chennai l friday l november 06, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 42 l late city EDITION ? Gadi Eisenkot set to secure majority to form govt in Israel Former Israel Defense Forces chief Gadi Eisenkot is frontrunner as the next Israel PM, after Arab parties recommended him to President Herzog FOR TNIE EDITIONS FOR TMS EDITION with 67 seats, eisenkot past halfway mark joint list, ra’am hold the reins Eisenkot is expected to receive 67 recommendations against 46 for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose prospects suffered a setback after longtime ally United Torah Judaism decided to stay neutral. Netanyahu bloc’s strength dropped from 53 to 46 seats against 48 of Eisenkot’s bloc in 120-member Knesset. Arab parties emerged kingmakers with 19 seats ■ ■ Earlier in the day, Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas, whose party has eight seats, recommended Eisenkot and reiterated his support for a two-state solution and US President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan The Joint List, the other major Arab political grouping with 11 seats, also recommended Eisenkot, promising outside support | P15 61 Seats are required for a majority in the knesset to form govt 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 E le c t i o n c o m m i s s i o n ANNOUNCEMENT ANNOUNCEMENT We are pleased to announce the appointment of Ravi Shankar as Editor and Kiran Prakash M S as Executive Editor of The New Indian Express and its Sunday edition. Oversight of poll body’s IT chief restored We are pleased to announce the appointment of Ravi Shankar as Editor and Kiran Prakash M S as Executive Editor of The Morning Standard and its Sunday edition. Ravi Shankar has been associated with the organisation for over two decades and was, until recently, Consulting Editor – Sunday Magazine. He brings with him rich experience in journalism and editorial leadership. Ravi Shankar has been associated with the organisation for over two decades and was, until recently, Consulting Editor – Sunday Magazine. He brings with him rich experience in journalism and editorial leadership. They take charge from today. MANOJ KUMAR SONTHALIA Chairman and Managing Director Bodies of 5 TN fishers found in Andhra, search on for 4 more S V KRISHNA C HAITAN YA S u m i t k u m a r S i n g h @ New Delhi Kiran Prakash M S has been with the organisation for over a decade and was previously Resident Editor – Keralam. He brings extensive experience in journalism and editorial management. Kiran Prakash M S has been with the organisation for over a decade and was previously Resident Editor – Keralam. He brings extensive experience in journalism and editorial management. They take charge from today. cristiano bids farewell Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal legend and one of the greatest footballers of all time, announced his MANOJ KUMAR SONTHALIA international retirement on Thursday. The 41-year-old’s international career spanned over 23 years in which Chairman and Managing Director he won one European Championship and two Nations League titles for Portugal. His World Cup dream remained unconquered despite six attempts | afp/ap 24 hrs from detention, not formal arrest: SC Flags potential for abuse in custody without oversight @ Chennai The bodies of five Kasimedu fishermen, among nine who went missing off the Andhra Pradesh coast during Cyclone Murasu, were recovered along the Kothapatnam shoreline in Andhra Pradesh’s Prakasam district on Thursday . While four of the victims have been identified, the government has released the names of only three of them — S Mohan, A Murugan, and C Vijayakanth. The identities of the remaining two are still being verified. Search operations are on to locate the four fishermen who are still missing. CM Vijay on Thursday announced a compensation of `7 lakh each for the families of the nine fishers, of which an immediate relief of `2 lakh each will be disbursed. The state will transport the bodies to TN at its expense, the CM said.  P6 SC slams TN, bins appeal in Kavin honour killing case | P4 3 killed as under-construction structure crashes in Hosur | P4 ED seizes assets worth `103 crore in BLM case | P2 WITH THIS ISSUE CHENNAI’S BEST WEEKEND GUIDE 42 PAGES, INCLUDING 24 OF INDULGE (TABLOID) other orders pearing in clause (2) of Article 22 i.e. ‘arrested’ and ‘detained’ are synonymous,” said the Four men in Tripura were bench of justices Ujjal Bhuyan stopped on suspicion of carry- and Atul S Chandurkar, disaping drugs at 2.00 pm on Septem- proving of orders from three ber 29, 2025. The search and sei- high courts that sought to difzure process was completed at ferentiate the two. The verdict 5 pm that day Their arrest was came on the appeal filed by the . recorded at 11.15 am the next four men held in Tripura under day and they were produced be- the NDPS Act, challenging defore a magistrate that evening. nial of their bail plea by the What happened in the Tripura HC. Ordering 18 hours between their release, it noted, search, and seizure “18 hours in custody and formal arrest? without judicial overCustodial In June 2025, a temsight is a long period, ple guard in Tamil violence is an with misuse and abuse Nadu was picked up unfortunate of authority a clear in a theft case by poreality of our possibility.” lice. After 12 hours in “The endeavour of custody — without country and is this Court has always judicially formal arrest — he been to eliminate cusdied, allegedly from acknowledged todial violence which torture. It is these inunfortunately takes Supreme Court stances that the Suplace during the time preme Court evoked when a person is under in its ruling on Thursday hold- detention and not shown as for, ing that the 24-hour deadline to mally arrested...” the court produce an accused before a said, adding that there is no magistrate begins from deten- such thing as a ‘temporary distion and not formal arrest. ruption of liberty’. If detention “The prescription of 24 hour- continues beyond 24 hours betime period would commence fore the person is produced bethe moment a person is de- fore the magistrate, he should tained by the arresting author- be released, the SC said, adding ity suspecting him to have com- that the detaining authority mitted an offence, when his must ensure detention does not liberty is effectively curtailed. exceed a reasonable period, To that extent, the words ap- even within the 24-hour limit. E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i ce @ New Delhi Tirupati laddu plea stays in AP The Supreme Court’s bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi on Thursday refused to entertain a plea for transferring trial in Tirupati ‘laddus’ ghee adulteration case out of Andhra Pradesh. Relief for Punjab chief secretary A Supreme Court bench of justices B V Nagarathna and R Mahadevan stayed contempt proceedings initiated by Punjab and Haryana HC against Punjab’s chief secretary in a dearness allowance case. Reservation on right to bail in NDPS A bench of justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Atul S Chandurkar on Thursday said that whenever there is a violation of Article 21, Section 37 of NDPS Act would have to give way. Lasting imprint Tracing Shankara’s legacy in stone & script B i n i ta J a i s w a l @ Chennai A sculpture recovered from an ancient brick structure in a Karnataka village last month has given the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) a fresh lead in its search for traces of Adi Shankaracharya in thousands of inscriptions. The ASI’s iconography team has confirmed that the sculpture found at Hampapura village in KR Nagar taluk of Mysuru district depicts Adi Shankaracharya, ASI epigraphy director K Munirathnam Reddy told TNIE. The idol was found inside a brick structure dating back to the ninth century, he said. The ASI’s Epigraphy Branch has taken up a project to identify and compile inscriptions associated with Adi Shankaracharya. The initiative, assigned by the Union Ministry of Education, began just a fortnight ago and aims to create a comprehensive collection of e pig raphic records relating to Shankaracharya for academic research and curricu- Adi Shankaracharya idol found inside a brick structure in Mysuru Panel: Few police excess complaints lum development. “There are very few epigraphical records [known so far] that can be directly linked to Adi Shankaracharya. One of the earliest possible references is a copper-plate inscription discovered in Gujarat, dating to around 500-515 CE. Another significant reference is the 11th-century inscription found at Cholamadevi temple in Tiruchirappalli district, which refers to his philosophical work. If implemented effectively, this project could bring to light more historical evidence about Adi Shankaracharya, his travels and the spread of his philosophical teachings,” G Sankaranarayanan, professor of Sahitya at National Sanskrit University, Tirupati, told TNIE. P7 SU C HITRA KALYAN M O HANT Y @ New Delhi THE Election Commission has issued a fresh work allocation order that requires its top IT official Seema Khanna to route files through a senior deputy election commissioner. The new order restores a layer of oversight an earlier order had removed. An order dated July 28 had relieved Deputy Election Commissioner Sanjay Kumar of the charge of IT and ICT and let DirectorGeneral (IT) Seema Khanna report directly to the poll panel. The decision was put in abeyance after the two election commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, objected. The latest order, issued on Wednesday, requires Khanna to route files through Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Pawan Kumar Sharma. According to the poll panel’s submission to the Supreme Court, the July 28 order was not implemented. The Commission said the internal distribution of work “has been continuing” under an earlier office order dated September 23, 2025. It said the July 28 order was issued by an IAS officer who was on deputation to the Commission. Sandhu and Joshi wrote separately to Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan on July 29, saying Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg issued the orders without the poll body’s approval. THE High-Powered Enquiry Committee (HPEC) constituted by the Supreme Court to probe alleged police excesses during the Cockroach Janta Party-led protests at Jantar Mantar told the top court on Thursday that it has received hardly any complaints from those affected. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi permitted the HPEC to examine all materials, including video clips, submitted by petitioners before the court on behalf of the victims. The committee, headed by former Supreme Court Judge R Subhash Reddy, informed the court that despite activating a portal and providing a dedicated email address for filing complaints online and physically, it had received hardly any responses. The SC had set up the panel to examine whether police used disproportionate force, whether protesters violated conditions, and what led to the escalation. The panel was also asked to suggest measures to prevent such incidents in future. Appearing for the Committee, its counsel said public notices had been issued, but the response was minimal. The bench observed that affected persons may not know about the Committee or may be apprehensive about deposing against police.