T he top 3 hig hest- paid players visakhapatnam l wednesday l december 17, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Uncapped? No worries, IPL can make you rich Several players who have not played for India had their biggest pay day at the IPL mini auction. A look Life-changing day Overseas stars revel Kartik Sharma (19), `14.2 cr. Prashant Veer (20), `14.2 cr. Mangesh Yadav (23), `5.2 cr. And Auqib Nabi (29), `8.4 cr. From 19 to 29 year old, these uncapped players’ lives will change forever. If Veer’s father is a contractual teacher in UP earning `10,000 a month and supporting a family, Nabi began his journey in Baramulla where there is hardly any cricket infrastructure. For Sharma, it is a reward for pursuing a sport his father too pursued as a profession. Their houses burst into emotional celebrations. If the youngsters were spotted by scouts during state T20 leagues, for Nabi, it was a reward after years of toil without much return | P11 Australian all-rounder Cameron Green became the highest-paid overseas star, signed by Kolkata Knight Riders for `25.5 crore. Matheesa Pathirana (`18 crore) and Mustafizur Rahman (`9.2 crore) were also signed by KKR who made the most of the big purse. Sunrisers Hyderabad saved up their purse and went after Liam Livingstone (`13 crore) while Lucknow Super Giants went big for Josh Inglis (`8.6 crore). The trend continued with overseas seamers and explosive all-rounders in great demand D25.5 cr Cameron Green D14.2 cr Kartik Sharma D14.2 cr Prashant Veer T20 generation in demand CSK head coach Stephen Fleming called them the “T20 babies”, up and coming stars in domestic cricket between 19-23 who were scouted and fought for at the auction table. This is a generation that grew up on IPL and were spotted in state T20 leagues It helped that this was a mini-auction and the purse is as big as it gets, but teams were keen to invest in younger talent with the T20 game evolving faster than ever. It will be interesting to see how these players and teams look by the time next mega auction comes along `215.45 cr Total money spent at the auction 35 As many as 35 of the 77 players signed at the auction are uncapped Indians (1 uncapped Australian) 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 Bondi Beach assailant G-Ram-G bill introduced in LS amid din had roots in Hyderabad Cong’s nationwide protests today P REE T HA N AIR @ New Delhi Sajid migrated to Australia in ’98; no India connect to radicalisation C h i t h a l u r i R e v a nt h a n d B a l a C h a u h a n @ Hyderabad/ Bengaluru Sajid Akram, 50, one of the perpetrators of the Bondi Beach mass murder in Sydney , had migrated from Hyderabad to Australia in November 1998, Telangana Director General of Police B Shivadhar Reddy said on Tuesday . Sajid and his son Naveed, 24, massacred Jews on Sunday while the latter were observing the first day of Hanukkah, killing 15 people. Sajid was shot dead on the spot by the police while Naveed was injured. After the attack, the Australian police raided Sajid’s house and found his Doodhbowli in Hyderabad address on his passport, sources told this daily . A commerce graduate from an autonomous minority college in Hyderabad, Sajid migrated to Australia on student visa in search of better livelihood. His student visa was transferred in 2001 to a partner visa and later Resident Return Visas. “His first job was as a salesman in a mall in Sydney. He later married Venera Grosso of European origin. The couple (From left) Naveed and Sajid Akram ISIS footprint According to unconfirmed reports, Naveed was associated with Isaac El Matari from Sydney, who had declared himself the IS commander for Australia and was jailed in 2021 for terrorist offences had two children — 24-year-old son Naveed (the second Bondi shooter) and a daughter. Since 1998, Sajid visited Hyderabad on six occasions primarily for property issues. His last visit was in 2022, to settle his property share with his elder brother, who lives with their widowed mother and his family in Tolichowki in Hyderabad. The relationship between the sib- lings was not courteous,” sources on condition of anonymity told this newspaper. Sajid did not even show up when his father died in 2009. His dad worked for the UAE army and returned to Hyderabad after retirement. That is when he built the house in Tolichowki. “The family is in shock because Sajid never displayed any extremist ideology. Surprisingly he did not have many , friends in Hyderabad, who could throw light on his radicalisation,” the sources added. The DGP said the factors that led to their radicalisation appear to have no connection with India. In Australia, Sajid obtained a firearm licence for ‘recreational hunting’. Weeks ahead of the Bondi massacre, Sajid and Naveed flew to the Philippines and received “military training”. They arrived on November 1 and left on November 28. Sajid had travelled using his Indian passport. Naveed is an Australian citizen. He was earlier assessed by authorities in 2019 for his alleged links with IS but was cleared for not posing any ongoing threat. Waqf Board land bank swells to 81,000 acres Express News Service @ Vijayawada Luthras extradited Gaurav and Saurabh Luthra, co-owners of ill-fated Goa nightclub, deported from Thailand | P7 The Andhra Pradesh Waqf Board (APWB) has added nearly 15,000 acres to its land bank, taking the total to 81,000 acres, following verification and extensive digitisation of records. Addressing a press conference on Tuesday to mark the completion of one year in office, APWB Chairman Sk Abdul Aziz said the increase reflects the State government’s commitment to protecting Waqf properties. Mentioning Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s assertion that “not even an inch of Waqf land Bengal SIR: 58L voters out of revised poll rolls S U B HE N D U M AI T I @ Kolkata WITH deletions of more than 58 lakh alleged dead and bogus voters from the list, Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday released the draft electoral rolls for West Bengal after completing phase one of Special Intensive Revision (SIR). As per the draft electoral rolls, the names of 7,08,16,631 voters were included in the rolls in West Bengal’s phase 1 of SIR. The ECI has identified about 1.66 crores out of these voters who may be called for hearings to verify their documents again. In January, 2025, there were 7,66,37,529 voters on the list. With 58,20,898 voters, who are either dead or have permanently shifted, dropped, the official electors is now 7,08,16,631. The commission said the deletion list includes voters whose names appeared in the January 2025 electoral rolls but do not figure in the post-SIR draft rolls. With assembly elections likely early next year, the draft rolls — along with a detailed, booth-wise list of deleted voters and reasons for deletion — have been uploaded on the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer’s (CEO) website (ceowestbengal.wb.gov.in/Electors), the ECI voter portal (voters.eci.gov.in) and ECINET application. should be left encroached,” he said the APWB is committed to enforcing it. According to earlier records, the total Waqf land in the State stood at 65,800 acres. However, a detailed exercise, involving digitisation of records, verification of Inam registers, RSR documents and revenue records had led to the identification of additional land, taking the total beyond 81,000 acres. “All Waqf lands and properties have now been digitised with accurate details, wh i ch w i l l s i g n i f i c a n t ly strengthen the Board’s position in legal disputes,” the ChairP4 man said. THE Lok Sabha on Tuesday witnessed fierce protests from Opposition members after the government introduced a new bill to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Several Opposition MPs demanded that the new bill—Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, 2025—be sent to a Parliamentary panel. Amid the buzz that the government is determined to clear the bill in the current session, INDIA bloc leaders have decided to meet at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s chamber at 10.15 am on Wednesday for a strategy session. The Congress has also issued a Whip mandating its MPs to Court rejects Herald case chargesheet u d aya n k i s h o r e @ New Delhi IN a huge relief to Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, a Delhi court on Tuesday refused to take cognisance of a chargesheet filed against them by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case in the National Herald case. Special Judge Vishal Gogne said the prosecution complaint ( E D ’s e q u iva l e n t t o a chargesheet) filed by ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was not maintainable since the case was not filed on the basis of an Sonia Gandhi FIR. The court, however, said that since Delhi Police has registered an FIR in the matter, ED can make further submissions in the case, if it wants. Apart from Gandhis, Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda, Young Indian, Dotex Merchandise and Sunil Bhandari were also accused in the case. “Cognisance of the offence (of money laundering) defined under Section 3 and punishable under Section 4 is declined. The complaint is dismissed,” the court said. The Congress will hold protests across the country on Wednesday against VB-G RAM, alleging the Centre is trying to dismantle a rights-based welfare scheme and attack Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy. Senior leader K C Venugopal, in a letter to all state Congress chiefs, urged them to organise protests at all district headquarters be present in the Lok Sabha for the next three days as VB-G RAM G and other key legislations are likely to come up for consideration and passage. On Tuesday, after introducing VB-G RAM G Bill, Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the government not only believes in Gandhi but also follows his principles. Leading the attack, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the bill would eliminate the legal guarantee of employment for rural workers and increase the financial burden on states. She alleged it will give the Centre power to pre-determine the funds and the areas of allocation, thereby ending the demand-based system. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor termed the bill a retrograde step, saying the 40% financial burden on states will lead to “delays in wage payments, a reduction in the number of workdays, and ultimately the destruction of the scheme itself ”. After staging a walkout from the House, the Opposition leaders held a protest at the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the Parliament complex. Separately, in a post on X, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi alleged Prime Minister Narendra Modi had always opposed the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi and had been trying to weaken the rural employment scheme. “Modiji has a deep hatred for two things — the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi and the rights of the poor,” he said. One Inspector’s blunder cost me CM post in 2019: Naidu Y B r a h m a j i @ Vijayawada Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has reiterated that the NDA government will fulfil its election promise of providing 20 lakh jobs to the youth. Participating in the Yuva Galam induction programme of 5,700 stipendiary cadet trainee police constables at the 6th Battalion in Mangalagiri on Tuesday, he handed over appointment letters to candidates. Addressing the recruits, Naidu said the coalition government fulfilled its commitment of conducting Mega DSC and police constable selections. As many as 23,676 police jobs have been filled so far, including the latest round, and nearly 25,000 of the State’s 75,000 police force were recruited during his tenure, he said. In all, 15,591 teacher posts were filled through Mega DSC, and 5,757 constable posts in the current phase, amounting to over four lakh jobs across departments. The recruitment process was completed swiftly and transparently despite 31 writ petitions in different courts, he highlighted, exhorting new recruits to uphold discipline and 25 killed in U.P. road accidents in a day major pile-up Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan participate in the induction programme of stipendiary cadet trainee constables in Mangalagiri I Express Stipend hiked to `12,500 from `4,500 Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu announced a steep hike in stipend for trainee police constables from `4,500 to `12,500. The decision taken after brief consultations with Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, and DGP Harish Kumar Gupta, drew loud applause from trainee constables. The enhanced stipend will ease financial pressure on police recruits, and reflects the government’s commitment to their welfare, officials said integrity of the force. Recalling events before the 2019 elections, Naidu said he initially believed former minister YS Vivekananda Reddy had died of a heart attack, but later learned that it was a murder. Naidu alleged that bloodstains VSP sets daily output record of 20,044 tonnes U s h a P e r i @ Visakhapatnam Cranes clear the charred remains of a bus after a fog-hit pile-up involving several buses and cars triggered fires on the Yamuna Expressway in Mathura on Tuesday morning. At least 13 were killed. In all, across UP, 25 people were killed and 59 injured in a series of fog-linked accidents. Inset: People help an injured person | pti in Vivekananda Reddy’s room were washed away, and although a Circle Inspector was aware of the incident, the information was not reported to higher-ups. The culprits escaped and shifted the blame P4 onto the Chief Minister. Thanks to the consistent efforts of the workforce, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), has recorded its highestever single-day hot metal production of 21,205 tonnes on December 15. This sustained increase is its highestever single-day output.  Hot metal production stood at 17,036 tonnes on December 1, and rose steadily over the following days to 17,612 tonnes on December 2, 19,042 tonnes on December 3, and 19,365 tonnes on December 4. The upward trend continued with production reaching 19,675 tonnes on December 5, and 19,496 tonnes on December 6. The plant crossed the 20,000tonne mark on December 7, with an output of 20,022 tonnes. This was followed by 19,802 tonnes on December 8, 19,523 tonnes on December 9, and 19,212 tonnes on December 10. Production again exceeded 20,000 tonnes on December 11, and December 12, with output of 20,044 tonnes, and 20,043 tonnes. After recording 19,009 tonnes on December 13, the steel plant achieved a significant jump to 21,012 tonnes of hot metal production on December 14.On December 15, VSP achieved its highest-ever daily hot metal production, producing 21,205 tonnes from P4 its three blast furnaces.