CHENNAI l wednesday l august 26, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 22 l LATE CITY EDITION Supreme cOURT directs Tejpal to surrender within THREE weeks SC directed journalist Tarun Tejpal to undergo his 10-year rigorous imprisonment in a 2013 rape case in which he was convicted by the Bombay High Court Appeal against hc order to be heard in sept Hearing subject to Surrender certificate A bench of Justice Alok Aradhe dismissed Tejpal’s plea seeking exemption from surrendering. “The application seeking exemption from surrendering is rejected. However, the appellant is granted three weeks’ time to surrender and file surrender certificate before this court,” the bench said in its order. SC posted his appeal challenging his conviction and sentence on Sept 22 ■ ■ “In case the surrender certificate is filed on or before September 21, 2026, the registry shall list the criminal appeal for hearing on September 22, 2026 before the regular court,” the bench said The former editor of Tehelka magazine was convicted of raping a junior colleague inside a hotel elevator in 2013 in Goa | P11 August 6 When Bombay hc convicted Tejpal to 10 years rigorous imprisonment 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 Missile tech transfer to Govt to retain, repurpose Parandur land pvt sector gets approval C S h iv a k u m a r @ Chennai Covers air-defence, air-to-air missiles & battlefield-strike weapons 1 Several DcPP programmes have moved forward. At a salvo launch of NASM-SR from Sea King helicopter in April, two missiles were fired in quick succession 2 The DRDO conducted first flight trial of TARA from a Jaguar, converting a 500-kg bomb into a guided stand-off weapon. Gaurav has completed release trials from Su-30MKI 3 File photo of a Pralay test-fire, a quasi-ballistic missile | PTI Astra Mk-2, with a range of 200+ km, is also learnt to be among the first major systems to be offered to pvt firms. COMM, Adani, Bharat Forge, Tata and Mahindra are among contenders per applicable qualifications, certifications and regulatory The government on Tuesday requirements”, the ministry cleared the transfer of technol- said. The DRDO will retain reogy for all conventional missile sponsibility for design certifisystems developed by the De- cation and quality assurance. fence Research and DevelopIt marks a further shift away ment Organisation (DRDO) to from the traditional model unIndian industry for domestic der which a DRDO missile, afproduction, opening a wide ter completing development swathe of the country’s indig- and user trials, was assigned to enous guided-weapons portfo- a nominated production agenlio to private manufacturers. cy for series manufacture, a Defence minister Rajnath role state-run Bharat DynamSingh approved the transfer, in ics Ltd (BDL) has traditionally what his ministry described as held for much of the indigean “important milestone” in nous missile portfolio. expanding industry It also follows the participation in the government’s decision defence ecosystem. earlier this year to The ministry however, , open tactical missile did not specify the inproduction to the pridividual systems covvate industry under ered by the decision. the Development-cumOfficials in the deProduction Partner fence establishment (DcPP) model, which said the conventional brings companies into portfolio includes the The initiative aims a programme during to enhance Akash and Akash-NG development rather operational surface-to-air systems, than after it. DRDO VSHORADS, Astra capability, reduce has distributed around import dependence 10 to 12 tactical missile air-to-air missiles, the and increase Rudram anti-radiation programmes among domestic value family, anti-tank syspublic and private addition tems such as Nag, firms, with Adani DeDefence ministry SANT and the manfence and Aerospace, portable ATGM, the Bharat Forge, ICOMM NASM-SR anti-ship missile, in- Tele and Solar Defence and Aerdigenous land-attack cruise ospace as DcPPs. missiles and Pralay, the quasiAdani Defence is the DcPP ballistic weapon geared for con- for the Rudram anti-radiation ventional strikes. series, including the hyperson“Strategic missiles are a sepa- ic Rudram-II, which is to be rate category and will continue built at its Hyderabad facility, to be dealt with separately. and for NASM-SR. It is also a Hence, Agni and the K-series are DcPP along with Bharat Forge, , not part of this transfer. Simi- for the 1,000-kg-class Gaurav larly BrahMos and MRSAM in- long-range glide bomb and the , volve foreign partners and are TARA glide kit. Adani broke governed by separate arrange- ground last month on a missile ments,” the official said. complex at Shivpuri in MP with , Companies will be able to composite-propellant and TNT manufacture the systems “as production planned there. J a v a ri a R a n a @ New Delhi TN police torture led to Aakash’s death: CBCID V i g n e s h V @ Madurai The final report filed by the Madurai CBCID in the custodial death case of R Aakash Delison has established that “his leg was broken by the policemen in a well-executed plan”. The report, which was shared with his family nearly a month after it was filed in court, said the injury led to the development of a fat embolism that cost him his life. The prosecution had earlier stated in court that the suspect sustained the fracture after allegedly jumping from a railway bridge while attempting to evade arrest on March 5. A selective portion of the copy of the report, available with TNIE, was given to Aakash’s family on Monday after it was submitted to the II Additional District Judge for Protection of Civil Rights (PCR) cases in Madurai in June 2026 (the case is now pending before the Sivaganga District Court). Aakash was admitted by the Sivaganga police to the Government Rajaji Hospital on March 6 with a fracture in the right leg and died two days later. In the remand report recorded by the Manamadurai Judicial Magistrate on March 7, Delison stated that police personnel had assaulted him with an iron rod, causing fractures, bleeding and severe pain.  P7 The fate of 1,802 acres acquired for the now-scrapped Parandur air port project emerged as a fresh flashpoint in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Tuesday, with the government indicating that it may not return the land to the original owners and would repurpose it for other uses. Industries Minister S Keerthana, in her reply cited Clause , 99 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, to contend that the acquired land could be put to an alternative public use. She said the land could be used for indus- P r e e t h a N a ir @ New Delhi Reiterating the party’s demand for a drop-down list of castes, Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding the scrapping of the existing questionnaire for it in the ongoing Census exercise and CIA chief in moscow for talks FlightRadar24 spotted the C-17’s arrival in Moscow’s Vnukovo international airport. CIA boss John Ratcliffe was its pax P15 Iran imports US sanctions against four India-based entities e X P R E S S n E W S sE R V I C E @ New Delhi HOURS after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced ‘Operation Economic Outcast’, the US on Tuesday sanctioned four India-based entities for importing petroleum and petrochemical products from Iran. Among those facing action is customs broker Portease Partners, along with its partners Indrismiya Ashrafmiya Sheikh and Harish Ramachandra Rangi. They allegedly facilitated the import of Iranian petrochemical products, according to a press note issued by the US State Department. The other firms are Sadashiva Overseas, PP Softtech and Prakrutees Infra Impex. PP Softtech director Prashant Garg has also been sanctioned. Sheikh, Rangi and Garg are Indian nationals, says the release. Sadashiva Overseas imported Iranianorigin petroleum products worth $69 million, while PP Softtech and Prakrutees Infra each imported products worth $25 million. The US alleged these firms were knowingly engaging in trade activities related to petroleum products from Iran. Patna witnessed dramatic scenes on Tuesday as thousands of students and job aspirants clashed with police after they were stopped from marching towards the chief minister’s residence to press for their key demands, which included a single-stage exam for teacher recruitment instead of holding separate Prelims and Mains. The protesters were also seeking the cancellation of Combined Competitive Exams held by Bihar Public Service Commission earlier this year, alleging irregularities. Police personnel use water cannons to disperse protesters in Patna | PTI The march, which started from the historic Gandhi Maidan that has witnessed many upheavals in the past, saw partici- pation by a number of Left-wing activists affiliated with AISF and DYFI. Members of NSUI were also present. The protesters pulled down the metal barricades and tried to break the security cordon. Some protesters pelted stones on security personnel. Police personnel first used water cannons to disperse the crowd but later resorted to baton charge as the protesters refused to relent. In the melee, several protesters and security personnel were injured. A female demonstrator was seen lying unconscious. Several protesters were also detained. trial projects that would not harm the environment or people living in the region, while g enerating employment. Though Clause 99 states that there can be “no change from the purpose or related purposes” for which land was originally acquired, it allows the government to use the land for Drop Census query on caste: Cong Patna erupts as job seekers clash with police R A M A S HAN K A R @ Patna Members of the Parandur Greenfield Airport Opposition Joint Movement met Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay at the Secretariat on Tuesday | Express Delegation meets CS An eight-member delegation of job aspirants met Bihar Chief Secretary Pratyaya Amrit in his office with a memorandum containing a 15-point charter of demands. Amrit told them he would discuss it with the CM and settle the matter formulate a new one after consulting political parties, experts and the general public. Both leaders said they do not accept the caste census being conducted in the current manner and urged the government to take its cue from the caste surveys done in Telangana and Bihar. Briefing reporters on the letter, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the gov- ernment’s current efforts towards a caste census are just a “whitewash”. Ramesh said this is the third letter written by the Congress leadership to Modi over the issue but have not received any reply . In India, the same caste is known by different names across different regions, they pointed out. Recording them as is would result in a list of hundreds of thousands of caste names, rendering the entire dataset useless. another public purpose if it becomes unusable for the original purpose due to a fundamental change arising from unforeseen circumstances, officials said. Speaking in the Assembly, Law Minister C T R Nirmal Kumar said that only 48% of the land required for the project had been acquired, rejecting former DMK minister Thangam Thennarasu’s claim that 90% of the land, including government and private land, had been acquired. “The total land required for the project is 5,846 acres, of which 3,774 acres is patta land and only 1,802 acres have been acquired so far. Of the 1,972 acres shown as government land, 1,558 acres are waterbodies,” he said.  P7 E x p r e s s Re a d Tamils’ death: K’taka orders CID investigation Bengaluru: Karnataka government has ordered a CID inquiry into the shooting of three Tamils for suspected poaching at the Hanur division of Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary on August 14 | P7 TN passes resolution seeking TET exemption Chennai: TN Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution, urging the centre to permenently exempt teachers appointed before August 23, 2010, from TET | P6