kollam l Sunday l january 05, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l city edition Cowpea seeds germinate in space on ISRO craft within four days Eight seeds sent to study plant growth ISRO sent eight cowpea seeds to study plant growth in space. “Life sprouts in space! VSSC’s CROPS experiment onboard PSLV-C60 POEM-4 successfully sprouted cowpea seeds in 4 days. Leaves expected soon,” ISRO said on X. The experiment is being done to demonstrate seed germination and plant sustenance until the two-leaf stage, it added ISRO says cowpea seed sent to space on PSLV-C60 POEM-4 have germinated under microgravity condition within four days of launch of the mission All measures of growth being monitored ■ ■ ISRO said it is monitoring all passive measurements, such as camera imaging, oxygen, carbon dioxide concentrations, relative humidity, temperature, and soil moisture for plant growth The fourth stage of the rocket carrying POEM-4 platform has been in orbit with 24 experiments at an altitude of 350 km since Tuesday 470 km Altitude at which chaser satellite for docking experiment is orbiting 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 NSA Sullivan arriving for final round of talks today To meet his counterpart Doval, address young bizmen at IIT Delhi Jaya n t h Ja c o b @ New Delhi tribute to legend Students of Silver Hills HSS, Kozhikode, performing in the Girls Group Dance competition (HSS) at the State Kalolsavam. The recital was based on M T Vasudevan Nair’s screenplays for ‘Perumthachan’, ‘Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha’ and ‘Vaishali’ | B P Deepu Vellarmala school students brave pain & loss in Kalolsavam recital A pa r n a Na i r @ T’Puram They were proud of their school, which was located in a scenic corner in the Vellarmala valley of Chooralmala. Classes were mostly al fresco — on one of the banks of the Punnapuzha, which flowed past GVHSS Vellarmala. Unnikrishnan V, their Malayalam teacher, would teach them poems and stories with the flow of the river water adding another layer of calm — that enveloped all. “It was our piece of heaven. Something we lost in the devastation that unfolded last July 30 when the swollen river gobbled up our school and 33 of our schoolmates,” says Rushika Breshnov, a class 8 student of the school, which now functions from a makeshift facility in Meppadi. The tragedy may have started to fade from the memory of the world, but for residents who survived the landslides, the grief lingers like a festering Students of GHSS Vellarmala perform at the opening ceremony of the 63rd State Kalolsavam in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday | Vincent Pulickal wound. “It was horrible to see our home being washed away. We lost everything, but thankfully none of the family members. My daughter still grieves for some of her schoolmates who lost their lives,” says Soumya, Rushika’s mother. In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, a song with an earthy tune — nostalgic and naive — celebrating the school was doing the rounds. It talked about GVHSS Vellarmala as an oasis of rural innocence and freshness. The visuals that were captured for the song’s video, which contrasted the happy EXPRESS READ Periya case: Court points out flaws in CB probe Kochi: Despite the CPM claiming that the CBI investigation did not reveal anything new that the Crime Branch (CB) did not when it first probed the Periya twin murder case, the CBI court ruling convicting 14 party activists specifies that statements of several witnesses were not fully recorded by the state investigating agency. The court took note of the CBI argument that some political leaders were deliberately omitted from the case. P5 times and the current state, were grim and heartrending. Yet its writer, Unni mash, the Malayalam teacher, never gave up hope. He brought students together to send a message of hope — not just for Chooralmala but those who have suffered a similar fate elsewhere. The vision paid off on Saturday at the opening of the 63rd , State Kalolsavam, where the students presented a dance that narrated the story of their institution, the agony of the landslides, and the hope that they will emerge stronger from ● More on P5 the crises.  CBI arrests two in triple murder case after 19 yrs E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @Kollam In a major breakthrough, the CBI on Saturday arrested two men in connection with the murder of a 24-year-old woman, Ranjini, and her 17-day-old twin daughters at Anchal in Kollam, around 19 years after the heinous crime. The accused — Divil Kumar B, 42, of Anchal, and Rajesh P, 48, of Sreekandapuram in Kannur — were taken into custody from Punducherry, where they have been living under false identities while running a business. Divil Kumar is the alleged father of the murdered twins. The duo — both for mer Army personnel — was arrested following a tip-off from the Kerala Police. As part of an ongoing effort to locate absconding persons linked to long- pending cases, the Kerala Police recently examined the details of the accused persons on Facebook, using an old photograph. The breakthrough came when the photograph matched with a photo uploaded on FB recently by the accused from Puducherry. The police then shared this crucial infor mation with the CBI, which led to their arrest. The murders took place on February 10, 2006, in a rented house at Yeram, Anchal, where Ranjini and the newborns were staying. According to FIR, Divil was in a relationship with Ranjini, who gave birth to the twins on January 24, 2006. On the day of the incident, Ranjini’s mother had gone to the panchayat office to secure birth certificates for the twins. Upon her return, she found Ranjini and the babies dead.  ● More on P5 Outgoing US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will visit India on Monday for a final round of talks with his counterpart, Ajit K Doval, and other senior officials as the two countries look to burnish their ties that enjoy a groundswell of bipartisan support. The discussions will cover a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues, along with finalising ongoing initiatives as the Joe Biden administration concludes its tenure. Congressman Michael Waltz will succeed Sullivan on January 20, when Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States. “National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will travel to New Delhi, India on January 5-6 for a capstone meeting with Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval that will span a range of issues across the breadth of the Overall, the message we intend to leave is one of real gratitude for the friendship and partnership Biden and Modi enjoyed over the last four years Senior US administration official US-India partnership — from space, defense, and strategic technology cooperation to shared security priorities in the Indo-Pacific and beyond,” said a White House statement. During his two-day visit, Sullivan will meet with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and is expected to call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sullivan will also visit the A n u r aa g S i n g h @ Bhopal E j a z k a i s e r @ Raipur A day after the police found the body of journalist Mukesh Chandrakar in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, the authorities resorted to bulldozer justice banned by the Supreme Court a few weeks ago, as they demolished the “illegal” property owned by the accused. The police arrested three, including, Ritesh Chandrakar and Dinesh Chandrakar — both cousins of Mukesh. The main road contractor, Suresh Chandrakar, is absconding. Ritesh and Dinesh are his siblings. Mukesh had allegedly exposed irregularities in his road construction. Mukesh Mukesh, 33, was missing Chandrakar since January 1. He had reportedly gone to attend a meeting with Suresh. Later his mobile phone went offline. Mukesh’s brother Yuktesh lodged a missing person complaint on January 2. On Friday evening, his body was found in a septic tank on the premises owned by Suresh. The incident led to journalists staging a strong protest demanding justice for the victim. A 11-member special investigation team has been constituted to probe the incident. Following the CM’s directives, the administration demolished the house of the accused using bulldozers. The murder led to a war of words between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress. State home minister Vijay Sharma said Suresh is a local Congress leader, adding all his bank accounts have been frozen. However, Congress spokesperson Sushil Anand Shukla claimed that Suresh had joined the BJP last month. Condemning the murder, the Editor’s Guild said, “The young journalist’s death is a matter of grave concern as it raises suspicion of foul play .” Pant strikes, Bumrah scare as Test goes to the wire Fifteen wickets fell. India took four-run lead. The pitch is still assisting seamers. The match is evenly poised, may be tilting towards India, but the day was dominated by two players on the field and one off it. The Sydney crowd for the fifth and final Test couldn’t have expected such a gripping day . And the third day would be as thrilling with match and series poised for photo finish. The focus on the second day was Japsrit Bumrah celebrates a wicket against Australia | PTI on two players – Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah. And off the field on rested skipper Rohit Sharma. Pant had come for criticism after WITH THIS ISSUE Owning the Weekend PLUS 12 PAGES Bulldozer justice Toxic waste processing on hold as a day after cops MP govt to lob ball to High Court find journo’s body s y d ne y th r i l l e r GO m e s h S @ Chennai IIT, Delhi, where he will meet young Indian entrepreneurs and deliver a speech at the institute, highlighting the key steps taken to strengthen the US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET), a highpoint of bilateral ties under the Biden administration. “This will be Sullivan’s final trip to the Indo-Pacific region as National Security Advisor. “He’s very excited and looking forward to these conversations at this critical time,” US National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said. “The two national security advisors will take stock of the progress that the two countries have made over the last four years,” a senior official said. They will also “continue to finalise some ongoing initiatives that were important priorities for us to wrap up to continue our technology cooperation,” the official said. the ‘reckless’ shot that got him out in the second innings of Melbourne Test. In the first innings, he scored one of the slowest 40 of his Test career off 98 balls. On Saturday, Pant broke the shackles and did what Pant does best. A blistering 29-ball half-century ensued. This is the second fastest fifty by an Indian in Tests. At one ball short, the fastest one is against his name as well. His 61 helped India take a healthy 145-run lead after the bowlers restricted the home team to just 181 runs in the first innings. What seemed heartening is that India managed to edge out Australia without Jasprit Bumrah after lunch. Bumrah was the second player who was in focus throughout the day. He walked off the field at about 1.20pm. About 40 minutes later, he left the stadium for a scan and came back only two and a half hours later. Every move of Bumrah was followed. If he doesn’t take the field in the second innings it will give Aussies psychological edge.  P11 In an attempt to tamp down the agitation at Pithampur in Dhar district against the disposal of Union Carbide’s toxic waste, the state government on Saturday sought to lob the ball back into the judicial domain, saying it will seek fresh court orders. The toxic waste was transported to Pithampur from Bhopal following a Madhya Pradesh High Court order last month to do so within four weeks. “Keeping in mind the people’s concerns, we’ve decided to not take the incineration forward. The government will apprise the court on the concerns of the locals and await their next order,” said Chief Minister Mohan Yadav. He had chairing an emergency meeting over the issue in Bhopal late on Friday night. The HC is scheduled to hear on January 6, the 2004 petition on which it had ordered the state government on December 3 to shift the toxic waste out of Bhopal. A stray incident of stone pelting was reported on Saturday morning, outside the treatment-storage-disposal facility (TSDF) where the 358 metric tonnes toxic waste was ordered to be incinerated.