chennai l Tuesday l may 20, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l late city EDITION rUSSIA, uKRAINE TO IMMEDIATELY START CEASEFIRE TALKS, SAYS tRUMP US President Donald Trump announced the news through his social media account after a two-hour call with Russian prez Vladimir Putin on Monday Moscow, Kyiv to negotiate ceasefire terms ‘Vatican ready to host negotiations’ On his telephone conversation with Putin, Trump said: “I believe it went very well. Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a ceasefire and, more importantly, an end to the war.” The conditions for the ceasefire, he said, will be negotiated between the two sides, as they know the “details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of” ■ ■ Trump said he has spoken to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen as well as other European leaders about the positive development “Vatican, as represented by the Pope, has stated that it would be very interested in hosting the negotiations,” Trump added | P11 Feb 24, 2022 When Russia invaded Ukraine, starting one of the longest wars 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 SIT to probe min’s ‘shameful’ remarks No N-signalling by Pak during conflict: Misri S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi Foreign secretary briefs parliamentary panel, says US had no role in brokering the ceasefire P r ee t h a N a i r @ New Delhi Maintaining that the recent conflict between India and Pakistan was always in the conventional domain, and there was no nuclear signalling by the neighbouring country For, eign Secretary Vikram Misri told a parliamentary committee on Monday that the United States had no role in the ceasefire between the two countries, sources said. The meeting came in the wake of Operation Sindoor to avenge the slaughter of 26 civilians in Pahalgam. According to sources, the three-and-a-half hour meeting saw several Opposition members questioning Misri on US President Donald Trump’s repeated assertion of his role in brokering a ceasefire between the two nations. Many members pointed out that the US is having a free run with its narrative of mediation and has succeeded in re-hyphenating India with Pakistan. “Misri replied that we have given sufficient response on this,” said a source. Another member pointedly questioned why India “allowed Trump to repeatedly seize the narrative”. Misri reiterated that India has been consistent with its stated position that the decision on ceasefire was taken at a bilateral level. “Misri emphatically told the panel that there was no US mediation in the ceasefire,” said a source. Some MPs asked if Pakistan used Chinese platforms in the TMC pulls out of all-party delegation The row over nomination of MPs to multi-party delegations continued on Monday, with the TMC’s Yusuf Pathan, named by the Centre in one of the delegations, opting out. The party said it was not boycotting the diplomatic exercise but wanted to assert its right to pick its representative. | P7 conflict. Misri said it did not matter as India hammered Pakistani air bases. On reports that India lost fighter jets during the conflict, he said it was the defence ministry’s call and didn’t want to go into such details. “The Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) informed his Pakistani counterpart that India struck nine terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and in Pakistan on May 7. Pakistan responded with an escalation, prompting India to retaliate. It was only after India’s retaliatory strikes, which included targeting key Pakistani air bases and disabling a runway at Nur Khan, that Pakistan requested a DGMO-level call,” he told the meeting. Sources said the panel unanimously condemned the trolling of Misri and praised his professional conduct. The meeting chaired by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor was attended by several parliamentarians. `50L to kin for death due to negligence of govt doc E X P R E S S N E W S S E RVIC E @ Tirunelveli In a case of medical negligence of a government doctor that allegedly led to the death of a woman at his private clinic in 2018, the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has ordered the Tamil Nadu government to pay `50 lakh, including `6 lakh for vicarious liability, as compensation to the victim’s family within four weeks. SHRC member V Kannadasan also directed the state to recover `40 lakh from defendant Dr C Prabhakar, assistant professor of plastic surgery department of Thoothukudi Government Medical College, recommended his dismissal from service, and initiation of criminal action against him. The state must also monitor government doctors engaged in private practice, the SHRC order issued on Monday said. In November 2018, complainant S Karuppasamy a jawan, , had admitted his wife Jaya with 30% burn injuries at Kovilpatti Government Headquarters Hospital (GHQH), where Dr Prabhakar was working. According to the petitioner, the doctor forced Jaya’s family members, with the help of two brokers, to shift her to Jai Hospital, his private facility  P7 . Pre-monsoon paIn Locals being evacuated on a rubber boat from Bengaluru’s Sai Layout area following heavy rain on Monday | Shashidhar Byrappa SC junks telcos’ plea for waiver of dues RA K E S H K U M AR @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Monday rejected telecom companies’ pleas seeking waiver of the interest, penalty, and interest on penalty components of their pending adjusted gross reve n u e ( AG R ) d u e s , collectively amounting to over `80,000 crore. Terming the petitions by Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel, and Tata Teleservices ‘misconceived’, a bench of justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said: “We are really shocked by these petitions which have come before us. Really disturbed. It is not expected of a multinational company. We will dismiss it.” Vodafone Idea, India’s third largest telecom service provider, had moved SC last week seeking a waiver of over `30,000 crore in it owes the government. Later, Bharti Airtel, along with its unit Bharti Hexacom, also filed a petition in the SC requesting a waiver of `34,745 crore in dues. Tata Sivagiri killers were involved in Tiruppur murders too, say cops E X P R E S S N E W S S E RVIC E @ Erode The Tamil Nadu police seem to have achieved a breakthrough in the probe into the spate of murders that rocked western districts as three men arrested on Sunday for the murder of an elderly couple at Sivagiri in Erode on April 28 have also confessed to the killing of three people at a farmhouse in Tiruppur district in 2024, police said. Speaking to reporters on Monday, West Zone Inspector General of Police T Senthilkumar said the gang, which had murdered R Ramasamy (75) and his wife Bhagyalakshmi (65) at Sivagiri to loot 10 sovereigns of gold jewellery has also con, fessed to its involvement in the triple murder at a farmhouse at Semalaigoundanpalayam in Tiruppur. The Erode police on Monday also arrested a jewellery shop owner who allegedly helped the gang melt the stolen gold. “About 82 grams of gold bar, two wooden logs, mobile phone of Ramasamy, the murdered victim, three bikes, and multiple gloves have been seized from the gang,” police said. The accused were identified as P Achiappan (48), N Madeshwaran (53), and R Ramesh (52) of Arachalur in Erode district, and P Gnanasekaran (40), a small-time jeweller of Chennimalaipalayam in Erode. “We suspect that the gang members may have been involved in more than 10 criminal cases. We plan to take them into custody soon. For now, they have been arrested only in the Sivagiri case,” Senthilkumar said. The IG said, “After the couple’s murder, we formed 12 teams to nab the accused. The special teams examined the records of history-sheeters in suburban areas of Erode district such as Arachalur, Kodumudi, and Sivagiri.” P7 moonlighting Young woman did 141 jobs in 7 years! U M A K ANNAN @ Bengaluru HOW many day jobs can one manage simultaneously? Not one, two, or three. In a startling revelation, background verification firm OnGrid said that a candidate was on the payrolls of 10 different companies at the same time, between 2018 and 2021, without a single day’s gap between roles. Not just that. The candidate, a woman in her early 30s, had 141 jobs in seven years. OnGrid said it found out this extreme case of moonlighting using its Employment History Check solution, powered by verified EPFO data. In 2020, while the world grappled with layoffs and employment uncertainty this in, dividual clocked 50 new jobs, switching between start-ups, large enterprises, and MNCs. OnGrid had earlier witnessed cases of candidates clocking jobs in doubledigits. But a moonlighting of this scale was a first. “As remote work, freelancing, and hybrid models become the norm, employment risks are also evolving. Traditional background checks are simply not enough anymore,” said Piyush Peshwani, co-founder & CEO, OnGrid. “This case is a wakeup call,” he added. A d i t ya N a r aya n Mishra, MD & CEO of CIEL HR said people moonlight not just for extra income. It can be for pursuing a passion project, acquiring new skills, or giving back to the community through teaching, he said. Double lives Moonlighting means employees doing a second job or a side gig alongside their main job. During the pandemic, this practice had ignited debates with IT firms warning staff against living “double lives” Teleservices sought relief on `16,798 crore it owes the government. During the hearing, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Vodafone Idea, sought an adjournment of the case to July saying the parties , were trying to approach the government for relief. However, the bench rejected it and proceeded to dismiss the case. Earlier, Vodafone Idea had claimed it was not in a position to pay AGR instalments, adding that it may be forced to shut down operations. The Supreme Court on Monday castigated Madhya Pradesh minister Kunwar Vijay Shah for his scurrilous “sister of terrorists” remarks against Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and ordered setting up a three-member special investigation team (SIT) to probe the FIR against him in the matter. “The entire nation was in shame due to the comments... We saw your videos, you were on the verge of using very filthy language but somehow better sense prevailed or you did not find suitable words. You should be shameful. Entire country is proud of our Army and you made this statement,” said a two-judge bench of justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh. The court brushed aside his apology and wondered if “they were crocodile tears or an at- SC agrees to hear Ashoka varsity prof’s plea against arrest tempt to wriggle out of the legal proceedings”. “The kind of crass comments you made, completely thoughtlessly We don’t need this apol... ogy the court said. ,” It asked the Director General of Police in Madhya Pradesh to constitute the SIT by Tuesday . “We are constituting a SIT with three IPS officers and one should be the rank of IG or DGP rank. All of them should be [from] outside the state. It is a litmus test and we want the state to submit the SIT report to us. We would like to have a very close watch,” the court said. The bench, however, stayed Shah’s arrest. Criticising the Madhya Pradesh government for its inaction in the matter, the court asked, “What have you done after registering the FIR? Has he [SHO] examined what kind of offence is made out? What is the status?” Top court on Monday agreed to consider Ashoka University faculty Ali Khan Mahmudabad’s plea against his arrest for social media post on Op Sindoor | P9