kottayam l wednesday l december 24, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l city EDITION chinnaswamy stadium fails to get approval to host matches The Vijay Hazare Trophy matches, supposed to be held at M Chinnaswamy in Bengaluru, moved elsewhere after government denies permission Committee to submit report to govt Games moved to BCCI CoE, says KSCA Following the stampede during RCB’s IPL celebrations on June 4, the stadium has not hosted any games. The Karnataka State Association sought permission to host without any crowd. The state home minister had constituted a committee that visited the venue to review on Monday and denied their request. They will submit the findings to the government. ■ ■ With no permission to host the 50-over matches, KSCA said in a statement that the fixtures have been moved to BCCI Centre of Excellence for the time being Both Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant, who were supposed to play at the venue, will now turn up for Delhi against Andhra at BCCI CoE | P13 3 May 3 was the last official IPL match held at the venue 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 Court rejects UP govt plea to nix charges in Akhlaq case Jaishankar announces aid, builds on First Responder role, commitment to reconstruction $450 mn relief package for cyclone-hit Sri Lanka nami ta b ajpai @ Lucknow J ayan t h J a c o b @ New Delhi A fast-track court in Surajpur on Tuesday rejected the Uttar Pradesh government’s application to withdraw charges in the 2015 Mohammad Akhlaq lynching case, while directing that the trial be fasttracked with daily hearings. Additional District Judge Saurabh Dwivedi ruled that the case be categorised as “most important” and directed police authorities, including the Gautam Buddha Nagar Police Commissioner, to ensure protection of crucial evidence. The court scheduled the next hearing for January 6. Akhlaq, 50, was lynched by a mob in Dadri’s Bisada village on September 28, 2015, following rumours of cow slaughter. Mohammed Akhlaq He died from injuries sustained in the attack, while his son Danish, who tried to intervene, narrowly survived. The state government had moved the court to withdraw charges on October 15, citing inconsistent witness statements, absence of recovered weapons, and lack of prior enmity between the accused and the victim. Noida Police had registered an FIR at Jarcha police station under IPC sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder),148 (rioting with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 323 (assault), 504 (intent to disturb peace) on the basis of a complaint by Akhlaq’s wife. India on Tuesday pledged a $450 million reconstruction and recovery package to Sri Lanka following the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar announced during his visit to Colombo as a special envoy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking after talks with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath, Jaishankar said he carried a personal message from Prime Minister Modi to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, whom he met earlier in the day. “The letter from Prime Minister Modi builds on our First Responder role and commits a reconstruction package of USD 450 million.” Jaishankar said the package would comprise $350 million in concessional lines of credit and $100 million in grants. The assistance will focus on rebuilding roads, railways and bridges; housing; health and education facilities; agricul- Assam’s Karbi Anglong on fire Flames billow after an arson attack following demands for eviction of encroachers in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district on Tuesday; and security personnel try to control the situation | ANI | P10 India, Bangladesh summon envoys amid protests jayan t h ja c o b @ New Delhi INDIA and Bangladesh summoned each other’s envoys on Tuesday to lodge formal protests over developments straining bilateral ties, as widespread demonstrations erupted across India following the lynching of a Hindu man in Bangladesh. Dhaka summoned Indian High Commissioner Pranay Verma on Tuesday morning, expressing concern over an “unsatisfactory security situation” at Bangladesh’s missions in India. Foreign Secretary Asad Alam Siam raised issues related to protests outside diplomatic premises in New Delhi, Kolkata and Agartala. “The foreign secretary conveyed Bangladesh’s serious concern and emphasised the host country’s responsibility under the Vienna Convention to ensure full protection of diplomatic premises,” a source said. Hours later, India summoned Bangladesh High Commissioner Riaz Hamidullah for the second time in a week over security concerns for Indian missions in Bangladesh. India urged a thorough probe into student leader Hadi’s death rather than blaming India, noting that unverified claims sparked anti-India protests, including an attempt to storm the Indian Assistant High Commission in Chittagong. The exchanges followed protests by Hindu rightwing groups across New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and J a m m u , a m o n g m a n y, against the December 18 lynching of Dipu Chandra Das, 25, in Mymensingh, allegedly attacked over blasphemy charges. In New Delhi, VHP and Bajrang Dal cadres broke barricades and attempted to march towards the Bangladesh High Commission. Kerala has 2.54 cr voters in post-SIR draft list; 24L out E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @T’Puram A total of 2.54 crore voters figure in the state’s draft voters list published on Tuesday following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The poll roll that was frozen on October 27, before the SIR, had 2.78 crore voters. A total of 24.08 lakh people, mainly those in the Absent, Shifted and Dead (ASD) catego- ry, have been excluded. Chief Electoral Officer (CEO)-Kerala Rathan U Kelkar said those not in the draft roll can enrol afresh, with an undertaking, until the last day of filing of nominations for the 2026 assembly election. The draft list has 1.23 crore male voters, 1.3 crore female voters and 280 voters registered as third gender. The earlier roll had 1.34 crore male voters, 1.44 crore female voters and 381 voters registered as third gender. Kelkar said booth-wise list of people in ASD category has been handed over to representative of political parties at the district and assembly levels. The booth-wise list is also available on the CEO’s website. Kelkar urged people to check the draft roll and enrol themselves if their names are not includ● More on P6 ed.  A Bailey Bridge built by the Indian Army in Lanka’s Kilinochchi; and (inset) S Jaishankar hands over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s letter to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake | PTI ture; and strengthening disaster preparedness. “We are conscious that work towards mitigating the impact of Cyclone Ditwah must be done in the quickest time possible,” he said and added that India and Sri Lanka were finalising coordination mechanisms for rapid delivery . Jaishankar also pointed to longer-term support, including boosting Indian tourism and foreign direct investment. “India stands firmly with Sri Lanka more than ever before,” he said, expressing confidence in the island nation’s resilience as Unsafe riding: MVD notice to BigBasket, Zepto, Swiggy, Blinkit E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @T’Puram Alarmed by the rise in unsafe riding practices linked to ultra-fast delivery targets, the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) has issued notices to leading quickcommerce firms, including Blinkit, Swiggy Zepto and BigBasket, directing them to , strictly adhere to road safety guidelines. Transport Commissioner C Nagaraju confirmed that notices have been served on dark stores as well as delivery platforms, and said the companies have been given 15 days to streamline delivery timelines and align safety policies with existing road safety regulations. Failure to comply would result in further legal action against the firms, he said. The action was initiated after officials observed repeated instances of rash and negligent driving among two-wheeler delivery personnel of these platforms. Several quick-commerce firms advertise delivery windows as short as seven to 20 minutes, which the MVD pointed out as a major factor encouraging reckless behav● More on P6 iour on city roads.  EXPRESS READ Minimol, Shiny to share Kochi mayor term; Deepthi unhappy Kochi: The Congress named V K Minimol and Shiny Mathew as Kochi ‘mayors’ under a termsharing arrangement. However, the move has triggered open dissent from KPCC general secretary Deepthi Mary Varghese, exposing internal fault lines | P7 Lynching shatters family’s dream of a roof over head G O P I K A V A RR I E R @Thrissur Lalitha sat on the verandah in the Welfare Party’s office in Thrissur, frozen, her eyes blank. A numbness has enveloped the 35-year-old since Sunday night, when she saw the lifeless body of her husband Ramnarayan Baghel, a Chhattisgarh resident who was lynched by a mob at Attappallam in Palakkad on December 17 over suspicions of theft and being a ‘Bangladeshi’. It had not let go of her when TNIE spoke to her on Monday night. Nearby, her children, aged 10 and 9, watched videos on the mobile, blissfully unaware of the tragedy that had struck the family . Lalitha was at her home in Karhi, Chhattisgarh, when she received the devastating news. “It was our dream to construct our own house. Brick by brick, we built it. However, we needed more Lalitha, wife of Ramnarayan Baghel, breaks down upon seeing her husband’s body at Thrissur Government Medical College money to concrete the roof and complete it,” Lalitha said. On December 13, Ramnarayan, a mason who earned `250 back home, left for Kerala. That was the last Lalitha saw or spoke to him. “He took the train dreaming about a job that paid better so that our house could be built swiftly,” she said. Upon arriving at Kerala, Ramnarayan called his brother— Lalitha doesn’t have a phone— saying he had reached. “I didn’t even get a chance to talk to him,” ● More on P6 said Lalitha.  it recovers from the disaster. Detailing India’s emergency response, Jaishankar said relief operations under Operation Sagar Bandhu began on the day Cyclone Ditwah made landfall. “Our Aircraft Carrier INS Vikrant and INS Udayagiri were present at Colombo and delivered relief material, after which helicopters were deployed,” he said. Indian Air Force Mi-17 helicopters operated in Sri Lanka for more than two weeks, while an 80-member National Disaster Response Force team carried out rescue and relief work. The Indian Army also set up a field hospital near Kandy with 85 medical personnel, providing emergency care to over 8,000 people. Besides, army engineers erected a Bailey bridge at Kilinochchi using equipment transported by C-17 aircraft, while another bridge at Chilaw is currently under construction. According to a World Bank Group Global Rapid Post-Disaster Damage Estimation (GRADE) report, the cyclone caused an estimated US$4.1 billion in damage, which is around 4 percent of Sri Lanka’s GDP . Assessees sore with taxman’s ‘nudge’ D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi Holiday mood dampened for thousands of taxpayers ahead of the Christmas and New Year with the tax department seeking clarification about the discrepancies in their returns for assessment year 2025-26. Sources said the income tax department’s automated risk management framework flagged a high volume of cases where refund claims are substantially high and do not align with official data. Such refunds have been put on hold pending veri- fication. Tax professionals noted a surge in alerts targeting taxpayers who may be misreporting information. Key triggers for these investigations include Form 16 mismatches, suspicious deductions, and nondisclosures of assets. According to the income tax department, ‘identified’ taxpayers are being contacted through SMS and email under the Nonintrusive Usage of Data to Guide and Enable (NUDGE) campaign to correct errors. The due date for filing revised ITRs is December 31.