hyderabad l sunday l april 20, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l late city EDITION 24 get 100 percentile in JEE-Main, Rajasthan has most toppers Twenty-four candidates scored a perfect 100 in JEE (Main), results of which were announced by the National Testing Agency on Saturday File photo telangana, u.p., maharashtra do well too 21 top candidates from general list Rajasthan, India’s coaching hub, had the highest number of candidates with a perfect score with as many as seven scoring 100 percentile. Next in line, three toppers each are from Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, followed by two toppers each from Delhi, West Bengal and Gujarat. One topper each is from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, as per NTA ■ ■ While 21 top-scoring candidates are from general category, the list includes one candidate each from SC, ST and OBC categories The examination was held in April across nine shifts at 531 centres in 300 cities, including 15 outside India. Results of 110 candidates found using unfair means, including forged documents, were withheld 9,92,350 appeared in the second edition of jee main exam 2025 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 Putin springs a short Easter truce surprise Unilateral Russian gesture after US hard talk ceasefire. Zelenskyy wrote on X that the truce plan came as air raid alerts were announced in AMID growing frustration in Ukraine due to drone attacks. The ceasefire announcement Washington over stalled peace efforts, Russian President follows fresh Russian claims of Vladimir Putin announced a territorial gains, including the surprise Easter truce in the capture of another settlement near the Kursk border region. conflict in Ukraine. The truce will pause “all hos- President Putin suggested the truce would serve as a tilities” from 6 pm test of Ukraine’s sinMoscow time on Satcerity about wanting urday (11 am Eastern peace. US Secretary of Time) until midnight State Marco Rubio had on Monday (5 pm ET signalled growing imSunday). patience with the peace The announcement process. came on the same day On Friday he warned , as Russia, Ukraine that the United States swapped hundreds of is prepared to “move prisoners in the war’s Our troops must on” from its role in brolargest exchange. Russia said 246 Russian be ready to repel kering peace talks unviolations of the less there are tangible service members were truce and any signs of progress in returned from terriprovocations the coming days. “We tory controlled by can’t keep chasing a Kyiv, and that ‘as a —Vladimir Putin breakthrough that isn’t gesture of goodwill’ 31 wounded Ukrainian prisoners coming,” he said. President Donald Trump, of war were transferred in exchange for 15 wounded Russian too, weighed in, saying that the negotiations between Russia soldiers. Putin said he expects Ukraine and Ukraine are “coming to a to reciprocate: “We assume that head.” Ukraine had last month the Ukrainian side will follow agreed to Trump’s proposal for our example.” a full and unconditional 30-day Ukraine has been wary of short-term truces, having pre- ceasefire, only for Vladimir Puviously rejected a January 2023 tin to reject it. E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi 11 killed in multi-storey building collapse Rescue operation underway after a four-storey residential building collapsed in the Shakti Vihar area of New Delhi in the wee hours of Saturday, killing 11 people, including seven of a family, and injuring 11 others. According to the police, there were 22 people at the ill-fated building, most of them families | Shekhar Yadav HYDRAA reclaims land worth `4,500 cr S B a c h a n J ee t S i n g h @ Hyderabad Acting on a complaint by a group of minors who were stopped from playing cricket there, the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) on Saturday took action and cleared a 39-acre parcel of prime land along with another of similar size, both located in the heart of the city with a combined value of around `9,000 crore. HYDRAA demolished multiple structures built over 39.2 acres of disputed land in Hafeezpet, Kondapur and Madhapur, under the Serilingampally municipality, valued at over `4,500 crore. The market value in this area is estimated HYDRAA presses a bulldozer into service during its encroachment drive on Saturday at `110–`120 crore per acre. The properties were allegedly encroached upon by Vasantha Group Constructions, linked to Mylavaram TDP MLA Vasantha Krishna Prasad. Another 39-acre parcel of land, also estimated at `4,500 First in-person trade talks with US next wk D i pa k M o n d a l @ New Delhi Aiming to quickly wrap up the first phase of the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) with the US before the SeptemberOctober deadline, India is sending a small delegation of fivesix negotiators to the US on April 23. The delegation is likely to stay there for three days, commerce ministry sources told this newspaper. US vice-president J D Vance is due to arrive in India on Monday, April 21. The Indian delegation’s visit a couple of days later indicates the mutual urge to expedite the talks. Earlier, the ministry had indicated that physical negotiations will begin only in the first week of May “While virtual ne. gotiations have started, we thought we will send a small delegation to the US to carry forward the discussions,” a commerce ministry official told this newspaper. India’s chief negotiator — additional secretary in the Department of Commerce Rajesh Agrawal — will lead the team BRS to abstain from voting in Hyd MLC Poll | P4 WITH THIS ISSUE The Great New AdVentures PLUS 12 PAGES for the first in-person talks. Agrawal was appointed the next commerce secretary on April 18. He will assume office from October 1. Though some media reports suggest both sides have agreed to have the discussions covering 19 chapters, including tariffs, non-tariff barriers, and customs facilitation, the ministry official quoted earlier denied chapter-wise discussions would be held during the visit of the delegation. H e s a i d t h at chapter-wise discussion would begin in the second half of May. “The texts and contours of those discussions are being prepared currently,” the official said. “The September-October timeline is a deadline, not a target. If negotiations can be concluded earlier, it will benefit both countries. We are aiming to accelerate talks to avoid any adverse outcomes when the pause ends,” said a commerce ministry official. The Trump administration announced a 26% reciprocal tariff on India, but paused it for 90 days. crore, near the JRC Convention in Raidurgam, Shaikpet mandal, was cleared of illegal structures. The land is under dispute and the matter is pending in the High Court. Despite this, Narne Estates had installed a board offering the property for sale. HYDRAA Commissioner AV Ranganath stated that demolitions were based on evidence showing the site, still under litigation and in the prohibited category, had undergone ownership changes through the apparent manipulation of records. Although legal proceedings over the encroachment of government land are ongoing in various courts, several structures and compound walls had already been constructed. In Survey No. 79, located behind Novotel Hotel, Hafeezpet, more than half the structures were already completed. The land is classified as government property and listed under the prohibited category in the revenue records.  continued on P5 ‘systematic persecution’: India rap on Hindu’s murder in b’desh J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi In a sharp escalation of tensions over attacks on Hindu minorities in Bangladesh, India on Saturday condemned the brutal killing of community leader Bhabesh Chandra Roy as part of a “systematic persecution” and fir mly urged Dhaka to protect its minorities without offering excuses or justifications. Bhabesh Chandra Roy 58, a , prominent Hindu leader and vice-president of the Biral unit of the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad, was mur“We have noted with disdered in Dinajpur, Bangla- tress the abduction and brudesh. Local media reports tal killing of Shri Bhabesh said Roy was abducted from Chandra Roy a Hindu minor, home by four men on ity leader in Banglamotorcycles half-andesh,” External Afhour after he receiving fairs Ministry a suspicious call spokesperson Ranaround 4.30 pm. They dhir Jaiswal said. took him to Narabari “This killing folvillage, where he was lows a pattern of syssavagely assaulted. tematic persecution Bhabesh C Roy of Hindu minorities The attackers later dumped the unconunder the interim scious Roy at his home in a government even as the pervan. He taken to a hospital, petrators of previous such where he was declared dead. events roam with impunity .” CM’s busy day In Japan n CM oversees signing of an MoU between TOMCOM and TGUK Technologies Pvt. Ltd. and Raj Group to facilitate recruitment of skilled professionals from Telangana to meet the increasing workforce demands in Japan. n Revanth addresses programme organised by Japan Telugu Federation in Tokyo where he speaks about Musi rejuvenation, Metro expansion, Regional Ring Road and radial roads for the progress of Telangana Ombudsman removes Azhar’s name from stand at Uppal stadium en s @ Hyderabad Citing conflict of interest, Ethics officer and Ombudsman (additional charge) of Hyderabad Cricket Association Justice V Eswaraiah on Saturday directed the HCA to remove the name of former cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin from the North Pavilion Stand of the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium and ensure that no tickets are printed with the name of the former India captain henceforth. The Ombudsman opined that the former cricketer could have made the decision to rename the stand after himself in the meeting that he himself presided over. The decision was subsequently implemented by the HCA. Justice Eswaraiah was hearing a petition filed by the Lords Cricket Club against the renaming of the stand after Azharuddin. The petition also prayed for retention of the stand as the “VVS Laxman Stand”. The orders said: “ Azharuddin has taken a personal decision in his own favour. The fact that there has been no ratification or modification of the decision by the general body further strengthens the case against Azharuddin, as he has exceeded his authority to benefit himself.” AIMPLB demands unconditional rollback of ‘anti-Muslim’ law M a n d a R a v i n d e r Re d d y @ Hyderabad Muslim leaders at the protest against Waqf Act in Hyderabad on Saturday | Vinay Madapu Terming the Waqf Amendment Act a “black law”, AIMIM supremo Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday demanded its immed i at e a n d u n c o n d i t i o n a l withdrawal. “We (Muslims) are ready to fight until the Union government withdraws the Waqf Act, just as farmers protested until the three farm laws were repealed,” Owaisi thundered, ad- dressing a public meeting jointly organised by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and AIMIM opposing the amendments to the Waqf Act, at Darussalam in Hyderabad. “The political forces running the country aim to destroy Muslims. We will never allow this to happen,” the Hyderabad MP said. Claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was playing political chess with the lives of Muslims, he said: “We also know how to play .” Addressing the massive gathering, Owaisi alleged that the BJP-led NDA gover nment wants to dismantle democracy in India, but this can never happen. “We will not bow down. When I tore a copy of the Waqf Bill in Parliament, it was not a personal act, but an expression of the people — Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians... Everyone,” he stated. He said India’s strength lies in brotherhood, not in Narendra Modi.  continued on p4 Kancha Gachibowli Ex-babus point to gaps between promise of Cong & performance of govt E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Hyderabad A collective of former civil servants, under the banner of the Constitutional Conduct Group, has criticised the Telangana government over the recent clearance of vegetation, including trees, in Kancha Gachibowli, Hyderabad. In a statement signed by 67 re- tired officials from the IAS, IPS, IRS, IRAS, IFS, IDAS, RAS and other services – many with experience at both state and central levels – the group condemned the bulldozing of over 100 acres of green cover on land adjoining the University of Hyderabad (UoH). S i g n at o r i e s i n cl u d e d former special secretaries to the Government of India Anand Arni and G Balachandhran, and former chief secretary of Bihar Sharad Behar. Raising concer ns over the environmental, legal and constitutional implications of the clearance, the group pointed to an apparent contradiction between the Congress party’s promises and the state’s actions. They noted that the Congress manifesto for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections had pledged inclusive and sustainable development, includ- ing ecosystem protection and urgent climate action. “It was therefore with dismay,” the statement reads, “that we learnt of the recent Senior IAS officer Examined by cops Hyderabad: Gachibowli police on Saturday examined senior IAS officer Smita Sabharwal in connection with a case involving sharing of an alleged AI-generated image of tree-felling on 100 acres at Kancha Gachibowli, adjacent to the University of Hyderabad | P4 disturbing incidents at the University of Hyderabad.” The former officials also criticised the state’s response to student protests against the clearance, which allegedly included arrests and lathi charge. The statement accuses the state government of ignoring multiple Supreme Court directives on forest identification and conservation.  continued on P4