BHUBANESWAR l wednesday l may 13, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late CITY EDITION Himanta takes oath as Assam CM for second successive term The BJP-led NDA assumed the mantle of power for the third term on Tuesday when Himanta Biswa Sarma was sworn as in CM of Assam 25-minute ceremony saw top BJP leaders great day for assam, says pm modi Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya administered the oath of office to Sarma and the four legislators at a 25-minute ceremony held at the Veterinary Ground in Khanapara area in Guwahati. Besides PM Modi and Amit Shah, Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Sarbananda Sonowal, Pabitra Margherita, and other top leaders were present | P10 ■ ■ The PM said NDA assuming office for the third consecutive term was a ‘’great day for Assam’’ and congratulated Sarma BJP’s Rameshwar Teli and Ajanta Neog, AGP’s Atul Bora, and Charan Boro of BPF also took oath as ministers, representing the tea community, women, the regional community and the Bodo tribe 102 seats of 126 seats in assam were won by the bjp-led nda coalition 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 Protest action: Man takes sister’s body on cycle to police station NEET-UG cancelled, CBI begins paper leak probe S u k a n ta K u ma r Sa h u @ Balasore lalitha s, sudhir s u r ya w a n s h i & r a j e s h a s n a n i @ New Delhi/Nashik/Jaipur A 47-year-old man from Balasore on Tuesday carried the body of his sister on a bicycle and travelled over 15 km to Khaira police station alleging police inaction in arresting the main accused three days after her murder. Surendra Sethy staged a protest in front of the police station with the body of his sister, Kamala Sethy (45), for around six to seven hours on the day . Kamala and her sister-in-law Shakuntala were reportedly attacked on May 10 (Sunday) by their neighbours over boundary dispute of their houses. Surendra had lodged an FIR on Monday naming neighbour , Bharat Jena, his wife Bharati and their son Manas in the complaint. Based on the report, police registered a murder case and detained Bharati. However, Surendra alleged that main accused Manas and Bharat were not arrested despite their alle ged involvement in the murder. After the postmortem, the hospital handed over Kamala’s body to Surendra. Though he brought the body home for cre- THE NEET (UG) 2026 exam held on May 3 was cancelled on Tuesday amid allegations of paper leak, with the CBI registering an FIR after the government asked it to probe the “irregularities”. The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts the exam for admission to undergraduate courses in medical colleges, said fresh dates will be notified in the “next seven to 10 days” for the re-exam. The cancellation triggered nationwide outrage among medical aspirants, with students raising questions on NTA’s competence and demanding that the exam be conducted by AIIMS-Delhi. The Opposition attacked the Centre, alleging administrative failure, insensitivity toward students and “repeated lapses” in the conduct of national-level competitive examinations. The Rajasthan Special Operations Group (SOG), which probed the leak first, found that before the exam, a 150-page “guess paper” was circulated among students in Jaipur, Sikar, Jhunjhunu and Churu districts. Surendra carrying his sister’s dead body on his bicycle to the police station mation on Monday, Surendra refused to perform the last rites until the remaining accused were arrested. Protesting police inaction, he packed his sister’s body and cycled to Khaira police station on Tuesday morning, demanding immediate arrest of Bharat and Manas. “I was forced to bring my sister’s body to the police station because the accused were not arrested. There is a nexus between the police and the accused. Even the case was registered late. I had no other option to seek justice,” Surendra alleged. On receiving information, SP Pratyush Diwakar rushed to Khaira police station and assured Surendra that the remaining accused will be Continued on P7 arrested.  SFI members and supporters stage a protest against the cancellation of NEET 2026, after NTA cancelled the exam held on May 3, in New Delhi | Praveen negi The document contained 410 questions of which 135 figured in the actual exam paper. As per Rajasthan Police, the match was not limited to the questions alone. Investigators found similarities in sequence of options, language and punctuation marks. The SOG has so far detained 15 people, including Manish Yadav from Jaipur and Rakesh Mandawaria from Sikar. Manish Yadav is said to be the ‘mastermind’ of the paper leak operation in Rajasthan. Investigators also found that all 90 Biology questions and all 45 Chemistry questions in NEET exam matched the circulated material. Preliminary investigations suggest that a student from Churu, currently pursuing MBBS in Kerala, allegedly sent express read TVK govt seeks trust vote today, all eyes on AIADMK Chennai: The internal rift in the AIADMK became official with one group announcing its support to the TVK government ahead of the trust vote in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Wednesday. Former ministers C Ve Shanmugam and S P Velumani said they would back Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay’s TVK | P7 West Asia crisis is a stress test for India: CEA D i pa k M o n d a l @ New Delhi The West Asia crisis has become a live balance-of-payments stress test for India, with direct implications for inflation, the current account deficit (CAD) and the rupee, Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran said on Tuesday “Managing . the current account credibly , financing it sustainably and , preventing further currency depreciation are the central macroeconomic imperatives of FY27,” he said at the CII’s Annual Business Summit. CAD is expected to rise to 2.2% of GDP in FY27 from an estimated 0.8% in FY26. CAD is a situation when a country’s imports exceed exports. A higher CAD weakens the currency, increases inflation risks and reduces economic stability. Rupee on Tuesday fell to another low of 95.63 against the dollar. Nageswaran said 87% of crude oil is imported, with a major share transiting through or near the Hormuz. Around 60% of LPG comes from the Gulf, while 38% of annual remittances originate from Gulf nations. “These are not the readings of a temporary shock that will self-correct when the situation stabilises.” The CEA warned that the global economic architecture is undergoing a structural challenge rather than a temporary disruption. Rahul meets former KPCC heads, CM call likely today New Delhi: The deadlock over the selection of Kerala’s next Chief Minister appears headed for a breakthrough, with senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday holding a last round of consultations with former KPCC presidents, working presidents and key leaders at Sonia Gandhi’s house | P7 Naveen slams NEET fiasco, BJD asks Pradhan to quit Bhubaneswar: BJD president Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday sharply criticised the cancellation of NEET-UG 2026 examination following reports of a question paper leak, while the youth and student wings of the party demanded the resignation of Union Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan for failing to protect the interests of more the 22 lakh students | P5 the question bank to a person in Sikar, who passed it to a PG accommodation operator in Sikar, who further shared it among students there. After the examination on May 3, a PG operator in Sikar filed a complaint with the Udyog Nagar police station and the NTA, alleging that a large number of students had received the suspected question bank before the exam. Following this, police sprang into action, sources said. The CBI registered cases of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust, theft and destruction of evidence under BNS, besides offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair P9 Means) Act, 2024.  Pumps run dry in Odisha, minister says no shortage A s i s h M e h ta @ Bhubaneswar With Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealing for consumption cut amidst an unending West Asia crisis, petrol and diesel suddenly went short across major urban centres of the state on Tuesday . Fuel shortage was reported in Khurda, and outlying places such as Koraput, Malkangiri, Sundargarh and Nabarangpur districts. In Khurda district, petrol pumps restricted the sale of petrol to `200 and `1,000 for bike and car owners respectively Some service stations in the . state capital Bhubaneswar ran dry on the day too, forcing citizens to look for other options. The shortage continued at fuel stations in Rourkela for the third consecutive day with some putting out-of-stock signs. A long queue of autorickshaws could be seen at pumps in the steel city with their operations getting severely affected due to the shortage of fuel. Pump owners in Rourkela acknowledged they are putting a restriction on the sale of petrol and diesel to ensure they do not run dry completely. “We are witnessing panic buying due to the shortage and also over reports that fuel prices will increase soon,” a service station A petrol pump wears a deserted look after it ran dry of fuel, near Kalpana Square in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday | DEBADATTA MALLICK owner added. However, insiders pointed out that the shortage had nothing to do with stock and was caused by a sudden increase in demand of fuel in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh as well as temporary supply disruption. There is no depletion of fuel stock in the state because of the ongoing Middle-East crisis, they added. “A sudden surge in the demand of fuel in Andhra Pradesh spilled over to the neighbouring districts in Odisha. Cargo trucks carrying essential commodities from Andhra Pradesh to Odisha and North East started refilling in the state which led to an abrupt increase in demand in southern districts by 40 per cent to 70 per cent last week,” said All India Petroleum Dealers’ Association general secretary San, Continued on P7 jay Lath.