chennai l Sunday l july 05, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 30 l late city EDITION Incessant Heavy rains paralyse mumbai; schools, colleges shut Incessant rainfall lashed Mumbai on Saturday, disrupting road and rail traffic and prompting the authorities to close schools and colleges Red alert in mumbai, thane and palghar people urged to avoid unnecessary travel Heavy rains continued throughout the day, virtually paralysing the financial capital with roads and railway tracks submerged in flood water. Heavy water-logging was reported from several low-lying areas, including Andheri, Kurla, Sakinaka, Chembur, Santacruz, Goregaon and Powai. The weather office has issued a red alert for Mumbai, Thane and Palghar ■ ■ At least three people were injured in Mumbai’s Byculla area when a two-storey structure collapsed. Heavy rains lashed Thane and Palghar, too. In Thane, a falling tree injured two motorists Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis urged people to avoid travel to prevent accidents caused by heavy rain and storms 100 mm of rainfall in parts of mumbai since Friday morning 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 Khalid, Sharjeel fail to get bail, again No option but to follow Jan 5 SC order, says trial court u d aya n k i s h o r e @ New Delhi A Delhi trial court on Saturday rejected the bail applications of activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the larger conspiracy case linked to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, saying the Supreme Court had already junked their pleas moved on similar grounds. Additional Sessions Judge Sameer Bajpai said the court had “no option but to follow” the Supreme Court’s January 5 order and, therefore, “could neither entertain the pleas nor grant them the relief.” The judge added that the bail pleas were not even maintainable in the trial court. “Although the applicants had argued that there was a change in circumstances following a division bench judgment of the top court in the case of Syed Iftikhar Andrabi, the issue concerning the divergence of opinion between that verdict and the Supreme Court’s judgment in Gulfisha Fatima versus State has already been referred to a larger bench. Unless the issue is settled, the court cannot con- WITH THIS ISSUE Bheja Fry PLUS 12 P AGES Morocco in last 8 T h e g r e at e s c a p e Blockbuster in Miami Own goal decides thriller Cape Verde rocked Lionel Messi’s Argentina with two stunning equalisers to raise the prospect of pulling off the greatest upset in WC history. But a Diney Borges own goal, under pressure from Cristian Romero, in the 111th minute broke the resistance Salah vs Messi next Egypt posted their first victory in a knockout round of the World Cup. They made history by beating Australia 4-2 on spot-kicks to reach the last 16. Egypt will face Argentina on July 7. Colombia, meanwhile, ended Ghana’s run with a 1-0 victory Azzedine Ounahi scored a double as Morocco became the first side to book a quarterfinal spot. The African side beat co-hosts Canada 3-0 at Houston Stadium on Saturday. The 26-year-old midfielder netted the opening two goals before Soufiane Rahimi’s strike in injury time Today’s matches: Brazil vs Norway | 1:30 AM*; Mexico vs England | 5:30 AM* (*IST Monday) Gutkha scam HC asks court to finish trial in 12 weeks Justice GK Ilanthiraiyan gave the direction on a petition by ex-GCP commissioner S George seeking the removal of several prosecution witnesses from CBI’s witness list | P5 Cops issue Look Out Circular against Balaji E X P RE S S NE W S S ERVICE @ Chennai/Karur The Greater Chennai Police (GCP) on Saturday issued summonses to former DMK minister and Coimbatore South MLA V Senthil Balaji and his brother V Ashok Kumar to appear before the Triplicane police in Chennai at 10.30 am on Monday in connection with the alleged `35-crore bribery bid and intimidation targeting Uthangarai MLA Dr N Ilaiyaraja of the ruling TVK. A Look Out Circular (LOC) was also issued against the two to prevent them from leaving the country Police sources said . that since the whereabouts of the brothers is not known, the two summonses were handed over to their father at their residence in Karur.  P7 Umar Khalid Sharjeel Imam Lens on Jan 5 order Umar Khalid’s lawyer, Trideep Pias, questioned the SC reasoning in the case of Gulfisha Fatima, who was granted bail in the same case on Jan 5 along with Meeran Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, Mohd Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmad sider the present applications,” the judge said. The court further said it cannot even examine whether there is any change in circumstances, as it is bound by the Supreme Court’s January 5 order dismissing the bail pleas of both the applicants. A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria had on January 5 observed that there was a primafacie case against Khalid and Imam under the UAPA and held that all accused could not be treated equally in view of the “hierarchy of participation”. On May 18, a division bench of justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan had expressed reservations about the January 5 verdict, saying it did not follow the judgment given by a three-judge bench in 2021 in Union of India versus KA Najeeb, which said long delay in trials is a valid ground for bail even in cases under the stringent UAPA. Subsequently a di, vision bench led by Justice Arvind Kumar, while accepting there was “perceived conflict” among benches, referred the matter to a larger bench. Oppn goes to guv over presence of ‘outsiders’ at TVK cabinet meet E X P RE S S NE W S S ERVICE @ Chennai All the major opposition parties in the state — DMK, AIADMK and BJP — made separate representations to Governor R V Arlekar on Saturday seeking action against the TVK government over John Arokiyasamy and Vishnu Plaints on Reddy taking part in a recent poaching cabinet meeting, alleging that DMK & AIADMK they don’t hold any official govin their petitions ernment position. alleged that the BJP TN chief Nainar NagenTVK is luring thran submitted two petitions opposition MLAs to the governor seeking action with promises against Chief Minister C Joseph of money and Vijay and Higher Education cabinet berths Minister P Viswanathan. In the to switch sides. first petition, he alleged that the DMK claimed one presence of the two persons at MLA was offered a recent cabinet meeting is a ministerial berth violation of oath of secrecy govand another MLA erning cabinet proceedings. was promised The DMK in its petition alleged `50 crore | P4 that Arokiyasamy and Reddy attended cabinet meetings, interfered in official work, and were functioning from the secretariat in violation of law. The TVK, however, has rejected the charge. Both Arokiyasamy and Reddy have been appointed as special advisers to the CM and are no longer private entities, the party said.  P7 hist o r i c d e b ut The youngest: Sooryavanshi arrives at international stage g o m e s h s @ Chennai 15 years, 99 days. T20I cap No 122. These two numbers will remain in cricketing folklore and part of trivia for decades to come. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is now the youngest male cricketer to represent India, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar who made his debut at 16 years, 205 days against Pakistan in 1989. It could have happened sooner, in Belfast against Ireland last week or in Durham against England in the first T20I. But it is better late than never. Sooryavanshi’s childhood coach Manish Ojha felt that it could have happened in Belfast. “It came as a surprise for us today. Very proud moment,” he said. The cricketing world was waiting for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made his debut in Manchester | ap this moment. Such is the manner in which the teenager from Bihar had stirred the imagination of the nation. This is not his first youngest. There are quite a few more written against his name — Ranji Trophy, IPL debut, IPL century, etc. This could also be the first time the BCCI sent parents with a player where he had to use separate change rooms. Now, the focus shifts to international arena where more records are under threat. However, his approach on the field has remained the same as he got on his knee to scoop Jofra Archer for a six before falling for a 10-ball 14. But these are the first pages. For Sooryavanshi is not a footmark, but a new chapter in Indian cricket history . Ultimatum to Telegram app to curb film piracy Pa r v e z S u lta n @ New Delhi The Centre has issued an ultimatum to Telegram, directing it to curb the widespread circulation of pirated films, over-the-top (OTT) content, and other copyrighted audiovisual material on the messaging platform. According to official sources, the I&B ministry directed the company to submit an Action Taken Report within 15 days, detailing the measures it has initiated to comply with the directive. “Telegram has been asked to strengthen systems for detection, reporting, disabling access to and removal of pirated films and infringing audio-visual content. The ministry has sought details of Telegram’s grievance redressal system for producers,” sources said. Monsoon session from July 20 Key JPC meet on July 17 The Joint Parliamentary Committee on the 130th Constitutional Amendment Bill, headed by former IAS officer and BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi, is likely to meet on July 17 to adopt its report rajesh kumar thakur @ New Delhi UNION Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Saturday that the Monsoon Session of Parliament will be held from July 20 to August 13. The upcoming session, expected to be stormy, could see the government introduce several key bills, including the 130th Constitutional A m e n d m e n t B i l l , wh i c h seeks to sack the PM or CM or ministers if they fail to secure bail within 30 days of impris- onment. Opposition parties are most likely to raise the issue of donation theft at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, among other matters. The government, however, is expected to make another push for a Constitutional amendment bill providing 33% reservation for women in Parliament and Assemblies, along with the contentious Delimitation Bill. On the Opposition side, the issue of privilege proceedings against Defence Minister Rajnath Singh may get raised during the session. Both Houses are expected to witness a changed political arithmetic following defections from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Shiv Sena (UBT). A closely-watched development will be Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s decision on the proposed merger of the 20 rebel Trinamool MPs with the lesserknown NCPI. The Speaker is also expected to take a final call on merger of six Uddhav Sena MPs with Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena. Amid these defections, the DMK has also requested separate seating for its MPs away from the Congress.  P11