THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l wednesday l September 11, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l LATE city EDITION All-civilian crew blast off into space for 1st private spacewalk SpaceX on Tuesday launched its Polaris Dawn mission, carrying a 4-member civilian crew, for the first spacewalk by non-professional astronauts U.S. billionaire bankrolling the mission High-risk spacewalk to last 20 minutes The mission, whose total cost is not known, is jointly funded by US billionaire Jared Isaacman and SpaceX. Isaacman, the CEO of US firm Shift4 Payments, is accompanied by SpaceX engineers Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis, and retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Scott ‘Kidd’ Poteet. The spacewalk is scheduled for late Wednesday or Thursday, midway through the flight ■ ■ ■ The spacewalk will bet at 700 km altitude, lasting about 20 minutes The entire cabin will be depressurised and the four astronauts will rely on SpaceX-built spacesuits for oxygen. Isaacman and Gillis will exit the spacecraft while Poteet and Menon will stay in the cabin to monitor it It is very risky mission as the quartet can be exposed to cosmic radiation 2 years The quartet underwent rigourous training for 24 months for the mission 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 Finally, CM Pinarayi breaks silence, rejects allegations of links with RSS E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ T’Puram Over 50 students hurt, Net banned in Imphal valley Protests in Manipur for second successive day in the wake of the fresh spurt of violence P r a s an ta Ma z u m d a r @ Guwahati Students clash with security personnel during their protest over the recent violence, in Imphal on Tuesday | PTI Two more battalions of CRPF in Manipur The Centre is deploying two fresh CRPF battalions comprising about 2,000 personnel in Manipur. While one is being moved from Warangal, the other will come from Latehar in Jharkhand. One battalion will be based in Kangvai (Churachandpur) while the second will be around Imphal Joint team to probe drone bombing A joint team of officers drawn from the CRPF, the BSF and some independent technical experts will reach Manipur later this week for an analytical study of the drones and improvised rockets that have been used to launch attacks in some regions of the state over the last few days EXPRESS READ WB junior doctors defy Supreme Court fiat Kolkata: Protesting junior doctors in West Bengal on Tuesday defied the Supreme Court’s directive to resume work by 5pm, saying they will continue with their ‘ceasework’ protest till their demands are fulfilled and the rape-murder victim of the RG Kar Hospital gets justice. P8 IAF Wing Commander booked for rape in J&K Srinagar: The J&K police have registered an FIR against a Wing Commander at the Air Force station in Srinagar after a woman flying officer accused him of rape and mental harassment. P8 16 pages, including 4 pages of THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Express Over 50 protesting students were injured in Manipur on Tuesday when the police used force to thwart their attempt to march to Raj Bhavan even as the state government imposed a five-day ban on internet services in five Imphal valley districts. The government also ordered the closure of all colleges till Thursday. Curfew was reimposed in Imphal East and Imphal West districts while prohibitory orders under Section 163 BNSS were clamped in Thoubal district. One of the injured students, a girl, sustained grievous injuries, a senior government official said, adding she was admitted in the ICU of Regional Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal. For the second straight day on Tuesday, the students attempted to march to Raj Bhavan but they were stopped by security personnel. This led to scuffles and the personnel dispersed the protesters by firing tear gas shells. The students of Manipur University also took out another protest march. The protests on Monday had turned violent when the students pelted stones outside Raj Bhavan. The students are on the streets demanding the removal of state’s security advisor and director general of police for failing to protect the l ive s a n d p r o p e r t i e s o f citizens. In an order, the home department said internet services had been suspended “to thwart the design and activities of antinational and anti-social elements, maintain peace and communal harmony and prevent any loss of life or danger to public/private property .” Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya, who held a meeting with the representatives of students and women groups at around 6 pm on Tuesday called , for peace. “The Governor has said that violence is not the solution to any problem. Everyone will have to contribute and find ways to overcome this problem,” a statement issued by Raj Bhavan said. war of words On the eve of an LDF meeting, in which the CPI is set to raise the controversy surrounding ADGP M R Ajith Kumar, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan finally broke his silence on the allegations of RSS links. In his first public response since the controversy over the ADGP-RSS meeting erupted almost a week ago, Pinarayi contemptuously rejected Opposition’s charges of the CPM-RSS understanding. Speaking at the Kovalam area committee office inauguration on Tuesday, Pinarayi unleashed a scathing attack on the Congress, listing out instances of Congress leaders’ leaning towards the Sangh parivar. “A section has been indulging in a major campaign that the CPM has RSS links. At no stage has the CPM indulged in any sort of RSS appeasement. The CPM has lost many lives in RSS attacks. It was the CPM which always resisted the Sangh Parivar and opposed communalism. Never was there any kind of compromise with the RSS. Everyone knows who said he has stood guard for RSS shakhas,” said Pinarayi, in an apparent reference to KPCC president K Sudhakaran. Noticeably, in spite A section has been indulging in a major campaign that the CPM has RSS links. At no stage has the CPM indulged in any sort of RSS appeasement press Intake Stray dog menace: State fails to ramp up vaccination drive | P4 Cybersecurity vital for progress: Shah | P7 Israeli air strike kills 19 in Gaza | P9 HC pulls up state govt, asks why it sat on Hema report for 4 years E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Kochi Coming down heavily on the state government for not taking legal action based on the Justice K Hema Committee report, the Kerala High Court directed the state to hand over the entire report of the panel to the special investigation team (SIT) constituted to probe the complaints of sexual harassment in the Malayalam film Industry . “Why was the state government inactive till now, even though it received the report in 2019,” asked the court. Terming the conduct of the state executive as alarmingly lethargic, the court said that the government had done nothing for more than four years except sit on the report. “Prima facie, offences under the IPC and Pocso Act are made out. Why no action was taken?” the court asked. A special bench comprising Jus- tice A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice C S Sudha also directed the government to hand over the entire Hema Committee report, together with all its annexures — documentary and otherwise —to the SIT. The investigation team should go through the report in its entirety to see whether any offence, cognizable or otherwise, has been made out at the instance of any person and proceed to take suitable action in accordance with law, by treating the contents of the report as “information” to set the law in motion, the bench stated. It said the SIT should forward a report, on its action, to the government within two weeks. On receipt of the report, the government should file a counter affidavit with a copy of the action taken report. “Then we will open the sealed cover and see if the SIT’s action or inaction is justified,” said the bench.  ● More on P5 Body of missing elderly woman found buried ing in the rented house in Kalavoor. The search has been expanded to The body of a 73-year-old woman, Karnataka as the duo’s last mobile who was reported missing tower location was detected in from Kochi last month, was Mangaluru. found buried on the premises Police believe that the duo of a rented house in Alapbefriended Subadhra, who puzha on Tuesday . lived alone in her house near The police suspect the deKadavanthra, eyeing her cash ceased, Subhadra, a resident and gold. The suspected crime of Kochi who went missing on happened before August 9 as Subhadra August 4, was murdered. They a CCTV visual showed the are on the lookout for the coucouple leaving the rented ple —Mathews alias Nithin of Kat- house near the Korthussery temple toor in Alappuzha and Sharmila, a in Kalavoor in the early hours of that native of Udupi — who had been liv- day “Subhadra used to carry gold or. E XPR E SS N E WS S E RVIC E @Alappuzha/Kochi naments while travelling. So, we suspect that the duo befriended her for cash and gold. The exact motive behind the crime can be ascertained only after the couple’s arrest,” said Alappuzha DySP M R Madhu Babu. He said the woman was a frequent visitor to pilgrim centres and temples in different parts of the state, and mostly travelled alone. Subhadra’s son Radhakrishnan told TNIE that he last saw his mother on August 3 when he visited her at her home on Karithala Road near Kadavanthra. “She did not complain about anything and ● More on P4 looked happy he said. ,” Pinarayi Vijayan, CM Pinarayi Vijayan has surrendered before the RSS and has been its slave for long. Now, he’s on a rampage against others after his RSS links got exposed K Sudhakaran, state Cong prez of his almost hour-long outburst, Pinarayi maintained total silence on the allegations raised by Left MLA P V Anvar against the ADGP . Minutes after Pinarayi cornered him, Sudhakaran shot back saying Pinarayi has been living on the BJP’s mercy. If not, he would have gone to jail long ago, said Sudhakaran while talking to the media in Kollam. “Pinarayi Vijayan has surrendered before the RSS and has been its slave for long. Now, he’s on a rampage against others after his RSS links got exposed,” said Sudhakaran, who challenged the CM to reveal the agenda of the ADGPRSS meeting. Earlier in the day, CPI indicated that it would raise the issue over the ADGP meeting RSS leaders at the LDF meet on Wednesday “What’s the rea. son for an ADGP in Kerala to engage in back-to-back meetings with RSS leaders? He should reveal the purpose of his visits,” said CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam. He also rejected Speaker A N Shamseer’s remarks justifying the meeting between the ADGP and RSS leaders. The chief minister broke his silence on the RSS row amid mounting pressure from the CPI to come up with concrete steps on the issue.  ● More on P4 Malappuram dist police chief, 8 DySPs transferred T’Puram: In a major development following the allegations raised by MLA P V Anvar against ADGP M R Ajith Kumar and a host of other police officers, the state government has transferred Malappuram district police chief S Sasidharan and all eight DySPs in the district. Sasidharan has been transferred as SP, Vigilance Ernakulam Range. R Viswanadh is the new Malappuram district police chief. P4 Yechury in critical condition at aiims CPM leader Sitaram Yechury’s condition is critical and he is on respiratory support at AIIMS Delhi, his party said. He has acute respiratory tract infection