KOCHI l wednesday l november 19, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l LATE city EDITION Baba Siddique murder: Gangster Anmol Bishnoi being deported Gangster Anmol Bishnoi, a key accused in the gunning down of NCP leader Baba Siddique, is being deported to India from the US, police said baba siddique mutiple cases lodged across country U.S. tells baba’s son of anmol’s expulsion Bishnoi, also a wanted accused in the case related to a firing on Bollywood star Salman Khan’s residence, is expected to land in Delhi on Wednesday. Mumbai Police had sent two requested for his extradition to the US. There are multiple cases registered against the gangster across the country. The Centre will decide which agency gets his custody first ■ ■ NCP leader and Baba Siddique’s son Zeeshan Siddique told a news agency on Tuesday that he had received an email informing that Anmol Bishnoi had been “removed” from the United States Baba Siddique, a former Maharashtra minister, was shot dead on October 12, 2024, in front of his son Zeeshan’s office in Bandra 2024 in april last year, anmol’s gang fired on salman khan’s residence 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 Dreaded Maoist Hidma killed in encounter in AP and four other Naxalites in Maredumilli forest in Andhra Pradesh’s Alluri Sitarama Raju district. The Dreaded Maoist commander other slain Maoists were identiMadvi Hidma, the masterfied as Deve, Lakmal alias mind behind some of the Chaitu, Malla alias Malladeadliest Naxal attacks inlu, and Kamlu alias Kamcluding the 2010 Tadmetla lesh, officials said. attack, which killed 76 seSpeaking to media percurity personnel, was sons, Andhra Pradesh Inkilled in an encounter near telligence Chief Mahesh the Chhattisgarh-Andhra Chandra Laddha said ASR Madvi Hidma Pradesh border on district police launched a Tuesday . combing operation at Papikonda Security forces gunned down National Park at 6.30 am on TuesHidma (51), his wife Madkam Raje, day which led to the encounter. , EJAZ KAISER & DHARMENDRA R E G A N A @ Raipur / Visakhapatnam The crowded Lower Thirumuttam at Sabarimala temple on Tuesday, the second day of the pilgrimage season | Shaji Vettipuram Unprecedented rush leads to system collapse, chaos Pilgrims stranded in queues for over 10 hours without food or water What led to crisis  Spot bookings exceeded prescribed daily cap of 20,000 Many who had bookings for future dates reached Sannidhanam early Surge in devotees entering via Erumeli and unauthorised forest paths  Ineffective regulation of pilgrim flow at Nilakkal  Absence of central forces Measures planned Spot bookings capped at 20,000 a day. Those arriving after the limit will have to wait until the next day Pilgrim flow to be regulated at Pampa itself; devotees urged to avoid unauthorised forest paths  Unused queue complexes to be fully utilised to ease rush J A I S O N W I L S O N @ Pathanamthitta An unprecedented surge of devotees in the opening days of the Sabarimala season caught the authorities unawares, throwing crowd management arrangements haywire and leaving pilgrims stranded in queues for over 10 hours without food or water on Tuesday Many of them . collapsed from exhaustion. More than two lakh pilgrims reached Sannidhanam in the first 48 hours of the season, far exceeding the daily quota of 90,000 (including 70,000 virtual queue bookings). Till noon on Tuesday alone, 44,401 pilgrims completed darshan. Darshan hours were extended till 2 pm, and barricades near the 18 holy steps were breached leading to a chaotic situation. In previous years, only 40,000 to 50,000 pilgrims visited the hill shrine per day in the initial days of the season, authorities said. The serpentine queues moved at a snail’s pace with devotees taking six to seven hours to reach the nadappanthal from Pampa. Once the nadappanthal became choked, those who had completed darshan struggled to exit. Many pilgrims bypassed barricades and entered from multiple directions on way to Sannidh a n a m . T h e d ive r s i o n o f pilgrims arriving via Erumeli through the staff gate eased congestion but prevented many from accessing the 18 holy steps, an essential ritual. Meanwhile, a pilgrim identified as K Sathi, 59, from Koyilandy in Kozhikode, died of a heart attack on the trekking path at Appachimedu near Pampa while she was on her way to the hill shrine. Travanncore Devaswom Board president Jayakumar said the surge of devotees witnessed as soon as the season began was “unexpected, and surpassed all ● More on P5 estimates”. Car blast: ed arrests Al Falah chairman killed 13 people. The agency also seized `48 lakh in cash during the THE ED on Tuesday arrested Ja- searches. wad Ahmed Siddiqui, chairman Jammu and Kashmir Police reand founder of the Al Falah group, covered a mobile phone of the suias part of an ongoing cide bomber, Dr Umar money laundering probe Nabi, and the extracted linked to the car blast data provided chilling evinear Delhi’s Red Fort. dence that he had preSiddiqui’s arrest folpared a video justifying lows ED raids conducted the suicide attack as ‘marat over 25 locations assotyrdom operation’. ciated with the Al Falah The video’s authenticity group and its Faridabad- Jawad Ahmed Siddiqui could not be independentbased Al Falah University , ly verified by this paper. which is at the centre of the probe The critical evidence was uninto a suspected “white-collar” earthed after the detention and terror module implicated in the subsequent interrogation of ZaNovember 10 Delhi blast that hoor Illahi, brother of Umar. e x p ress ne w s ser v i c e @ New Delhi press Intake COP30 enters 2nd week with nothing but words | P7 India-B’desh women’s cricket series postponed | P11 BJP likely to retain Speaker post, JD(U) home RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR and R amashankar @ New Delhi/Patna Amid hard bargaining among NDA allies over plum portfolios in the new Bihar ministry on Tuesday, the Speaker’s post is expected to stay with the BJP while CM Nitish Ku, mar may retain Home despite the BJP pressing him to part with it. Sources said on the names of two prominent BJP leaders for the position of Speaker have already been considered, one of whom will be finalised at Wednesday’s BJP legislature party meeting in Patna. While earlier it w a s s p e c u l at e d t h at Chirag Paswan’s party might get a deputy CM’s post, it now appears that the BJP would pocket both deputy CM posts, with the party considering appointing new faces for that position. Initially , the JD(U) wanted the Speaker’s post. It however, yielded and then pitched for a deputy CM’s post. Prem Kumar, an eighttime BJP MLA from Gaya Town, is the frontrunner for the post of Speaker. Mang al Pandey, who served as health minister in the outgoing government, is among the probables for deputy CM post. 16 pages, including 4 pages of KOCHI Express Two-minute long video In the two minute long video shot in April, Umar says, “...Suicide bombing ...is a martyrdom operation. There are multiple arguments and contradictions that have been brought against it.” Terror suspect beaten up in jail Ahmedabad: Dr Ahmed Mohyuddin Saiyed, one of the three terror suspects recently arrested in an alleged ISIS plot, was on Tuesday assaulted in Sabarmati Central Jail during an early-morning brawl with three undertrial inmates. Dr Saiyed suffered severe eye and facial injuries. He filed an FIR, prompting a high-level internal probe and fresh scrutiny over the security of high-risk prisoners. After a verbal spat around 7 am, the doctor was beaten to pulp until he collapsed with injuries to his eye, face and other body parts. “The reason for the attack is unclear,” said SP of Sabarmati Central Jail.