Identity toolkit Computer-generated photos of selfstyled preacher Amritpal Singh, who is on the run since Saturday. The combo images were released by the Punjab Police on Tuesday seeking help from the public for his arrest. To escape the pursuing police, he changed cars midway and later hopped on to a bike after changing his garb to escape. The police on Tuesday also released CCTV camera pictures of his getaway car at a toll booth on Saturday | ANI TIRUCHY l wednesday l march 22, 2023 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION 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 CCS stamp on Rafale-M deal today? Navy prefers it over F-18 Super Hornet for deployment over its aircraft carrier INS Vikrant S HAHI D F ARI D I @ N e w D e l h i The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to clear the multi-billion dollar acquisition of 26 Rafale Marine fighters at its meeting on Wednesday . Sources said that the Indian Navy has expressed its preference for the French fighter aircraft Rafale Marine over US’ F-18 Super Hornet. A proposal for the purchase of Rafale Marine has been sent to the CCS. The Indian Air Force has already acquired 36 Rafale fighters. The commonality of fleet and the resultant savings on training, repairs and maintenance have reportedly tilted the scale in favour of Dassault’s Rafale Marine. The two ver- sions of the aircraft have over 80% common features. These aircraft will be deployed on India’s indigenously developed aircraft carrier INS Vikrant. According to sources, the Ministry of Defence has worked out a comprehensive contract, including the Performancebased Logistics, which will ensure that the Original Equipment Manufacturer will be responsible for the overall maintenance of the aircraft and the supply of spares. Dassault will also build a maintenance facility for the Rafales on INS Vikrant, besides one in Goa. The company will train the naval aviation ground crew, besides training the pilots. The fighters will be fully loaded with all maritime sys- K Kavitha shows her old phones to be submitted to the ED, outside the agency’s headquarters in New Delhi on Tuesday | Shekhar Yadav Kavitha joins issue with ED, submits her phones A M IT M U K HER J EE @ New Delhi THE Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday questioned BRS leader K Kavitha for over nine hours in connection with the Delhi excise policy scam. Kavitha, daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, left the agency’s headquarters in Delhi around 9.40 pm after appearing for the third round of questioning. According to sources, the questioning revolved around her alleged involvement in the scam, her association with other accused, and her link to the liquor cartel known as the South Group, which is said to have benefited from the Delhi excise policy . Earlier in the day the Telangana politician arrived , at the ED headquarters around 11.30 am and handed over her phones to the agency She also submitted a . letter addressed to the investigating officer, stating that allegation in the prosecution complaint filed in November 2022 that she destroyed some of her phones used in the past, was an act of malice. “It is baffling to note as to how, why and under what such circumstances agency made such allegations when I was not even summoned or asked any questions whatsoever,” she said in the letter. Although she reportedly submitted around 10 phones to the agency the exact number was not men, tioned in the letter. express read Love marriage: Man murdered by in-laws Krishnagiri: A 25-year-old man was hacked to death near the KRP Dam Junction road on Tuesday allegedly in a so-called honour killing. Police said C Jagan married S Saranya (20), of the same community, on January 26. On Tuesday, Jagan received a call from Saranya’s family and came to the KRP Dam Junction road on DharmapuriKrishnagiri National Highway. There Saranya’s father and two others allegedly hacked him to death | P5 SC bid to explore better option on death penalty S h r u t i K a kk a r @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to submit data to help explore a more dignified, less painful and socially acceptable way of death other than hanging while executing capital punishment. A bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha said a relook would be possible only after considering better data. It asked the Centre to compile data specifying the impact of death by hanging in terms of pain, whether science and technology has suggested any other method of execution consistent with human dignity and whether they are available in India or abroad. The CJI said although the court cannot tell the legislature to adopt a particular method for executing death sentences, it could constitute a small committee to take a relook. “We cannot tell the legislature that you adopt this method. But you can certainly argue that something may be more humane. We can look into any scientific study which shows a method is far less painful and more humane. Burden is on the Union to constantly make a survey and study the CJI said. ,” He added that the committee could consist of experts from national law universities, professors of law, doctors and scientific persons. file Photo tems, including the maritime search radar that is capable of detecting submarines and warships in the sea. The price of the aircraft has not been revealed yet, but sources said it will be considerably lower than the IAF version. The government has decided to make the acquisition through an inter-governmental agreement rather than going in for an open tender. Rafale-M has been locked in a tight fight with Boeing’s Su- per Hornet. Sources said the Indian Navy brass was mighty impressed by the Rafale’s capabilities during a joint exercise in India recently and asked the ministry of defence to close the deal with the French vendor. The Indian Navy has been exploring options to replace its aging MiG-29K as a short-term solution. India has been working on developing its own twinengine deck-based fighters as a long-term solution to its need for carrier-based fighters. But since there are still some years before the aircraft is indigenously developed, the Navy has decided to go in for the acquisition to meet its requirement. The CCS includes the ministers for defence, home, finance, external affairs and the national security advisor. Agriculture budget: TN bets big on organic farming, millets, exports T M u r u ga n a nd h a m @ Chennai PROMOTING organic farming and increasing millet production, increasing the net area sown and mechanising farming operations while giving a thrust to exports are among the focus areas of the agriculture budget for 2023-24 presented by Agriculture Minister MRK Panneerselvam on Tuesday The budget . also aims to promote the state’s farm produce by securing GI tag, and increase the income of f ar mers through agroforestry . He said the government would disburse `14,000 crore as cooperative crop loans to farmers in 2023-24. Though farmers welcomed many of the announcements, all far mers’ associations were aggrieved there was no mention about hiking of paddy and sugarcane procurement price as promised by DMK in its poll manifesto. The Tamil Nadu Millet Mission for five years, measures to promote organic farming, setting up of agro-based industries in the Cauvery Delta Zone at a cost of `1,000 crore and allocation of `6,536 crore to provide free power supply to 23 lakh electricity connections of farmers are among the key announcements in the budget. Further, the minister announced a special incentive of `195 per metric tonne of sugarcane over the fair and remunerative price of `2,821 per tonne and an incentive of `100 and `75 per quintal for fine and common varieties of paddy. He added that `6,600 crore has been allocated for the rural employment guarantee scheme and `368 crore for the All Grama Anna Marumalarchi Thittam. An assistance of `1 lakh each will also be provided to 40 Self-Help Groups to form millet clusters. To encourage integrated farming systems, a subsidy of `50,000 would be extended to 10,000 integrated farming system units with an allocation of `50 crore.  P4, P5