TIRUNELVELI l Monday l July 14, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l CITY EDITION CCTV cameras in trains to enhance passenger safety In a first, the Ministry of Railways has decided to install CCTV cameras in all passenger train coaches and locomotives ‘Will deter miscreants, organised gangs’ The decision follows positive outcomes from experimental installations of CCTVs in Northern Railway. Railway officials said the move is expected to bolster passenger safety and help deter miscreants and gangs who exploit travellers. To preserve privacy, CCTVs will be installed in the common area near the doors | P7 74,000 vaishnav asks officials to make use of ai ■ Officials said each locomotive will be equipped with six CCTVs. Additionally, each cab of a loco will be fitted with one dome-type CCTV camera and two desk-mounted microphones, they added ■ Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnav has encouraged officials to explore the use of AI on the data captured by the CCTV cameras Coaches and 15,000 locomotives will be fitted with cctv cameras 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 Khalistani terrorist Batala, 7 others arrested in US H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh in a major crackdown on international terror network, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has arrested eight Khalistani terrorists across the US, including Pavittar Singh Batala—a gangster from Punjab wanted by the National Investigation Agency for terror activities linked to the banned Babbar Khalsa International. The eight men were picked up from San Joaquin County during an investigation into a gang-related kidnapping and MTC bus runs over man after driver dies of heart attack Gautha m Se lvaraja n @ Chennai An MTC bus fatally ran over a pedestrian at Arumbakkam in Chennai on Sunday morning after its driver suffered a heart attack and died while at the wheel. The bus crashed into three cars parked outside a hotel in the locality before coming to a stop. Both men were rushed to the Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital but were declared dead on arrival. The deceased were identified as driver Velumani (58) of Dharmapuri and Sasikumar (65) of Chetpet in Chennai. Officials said there were no passengers on the bus at the time of the accident. According to the Anna Nagar Traffic Investigation Wing (TIW) police, Velumani took the MTC bus (route No. 70 C, which runs from Koyambedu to Tambaram) from the Vadapalani bus depot around 6am and was driving it to the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT) when the accident took place. The bus was to be operated from the CMBT depot, a source said. “Once Velumani collapsed, the bus went out of control crushing Sasikumar to death. It then crashed into cars parked outside a hotel and came to a halt. Passersby alerted the police,” said a police officer.  P5 torture case. During the raid, a been charged with various ofcache of arms including a fully fences including kidnapping, automatic Glock, hundreds of torture, unlawful confinement, rounds of ammuniwitness intimidation, tion, several high-caassault with a semipacity magazines, and automatic firearm, isover $15,000 in cash suing criminal were seized. threats, and gang-reBatala had an Interlated enhancements. pol Red Corner Notice “On July 11, the San against him. The othJoaquin County Sherer arrested men are iff ’s Office AGNET Amritpal Singh, Dil- Pavittar Singh Batala Unit—alongside the preet Singh, ArshStockton Police Depreet Singh, Manpreet Rand- partment SWAT, Manteca Pohawa, Gurtaj Singh, Sarabjit lice Department SWAT, StanisSingh, and Vishal. They have laus County Sheriff ’s Office Inferno on tracks: Thousands stranded as trains cancelled B A N B U S E LV A N @ Chennai Travel plans of thousands of rail passengers were thrown into chaos after a diesel-laden freight train derailed and caught fire near Tiruvallur early on Sunday. The fire, which erupted around 5.15 am, spread thick plumes of smoke across a radius of 5km, triggering panic among residents of Varatharajapuram, Manavala Nagar, and Periyakuppam along the Tiruvallur-Egattur railway line. While no casualties were reported, nearly 150 families were evacuated from the area as a precaution. According to official estimates, about 8.64 lakh litres of high-speed diesel worth approximately `7.94 crore was destroyed in the fire, which engulfed 18 wagons of the 55-wagon freight train. Around 250m of the fast line and 400m of overhead electric lines between Tiruvallur and Arakkonam were also completely destroyed. Express read TNEA counselling for general category begins Chennai: Tamil Nadu Engineering Admission counselling for general category students will begin from Monday. This year, courses related to electronics engineering are likely to be students’ first choice, due to slowdown in IT sector | P2 Video of 3 kids cleaning toilets in Pudukai school goes viral, inquiry on E x pre s s New s Serv i ce @ Pudukkottai Pudukkottai education officials have begun an inquiry after a video went viral on Sunday showing three students of a government primary school in the district cleaning the institution’s toilets. Sources said the incident occurred at the Panchayat Union Primary School in Namanasamuthiram Kudiyiruppu in Pudukkottai. In the video, two boys, dressed in their school uniform, are seen filling water in buckets and cleaning toilets, while a third boy is seen sweeping inside the toilet. The school has 30 students studying from classes 1 to 5. Only two teachers are working at the institution, sources added. When contacted, education officials said that they had started looking into the issue on Saturday, even before the video went viral, on directions of Collector M Aruna. While many online alleged that the teachers might have forced the students to clean the toilets, officials said a field visit was required to verify the matter. SWAT and FBI SWAT—executed five coordinated search warrants across San Joaquin County as part of a gang-related kidnapping and torture investigation,” the San Joaquin County Sheriff ’s Office said. NIA sources said they are in touch with their US counterparts for Batala’s extradition. The accused used virtual numbers and encrypted apps to promote a pro-Khalistan network. The module was reportedly operating under the instructions of terrorist Harwinder Singh Rinda. Students cleaning toilets at a primary school in Pudukkottai | screengrab We had started looking into the issue on Saturday, even before the video went viral, as per the directions of the district collector. However, a field visit is required to verify the incident Education department official “The video could also be an old one. We were unable to visit the school immediately. However, a team of officers will be sent to the school on Monday for investigation,” an education official said. So far, authorities have not confirmed about when the video was recorded, or whether such incidents have occurred before at the school. A diesel-laden train caught fire near Tiruvallur on Sunday, triggering panic among residents along the Tiruvallur-Egattur railway line | Ashwin prasath Southern Railway has formed a high-level committee comprising officials from the safety , mechanical, and operations departments to investigate the 15 trains short-terminated All suburban train services in the Chennai-Arakkonam section were suspended from 5.15 am. About 15 express trains bound for Chennai were short-terminated between Arakkonam and Gudiyatham | P2 incident. The state government has formed three special teams led by the ADGP (Railways) to conduct a parallel inquiry . The fire began from the engine of the third coach of the train, which was carrying the high-speed diesel for the Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) from Chennai (Tondiarpet) to Mysuru, after it derailed around 5.10am soon after crossing the Tiruvallur station.  P5 Now, EC mulls pan-India revision of electoral rolls Move follows SC view that SIR is a ‘constitutional mandate’ M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi UNDETERRED by the controversy over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar, it is learnt that the Election Commission of India (ECI) has sent a communication to chief electoral officers (CEOs) of all states to activate poll machinery for a possible rollout of the exercise on a pan-India basis. The ECI’s decision comes in the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s observation last week that SIR is a “constitutional mandate” and that ECI can go ahead with the revision exercise in Bihar. Several opposition parties and civil society organisations had moved the Supreme Court challenging the intensive revision, saying it deprived eligible citizens of their right to vote for want of documents specified by the poll panel for inclusion in the voters’ list. Union Home Minister Amit Shah in an interview with this newspaper on Saturday had said, “I believe that if anyone has any concerns about the process, he/she should approach the Election Commission. Not with presumptions, but with examples of the outcomes of the process. Roll revision is not happening for the first time. It happened in 1991, too. Also, it’s not being done only in Bihar. I think it will be done across India. Anyway, the Shringla, Ujjwal Nikam among 4 nominated to RS E X P R E SS N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi President Droupadi Murmu has nominated former foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, lawyer Ujjwal Nikam, Kerala BJP leader C Sadanandan Harsh Vardhan Master, and historian MeenakShringla shi Jain. In a notification issued late Saturday night, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that the President has nominated the four eminent persons to the Rajya Sabha to fill vacancies necessitated by the retirement of nominated members. A 1984 batch Indian Foreign Ujjwal Service officer, Shringla had Nikam served as India’s Ambassador to the US and Thailand and as high commissioner to Bangladesh. He was foreign secretary from 2020 to 2022. Maharashtra lawyer Nikam was the special public prosecutor in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case. Sadanandan Sadanandan Master, a retired Master school teacher from Kerala, lost both his legs in an attack allegedly carried out by CPM workers in 1994. Historian and author Jain served as a lecturer at Delhi University’s Gargi College. In 2020, she was awarded the Padma Shri in recognition of her contributions to the fileds of litMeenakshi erature and education. Jain The President of India can nominate 12 people to the Rajya Sabha. These are well-known individuals from diverse backgrounds including art, literature, and public service. Four of the 12 nominated seats were vacant; the latest nomination fills those vacancies. matter is before the Supreme Court.” On the opposition calling it a shadow CAA-NRC, Shah had said, “They opposed everything the EC does. They need to justify their poll defeats, so they present fake narratives.” In the communication to the CEOs, the ECI asked them to prepare for conducting SIR in their respective jurisdictions with January 1, 2026 as the qualifying date, which means that above 18 years on Sibal says SIR is unconstitutional Election Commission has always been a “puppet” in the hands of the BJP government, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal alleged, adding that the poll body’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar is “unconstitutional” that date would be included in the voters’ list. According to sources, a few CEOs have already started putting out voters’ list published after the last SIR held in their states. The website of Delhi CEO has the 2008 voters’ list when the last revision took place. According to sources, ECI will take a final call on nationwide exercise after July 28 when the Bihar SIR case will come up again for hearing in the top court. ‘People from Nepal, B’desh, in Bihar list’ E x pre s s n ew s s erv i ce @ New Delhi BOOTH-level officers of Election Commission of India (ECI) conducting the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar have found a number of individuals from Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar possessing Indian documents such as Aadhaar, domicile certificates, and ration cards, sources said on Sunday . According to ECI officials, ground-level officials have so far established direct contact with nearly all voters in the state as part of the exercise. “During house-to-house visits, a large number of people from Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar have been found. They have got Aadhaar, domicile certificates, ration card,” said an official. Sources said a thorough verification will be carried out between August 1 and 30, and names found not eligible will be excluded from the final voter list to be released on September 30. 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