HYDERABAD l Thursday l January 29, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION Potential bidders for RCB as Rajasthan valued at over $1 bn After months of speculation, reports suggest that over 50 companies have showed an interest in acquiring defending IPL champions representative image $2 billion buzz on bengaluru’s future 4 potential buyers for Rajasthan royals As RCB is one of the most valuable franchises, companies hoping to buy will have to shell out top dollar. Several reports suggest $2bn but that figure may not be hit. Several Indian companies have shown interest, including vaccine giant Serum. The other names include Temasek (Singapore) and US-based businessman David Blitzer ■ ■ Rajasthan Royals received a few proposals and the franchise is studying them. The cheapest franchise when they were bought in 2008, it’s expected that any deal will fetch them over a billion American investor Kal Somani, Times Internet Group, Blackstone and Carlyl Group are reportedly interested in buying the team $1.3bn Four RR bidders have offered as initial bids 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 Maha shocker as Ajit Pawar dies in jet crash Industrial activity Four others including two pilots perish; state’s ruling coalition in turmoil; last rites to be held today in Baramati poor visibility, later cleared to laND 1 Ajit Pawar was a leader of the people... his passion for empowering the poor was noteworthy. His untimely demise is saddening Narendra Modi, Prime Minister A stand was floated from Kolkata that there is politics involved in this incident. There is no politics in it. It was an accident Sanjay Gandhi (1980) Congress leader; died June 23 in a plane crash near Safdarjung Airport, Delhi Senior Congress leader died Sept 30 in plane crash near Mainpuri, UP Lok Sabha Speaker; died March 3 in helicopter crash in Krishna district, AP AP CM; died September 2 in helicopter crash in Nallamala forest First CDS; died Dec 8 in Mi-17V5 crash near Coonoor, TN (14 fatalities) 3 Its next call was at 30 nautical miles inbound to Baramati; advised to descend in “visual meteorological conditions” at the pilot’s discretion On first approach to Runway 11, pilot said the runway was not visible and initiated a go-around. On second attempt, the airstrip was spotted 4 The aircraft was cleared to land on runway 11 at 8.43 am, but failed to respond to Baramati ATC. Next minute, it was up in flames Aeroplane crashes near runway Crash site Ajit Pawar Baramati airstrip 22 July 1959 - 28 January 2026 G M C Balayogi (2002) Y S Rajasekhara Reddy (2009) Gen Bipin Rawat (2021) 2 Sharad Pawar, NCP chief fatal landings Madhavrao Scindia (2001) The aircraft VI-SSK was trying to land amid poor visibility. It first came in contact with Baramati Air Traffic Controller at 8.18 am Vijay Rupani (2025) Ex-Gujarat CM; died June 12 in Air India Boeing 787 crash in Ahmedabad (270 total deaths) sudhir surya w anshi @ Mumbai MAHARASHTRA Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others were killed when their chartered aircraft crashed barely 200 metres from the edge of a tabletop runway at Baramati airstrip in Pune district on Wednesday morning. FlightRadar data showed the aircraft departed Mumbai at 8.10 am and disappeared from radar shortly after 8.44 am. The 66-year-old leader, fondly known as Dada (elder brother), was flying from Mumbai to address zilla parishad election rallies near Pune, when the Learjet 45 crashed during a second landing attempt at 8.44 am. Poor visibility forced the pilot to abort the first approach, but moments after receiving clearance for the second attempt, the aircraft burst into flames near the runway threshold without providing the mandatory readback to air traffic control. Also killed were Captain Sumit Kapoor, co-pilot Shambhavi Pathak, Pawar’s personal security officer Vidit Jadhav, and flight attendant Pinki Mali. All five were declared dead at Baramati hospital. Eyewitnesses described watching the aircraft circle the airfield before it “hit the ground hard and exploded,” with the blast heard across the area. Aviation experts said the tragedy could have been avoided if the runway had been equipped with an instrument landing system to guide pilots through marginal visibility . The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is analysing the black box to determine the exact cause. NCP founder Sharad Pawar, Ajit’s uncle, rushed to Baramati where he said, Ajit’s loss is one “that can never be filled”. Chief Minister Devendra Fad- Aviation sector is a huge opportunity for investors: PM navis declared three days of state mourning and called Ajit’s death a personal loss, describing him as a “trusted friend.” Ajit Pawar served as deputy CM for a record six terms across governments led by Congress, Shiv Sena, and BJP. After splitting from his uncle’s party in July 2023, he secured 41 assembly seats in alliance with the BJP solidifying , his position in state politics. His last rites will be held on Thursday at Vidya Pratishthan ground in Baramati with full state honours. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend.  P8 Made in Russia SJ-100 signals a reset in civil aviation e x p ress ne w s ser v ice @ Hyderabad D ee p ika K olluru @ Hyderabad Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday invited investors and manufacturers to tap into India’s expanding civil aviation sector, stating that the country has undergone a major transformation over the past decade and is set for sustained growth in the years ahead. Addressing the inaugural session of the fourday Wings India 2026 summit virtually, Modi said India is expected to have more than 400 airports by 2047. He noted that Indian airlines have already placed orders for over 1,500 aircraft in recent years, reflecting rising demand for air travel. Participants from 20 countries attended the summit. Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu, who was scheduled to inaugurate the event, could not attend as he travelled to Baramati following an air crash earlier in the day . Modi said the aviation industry has recorded steady growth and was now the world’s thirdlargest domestic aviation market. “In 2014, India had around 70 airports. Today, there are more than 160. In just a decade, the number of airports has more than doubled,” he said, adding that over 100 aerodromes have been activated during this period. Referring to the UDAN regional air connectivity scheme, the prime minister said about 1.5 crore passengers have travelled on routes that did not exist earlier. A walk onto the static display line at Wings India 2026 and the first thing that hits one is how simple the SJ-100 looks. Not sleek like an A220, not aggressive like an E2. Just… there. Ninety-eight seats, high-wing T-tail, the kind of regional jet one has seen a thousand times at smaller airports in Russia or the old Soviet allies. Except this one is different in the only way that matters right now: almost nothing inside it comes from the West. They flew the United Aircraft Corporation’s Yakovlev-designed SJ-100 to Begumpet airport here the hard way; Zhukovsky to Tashkent to Hyderabad, long legs over mountains and borders, from snow to sun. Aviation enthusiasts keep asking the SJ-100 team the same two questions: “Is it really 100% Russian now?” and “So… are you selling any?” The answers are: Near-total import substitution. PD-8 engines, Russian avionics, Russian wiring, Russian interiors. The old SaM146 (jointly developed with France’s Safran) is gone, sanctions made sure of that. That aircraft depended on foreign avionics. One engineer, mid-sentence, shrugs, “The PD-8 is not pitched as a fuel-burn challenger to CFM’s LEAP or Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan. It is designed so that sustainment does not depend on export licences from jurisdictions that can say no overnight. Independence first. Performance second.”  continued on P3 e x p r e ss r e a d Fed holds rates steady for first time since July Washington: The Federal Reserve has decided to hold the benchmark federal-funds rate steady in a range between 3.5% and 3.75% by a 10-2 vote. Two Fed governors—both appointed by President Trump— dissented against the decision and favored a quarter-point rate cut. inside I am with BRS, Danam tells speaker I P4 Mark Jefferies aerobatic team showcases its prowess in the skies, top, with a stunning display on Wednesday, the inaugural day, and above, the Russia-made Yakovlev SJ-100 stands proud at the Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad | Vinay Madapu grew at its fastest pace in 2 yrs in Dec E XP R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi india’s industrial activity galloped in December last with the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) growth accelerating to 7.8% from 7.2% in November 2025, marking the fastest pace in the last 26 months, government data released on Wednesday showed. The manufacturing sector, which has a 77.6% weight in the index, grew 8.1%, slightly slower than 8.5% in November 2025 but higher than 3.7% in December 2024. The sector was supported by 6.8% growth in mining and 6.3% rise in electricity generation. Observing that the growth in factory output in December last exceeded expectations, ICRA’s chief economist Aditi Nayar said the surprise was largely driven by the manufacturing output. She said the growth in this crucial sector was “likely aided by restocking post the festive season, even as the growth in India’s non-oil exports was sluggish in the month”. Within the manufacturing sector, the computer, electronic & optical products category grew 34.9% while the motor vehicles, trailers & semi-trailers segment surged 33.5%. Dipti Deshpande, principal economist at Crisil, said that within manufacturing, GST rationalisation is likely to have benefited sectors like representative image food products and automobiles, but export-oriented sectors such as apparel, textiles and chemicals saw moderate IIP growth. As per the use-based classification, primary goods and consumer sectors provided traction. Consumer durables rose 12.3% and non-durables surged 8.3%. Deshpande said that going forward, while domestic tailwinds should support demand in consumer segments for a few more quarters, the adverse impact of higher US tariffs on export segments could get more pronounced. However, a trade deal with the US, reducing the tariff to closer to levels faced by peers, could help matters, she added. IIP growth accelerated to a 6-quarter high of 5.2% in Q3 FY2026 from 4.3% in Q2, reflecting the improvement in the performance of the manufacturing and mining sectors. SC to list plea against UGC regulation on caste S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi The Supreme Cour t on Wednesday agreed to list for hearing a plea challenging the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) controversial new regulations meant to address caste-based discrimination in universities and colleges. The plea by Rahul Diwan challenges the UGC’s Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Regulations, 2026 on the grounds that caste-based discrimination is defined as discrimination only against members of the SCs, STs and OBCs. The lawyer appearing for petitioner Diwan and others sought an urgent hearing of the plea, arguing that the new regulations overlook the possibility of discrimination against those from general or non-reserved categories. “There is a possibility of discrimination against the general class. My case is Rahul Diwan and others versus the Union,” the lawyer submitted. Responding to Diwan’s prayer, the CJI Surya Kant, said: “We know what is happening. Make sure the defects are cured. We will list it.” The new UGC regulations, which mandate all higher education institutions to constitute “equity committees” to look into complaints of discrimination and promote equity, were notified on January 13. Nurse injects sedatives to murder her parents E x p ress N e w s S er v ice @ Hyderabad A 25-year-old nurse has been arrested for allegedly killing her parents by administering sedative injections, using her professional training to carry out the crime, in Yacharam village of Bantwaram mandal in Vikarabad district. The accused, Nakkala Surekha, is accused of injecting her mother Lakshmi (54) and fa- ther Dasarath (58) with an overdose of a sedative drug, Artacil, leading to their deaths. Police said Surekha worked as a nurse at a private hospital in Sangareddy and had access to injectable medication and the knowledge to administer it. According to Bantwaram police, Surekha was in a relationship with a man she had met through social media. As the man belonged to a differ- ent caste, her parents opposed the relationship, which led to repeated arguments at home. Police said Surekha allegedly planned the killings believing her nursing skills would help her avoid suspicion. On the night of January 24, she is said to have injected her parents with the sedative under the pretext of treating body pain. After receiving the injec- tions, both parents reportedly lost consciousness. Surekha then informed her brother, who rushed them to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared them dead on arrival. During inspection of the house, police found used syringes and other medical material, raising suspicion. Further investigation revealed Surekha’s role in the deaths. She was arrested and remanded to judicial custody on Wednesday . Light of faith Priests carry Saralamma from Kannepalli to the gadde (altar) signalling the start of the biennial Sammakka Saralamma Jatara at Medaram village in Mulugu district on Wednesday | Sri Loganathan Velmurugan | P2