chennai l sunday l august 03, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 28 l late city EDITION 18K organ transplants last year, but shortage persists low organ donation rate a concern The report, released by Union Health Minister J P Nadda, said although the number of transplants in India has significantly increased from 4,990 in 2013 to 18,378 in 2023 and 18,911 transplants in 2024 from January to December, the organ donation rate remains at less than 1 per million. This contrasts with the highest at 48 per million population in Spain | P9 As many as 18,911 organ transplants were performed last year in India, but acute shortage of organs remains, a report said on Saturday Delhi, tn lead in organ transplants ■ ■ India is the third highest in the world, after US and China, in total organ transplantation and first in total living donor organ transplant In 2024, there were 13,476 kidney transplants in the country, the most in Delhi, followed by TN, Maharashtra, Kerala, and West Bengal; similarly, there were 4,901 liver transplants, with Delhi and TN on top 63,000 individuals in india need kidney transplant at present 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 How SIT’s forensic tools helped send Prajwal to jail for life Soon after the court sentence, in an exclusive interview with THE Special Investigation this paper, the SIT chief said Team (SIT) probing the rape evidence in the rape case rested case against former Janata Dal on the “victim’s statement, fo(S) MP Prajwal Revanna was rensic science and tools includable to establish ing DNA profiling his culpability and matching of press from the leaked voice samples.” clusive The video had video of his sexual aggression Prajwal and the against his emvictim’s voice. ployee and her statement, said The former’s voice was forensiBK Singh, CID ADGP and the cally matched for identificaSIT chief. tion. The victim had already Prajwal was sentenced to life given her statement. Forensic imprisonment on Saturday . tools helped identify the perpeB a l a c h a u h a n @ Bengaluru trator from his body parts in the leaked video, said Singh. Narrating the trail of investigation, Singh said the video, with graphic details of the rape shot by Prajwal to blackmail and silence the victim, did not show his face. The SIT started looking for similar cases of sexual offences in which the face of the accused was not visible and what forensic tools were used to identify the perpetrator. “The team chanced upon two international case studies — ‘Forensic Science, Medicine & Pathology’ in Springer and Prajwal Revanna being taken to a hospital in Bengaluru | PTI PM: India on track to become 3rd largest economy bail granted to two nuns from Kerala They had been arrested in Chhattisgarh on charges of human trafficking and religious conversion | P7 NBW issue: 73K cases pending, HC appoints nodal officer R SIVA K UMAR @ Chennai Expressing concern over thousands of cases pending in courts for decades across the state due to issues in executing non-bailable warrants (NBWs), the Madras High Court has directed subordinate courts and the Director General of Police (DGP) to strictly follow the orders and guidelines of the Supreme Court in this regard. Citing the report filed by the Registrar General, the judge said 73,699 cases are pending at the stage of execution of NBWs from 1985 to June 2025 across the courts in Tamil Nadu. Commenting that pendency of warrants from 1985 “reflects a breakdown of the system”, Justice P Velmurugan appointed R Mahesh Babu, a retired chief administrative officer of district judiciary, as the nodal officer to review the situation in subordinate courts and submit reports. P7 Modi gives it Trump claim back to Don on Russia oil on economy rubbished N a m i ta B a j pa i @ Lucknow R a k e s h K u m a r @ New Delhi In his first public response to US president Donald Trump’s recent barb that the Indian economy was dead, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday asserted that the country was on its way to become the third-largest economy amid global instability . “There is an atmosphere of instability across the globe. Every country is focused on its individual interests. India is set to become the third biggest economy in the world, and that is why India will have to stay alert as far as its economic interests are concer ned,” Modi said. The PM’s statement w i t h o u t n a m i n g Those who want Trump came at a pub- India to become lic rally at Banauli vil- the 3rd-largest economy in the lage in Sevapuri area world should of Varanasi, his parawaken the liamentary constituspirit of ency. Modi advocated swadeshi among the economic self-reliance, masses urging the people to take the pledge towards adopting swadeshi (made in India) as much as they could so as to support nation’s farmers, small industries and youth. “We will buy only those things that are made by Indians. We need to become vocal for local,” he urged the crowd. US President Donald Trump on Saturday said he had heard about India stopping purchasing Russian crude, adding it would be a good step, a claim the government denied. Trump made the remark after announcing 25% reciprocal tariff on Indian imports, along with additional penalties linked to Russian crude imports. “I understand that India is no longer going to be buying oil from Russia. That’s what I heard, I don’t know if that’s right or not. That is a good step. We will see what h a p p e n s, ” T r u m p said. The petroleum minI understand istry, however, clarified that India has not that India is no stopped impor ting longer going to buy oil from Russian crude. A min- Russia. That’s istry official said In- what I heard, I dian oil marketing don’t know if companies (OMCs) that’s right or not. That is a continue to buy Rusgood step sian oil, with supply decisions based on factors such as price, crude grade, inventories, logistics, and other economic considerations. “These are long-term oil contracts. It is not so simple to just stop buying overnight,” he said. The official said Indian OMCs do not import crude from Iran or Venezuela — both sanctioned by the US. INSIDE Oil imports from russia: crude facts & figures I P14 Trump tariff a blow to gems, handicraft I P10 e x p r ess r e a d ‘Won’t accept import of voters’ 4.4K apply for seats for disabled Chennai: Amid speculation over inclusion of seven lakh Bihar migrant workers in TN’s poll rolls, Minister S Regupathy said “importing of voters” will not be accepted and DMK will raise the issue with ECI | P4 Chennai: In the first phase of nomination of persons with disabilities to rural local bodies, a total of 4,398 applications have been received from 2,901 village panchayats in nine districts | P4 dominant day Jaiswal ton, Akash deep cut for England TNIE in England Firoz Mirza @london M Yashasvi Jaiswal celebrates his hundred with Akash Deep on Saturday | AP ake hay when sun shines. India literally lived those words in both letter and spirit, with a little help from England fielders on Saturday. Till tea, England had dropped 20 catches across India’s 10 innings in the fivematch Test series. Six of those chances were spilled in the last 24 hours helping India surge ahead in the fifth and final Test here at the Oval. Centurion Yashasvi Jaiswal got three reprieves while B Sai Sudharsan, Akash Deep, who went on to hammer his maiden Test half-century and Karun were also grassed once by the English fielders. Without Ben Stokes, the home team, led by Ollie Pope, gained upper hand when they dismissed India for 224 in their first innings. Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley then gave them a flying start. The dropped chances - three on Friday and as many on Saturday - however, meant they let the game slip away from their hold. Jaiswal made the most of the chances as he struck 118 off 164. Once India set a target of 374, England started well but Mohammed Siraj gave a crucial breakthrough, removing Zak Crawley. They still need 324 runs to win but it might be a hard task on this surface. P15 Turkiye Journal of Forensic Medicine & Forensic Sciences on forensic image comparison of penis in the identification of the sexual offender,” said ADGP Singh. The investigation hit the first roadblock when doctors at the government hospital refused to take photographs of Prajwal’s penis, citing violation of medical ethics. “Doctors medically examine a suspect or crime accused brought by the police.They are not authorised to take their photographs. The SIT sought court permission citing strong reasons for their request. With the court’s permission the photographs were taken and forensically examined to verify whether the male organ in the rape video was that of Prajwal,” he said. The morphological features of the accused and the one found in the video were compared to match his identity . “The photographs obtained from the video identified the perpetrator with the help of a dermatologist and urologist,” said Singh.  Continued on: P7 CM launches ‘Nalam Kaakum Stalin’ scheme amid HC bar on use of name 1.2K camps across tn Around 1,256 camps will be held across TN. Each camp will have 200 medical staff, and priority will be given for those suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Chennai Chief Minister MK Stalin on Saturday launched the ‘Nalam Kaakum Stalin’ scheme, a special health screening camp carrying his name, amid Madras High Court ruling against use of names of living personalities in government schemes. A modification petition filed by the Tamil Nadu government seeking clarification on the HC’s interim order on use of names is likely to be heard by the court on Monday . Launching the statewide scheme at the St Bede’s Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School in Santhome, the CM urged doctors not to view all those who come to hospitals as patients but see them as beneficiaries of health programmes. “Those who come to hospitals should be seen as beneficiaries of health initiatives and not as patients by doctors,” the CM said. P7 WITH THIS ISSUE All Quiet on the Northern Front PLUS 12 P AGES