BHUBANESWAR l friday l december 05, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l LATE CITY EDITION Ex-DU prof Hany Babu, held in Elgar case, gets bail after 5 yrs A bench of Justices A S Gadkari and R R Bhonsale of the Bombay High Court granted him bail due to prolonged incarceration without proper trial Hany Babu, Ex DU prof all about NIA case against the professor ten other accused already out on bail The NIA had accused Hany Babu of being a co-conspirator for propagating Maoist activities and ideology for the banned CPI(Maoist). The case relates to “inciting people and giving provocative speeches during an Elgar Parishad event organised by Kabir Kala Manch at Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31, 2017, which promoted enmity between caste groups” ■ ■ Ten other accused, including Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Anand Teltumbde, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Shoma Sen, Gautam Navlakha, Sudhir Dhawale, and Rona Wilson, are out on bail Babu’s counsel argued for bail on the basis that charges are yet to be framed and a discharge application is still pending before a trial court 2018 was when Pune police had filed the case, which later went to nia 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 Day’s developments FM, RM meet delegation RT India to go live today Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met a Russian delegation led by First Deputy PM Denis Manturov and discussed various issues, while Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a delegation-level meeting with his Russian counterpart Andrey Belousov On Friday, Putin will launch RT India, the Indian arm of statefunded Russia Today. The TV channel will air English news programmes and it aims to “boost the traditional ties between India and Russia and the countries’ influence in a multipolar world” Pain points Transitional challenges in crew availability under FDTL Phase-2, which capped night landings by pilots to two as against six, says IndiGo Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi sit inside a limousine at New Delhi’s Palam Air Base on Thursday | PTI Red-carpet welcome In rare gesture, Modi receives Putin at airport J AYA N T H J ACO B @ New Delhi PRIME Minister Narendra Modi stood on the tarmac of Delhi’s Palam airport on Thursday evening greeting Russian President Vladimir Putin with a warm hug and a rare personal welcome in an unmistakable signal of the weight India attaches to its relationship with Russia. Traditional dancers swayed, cameras flashed and the red carpet stretched long as the two leaders slipped into the same car, echoing their drive together just three months ago after the SCO summit in Tianjin, China. Soon after Putin’s touchdown in Delhi, Modi hosted him for a private dinner mirroring the hospitality the Russian leader extended to him in Moscow last year. “Delighted to welcome my friend, President Putin to India. Looking forward to our interactions later this evening and tomorrow. India-Russia friendship is a time Deploy more staff for SIR, SC tells states S U C H ITRA K ALYA N M O H A N TY @ New Delhi TAKING note of a plea alleging extreme work pressure faced by booth level officers (BLOs) engaged in the special revision of polls roll, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked states and Union Territories to consider roping in additional staff so that work pressure of BLOs is eased. A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said, “In case they are facing hardships, including being overburdened, the state government can obviate such hardships.” The court was hearing an application by actor Vijay’s party TVK seeking a fiat to ECI to not take coercive actions against BLOs for failing to perform their duties. If any employee has a ‘specific reason’ for seeking exemption from SIR duty, a competent officer of the state government can consider it on a case-to-case basis and replace that an employee with another, the bench said. express read Era of political cover for criminals over: CM Bhubaneswar: CM Mohan Charan Majhi on Thursday told the Opposition that the era of political protection for criminals was over as his government has given a free hand to the police to come down heavily on the offenders | P3 tested one that has greatly benefitted our people,” Modi said in a post on X, shared in both English and Russian. Their conversation on Thursday would set the tone for the 23rd IndiaRussia annual summit on Friday, a meeting watched closely in Western capitals as both nations navigate a tense global climate amid efforts to bring a halt to the war in Ukraine. On Friday morning, Putin will receive a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan before laying a wreath at Rajghat and heading to Hyderabad House for formal talks over a working lunch. Defence cooperation will dominate the talks and both sides are expected to unravel a set of agreements and blueprint for economic cooperation. Hours before Putin landed, the two countries’ defence ministers held wide-ranging talks on India’s plans to procure additional S-400 missiles that proved decisive during Operation Sindoor and to explore further military hardware, including the Su-57 fifth-generation fighter jet. Agreements on logistics support and the movement of Indian workers to Russia are also expected to be sealed. Trade and energy will feature prominently as India seeks to address a ballooning deficit and navigate the impact of US tariffs and sanctions tied to Russian crude purchases. Moscow has offered additional discounts on oil after India’s intake dipped in recent weeks, and cooperation in fertilisers, small modular reactors and a proposed free trade pact with the Eurasian Economic Union will also be on the table. Putin is expected to brief Modi on the latest diplomatic developments around the Ukraine conflict, with India reiterating its stance that diplomacy alone can end the war. Putin is scheduled to depart Delhi around 9 pm on Friday . Seeks exemptions from DGCA on night duty norms for A320s till Feb 10 Misjudged actual crew required for Phase 2 of FDTL More IndiGo flights to be cancelled for 2-3 days From Dec 8, it will cut flight ops to minimise disruption IndiGo to cut ops from Monday, full normalcy in Feb S L a l i t h a @ New Delhi On a day when over 500 more flights were cancelled, IndiGo told the Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGCA) that normal and stable operations can be fully restored by the airline only by February 10. It said flight cancellations would continue for the next 2-3 days, adding it would start cutting down on flight operations from December 8 to minimise disruption. The airline urged the regulator to exempt its A320s from certain Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms, which mandate a maximum of two night landings as against the earlier six. The DGCA advised it to submit in detail the FDTL relaxations it required to normalise flights operations. IndiGo made its presentation on Thursday at meet with the Director General of the DGCA. “IndiGo has assured DGCA that corrective actions are underway and that normalised and stable operations will be fully restored by 10 February 2026,” the regulator Passengers crowd an IndiGo ticket counter in Mumbai on Thursday | PTI said. More cancellations will continue over the next 2-3 days, the airlines said. IndiGo acknowledged that the disruptions arose primarily from misjudgment and planning gaps in implementing Phase 2 of FDTL, which kicked in on November 1. “Indigo has been directed to normalise operations at the earliest and also ensure that it does not lead to increase in fares,” the DGCA added. Sexual harassment Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya lecturer held E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar Police on Thursday arrested a guest lecturer of Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya for allegedly harassing and sexually assaulting minor girl students. The accused Shatrughna Samal, who worked in the college’s department of drama, was also dismissed from service. The action was taken after students held a massive protest on the campus earlier in the day alleging Samal had been sexually harassing them and threatening to reduce their marks if they opposed his advances. They also claimed that Samal used obscene language while speaking with some students over phone on a regular basis, and also sexually assaulted some of them. Samal’s purported phone call recordings with some students also went viral on the day . On getting information, special secretary, Culture department Deba Prasad Dash reached the spot and held discussion with the protesting students. Soon after the meeting, the department dismissed Samal from Continued on P5 service.