hubballi l wednesday l august 19, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l city EDITION nO KHEL RATNA, PRUNED LIST FOR NATIONAL SPORTS AWARDS The 2025 National Sports Awards will not have a Khel Ratna as the sports ministry on Tuesday came up with a pruned list after revaluation Tejaswin Shankar | AFP heartbreak for shooter Mehuli TEJASWIN, DIVYA AMONG 17 ARJUNA AWARDEES As many as 24 names were recommended for Arjuna Awards by the selection panel more than six months ago but the ministry struck out seven names. Prominent among them was shooter Mehuli Ghosh, the 2024 Paris Olympian and former World Championships medallist. The 10m air rifle shooter from West Bengal expressed shock on her exclusion | P15 ■ ■ Among those who were named for the Arjuna Awards are World Cup winning chess player Divya Deshmukh, decathlete and high jumper Tejaswin Shankar and shuttler Gayatri Gopichand It was learnt that no name was recommended for the prestigious Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award by the selection panel 2014 The last time khel ratna award was not given to any athlete 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 Bihar govt transfers SPs of Siwan, Bhojpur 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 students/ protesters. The court had sought the list of FIRs so A 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 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 ques- tions 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 court that the agitation was hi- 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 jacked 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. HC quashes KPSC chief Sahukar’s suspension, directs reinstatement Harini with her husband Abhinandan and their son Yaduveer Woman, lover held for killing husband, son E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Bengaluru The mysterious death of a 35-year-old man and his fiveyear-old son at their house in Chikkabanavara has reportedly been solved with the arrest of his wife and her paramour. Her illicit relationship is said to be the reason behind the murders. The woman, Harini, called her boyfriend Vinay Kumar to her house on 9th Cross in Gutte Basaveshwara Layout and they killed Abhinandan, hitting him with a ladle. Her son Yaduveer, who got up, was smothered to death with a pillow fearing that he would be a witness to the murder. Harini then washed the blood-stained clothes of Abhinandan. She had also switched off the CCTV camera at her house when Vinay came. After the murder, on Monday morning, she called the police control room and complained about the deaths. After she was detained by the police, Harini confessed to the murders. E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Bengaluru The High Court on Tuesday set aside an order passed by Gover nor T haawarch a n d Gehlot suspending Shiv ashankarappa S Sahukar as Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) chairman. Justice Suraj Govindaraj pronounced the operative portion of the order, partly allowing the petition filed by Sahukar, challenging the governor’s order dated July 10 over his daughters’ appointment. The court directed that Sahukar should be reinstated as KPSC chairman, but barred him from taking any decision on the proposed action by the KPSC against his daughters over their appointment. The court said it has decided only the constitutional validity of the order, which is being quashed because it lacks the aid and advice of the state cabinet. It has not gone through the truth or otherwise of the allegations against Sahukar, it said. Senior counsel Arun Shyam, appearing for Sahukar, said the governor’s action is not valid as it was done before the initiation of an inquiry by the President to be held by the Supreme Court as contemplated under Art 317 of the Constitution. The senior advocate appearing for the Governor submitted that the petitioner has been suspended after the veracity of the allegations. Out of two daughters’ appointments, one daughter, Suma S Sahukar, applied for the post of Group ‘C’ Industrial Extension Officer. She had applied for a Category 3B certificate under the impression that it was only a caste certificate. But the income was also reflected in the certificate and during verification, the commission noticed that the income mentioned in the certificate is less than the actual income of Suma’s father, which led to the controversy  . 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. According to the official, such transactions are sometimes carried out in the names of drivers and domestic workers to circumvent the Reserve Bank of India’s Liberalised Remittance Scheme, under which individuals are permitted to remit up to $250,000 a year. The ED had earlier detected a similar modus operandi in cases involving under-invoicing. The Karnataka government has temporarily suspended the pensions of 18,06,032 beneficiaries after a statewide verification drive identified 23,14,544 pensioners as suspect cases as on August 13, 2026. Replying to separate unstarred questions by MLAs D Vedavyas Kamath and Dr Y Bharat Shetty, Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara said the verification exercise was launched after several people complained that those not meeting the eligibility criteria were receiving social security pensions. The government deployed its Samyojana mobile application, which uses the family database to identify suspect beneficiaries based on parameters such as IT payees, APL card holders, underage applicants, income limit violations and HRMS (Human Resource Management System) records. Village accountants conducted physical verification, collecting supporting documents and forwarding suspect cases to tahsildars for approval before restoring pensions to eligible beneficiaries. As per Parameshwara’s reply, Kar nataka has 83,12,536 registered pension beneficiaries, of whom 62,43,640 received pensions in July 2026. The Sandhya Suraksha Yojane accounted for the largest number of suspected pension misuse cases, with 12,61,610 beneficiaries affected. It was followed by the Indira Gandhi National Old Age FOR a decade, the senior Indian men’s hockey side haven’t lost to Pakistan. 19 matches, 17 wins and two draws. The dominance has been near total. And matches have spanned multiple events: Asian Games, Asian Champions Trophy, Asia Cup, Commonwealth Games and FIH events. Forget the hype that’s already been visible on TV screens over the last few days. Thanks to the difference in the skill levels between the two nations, the gap is embarrassingly yawning. But it’s time to forget all of that and treat the 90 minutes at the Wagener Stadium on Wednesday as a standalone event where history, form and recent meetings have no bearing. But this is exactly the kind of situation that India will have trained for in the lead-up to the Last five matches 2026 Pro League: Ind bt Pak 7-1 2026 Pro League: Ind bt Pak 4-3 2024 Asian Champions Trophy: Ind bt Pak 2-1 2023 Asian Games: Ind bt Pak 10-2 2023 Asian Champions Trophy: Ind bt Pak 4-0 World Cup. When they were reduced to 10 men at the Olympics quarterfinal against England, the players could have easily been rattled. Instead, they knew what to do because they had prepared for that scenario. Similarly, Paddy Upton, The tax department has identified certain entities located in districts along India’s land borders. They transferred significant amounts of money abroad within the past three years. Many of them have not filed tax returns Investigation finds units at Minchinahalli in Kothanur zone, Bheemeshwari, Boodikeri and Bandahalli in Hanur zone have been destroyed apparently using dynamites | P7 Pension Scheme (5,63,938), widow pension (3,36,746), physically disabled pension (2,56,750), Manaswini pension (17,360), endosulfan victims’ pension (883), pension for widows of farmers who died by suicide (526), Mythri pension (454) and acid attack victim pension (eight). The pensions of 18,06,032 have been temporarily suspended as they were either not residing at the recorded address, unwilling to produce documents or had not submitted income certificates.  P7 Harmanpreet & Co prepared for high-stakes Pak clash @ Bengaluru Border point Anti-poaching staff find camps blasted hockey world cup s w a r o o p s w a m i n at h a n 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 shootout aftershock K’taka govt halts pension to 18L beneficiaries Vincent D’Souza @ Mangaluru CAs under the radar the side’s mental conditioning guru, will have war-gamed this exact scenario. Play a match against Pakistan at the World Cup knowing only a win will seal qualification. As long as India don’t go away from the basics of the sport, this is a game they will back themselves to win 95 times out of 100. Their penalty corner battery is worldclass and it’s currently purring with Harmanpreet Singh finding some form in this bash. Shivashankarappa S Sahukar’s house searched by ED on Tuesday | Express Vet officers’ recruitment: ED combs 21 places in K’taka, Gujarat E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Bengaluru The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday searched 21 premises across Karnataka and in Ahmedabad in connection with alleged irregularities in the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) recruitment of Veterinary Officers. The locations searched included the KPSC office, the residence of KPSC Chairman Shivashankarappa S Sahukar, KPSC member Shanta Hosmani, alleged middlemen, selected candidates, and the premises of Edutest Solutions, responsible for the digital evaluation of examination papers. ED is probing the matter after registering a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. According to an ED press release, it searched 21 premises across Karnataka, including in Bengaluru, Hassan, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Raichur, Karwar, Kalaburagi and Belagavi, as well as in Ahmedabad. The ED action comes after four FIRs were registered at the Vidhana Soudha police station in Bengaluru, alleging serious irregularities in the final selection process for the Veterinary Officers’ recruitment examination. The ED added that, some middlemen allegedly contacted candidates and demanded bribes ranging from Rs 70 lakh to Rs 80 lakh to ensure their selection. To substantiate the allegations, the complainant submitted audio recordings of conversations with the middlemen to the police. The allegations also include paper leak, tampering with OMR answer sheets and facilitating the selection of relatives of KPSC officials. Constitutional Question PIL on death penalty by lethal injection rejected any person is sentenced to death, the sentence shall direct that he be hanged by the neck IN a significant judgment, the till he is dead. Supreme Court on Tuesday reThe bench, however, did not jected a PIL seeking removal of treat the dismissal as permathe present mode of execution nently foreclosing the constituof death row convicts by hang- tional question. It clarified that ing from the statute. scientific and medical de“We are not persuaded velopments could alter that a case has been the factual foundation made out for reference on which the earlier of the decision of the judgment proceeded. three-judge bench in “Constitutional inDeen Dayal Upadhyay terpretation is organic case to a larger bench and must remain refor reconsideration of sponsive both to the the constitutional va- Any such exercise evolution of constituwould lie within lidity of Section 354(5) tional opinion and to of the CrPC/Section the domain of the the advances in scienExecutive and the 393(5) of the BNSS,” tific knowledge,” the Legislature and said a two-judge bench may be undertaken bench said. headed by justices Malhotra argued as a policy Vikram Nath and Santhat 49 of 50 states in Supreme Court deep Mehta. the USA have adopted The court dismissed death by lethal injecthe petition filed by lawyer Ri- tion. “The lethal injection is shi Malhotra, who sought a ju- quick, humane and decent, as dicial direction to the govern- opposed to hanging, which is ment to adopt the use of lethal cruel, barbaric,” he argued. injection instead of hanging as The Centre had, in its affidathe mode of execution in death vit filed last year, submitted penalty cases. that hanging is far safer and Section 354(5) says that when quicker than injections. e x p r e ss n e w s s e r v i c e @ New Delhi