poila Baisakh, 15 April, the lal paar shada shari — white with a red border — is donned to usher in the Bengali New Year. On Bijoy Dibas, 16 December, marking the 1971 surrender of the Pakistan Army in Dhaka, the palette turns green. On 21 February, black is worn as homage to those killed in Dhaka in 1952 for seeking national language status for Bengali as well as Urdu. Today too, has its own special colour: bright , yellow in a range of hues. Across Bangladesh, women in sunshine sarees, flowers woven into their hair, are celebrating basanta utsav, the advent of spring. They are also celebrating the verdict in the just-concluded election. The fact that BNP has had a landslide with 212 seats and the Jamaat-e-Islami was held at 77 is, for many women, a big relief. “Though I am traditionMonideepa ally an Awami League voter, Banerjie I voted BNP this time,” said Veteran journalist a 42-year-old woman in Dhaka’s upmarket Banani who works in the social sector. “Anything to keep the Jamaat out. Because of them I had packed away my track suits and sleeveless blouses. Now I can use them again. This is not frivolous. The Jamaat had cast a long shadow on women.” Ordinary women who ventured out in trousers instead of traditional attire were heckled, even assaulted, for the way they dressed. Often, the hecklers were women supporters of Jamaat. Daily wage earners were equally alarmed when the Jamaat manifesto proposed women work five hours during maternity instead of eight. For women paid by the hour, fewer hours meant one thing: lower wages. In its manifesto, Jamaat promised to increase the representation of women in the cabinet if elected to power. But it did not field a single woman candidate, possibly Continued on: P9 the only party to do so.  BNP set to invite Modi for Tarique Rahman’s oath taking ceremony j ayan t h j a c o b @ New Delhi THE Bangladesh Nationalist Party is set to invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the swearing-in ceremony of Tarique Rahman, signalling a possible push to normalise ties following a bruising period in Dhaka–New Delhi relationship. Rahman, Bangladesh’s prime minister-in-waiting, is expected to take office in the coming days after the BNP secured a landslide victory in the 13th national parliamentary elections, handing him a commanding mandate. Humayun Kabir, foreign policy adviser to Rahman said: “Region is important to us... There is a sense of priority in sending out invitations for the inauguration.” He framed the invitation to Modi as a goodwill gesture. Relations between Dhaka and New Delhi turned This victory frosty following the ouster belongs to of for mer PM Sheikh democracy.. to people who aspired Hasina, whose gover nment had maintained close to and have ties with India. Against sacrificed for democracy that backdrop, Modi’s swift outreach to Rahman after Tarique Rahman the election result was seen as a significant outreach. Modi was the first world leader to telephone Rahman following the BNP’s victory . Rahman said his government’s foreign policy will be anchored firmly in national interest. “We have cleared ourselves regarding the foreign policy, which is the interest of Bangladesh, and the interest of Bangladeshi people comes first,” Rahman said when asked about mending ties with India. The careful phrasing suggests a balancing act ahead. At a press conference a day after the BNP’s sweeping win, Rahman struck a tone of triumph tempered by caution. He dedicated the victory to citizens who “sacrificed for democracy.” “This victory belongs to Bangladesh, belongs to democracy, this victory belongs to people who aspired to and have sacrificed for democracy,” he said. WITH THIS ISSUE A b d u l N a z e r M A @ Kochi PLUS 12 P AGES Express News Service @ New Delhi The Union Cabinet on Saturday approved the establishment of the Startup India Fund of Funds 2.0 (Startup India FoF 2.0) with a total corpus of `10,000 crore. The Startup India FoF 2.0 builds on nearly a decade of press Intake Three railway projects worth G18.5K crore cleared | P7 Trade deal will destroy textile industry: Rahul | P7 PM’s historic landing at Assam highway airstrip | P8 Huge quantity of ganja seized by Gujarat Police | P8 EXPRESS READ Kanthapuram welcomes talks on Sunni unity T’Puram: Ten-month-old Aalin Sherin Abraham, who became Kerala’s youngest organ donor on Friday, will be accorded state government’s official honours during her final journey on Sunday. Aalin will now live on through five recipients. Two transplants were successfully performed on Saturday. She will be laid to rest at St Thomas CSI church, Nedungadappally, near Mallappally in Pathanamthitta. Commending Aalin’s parents for their decision, CM Pinarayi Vijayan said the family had set an example for society. P4 Kottakkal (Malappuram): Indian Grand Mufti and Sunni leader Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musaliyar has welcomed the discussions on the unity of the Sunni organisations in Kerala, saying that such a unity is what time demands. Addressing the public meeting organised to declare the centenary celebrations of the Samastha Kerala Jem-Iyyathul Ulama in Kottakkal on Saturday, Kanthapuram however, cautioned that there should not be anything in words and deeds that adversely affect the unity. P4 I n d i a v s P ak i sta n Cricket talk after off-field powerplay Swa r o o p swam i nat h an @ Colombo WHEN Saturday dawned, a fair few couples headed to the picturesque Galle Face Beach in the heart of the city’s Central Business District to exchange their wedding vows. A few hours later, though, tension was rising inside the press conference room at the R Premadasa Stadium, six kms away from the beach. There were questions on politics, and diplomacy before some cricket finally broke through. It’s been that kind of a build-up to the India head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Suryakumar Yadav (R) | PTI latest installment of India-Pakistan cricket match. But the general mood around both camps 24 hours out from the encounter was calm. Yadav, in his fourth match as captain in this fixture, was particularly chirpy . When told by a Pakistan journalist that Agha would prefer to play the strongest Indian XI with respect to Abhishek Sharma, Yadav said: “Okay, then we will play Abhishek (smiles).” When another scribe asked him about shaking hands at the toss, he quipped: “Eat well, sleep well, wait for 24 hours (to find out).” By 7 PM on Sunday tension will be back with over a billion people across borders will again turn to 22 people on a cricket field to bring them joy P11 and light.  Total number of cases 2,309 Terminated cases 1,306 Ongoing cases 654 Referred to next-level 315 Drop-out cases 34 (Jan 1, 2023, to Jan 19, 2026) friend she had met on Instagram. These cases reflect a growing and troubling trend of digital addiction among children and adolescents, according to officials at the Neurobehavioral and Child Guidance Centre in Kakkanad. As of January 19, 2026, a total of 2,309 children had undergone counselling for online or gadget addiction at the Digital De-Addiction (D-DAD) Centres, an initiative launched by the Kerala Police in January 2023 to address digital dependency among minors. Officials said the figure represents only a fraction of the actual cases. “It represents only the cases that reached DDAD centres and is merely the tip of the iceberg. Many more cases are reported in schools, directly referred to professional psychologists, or remain unaddressed,” said an official with the Social Policing Directorate. District-wise, Kollam reported the highest number of cases (591), followed by Kozhikode (411), Thrissur (381), and Kochi ● More on P4 (300).  Govt approves J10k cr for Startup Fund of Funds 2.0 Aalin to be accorded state honours at funeral The Great Indian Art Mafia Cases reported in D-DAD centres Today’s Matches 11am: Nepal vs West Indies (Mumbai) 3pm: USA vs Namibia (Chennai) 7pm: India vs Pakistan (Colombo) sustained efforts to make India one of the world’s leading startup nations. The scheme is designed to accelerate the next phase of India’s startup journey by mobilising long-ter m domestic capital, strengthening the venture capital ecosystem, and supporting innovation-led entrepreneurship across the country , the Ministry of Commerce & Industry said in a statement. As per the government, since the launch of Startup India in 2016, India’s startup ecosystem has grown from fewer than 500 startups to over 2 lakh Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT)-recognised startups today . While the first phase built the ecosystem, Startup India FoF 2.0 is designed to take Indian innovation to the next level, the government said. The fund will employ a targeted, segmented funding approach to support deep tech and tech-driven innovative manufacturing, empowering early-growth-stage founders and encouraging investment beyond major metros.