HYDERABAD l tuesday l september 29, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late cITY EDITION Sensex tanks 1,124 pts to 6-month low amid surging crude, FII exit Sensex plunged 1,124 points to a six-month low on Monday amid a broader sell-off triggered by Iran war uncertainties and weak global cues oil spikes after U.S. rejects Iran truce Analysts said surging crude oil prices following the US-Iran stalemate over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and foreign fund outflows hit investor sentiment, triggering the selloff. Brent crude jumped 3.81% to $108.3 per barrel. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth `3,693.93 crore on Friday amid a sharp rise in US bond yields ■ 29 `17.17 lakh cr investor wealth wiped out ■ With Monday’s slump, Sensex and Nifty have fallen by over 5% over the past month, wiping out `17.17 lakh crore of investor wealth Wall Street stocks fell in early trading on Monday. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index and Shanghai’s SSE Composite index ended lower while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index settled higher of 30 sensex stocks in red, with Infosys being the sole gainer in the pack 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 What’s happening 87,85,739 58,97,432 Bench led by Justice Pardiwala takes suo motu cognisance, seeks status report in 4 weeks by coast guard The force rescued a foreign tanker after it developed engine failure and rapid ballast tank flooding off Odisha | P7 An emotional Vithya Ramraj with her bronze medal on Monday | PTI Vithya breaks nat’l record in athletics, God by her side Indraneel Das Express @ asian games Nagoya HER initial target to break the women’s 400m hurdles national record — the country’s longest-standing and one of its most famous athletics records — was set at the India Athletics Final Series in Delhi on September 10. Vithya Ramraj stumbled on a hurdle and missed out. If she had succeeded in Delhi, the natural progression would have been a sub-53s here. But God had other plans as Vithya broke PT Usha’s record set in 1984 LA Games at the Asian Games here on Monday . The conditions were not ideal. Rain was battering the sprawling Paloma Mizohu Sports Park arena. Vithya, a firm believer, had only one wish: for the rain to stay away. When she was warming up, it had already started raining. However, God did answer her prayers when she needed it the most. The interlude was enough for her to complete the race; the initial burst off the blocks was slow, but she picked up her rhythm in the next six hurdles. With the crowd breaking into a cauldron of noise, the runners picked up the pace. The giant display board displayed her timing: 54.75s. The smile never left when she walked into the mixed zone. “I prayed to God,” she kept repeating. It took the athlete from Coimbatore three years to break the record after equalling Usha’s record at the Hangzhou Asian Games. In the end, a bronze medal was a fine reward. Vithya’s personal coach Nehpal Singh had told her that she would break the 55-second barrier. “When my coach said you are around 55s, I never believed him,” she said. “But today (Monday), I believed him. My coach is with me, my God is with me.” have made any meaningful progress in the decade since then,” Justice Pardiwala said. “The safety concerns emerging from this incident, however, cannot be viewed in isolation. This incident has also brought to light pre-existing complaints of recurrent sexual harassment faced by students of Lady Shri Ram College, situated in the vicinity of Aastha Kunj Park. Regrettably, these prior grievances failed to serve as a wake-up call for the police or the local administration,” the court said. On September 21 evening, three men — Asif, Hemant and his brother Manish — posed as police personnel and allegedly took turns to rape the 17-yearold girl inside the Aastha Kunj Park near Kalkaji Mandir. It was also submitted before the court that at least 13 cases of sexual assault have been reported in the national capital this month. In another case last month, a Noel proposes major Tata Sons rejig to stay private B e n n K o c h u v e e d a n @ Mumbai Tata Trusts on Monday proposed restructuring Tata Sons by merging two privately held arms — Tata Electronics Systems Solutions and Tata Consulting Engineers — with the group holding company to take , it outside the RBI’s definitions of an NBFC and a Core Investment Company (CIC). Noel Tata, chairman of Tata Trusts, which owns 66.6% of Tata Sons, has opposed the listing, while the Tata Sons board recently decided to comply with the RBI’s September 11 directive to go public. The restructuring is meant to turn Tata Sons into an operating firm alongside its role as the group’s holding company while staying private. However, it requires approval from the Tata Sons board and a prior no-objection certificate from the RBI. The Trusts said it has asked the Tata Sons board to consider and approve the plan and apply to the RBI for the necessary noobjection certificate. “Tata Trusts, along with Tata Sons, will engage with the RBI on all aspects of the proposed reorganisation,” it said in a statement. Unlike a breakup or demerger of Tata Sons, the proposed restructuring would enlarge the holding company by absorbing two operating, non-financial businesses. This would give it substantial operating revenue in addition to income from its investments in Tata group companies. The resultant entity would have aggregate net assets of `2,00,158 crore, of which `1,77,120 crore, or about 88.5%, would comprise investments in group companies. This would keep the proportion below the 90% threshold applicable to CICs, according to the statement put out by the Trusts. N Chandrasekaran Noel Tata Dates to remember 5,02,441 Hearings held The bench sought a report on the manner in which the National Database on Sexual Offenders is being utilised by Delhi Police. “Whether the database is being regularly accessed for identification of repeat sexual offenders?” the court asked. Notices generated tanker disaster averted WORRIED over recent reports of sexual violence cases in the Delhi-NCR region, the Supreme Court on Monday took suo motu cognizance of the alleged gangrape of a 17-year-old in a park near Lady Shri Ram College, and observed that “painful parallels with the 2012 Nirbhaya case were unavoidable.” A bench of justices J B Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran expressed concern over rising crimes against minor girls and women in the capital and directed the court registry to register a suo motu public interest litigation in the matter. “One cannot help but draw painful parallels with the 2012 Nirbhaya case, raising the question of whether systemic law-enforcement mechanisms 16-year-old girl, who boarded a sleeper bus in Greater Noida, was allegedly gangraped by its conductor and driver and abandoned near Kashmere Gate, more than 40 km away in Old Delhi, on August 4. The two accused have been arrested. In the third case, a 17-year-old girl was gangraped and killed in Swaroop Nagar area. The bench said the right to live a fear-free life with dignity is an integral part of the fundamental right under Article 21. The court ordered certain immediate interim measures shall be undertaken within four weeks. It asked the police commissioner to form teams for each police district, headed by an officer not below the rank of DSP to conduct a survey of , parks, roads, public transport facilities, markets and educational institutions. Notices delivered @ New Delhi 45,54,236 Notices generated Repeat offenders s u c h i t r a k a lya n m o h a n t y SIR? Electors cleared Teen gangrape in Delhi park has Nirbhaya parallel, says SC bench 92,88,180 Cleared among hearings n  7, 2026 Oct n  5, 2026 Nov n  9, 2026 Nov Claims & objections close Notice phase/ disposal concludes Final electoral roll to be published 45.54 lakh electors cleared for final roll after SIR hearings E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Hyderabad Avoiding listing Tata Sons classified as an Upper Layer NBFC, triggering RBI listing requirement Restructuring plan by merging Tata Electronics Systems Solutions and Tata Consulting Engineers with Tata Sons Merger will give Tata Sons better operating revenue, reducing its reliance on financial investments Merged entity will have `1.05 lakh crore in operating revenue, against `40,072 crore from financial assets Group investments will account for less than 90% of net assets, taking it outside the CIC definition Restructuring will require RBI’s NOC under its 2025 voluntary amalgamation directions The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Telangana has entered the disposal stage, with 45,54,236 electors cleared for inclusion in the final electoral roll after hearings on cases flagged for logical discrepancies and non-mapping of records. According to the latest status released by the Chief Electoral Officer, Telangana, on Monday 92,88,180 notices have been gen, erated against a target of 92,88,181. Of these, 87,85,739 notices have been delivered, while 5,02,441 are yet to be delivered. The notices delivered account for 94.6% of those generated, with 5.4% still pending. The authorities have so far conducted 58,97,432 hearings before Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs). Of the cases processed through these hearings, 45,54,236 electors — 77.20% — have been found eligible and cleared for inclusion in the final roll. The pending delivery of 5,02,441 notices remains one of the tasks to be completed before the notice and disposal phase concludes. Under the revised SIR schedule, the last date for filing claims and objections is October 7, 2026. The notice phase and disposal of claims and objections will continue until November 5, with final publication of the electoral rolls scheduled for November 9. Election officials have asked electors who have received notices to respond, submit the required documents and appear before the EROs or AEROs for the inquiry Officials have . cautioned that failure to complete the required process could result in the elector’s name not being included in the final electoral roll. Collegium proposes TG CEC in crosshairs of CWC meet today HC Chief Justice for SC Pa r v e z S u lta n @ New Delhi TG N a i d u @ Hyderabad The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the elevation of Telangana High Court Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh as a judge of the apex court. The Collegium, which met on Monday also recommended the , elevation of Gujarat High Court Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya. Justice Singh, 61, was born on July 7, 1965, and studied BA Honours and LL.B. at the University of Delhi. He enrolled as an advocate in 1990 and practised at the Patna High Court from 1990 to 2000 and at the Jharkhand High Court from 2001. He was appointed an Additional Judge of the Jharkhand High Court on January 24, 2012, and became a Permanent Judge on January 16, 2014. He also served as executive chairman of the Jharkhand State Legal Services Authority and as Acting Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court from December 2022 to February 2023. Justice Singh became Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court in April 2023 and assumed office as Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court on July 19, 2025. The recommendation will now be processed under the established procedure for appointment of Supreme Court judges. E x p r e ss R e a d Khairatabad seat vacant, says Assembly Secretariat Hyderabad: The Telangana Assembly Secretariat on Monday issued a Gazette notification disqualifying Danam Nagender as MLA from the Khairatabad Assembly constituency and declaring the seat vacant. The notification stated that the Khairatabad Assembly seat stood vacant with effect from April 23, 2024. Meanwhile, Nagender expressed confidence that he would win the seat again in the bypoll | P4 THE Congress Working Committee will meet on Tuesday to chart the party’s action plan to further pressure the Centre on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s exit. The Opposition has demanded Kumar’s removal since media reports revealed differences in the EC over the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday told reporters he had called for the CWC to meet and discuss the issue. The INDIA bloc is likely to meet on this on Wednesday . “This issue concerns the entire country, the existence of our democracy and the survival of our country The EC’s own ... people have exposed them,” he said. Referring to a former Keralam official’s claim, Kharge Two held in Agra protest Congress leaders Mukesh Dhangar and Anil Yadav were arrested for spray-painting the wall of CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s home in Agra with “Gyanesh Gaddar, Gyanesh Chor” on Monday, police said said Kumar had become a BJP worker. Preparations for polls in five states are also on the CWC agenda. Meanwhile, the Congress staged protests in several cities. G e n e r a l s e c r e t a r y KC Venugopal on X said workers protested in over 1,000 districts and called on the Centre to sack Kumar. R o o t o f t h e m a tt e r Chargesheet ready after 4-yr PG seat-block probe U M a h e s h @ Warangal Four years after a case was registered over alleged illegal blocking of postgraduate medical seats, the Matwada police are preparing to file a chargesheet against those responsible for the manipulation of the counselling process. The police have so far found that 35 PG medical seats were allegedly blocked in the names of candidates who did not seek admission to the seats, according to Matwada Inspector N Karunakar. Notices have been served on 10 persons associated with private medical colleges and the police are awaiting their replies before completing the chargesheet. “The case was pending when I took charge at the station. After examining the details, we served notices on 10 persons associated with the private medical colleges. We are now completing the investigation and will file the chargesheet soon,” Karunakar said. He said that the investigation found that the managements of private medical colleges were responsible for blocking the seats. “We found that 35 PG seats were illegally blocked. We will conclude the investigation after receiving the replies from the managements,” Karunakar said. The case dates back to April 21, 2022, when the Kaloji Naray- ana Rao University of Health Sciences (KNRUHS) received complaints from students whose names had appeared against PG medical seats in Telangana. Several of the candidates told the university that they had neither applied for the seats nor intended to join the colleges. Some had secured good ranks in the NEET-PG examination and were eligible for admission in their own states. The university subsequently approached the police, suspecting that the candidates’ details had been used to block seats during the counselling process. The Matwada police registered a case and began examining the role of private medical colleges and intermediaries. The investigation named Malla Reddy Institute of Medical Sciences, MNR Medical College, Chalmeda Ananda Rao Institute of Medical Sciences and Maheshwara Medical College in connection with the alleged blocking of PG seats. The alleged practice was not simply about keeping a seat vacant. Subsequent investigations suggested that coveted PG seats could be held until the later stages of counselling and then released as stray vacancies, when competition for them was limited and the financial value was considerably higher.  CONTINUED ON P5