I have always accepted that I am responsible for my team and realise WADA’s strict rules are an important protection for the sport I love Chennai l sunday l february 16, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 28 l late city EDITION Sinner, WADA reach agreement: World No. 1 gets 3-month ban Winner of three Majors, the Italian, who twice tested positive for banned substance, will be suspended effective immediately. —Jannik Sinner World body withdraws CAS case Sinner did not intend to cheat: WADA The Italian, who twice tested positive for clostebol last year, had been exonerated by an independent panel in August. But the World AntiDoping Agency (WADA), unhappy with the verdict, had appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). WADA has now withdrawn that case after reaching an agreement in line with Anti-Doping Code. ■ In a statement, WADA held that the Italian, who won the Australian Open, ‘did not intend to cheat, and that his exposure to clostebol did not provide any performance-enhancing benefit’. ■ They, however, held that he’s responsible for the actions of his entourage. Sinner had tested positive last March | P15 Feb 9-May 4 Sinner’s ban period, the French Open begins May 25 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 Punjab chief minister objects to Amritsar being chosen arrival point US sends back 116 Indians in military aircraft J AYA N TH J A COB & H A RPR E E T B A J W A @ New Delhi / Chandigarh Passengers try to get into a train at the overcrowded platform 15 of New Delhi railway station on Saturday | pti Stampede horror at New Delhi railway station leaves 15 dead S h e k h a r S i n g h & Raje s h K u m a r T h a k u r @ New Delhi AT least 15 people, including three children, died and several injured after a massive crowd surge on platform numbers 14 and 15 at New Delhi Railway Station led to a stampede on Saturday. The incident occurred as thousands of passengers gathered to board trains heading to Maha Kumbh at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh. The Chief Casualty Medical Officer of the LNJP hospital Until TN accepts NEP, funds will be withheld: Pradhan E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Chennai Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday categorically said that funds under the Samagra Shiksha scheme will not be released for Tamil Nadu unless the state government accepts the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, in its entirety . Pradhan accused the DMK government of acting out of political motivations and questioned why TN alone is resisting the policy when the rest of the country has implemented it. He was speaking to reporters at the inauguration of the Kashi Tamil Sangamam in Varanasi. Pradhan claimed the TN government had initially agreed to the centre’s conditions but later withdrew. Claiming the nonrelease of funds was the state’s fault, he said, “They are politically motivated and not acting for the welfare of the people of TN.” Saying the state must adhere to constitutional norms, he said, “They cannot think they are above the constitution. They must accept the NEP in letter and spirit.” On a question that pointed out the NEP includes implementation of the three-language policy Pradhan asked if , TN was against Tamil as the NEP emphasises that local language is the primary medium of instruction. P7 WITH THIS ISSUE Hacked & Helpless PLUS 12 PAGES confirmed the deaths. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena said lives were lost in the incident. The Norther n Railways, meanwhile, denied any stampede-like situation. According to a senior official from the Delhi Fire Service, they received a call around 9.55 pm regarding a stampede situation at platforms 14 and 15. Four fire tenders were rushed. Eyewitnesses said the stampede occurred when people on the overbridge started running towards platforms 14 and 15 on seeing trains to Prayagraj arriving. Some of them complained that they missed the trains because they were not allowed to board the trains. Northern Railway’s Chief Public Relations Of ficer Himanshu Upadhyay told a news agency that passengers pushed each other leading to the commotion. Saxena said an inquiry has been ordered. panchayat prez held for denying burial of woman The panchayat president of Govindapuram, Tirupattur district, was arrested under the SC/ST (PoA) Act for allegedly denying the burial of a woman, as her grandson belonging to a dominant caste had married a Dalit woman | P5 A US military plane carrying 116 Indian deportees landed at Amritsar airport on Saturday night, officials said. Earlier, there were reports that the plane would carry 119 immigrants. According to sources, 65 deportees are from Punjab and 33 from Haryana. The rest a re f ro m G u j a r at , U t t a r Pradesh, Goa, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. This is the second such deportation since Donald Trump took office as President—triggering a fresh political controversy with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann protesting the choice of Amritsar as the arrival point. While Mann alleged the BJP-led government at the Centre deliberately chose Amritsar as the landing site to ‘defame Punjab’, sources told this newspaper that the arrival airport is decided after taking in view the deportees’ convenience for returning home. The sources pointed out that many of those deported are from the border areas of Punjab. Amritsar has been a primary arrival point for deportees for some time, including in October last year when a group of illegal immigrants were sent back from the US through a chartered flight. However, the Trump administration’s use of a military plane to deport immigrants has sparked protests in India, with concerns raised over deportees arriving in handcuffs. India is ‘Why not land in Delhi’ Accusing the Centre of trying to defame his state, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann asked why it’s always Punjab and not Delhi to land the deportation plane. A third plane carrying 157 deportees is also expected on Sunday understood to have raised the issue of inhuman treatment of its citizens with the US, but the US has once again chosen to send them back on a military aircraft. Earlier this month, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told Parliament that restraints are part of the Standard Operating Procedures of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement while deporting illegals. However, legal experts say the use of shackles hurt the deportees’ dignity and violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), 1976 and the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 1984. It was not immediately clear whether the deportees were in shackles or not. Punjab police make first arrest, nab travel agent Ha r p r ee t Baj w a @ Chandigarh PUNJAB police made its first arrest of a travel agent involved in illegal immigration practices, following the deportation of 104 Indians from the US on February 5. Anil Batra, one of four accused, was arrested for sending a US deportee to the US via the “Dunki route.” Talking to this newspaper, inspector Abhey Singh Chauhan said that based on a complaint of Gurwinder Singh of Bhadson, Patiala, a case was registered on February 8 against t r ave l a g e n t A n i l B at r a and three others who had sent Singh to US via the ‘Dunki route’. Batra allegedly took `45 lakh from Singh to facilitate his travel to the US. Singh was first sent to Dubai, then to Suriname, and eventually made his way to the US via Central America, with the help of traffickers and smugglers. The arrest comes after a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to probe complaints of fraudulent travel agents involved in deceptive immigration practices. The SIT has registered 10 FIRs against travel agents who allegedly deceived victims with false promises of f acilitating ille g al entry into the US. Police have frozen Batra’s bank account, which had a balance of `6.35 lakh. Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav has urged the general public to come forward with any information that could assist in apprehending travel agents who facilitate illegal entry into the US, and advised citizens to only approach registered agents for immigration services. Murder cases in TN fell by 7% in 2024; robust monitoring of rowdies credited S i dd h a r t h P r a b h a k a r Number of cases* While concerns are being raised about the state of law and order in Tamil Nadu, especially in terms of the number of murders, the official statistics obtained by TNIE from Tamil Nadu police show that there has been a 7% drop in the number of murder cases registered in Tamil Nadu in 2024 as compared to the previous year. The data show that from 1,598 murder cases in 2023, the number dropped to 1,489 in 2024. A declining trend is visible from a high of 1,745 murder cases registered in 2019. While the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB) have published data only till 2022, the statistics for 2023 and 2020 @ Chennai 2019 1,745 1,661 2021 1,686 2022 1,690 2023 2024 1,598 1,489 (*Source: The data from 2019 to 2022 are from the NCRB and SCRB. The data for 2023 and 2024 are the official statistics provided by TN police) 2024 are based on the official data shared by the TN police. A senior police official said the drop in murders is the outcome of a detailed strategy and action plan to monitor historysheeters (HS, also referred to as “rowdies” by the police) to curb the number of targeted killings in the state. The strategy has five broad features — updating HS profiles to monitor and probe the notorious ones; constituting a rowdy-monitoring team, headed by a deputy superintendent of police-rank officer in every zone/city for targeted surveillance; tracking legal cases of rowdies to get convictions and preparing a list of hostile rowdies and rival gangs to track and avoid law and order situations. The activities of 550 “highly-active” rowdies are monitored closely by the Organised Crime Intelligence Unit (OCIU), which is reviewed weekly by the DGP/ HoPF. DGP Shankar Jiwal said that specific operations like Drive Against Rowdy Elements (DARE) are undertaken to ensure that public peace and order are not affected. P7 left in the lurch Customers of the New India Cooperative Bank gather outside a branch in Mumbai on Saturday after the RBI imposed restrictions on issuing loans and withdrawals due to liquidity concerns and governance issues | pti illicit liquor Three of gang held for fatally stabbing two youth in TN E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Mayiladuthurai Three men were arrested on Saturday for stabbing two youngsters to death near Muttam in Mayiladuthurai district on Friday night. While Mayiladuthurai police initially denied allegations of the victims’ kin that the two youth were murdered for opposing the sale of illicit liquor, they later said they were investigating the claims. Relatives of the deceased, meanwhile, allegedly vandalised the houses of the accused and blocked a road near a hospital, refusing to accept the bodies after autopsy as the police had dismissed their charges. The victims were identified as B Sakthi (20), an engineering student from Srinivasapuram, and his relative K Harish (25) from Muttam. Although their families maintained they had been killed due to their opposition to illicit liquor sale, the police first claimed they were killed while attempting to prevent the gang of three from assaulting one of their friends. Two of the three suspects — M Thangadurai (28) and his relative R Rajkumar (24) from Muttam — were previously arrested in cases under the Prohibition Act, police said. The third suspect is Thangadurai’s younger brother M Mooventhan (24). Sources said an altercation broke out between Dinesh and Mooventhan on Thursday after the former had allegedly hurled slurs at the suspect. On Friday around 8.30 pm, the inebriated trio confronted Dinesh, who was interacting with Sakthi, Harish, and his friend Ajay (19). P7 Opposition flays TN govt over double murder | P4 Bouquets and brickbats Tharoor’s praise for Kerala in TNIE column sparks Cong backlash E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ T’Puram/Malappuram/Kozhikode FINDING itself in an embarrassing situation after party MP Shashi Tharoor heaped praise on the Left-ruled Kerala, calling the state a model of economic innovation and sustainable growth, the Congress leadership launched an open attack on him. While several Congress lead- ers, including V D Satheesan, K C Venugopal, and Ramesh Chennithala, dismissed Tharoor’s arguments in his column in The New Indian Express that appeared on February 14, he, understandably, found support among the Left leadership. Even as his views sparked uproar, Tharoor stuck to his ground, saying the article was in Kerala’s interest. In his column, Tharoor said Kerala has emerged as a dynamic centre for startups. He termed Industries Minister P Rajeeve’s claim that a business can be opened in just two minutes as an “astonishing development”. Soon after the article appeared, Rajeeve shared it on social media, thanking Tharoor. Brushing aside Tharoor’s comments, Leader of Opposition Satheesan said the party will examine the circumstances under which such claims were made. When somebody in the government does something well, one should acknowledge and praise it. I’ve criticised and praised in fairness and on the basis of specific points —Shashi Tharoor Senior Congress leader K Muraleedharan asked the party national leadership to respond to Tharoor’s comments. AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said Tharoor’s views did not conform to reality “Kerala’s industries sector . is in a bad state. Is there any development happening in the coir and fisheries sectors?” he asked. Ramesh Chennithala said Tharoor had a misunderstanding. “Kerala is not an investment-friendly state. Several enterprises were shut during the LDF’s tenure,” he said. It’s learnt that the party leadership may seek disciplinary action against Tharoor. Without mentioning Tharoor, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, “His statements were based on facts and numbers.”