chennai l saturday l april 26, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l late city EDITION Russian general killed in car bomb as U.s. envoy meets Putin A Russian general was killed by a car bomb on Friday in the second such attack in four months; Russia pointed fingers at Ukraine for the hit signs of direct talks between kyiv, moscow local residents recount horror Friday’s bombing came just as US President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to discuss a US-brokered peace plan for the protracted Ukraine conflict. The meeting is their fourth encounter since February. Witkoff and Putin discussed the possibility of renewing direct negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv ■ ■ Footage from the Russian Investigative Committee showed the charred remains of a white car with its front section torn away Local residents in Balashikha, just outside Moscow, said they heard a loud blast at around 10:45 am (0745 GMT). “The explosion was very strong, it gave me heart pain,” Lyudmila, who lives nearby, said | P11 Dec 17 was when a similar bomb killed Lt General Igor Kirillov 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 Shah holds high-level meet to discuss ways to stop water flow into Pak, asks CMs to trace and send back Pakistanis in their states ‘Will not let a drop of water flow into Pak’ MUKESH R AN J AN @ New Delhi Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday held a high-level meeting with Union Jal Shakti Minister C R Paatil to chalk out the strategy to stop the flow of water from Indian rivers into Pakistani territory . Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Paatil said that the Centre has formulated a comprehensive plan to prevent the flow of water from Indian rivers into Pakistan. “A roadmap was prepared in the meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Three options were discussed in the meeting. The government is working on short-term, mediumterm, and long-term measures so that not even a drop of water goes to Pakistan. Soon, desilting of rivers will be done to stop the water and divert it,” Paatil said. It was also decided to inform the World Bank, the mediator of the Indus Water Treaty, of the suspension of the pact. Officials said the government also decided to raise the storage and operational capacity of dams on the rivers covered under the treaty, which governs water sharing of six rivers in the Indus basin between the two countries. On Thursday, India had formally communicated to Pakistan about its intent to suspend the Indus Water Treaty . Earlier in the day Shah called , up the chief ministers of all states and asked them to identify all Pakistani nationals in their respective jurisdictions and take immediate steps to ensure their prompt return to their country, sources said. Later, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan held a video conference with the chief secretaries of all states and directed them to ensure that all Pakistani nationals whose visas were revoked must leave India by the fixed deadline. The Cabinet Committee on Security, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had on Wednesday decided to cancel all visas granted to Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were shot dead. E x pr e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Nilgiris/Chennai T’gana CM seeks revenge Pledging complete support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi following the Pahalgam terror attack, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy urged him to “launch an attack on Pakistan” and integrate Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) into the Indian Union. “it is the time for a strong reply,” he said Flights cancelled IndiGo has cancelled flights to Almaty and Tashkent due to the closure of Pakistan’s airspace. About 50 international routes operated by IndiGo may be subject to schedule adjustments, the airline said The house of Adil Thokar, linked to the attack, being demolished in Bijbhera, in Anantnag | PTI Houses of 2 Lashkar militants linked to terror plot razed f aya z w a n i @ Srinagar SENDING a loud and clear message that acts of terror will not be tolerated, the houses of two Lashkar-e-Toiba militants, whose names figured during investigation into the Pahalgam terror attack, were demolished by security forces in Tral and Bij b e h a r a a re a o f s o u t h Kashmir. This is the first such instance in J&K in over three decades long militancy . The two militants were identified as Asif Sheikh Visionary behind India’s space achievements Mylswamy Annadurai K rishnaswamy Kasturirang an, for mer chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), is no more. Starting as an Xray astronomer while growing up in positions, his scholastic SC raps Rahul for remarks on Savarkar S u c h i t r a k a lya n m o h a n t y @ New Delhi IN a relief to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the Supreme Court on Friday stayed an order of the Allahabad High Court refusing to quash summons against him in a defamation case for his remarks against V D Savarkar. The SC, however, censured Gandhi for his “irresponsible” remarks a g a i n s t Savarkar. “Issue notice. Stay on impugned order (of the Allahabad High Court),” the two-judge bench headed by Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Manmohan said while cautioning Gandhi to not repeat such “irresponsible” statements. “Let us not mock our freedom fighters,” the bench said. During his Bharat Jodo Yatra at a rally in Maharashtra’s Akola district on November 17, 2022, Gandhi had allegedly said: “V D Savarkar was a British servant who received a pension.” Aggrieved by this comment, advocate Nripendra Pandey filed a complaint against Gandhi in Lucknow. express read Two DA cases against minister, kin revived Chennai: The HC ordered revival of two disproportionate assets cases against Minister M R K Panneerselvam, his wife Senthamizhselvi and son P Kathiravan on Friday | P2 services and accomplishments in the fields of science, technology and education have left an , indelible mark. India started national space programme in a humble way in the late 1960s, when the US and the erstwhile USSR made their presence felt with the lunar missions. It was during Kasturiran- V-Cs forced to skip meet: Ravi; minister refutes gan’s tenure, stretching nine long years as chairman of ISRO (1994-2003) that the Indian space programme smoothly graduated from the experimental phase to the operational phase in the areas of earth observation satellites, communication satellites, and launch services. Continued on P7 24 Oct 194025 Apr 2025 K Kasturirangan from Monaghama area of Tral in Pulwama and Adil Hussain Thokar from Bijbehara area of Anantnag. Sources said the houses were blown up by security forces after planting IEDs. Their family members were evicted from the houses before they were demolished. Sources said both Asif and Adil’s name had cropped up during investigation in Tuesd ay ’s t e r r o r a t t a c k a t Baisaran, Pahalgam in which 25 tourists and a local resident were killed. While Adil was one of the three attackers involved in the attack, Sheikh is suspected to be involved in the conspiracy. Police released sketches of three attackers, including Adil, and announced a bounty of `20 lakh each. “It is a loud and clear message to militants and their sympathisers that such attacks will not be tolerated. This will act as a deterrent to prevent such attacks in future,” a security official said. He said there are clear cut orders to crush all those involved in the terror attack. Governor R N Ravi on Friday alleged that Chief Minister M K Stalin used police to deter Vice-Chancellors of state universities from participating in the pre-scheduled conference convened by him at the Ooty Raj Bhavan and claimed that the action was reminiscent of the Emergency days. When telephonic threats from Higher Education Minister (Govi Chezhiaan) to the V-Cs not to take part in the conference did not work, the CM used police, Ravi alleged, evoking a sharp rebuke from Chezhiaan. The minister said the governor intentionally “played politics” despite the Supreme Court ruling in favour of the state government on the 10 bills re-adopted by the Tamil Nadu Assembly. Tamil Nadu Governor “Aware of the Supreme R N Ravi| express Court verdict, the V-Cs boycotted the conference. How is the state government responsible for this,” asked Chezhiaan. Speaking at the conference, Ravi said, “Unfortunately state universities are not partici, pating in this conference. Because they have informed me, even in writing, that they have been warned by the state government not to participate. As of now, one of our V-Cs is in a police station. Others who reached Udhagamandalam received midnight knocks on their hotel rooms by the secret police’s special branch.”  P7