White House says tariffs on China are at 145% Washington: The White House confirmed on Thursday that tariffs on Chinese goods have increased to 145%, escalating the trade war with Beijing. This comes after President Donald Trump announced a 125% “reciprocal” tariff on China, layered on top of an existing 20% tariff | P9 dharmapuri l friday l april 11, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION 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 Ramadoss demotes son, takes over PMK reins ‘for poll victory’ AIADMK quit the bloc in Sep@ Chennai/Villupuram tember 2023. It was rumoured at that time that Dr Ramadoss In a dramatic turn of events was not fully in favour of BJP for the Pattali Makkal Katchi alliance. (PMK), its founder Dr S RamaOn Thursday, the 85-year-old doss on Thursday announced leader said decisions on future to the media at his house in Vil- alliances will be taken after lupuram district that he would consultation with the party’s take over the post of party leadership council. “I am takpresident from his son and ing up the role of party presiformer union minister Dr An- dent with full commitment. bumani Ramadoss This decision is with immediate aimed at guiding effect. the younger generaHe said Dr Anbution and ensuring mani will serve as the party’s victory,” working president he said. and will continue to While Dr Anbuplay a key role in mani did not react, party’s activities, sources close to him especially as the said the move was party prepares for not valid since such the 2026 elections. decisions cannot be When asked about The decision is aimed at taken without conguiding the younger the reasons for the vening the party’s generation & ensuring decision that has general council and the party’s victory shocked party cadtherefore Dr Anbures, Dr Ramadoss mani will continue Dr S Ramadoss, declined to elaboto act as the PMK chief rate and merely president. said, “many reasons”. Soon after the announceThe timing is even more ment, many of his supporters stark as Union Home Minister gathered at Dr Ramadoss’s resand BJP’s chief electoral strat- idence at Thailapuram in Vilegist Amit Shah will reach lupuram and staged a demonChennai on Thursday night, stration against the decision. and is expected to meet leaders Many of Dr Anbumani’s supof alliance partners and poten- porters also met him at his oftial allies on Friday . fice in Panaiyur near PMK, which continues to be Chennai. part of the BJP-led NDA, It was widely known that all fought the 2024 Lok Sabha elec- was not well between the fation alongside the BJP though ther and son for a while.  P5 Rana produced in Delhi court Nia takes formal custody of 26/11 co-conspirator at Palam airport Mukesh Ranjan & Shekhar S i n g h @ New Delhi E x p r e ss N e ws S e r v i c e Rana in NIA custody after landing in Delhi upon his extradition from the US | pti COMMUNICATION WITH HEADLEY Headley visited India 8 times, and remained in touch with Rana, making over 200 calls CALLS DURING VISITS 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 6th 32 23 40 37 33 66 Terror footprint TERROR PLANNING Rana helped David Headley obtain an Indian visa by providing fake documents Initial plans included targeting Chabad Houses across India, as ISI suspected they were Mossad bases Established ‘Immigrant Law Centre’ in Mumbai, which served as a front for Headley’s ops and snooping Rent extension of ‘Immigrant Law Centre’ in July 2008 was arranged to support Rana’s India visit, showing coordination with LeT handlers express read Shah to meet BJP allies & Gurumurthy Chennai: TN BJP invited applications for election to state party president post, coinciding with Union Minister Amit Shah’s visit to Chennai. Shah will meet S Gurumurthy, and BJP allies on Friday | P4 SC girl forced out of class due to period Coimbatore: A Dalit girl was forced to sit outside the classroom and write her exam as she was menstruating. On Thursday, the principal of the private school was suspended and booked | P2 India, Pak hold flag meet in Poonch Rape victim ‘invited trouble’, claims Allahabad HC order F aya z W a n i @ Srinagar @ Lucknow THE armies of India and Pakistan held a brigade commander-level flag meeting on Thursday along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district to ease border tensions even as two anti-militancy operations launched by security forces in Udhampur and Kistwar district of J&K continued for the second day . The flag meet was held at the Chakan-Da-Bagh cross-point in Poonch. “Our side raised the issue of infiltration attempts, planting IEDs near border, using drones to drop weapons and drugs and sniper firing from across the border. We told them that any violation of the border ceasefire will be met with heavy retaliatory action,” they said. n a m i ta b a j pa i THE Allahabad High Court has granted bail to a man accused of raping a postgraduate student of a top private university campus in Noida, stating that the victim had “invited trouble” upon herself. The accused was arrested in December 2024 for allegedly raping the woman twice at a relative’s apartment in Gurgaon after getting her intoxicated . The court said the woman, a post graduate student, was competent enough to understand the “morality and significance of her act” as disclosed by her in the FIR. As per the victim’s version, she went to a bar in Delhi along with three female friends, where they consumed alcohol. She remained at the bar till 3 am and during her time there, the accused insisted that she should accompany him to his house. She agreed to go with him to his house, the FIR read. She alleged that the accused, Nischal Chandak, touched her inappropriately on the way and instead of taking her to his home in Noida, he took her to a relative’s flat in Gurgaon and raped her. “Even if the allegation of the victim is true, she herself invited trouble and was responsible for the same. In her medical examination, her hymen was found torn but doctors did not give any opinion about sexual assault,” Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh ruled. no crime record helped Lucknow: it was argued that the accused, with no criminal record, had been in the jail since December 2024 and if granted a bail, he would not misuse the liberty of bail and would cooperate in the early disposal of the case. Justice Singh said the applicant has made out a fit case for bail in this case. MUDA: Cops accept version of all accused Yat h i r a j u @ Bengaluru LOKAYUKTA police, who recently filed a closure report in the MUDA site allotment scam, seem to have “accepted” all explanations given by the accused, including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The ‘B’ (closure) report, which has been challenged by the Enforcement Directorate before the court, states that Siddaramaiah, his wife Parvathy BM, his brother-in-law Mallikarjunaswamy and Devaraju J were asked 76 questions. The Lokayukta police accepted their explanations by stating in the report that they are ‘acceptable’, ‘accepted’ or ‘can be accepted’. There is no mention of cross-questioning as is done in other cases. This has raised eyebrows as they accepted the explanations or contentions of the accused ‘as they are’. 8th Around 24 questions were posed to Siddaramaiah, 14 to Parvathy, 16 to Mallikarjunaswamy and 20 to Devaraju and their statements were recorded. Snehamayi Krishna, the complainant, and ED protested against the final report that gave a clean chit to the accused. In the report, the Lokayukta police concluded that the charges were not proved against the accused, but recorded that financial losses were caused to MUDA through allotment of compensatory sites to accused No 2 Parvathy by Natesh, then MUDA commissioner. Many instances of MUDA developing residential layouts without following land acquisition procedure, causing huge lossesto land owners Closure report in the MUDA site allotment scam Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a key accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, landed in Delhi on Thursday, ending years of diplomatic and legal effort for his extradition from the US. The 64-year-old Canadian citizen of Pakistani descent arrived aboard a special chartered flight under tight security, escorted by a joint team of Indian investigators. Rana’s extradition marks a significant milestone in India’s pursuit of justice for the 166 lives lost in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, often dubbed as India’s 9/11. As part of the extradition arrangement, India gave broad assurances to US authorities concerning Rana’s treatment while in custody . According to sources, these assurances include guarantees that Rana would not be subjected to torture, receive adequate Pak disowns him Hours before Rana’s arrival, Pakistan’s Foreign Office disowned him, saying he had not renewed any Pakistani documentation in the last two decades and that his Canadian nationality was very clear. After worked in Pak Army’s medical corps before relocating to Canada protection in prison, and prosecuted solely for the charges on which the extradition is based. Rana provided crucial support to Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operative David Coleman Headley by facilitating travel documents and shelter through his immigration business in Chicago, which was allegedly used as a front for terror planning. The NIA took custody of Rana as soon as he emerged from the aircraft at the Palam technical airport. His medical examination was done at the airport due to security reasons before he was produced before Special NIA judge Chander Jit Singh at the Patiala House courts 20 km away later. A 12-member NIA team led by its director general Sadanand Date was formed to interrogate Rana. The team included two IGs, one DIG, one SP. The Union home ministry has appointed advocate Narender Mann as the Special Public Prosecutor in 26/11 terror conspiracy case. Date, a 1990 batch IPS officer from the Maharashtra cadre was injured during the 2008 Mumbai attacks. He was among the first responders to confront terrorists Kasab and Ismail. Years later, his leadership at the NIA was a key factor in securing US approval for Rana’s extradition. A veteran of the Mumbai Police and the CBI, Date received the President’s Police Medal for Gallantry . P7