No Khel Ratna, 17 names for Arjuna Tejaswin Shankar | AFP Coimbatore l wednesday l august 19, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late city EDITION Chennai: The sports ministry on Tuesday announced the National Sports Awards. For the first time since 2014, no athlete will be bestowed the prestigious Khel Ratna. Besides, a pruned list comprising 17 athletes was released for Arjuna Awards. The selection panel earlier recommended 24 names for the honour around six months ago. 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 Expert panel today on police excess I-T heat on 394 SC to announce committee to examine violence; protest hijacked by anti-socials, say cops s u c h i t r a k a lya n m o h a n t y @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will constitute a high-powered committee to examine allegations of police excesses against student protesters on July 20 in Delhi. A bench of CJI Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said an order constituting the committee, comprising retired judges, a former DGP an ex-CBI director , and others, will be passed on Wednesday after getting suggestions from political parties on additional members to be included. The court said it will direct that video footage and CCTV recordings of the violence during the July 20 Parliament march be handed over to the panel for examination. The matter relates to allegations of excessive force used by Delhi Police during the protest at Jantar Mantar. During the hearing, CJI Kant said the committee can submit interim reports on urgent issues instead of waiting for a final report. The bench also indicated that states can submit a list of FIRs involving only File photograph of police action on protesters in Delhi on July 20 | Express Committee to comprise eminent persons. We are considering former senior police/CBI officers among its members ... — Supreme Court-bench led by CJI Surya Kant students/ protesters. The court had sought the list of FIRs so that it can consider invoking Article 142 to quash them, while cases involving those with serious criminal antecedents can be dealt with separately . It asked all parties to suggest priority issues and terms of reference of the panel. The bench also pointed out that the allegations concerning sexual assault, molestation and online harassment of women and other vulnerable persons will also be examined. The court said constitutional questions concerning facial recognition technology surveillance, , allegations of sexual assault and online harassment of women will ultimately be decided by the court itself, and not by the committee. It will then fix a date for further hearing while the committee begins its work. For its part, the Delhi Police strongly defended the use of force during the Parliament protest on July 20, telling the Bihar govt transfers SPs of Siwan, Bhojpur Marching orders were issued for SPs of Siwan and Bhojpur districts in Bihar over police action during their stint. While Siwan SP Puran Jha has been kept in waiting at the state police headquarters, Bhojpur SP Raj is now SP of Rohtas district. It was Jha under whose command an AK-47 rifle was used during a student protest in Siwan on July 25, while the encounter of activist Bharat Tiwari in Bhojpur forced a public outcry and Raj’s transfer court that the agitation was hijacked by “anti-social elements”. In an affidavit filed by DCP Sachin Sharma of New Delhi district, police said the protest “led to a breakdown of law and order in which 240 personnel were injured”. The response justified the use of standard lathis, facialrecognition cameras, and plainclothes spotters, while denying use of nail-fitted batons. The affidavit was filed in response to pleas alleging excessive use of force against protesters. E x p r e s s Re a d K’taka deaths: `10L aid for kin 1-yr maternity leave for 3rd child Chennai: Forest Minister R V Ranjithkumar on Tuesday informed the Assembly that TN was considering offering `10 lakh each to the kin of three Tamils shot dead in Karnataka forest on August 14. Meanwhile, Karnataka CM DK Shivakumar warned TN politicians not to interfere with the state’s administration | P4 Chennai: Woman government employees in TN will get 365 days of maternity leave for their third child, from the current 12 weeks, bringing it on a par with the leave sanctioned for first two children, Human Resources Management Minister Sarathkumar announced in the Assembly on Tuesday | P4 PWD min promises white paper Chennai: PWD Minister Aadhav Arjuna on Tuesday said the government would soon release white papers on status of projects. He said that in the last 60 days, the TVK govt has reduced the project cost by 20%-36% for tenders floated by DMK government, resulting in significant savings | P4 entities sending money abroad D IPAK MON D AL @ New Delhi the income tax department has launched a nationwide campaign against suspicious outward foreign remittances, focusing on shell companies, persons behind them, and professionals associated with them. It has identified 394 entities that transferred large amounts outside India over the past three years, including 117 entities located in states along India’s land borders. It has also identified 36 professionals for scrutiny . The tax department said on Tuesday that it has uncovered a nationwide network of entities engaged in remitting funds abroad during a search operation targeting a group of fictitious charitable trusts involved in providing accommodation entries against bogus donations and contributions. Preliminary ground verification found that many of such entities had either filed no income-tax returns at all or filed returns reporting very small turnovers. “The turnovers had no apparent correlation with the large amounts of money being remitted abroad,” it said, adding that the transactions did not appear to match the stated purposes of the remittances, including payments for freight, software imports and consulting services. It was also found that some of these entities were not operating from the addresses declared by them. The tax department is also looking into the role of a small group of professionals, including chartered accountants, who issued Form 15CB, which is a CA’s certificate on the taxability of a foreign remittance. A former Enforcement Directorate official told TNIE that suspicious foreign remittances are already under the ED’s lens, particularly those involving cash purchases of real estate abroad. CAs under the radar As part of the drive, the I-T department is examining the role of CAs who issued Form 15CB certificates. The I-T department said CAs are required to properly examine the underlying transactions and relevant facts before certifying remittances Border point The tax department has identified certain entities located in districts along India’s land borders and found to have transferred significant amounts of money abroad in the past three years. Many of them have not filed tax returns sec 354(5) PIL on death by lethal shot rejected express news service @ New Delhi IN a notable judgment, the Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a PIL seeking removal of the present mode of execution of death row convicts by hanging from the statute. “We are not persuaded that a case has been made out for reference of the decision of the three-judge bench in Deen Dayal Upadhyay case to a larger bench for reconsideration of the constitutional validity of Section 354(5) of the CrPC/Section 393(5) of the BNSS,” said a two-judge bench of the court headed by justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta. The court dismissed the petition filed by lawyer Rishi Malhotra, who sought a direction that the SC should direct the govt to adopt the use of lethal injection in place of hanging as mode of execution in death penalty cases. Section 354(5) says that when any person is sentenced to death, the sentence shall direct that he be hanged by the neck till dead. The bench, however, did not treat the dismissal as permanently foreclosing the constitutional question. “Constitutional interpretation is organic and must remain responsive both to the evolution of constitutional opinion and to the advances in scientific knowledge,” the bench said. Malhotra argued that 49 of 50 states in USA have adopted death by lethal injections.