chennai l tuesday l july 08, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l vellore EDITION Tahawwur Rana was in Mumbai to oversee 26/11 carnage Tahawwur Rana, the 26/11 mastermind, has admitted he was present in Mumbai during the 2008 attacks as a trusted agent of Pakistan ‘conducted many surveillance missions’ Even as Rana remains under NIA custody in Tihar Jail, his statement was recorded by Mumbai Police Crime Branch. Rana told interrogators that he had conducted many reconnaissance missions of several areas in Mumbai ahead of the 2008 attacks and was present in the area when Lashkar-eTaiba-linked terrorists attacked the Taj Hotel and went on a rampage ■ 166 rana was involved in aiding the attack ■ The NIA has charged Rana for hatching a conspiracy to carry out the attacks along with friend David Headley, who is a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative and another key conspirator in the gruesome 26/11 attacks Rana was involved in planning the attacks and helped Headley in getting a visa by creating a false identity to help him travel to India people were killed in the 26/11 attacks in mumbai 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 SC to hear pleas against Bihar EC fiat on Thursday Bench says timeline has no sanctity as polls for the state assembly are yet to be notified SUCHI T RA KALYAN M OHAN T Y @ New Delhi Why fresh exercise? “Bihar’s voter list was finalised in January 2025. The ECI itself acknowledged this. Revisions were made until June. Then, suddenly, it was discarded… Without any proof, without discrepancies, 70 million voters now have to prove citizenship again,” Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said This is mass scale rigging and mischief being carried out by the ECI, under instructions from the ruling regime... It has wreaked havoc across the villages and towns of Bihar K C Venugopal, Cong The Supreme Court on Monday decided to hear on July 10, Thursday a batch of pleas chal, lenging an order of the Election Commission of India (ECI) for Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar. The batch of petitions included a joint Opposition plea filed on Monday Its signatories . are K C Venugopal of the Congress, Supriya Sule of NCP (Sharad Pawar), Arvind Sawant of Shiv Sena (UBT), Harinder Malik of Samajwadi Party Sarfraz Ahmed of JMM, D Raja of , CPI and Dipankar Bhattacharya of CPI (ML). Senior advocate Kapil Sibal mentioned the pleas filed before a two-judge bench comprising justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi. “We will have it on Thursday,” the bench said. Sibal urged the court to issue a notice to the ECI, adding it will be impossible for the people to meet the tight timeline for enumeration. Other lawyers who made their submissions were Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Shadan Farasat and Gopal Shankarnarayanan. They argued that voters who fail to submit their forms with the specified documents will face the harsh consequence of being deleted from the electoral roll, even if they have voted in elections for the last 20 years. Singhvi said while the size of the electorate is 8 crore, as many as 4 crore will have to do the enumeration. “The timeline is so strict — by July 25 if you don’t give, you will be out,” Singhvi pointed out. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for another petitioner, said the poll panel was not accepting Aadhaar cards and voter ID cards as proof for the enumeration. The bench, however, contended that the timeline “doesn’t have sanctity as elections have not been notified as yet”. It asked the petitioners to give advance notice to the counsel for the ECI. Apart from the joint petition by Opposition leaders, at least five other pleas have been filed, including those by the Association For Democratic Reforms, People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra, Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha and activist Yogendra Yadav. Countries aligning with BRICS policies will be charged an additional 10% tariff Will redefine BRICS in new form: Modi Under its presidency next year, India will work to define BRICS in a new form—Build Resilience and Innovation for Cooperation and Sustainability—Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday | P7 US announces 25% tariff on Japan, Korea The US will impose 25% blanket tariffs on imports from Japan and South Korea starting Aug 1, President Donald Trump revealed through a series of social media posts on Monday | P10 Trump threatens extra 10% tariff on BRICS allies JAYAN T H JACOB @ New Delhi HOURS after the BRICS leaders criticised the unilateral trade actions and Israel’s military strikes in Iran, US President Donald Trump late on Sunday night threatened to slap an extra 10% tariff on countries that support the bloc. “Any country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy,” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social. He did not specify which policies were “anti-American” or which countries would be targeted. Trump’s threat followed BRICS joint declaration at the summit in Brazil, where member states including India, Brazil, China, Russia, South Africa, and several new entrants criticised protectionist trade practices and foreign military interventions. Without naming the US, the statement voiced “serious concerns about the rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures which distort trade and are inconsistent with WTO rules.” The bloc reaffirmed its support for an inclusive trading system and rejected ‘punitive and discriminatory protec- tionist measures’. The declaration said the proliferation of trade-restrictive actions “threatens to further reduce global trade, disrupt global supply chains, and introduce uncertainty into international economic and trade activities”. This is not the first time Trump has targeted BRICS. In June, he threatened to slap 100% tariffs on countries that move to replace the US dollar as the global reserve currency . BRICS, originally formed to amplify the voice of major emerging economies, has since expanded beyond its core members to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. Swiggy, Zomato out in the cold Restaurants in namakkal dial new delivery app Express News Service @ Namakkal Restaurant owners and hotel associations in Namakkal district have banded together and tied up with a new food delivery app ‘Zaaroz’, shunning popular food delivery majors like Swiggy and Zomato. The shift comes after local eateries and hotels in the region started facing massive losses due to the inconsistent commission charges, hidden fees, and unilateral discount policies set by the two platforms. On Monday the Namakkal , Town and Taluk Hotel Owners Association teamed up with Zaaroz, which only pays subscriptions from the eateries on a monthly-basis, unlike the other major platforms that allegedly demand high commissions. The move comes after multiple restaurants and eateries reported over 40% losses due to the increasing tariff and hidden costs levied by popular food delivery apps. The association had stopped all food delivery services through Swiggy and Zomato from July 1, after its negotiations with the delivery majors over a set of demands, including standard commission cap at 18%, transparent breakdowns of all charges and the removal of hidden fees, failed to make headway  . P5 probe ORDERED AGAINST SENA MINISTER Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis has ordered an inquiry against Shiv Sena minister Sanjay Shirsat and his son for buying a luxury hotel worth `110 crore much below its value for `67 crore in Sambhaji Nagar by rigging the entire tender process | P8 A file picture of damaged buildings in a residential area after heavy rainfall in Mandi district; (left) Relief material being sent by a helicopter to flood-ravaged residents on Monday | PTI AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami kick-started his campaign ‘Let’s protect the people, Let’s save TN’ in Coimbatore on Monday | S Senbagapandiyan EPS kicks off AIADMK campaign for 2026 polls public meeting alongside BJP TN president Nainar NagenAIADMK general secretary thran, Minister of State for Inand Leader of Opposition Edap- formation Broadcasting L Mupadi K Palaniswami on Mon- rugan, and former AIADMK day kick-started his campaign minister SP Velumani, at Metfor the 2026 Assembly election tupalayam bus stand. from Coimbatore by challeng“If you (DMK) make an alliing the DMK’s main critance with the BJP, then icism of his party’s alliit would be considered a ance with the BJP. good party. However, Pointing to the DMK’s DMK is accusing the BJP good past alliances with the BJP of being an commuwhen it BJP (in 1999 and 2001), nal party after AIADMK suited the he asked how the nationmade an alliance. Except DMK, but al party was considered communal for for this, Stalin could not good when it suited the level any other charge AIADMK DMK and communal against the AIADMKEdappadi K with AIADMK made an BJP-led alliance. DMK Palaniswami alliance with it and said functionaries were centhe alliance had been tral ministers during the made to defeat the enemy . BJP-led central government for Beginning his campaign well five years,” he said. ahead of his rivals after offer“Hereafter, MK Stalin cannot ing prayers at the Vanabadraka- cheat the people of TN. Currentli Amman temple at Met- ly, the BJP gover nment is tupalayam, he took part in a strong, and DMK will see an end road show on the Mettupalayam in the results of the 2026 Assemto Ooty road and addressed a bly polls,” EPS claimed.  P5 S S e n t h i l K u m a r @ Coimbatore no to caste 2.7K TN govt student hostels to be renamed ‘Social Justice’ Express News Service @ Chennai Chief Minister MK Stalin on Monday announced that the 2,739 student hostels run by various departments of the state government will be renamed as ‘Samooga Needhi’ (Social Justice) hostels by removing the caste and religious identifiers, presently part of their names depending on which departments they come under. The move is a continuation of various measures being implemented by the present government to eradicate caste and religion-based dif ferences among students, with an aim to build a future society that is egalitarian in nature, he said. Stalin, in a CM MK Stalin statement, said the gover nment’s decision followed careful consideration of the Justice K Chandru committee’s key recommendation that all caste identifiers in government and private schools be removed. The committee was constituted to recommend measures to eradicate caste-based differences among students in educational institutions. The statement said that in government-run student hostels named after eminent leaders, ‘social justice’ will be appended to their names. Stalin assured that the change of names would not have any impact on the existing infrastructural and monetary support offered to these hostels for school and college students.  P5 e x p r e ss r e a d TN’s 1st block-level heat stress study raises alarm Chennai: Tamil Nadu released the state’s first-ever block-level spatial analysis of heat exposure on Monday. The study confirms that rising urbanisation and loss of natural land cover are driving a surge in local temperatures | P4 HC bins CBI case against Minister Nehru’s brother Chennai: The Madras High Court on Monday quashed a CBI case pending against N Ravichandran, brother of Minister KN Nehru, in connection with the allegations of diversion of funds he received through bank loans | P2 daily soap Rescue ops on to trace 30 missing Kyunki neta again abhineta, Smriti back as Tulsi people after cloudbursts in Himachal K a r t i k B h a r a d w a j @ Mumbai h a r p r e e t b a j w a @ Chandigarh SEARCH and rescue operations in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh were intensified on Monday with the use of drones and sniffer dogs to trace 30 people who went missing after cloudbursts, flash floods and landslides wreaked havoc in the Thunag, Gohar, and Karsog subdivisions last week. A team of 250 personnel from the National and State Disaster Response Forces, Army, IndoTibetan Border Police, and Home Guards, along with the administration and locals, are part of the rescue work. ‘Issue regular updates’ CM Sukhu has directed officials to issue regular weather updates and to counter misinformation circulating on social media The disaster resulted in the deaths of 52 people, with 78 reported deaths since the onset of the monsoon on June 20. Meanwhile, a 10-month-old infant, Nitika, was rescued from the debris of her home in Talwara village. Her father, Ramesh Kumar, was found dead, while her mother and grandmother are still untraced. The infant is currently being taken care of by her aunt. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu expressed concern over the rising incidents of cloudbursts across the state. The local weather office issued a yellow warning for heavy rain at isolated places in four districts of Una, Hamirpur, Solan and Sirmaur districts till Wednesday . As many as 235 roads are closed in the state, of which 176 were in Mandi district alone. Besides, 163 transformers were affected in the state. Actor-politician Smriti Irani will be returning to play the role of Tulsi Virani in the reboot of Ektaa Kapoor’s 2000s iconic daily soap, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. “Some journeys come full circle, not for nostalgia, but for purpose. Returning to Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi is not just a step back into a role, but a return to a story that redefined Indian television and reshaped my own life,” Smriti said in a statement. “Today, I stand at a crossroads where experience meets emotion, and creativity meets conviction. I return not just as an actor, but as someone who Straddled two powerful platforms in 25 years Smriti said she straddled two powerful platforms — media and public policy — in the last 25 years, adding both have their own impact with “each demanding a different kind of commitment” believes in the power of storytelling to spark change, preserve culture, and build empathy she added. ,” The show will to return to its original platform, Star Plus, on July 28. Other than Smriti, the serial will also star Amar Upadhyay, who will return in the role of Mihir. Hiten Tejwani, and Gauri Pradhan will also be seen reprising their roles from Smriti’s first look as Tulsi in Kyunki the show’s original version. In a recent media interaction, Smriti revealed that there were talks about a reboot to the series in 2014, but she had to reject the offer because of her sojourn into politics. However, Ektaa took to social media to claim that such an idea wasn’t in the works at all. She later deleted the post. Smriti, who served as Union minister across multiple portfolios from 2014 to 2024, lost the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Amethi to Sonia Gandhi family loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma by over 1.5 lakh votes, a constituency she had wrested from Rahul Gandhi in 2019. With her return to acting, does this mean a sabbatical from politics, or is it just a calm before the 2029 storm, Kyunki Actor Bhi Kabhi Politician Thi? ‘Kyunki’ aired from 2000 to 2008 and was the most successful serial of its time, with TRPs in double digits for many years.