HYDERABAD l saturday l september 05, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late cITY EDITION SC asks 7 States to hike age of retirement of judicial officers The Supreme Court directed the states to amend the service rules and enhance the age of superannuation in the judicial service to 62 years addressing attrition in lower courts Noting that it is necessary to stop attrition of experienced and talented judicial officers and to ensure access to justice, the Supreme Court directed seven states to increase the retirement age of judicial officers in district judiciary from 60 to 62 years. Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, MP, Maharashtra, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have consented to the proposal ■ 23 covers those who retired in march too ■ A three-judge bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi passed the order in the All India Judges Association (AIJA) versus Union of India (UOI) case The order also covers officers who retired on or after March 31, 2026. They can exercise the option if they have not taken up another job states/ut have been asked to share their viewpoint 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 Marijuana+ pilot Two pulled alive from Nepal tunnel after 9 days of Aug 4 Phuket AI flight sacked S V K RIS H N A C H A I TA N YA Big data 275: Indian nationals missing 166: Indians rescued so far 1,907: Indians safely crossed into Nepal from China 95 tonnes: Relief material supplied to Nepal on 7 aircraft 54: Personnel sent to support relief and rescue efforts 30: Tunnel rescue experts deployed in Nepal 19: Forensic experts 5: Medical team members 21 tonnes: Relief material flown to Kathmandu on Thursday @ Kathmandu Preliminary AAIB report flags triple hydraulic systems failure in the Phuket-Delhi flight S L A L I T H A @ New Delhi AIR India on Friday terminated the services of the pilot-incommand of the Phuket-Delhi flight that experienced a series of technical failures on August 4, resulting in injuries to 24 people on board. The airline’s action came hours after the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) released its preliminary probe report, expressing serious concern about the pilot’s drug use. Captain Sudeep Vashistha, 34, had tested positive for marijuana on August 12. “The Pilot-in-Command of the Phuket-Delhi flight tested positive for a psychoactive substance. In line with Air India’s zero-tolerance approach to violation of safety fitness or regu, latory requirements, the pilot’s employment has been terminated with immediate effect,” an Air India statement read. Sources said Captain Vashistha is planning to move court against the termination. According to the AAIB report, all three hydraulic systems of the aircraft failed within seconds of each other, triggering an autopilot disconnect, a brief ‘stall’ warning, and an altitude drop of 292 feet. TNIE broke the story on August 10 that the failure of all three hydraulic systems led to the accident. In its 10-page report, AAIB said its findings were based on an analysis of the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. It said the flight took off from Phuket on August 4 at 6.11 am IST. As it entered the Kolka- Two workers trapped inside a tunnel of the Trishuli-3A Hydroelectric Project in Rasuwa were rescued on Friday, nine days after a devastating flood tore through the Bhote Koshi river system, raising hopes that others missing inside underground hydropower structures could still be found alive. The rescued workers were identified as Sanjay Sah and Kabir Maharjan. Sah briefly said he was chanting ‘Hare Krishna mahamanta’ for the past nine days. Both were pulled out from the tunnel by a joint search and rescue team and airlifted to a hospital. The breakthrough came as rescue teams continued a race A worker rescued from a tunnel at Trishuli 3A hydropower project | EXPRESS against time across several hydropower projects damaged by the August 26 disaster. One @ Hyderabad The Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB), in coordination with Khammam police, has arrested two more persons for allegedly providing 10 mule bank accounts to facilitate cyber fraud transactions. The arrests of Badisa Murali Krishna and Vadlamudi Sainivas were made on September 3 as part of a special enforcement operation conducted across Khammam district on Wednesday and Thursday . The operation followed two trapped inside the tunnel remains underway . Around 900 workers have been reported missing from hy- Continued on: P9 KRMB asks Telangana to stop power generation Ripped door of the overhead luggage compartment of the Aug 4 AI flight | File pic E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e ta Flight Information Region, the air traffic control instructed the pilots to climb from 34,000 feet to 36,000 feet. The accident occurred while the aircraft was cruising at 36,000 feet. Citing the post-flight report generated by aircraft maintenance personnel, the AAIB said loss of pressure in the green hydraulic system was detected at 09:32:43 am. Four seconds later, the blue and yellow hydraulic systems also failed. At 9:32:48 am, the autopilot got disconnected and a continuous chime alert was sounded. At 9:32:51 am, a ‘stall’ warning was triggered for two seconds. The co-pilot, who was flying the plane, tried to take control of the situation but could not. The captain then took over. At 9:32:52 am, the blue hydraulic system recovered, followed by the yellow and green systems. This resulted in recovery of the flight control systems and normal operating conditions were restored. The three-member committee meeting of the Krishna River Water Management Board (KRMB), held here on Friday, failed to take any decision on water releases, with Andhra Pradesh and Telangana officials unable to reach an agreement on several key issues. However, the KRMB suggested that Telangana stop power generation from the left bank power houses of Srisailam reservoir and that AP regulate wat e r d r aw a l t h r o u g h t h e Pothireddypadu Head Regulator, taking into account the storage in the common reservoirs and the drinking water @ Hyderabad requirements of both states. The officials decided to place the matter before the Board in the next meeting and share the available water for drinking water needs between the sibling states. It may be recalled that the three-member committee meeting held on August 24 cases registered by Khammam police in which 52 persons had previously been arrested for allegedly providing their bank accounts and credentials to receive and route proceeds of cyber fraud. The China link These accounts were also allegedly used to conceal the movement of funds and facilitate illegal online gaming-related pay-ins and pay-outs through Telegram groups operated in coordination with foreign-based Chinese operators. The two cases were subsequently transferred to the TGCSB. During the probe, four accused were arrested and investigators established their links to Khammam and multiple financial transactions, indicating the possible presence of an organised local network facilitating cyber fraud and related financial activities. As part of the latest operation, TGCSB sleuths analysed financial and other data and identified 121 mule accounts across 30 bank branches, 273 accounts linked to high-value ATM withdrawals, 12 accounts involved in cheque withdrawals of more than `20,000 and 25 suspect locations across Khammam.  continued on p5 also failed to reach a conclusion on water releases. During Friday’s meeting, both states lodged complaints against each other, with Andhra Pradesh alleging that Telangana was generating hydel power to deplete water at Srisailam, while Telangana alleged that AP was drawing water illegally from Pothireddypadu. Against this backdrop, the KRMB membersecretary requested both states to ensure that “there should not be water releases exclusively for power generation”. He referred to paragraphs 2 and 3 of Schedule XII of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act (APRA), 2014, which state: “In the event of conflicting demand of water for irrigation and power, the requirement of water for irrigation shall take precedence. In the event of conflicting demand of water for irrigation and drinking water, the requirement of water for drinking water shall take precedence.” The member-secretary also requested that “the releases from Pothireddypadu shall be regulated, duly taking into account the storage position of the common reservoirs and the drinking water requirements of both states. Considering shortage of availability of water in common reservoirs, the available water in both the reservoirs may be utilised judiciously”.  continued on p5 ISRO launches ‘Eye in the Sky’ imaging sat It was painful, but inevitable: TPCC chief on dropping of Surekha from Cabinet | p4 B O S K Y K H A N N A @ Bengaluru TGCSB sleuths crunch data to crack Khammam mule account network E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e body was also recovered during the Trishuli-3A operation, while the search for others dropower sites. The scale of the underground rescue operation has been immense. Teams have had to clear collapsed sections, remove huge quantities of mud and debris, drain flooded passages and create access routes into tunnels that were cut off by the disaster. Excavators, mud pumps, generators, cameras, rafts and other equipment are being used at dif ferent sites to reach workers w h o m ay s t i l l b e trapped. At Trishuli-3A, the rescue operation involved 75 Nepali Army personnel and 18 personnel from the Armed Police Force and Nepal Police, along with technical experts. What does it do? EOS-05 will provide realtime data for weather monitoring, cyclones, floods and cloudbursts. It carries multi-spectral and hyper-spectral bands to capture field images every 5 minutes & entire country every 30 minutes. It will relay info to ground stations every 30 minutes THE Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Friday scripted history by successfully launching the advanced Earth Observation Satellite (EOS-05) into a geo-orbit, placing an imaging satellite in a high-altitude of 36,000 km above earth. This comes as a relief for the Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) programme following the unsuccessful EOS-03 (GSLV-F10) mission in 2021, and two failed missions of PSLVC61/EOS-09 in January 2026 and PSLV-C62/EOSN1 in May 2025. The EOS-05 satellite has been placed in a geosynchronous orbit above the South Asian landmass, which means it will remain stationary in relation to the location above which it has been parked in space, synchronising its revolution around Earth in tandem with the rotation of the planet. The 2,367-kg satellite—the heaviest that GSLV Mark II has put in space so far—was launched on board the GSLV Mk II-F17 mission (GSLV-F17) at 2.55 am from the second launchpad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota amid light rainfall. After the orbit-raising operations are completed, the satellite is to be placed above the South Asian land mass at an inclination of 19.28 degrees to the equator. Once operational, EOS05 will become India’s first dedicated imaging satellite from the geo-orbit, providing “strategic data” for the country, ISRO Chairman V Narayanan said after the launch, while describing EOS-05 as a “strategic satellite”. He, however, dismissed speculations that it is a “spy satellite”. Narayanan said the satellite’s assured mission life is seven years. “But this will work effectively for more than nine years, with the type of performance that it has already given.” CJP’s Saurav Das, Nagina MP Chandrasekhar Azad with the daughter of Sanjay Kumar | PTI Influencer held after CJP protest e x p r e s s ne w s s e r v i c e @ New Delhi DELHI Police detained selfproclaimed influencer Swatantra Bhardwaj in Uttar Pradesh on Friday hours af, ter the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) staged a protest outside the Parliament Street police station in Delhi demanding his arrest for assaulting a student’s father, a crime he bragged about in an interview. The detention came after CJP representatives including co-convenors Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, along with supporters, marched to the Parliament Street poSwatantra lice station deBhardwaj m a n d i n g Bhardwaj’s arrest. They were accompanied by Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) chief and Nagina MP Chandrashekhar Azad and MP Pappu Yadav, who met police officials and were assured that action would be taken against Bhardwaj within 72 hours. The protest followed a viral podcast clip in which Bhardwaj openly said he had orchestrated a violent assault on Sanjay Kumar, the father of minor student activist Nishu Azad during the Jantar Mantar protests. Sonia memoir E x p r e s s Re a d HarperCollins gets to be the publishing biggie of the year Man on FBI’s most wanted list held in Punjab Pa r a m i ta G ho s h @ New Delhi IN 1980, Delhi publisher Vision Books published My Truth, the closest to an Indira Gandhi official autobiography Printed as . a series of interviews with a French journalist, it includes her childhood, Jawaharlal Nehru advising her to be physically active, touches upon her marriage and contextualises “her truths” of her momentous years— the Bangladesh Liberation War and Emergency — for all readers. It was also not a time known for high-voltage book launches and announcements. In comparison, the notice of her daughter-in-law Sonia Gandhi’s memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, has gone out with a bang, a bump, and again a second blow of the trumpet. While it has generated excitement about its contents, the bigger excitement has been about a story of ‘refusal’. First came the announcement of Alfred A Knopf (an imprint of Penguin Random House) publishing it, then a clarification that Penguin India is not its India publisher, and finally the HarperCol- lins announcement. The publishing biggie of the year no doubt belongs to HarperCollins, which on Friday morning confirmed it was publishing Sonia’s memoir, one of the most anticipated political ‘autobiographies’ of our times. The book hits the stands in ‘A unique lens on India’ HarperCollins described the book as a “dramatic account, at once epic and intimate, [it] gives readers a unique lens on India ... offering an insider’s perspective on political, economic and social changes over 50 years. India on November 10, 2026. Sonia, the chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party , has had both a ringside and an insider’s view of Indian politics, as a member of the NehruGandhi family which has been , at the helm of affairs for over 50 years at the Centre. In My Truth, Indira Gandhi’s interviews with a foreign journalist were aimed at shoring up her international reputation as well. Sonia has spoken directly to her home in her own words and without any mediation. Chandigarh: Punjab police on Friday arrested 65-year-old Manjit Singh Bedi, a grocery store owner who is on the FBI list of Most Wanted Fraudsters. Bedi fled to India after running a scam linked to a food benefits programme that defrauded the US government of at least $600,000 between March 2024 and June 2025. Bedi was arrested from Paragpur area of Jalandhar | P8 Cut rates or stop trade with partners: Don to Fed Washington: US President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to stop trading with countries with which the US has a deficit unless the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates, citing a strong August jobs report as justification for doing so. “Lower the interest rates because the USA is a much stronger credit than it was just a short time ago!” Trump posted on his Truth Social | P9