The Editorial Page: A year later, Pahalgam’s shadow lingers over Kashmir’s people, economy 8 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2026 JOURNALISM of COURAGE AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES ₹5.00 l www.indianexpress.com DA I LY F R O M : A H M E DA B A D , C H A N D I GA R H , D E L H I , J A I P U R , KO L K ATA , L U C K N O W , M U M B A I , N AG P U R , PAT N A , P U N E , VA D O DA R A Battlelines drawn: Campaign draws to an BOmBS WILL GO OFF IF NO AGREEmENT: U.S. PRESIDENT end in Tamil Nadu, first phase of Bengal Vance trip to Pak on TAmIL NADU SEATS: 234 (44 SC and 2 ST) DECISION 2021 TURNOUT: 73.63% resultsin2021 2026 PARTY SEATS SHARE (%) DMK+ 159 45.38 AIADMK+ 75 39.71 Others 0 14.91 TAmI L N A D U ‘Political enemy DMK, ideological enemy BJP’: Vijay signs off as TN race’s great unknown Arun Janardhanan Chennai, April 21 ON THE final day of campaigning in Tamil Nadu, when veteran leaders were moving through familiar constituencies and party machines were settling into their closing routines, the state’s most unpredictablecandidateclosedas he had opened: as spectacle, grievance, and possibility rolled into one. But beneath the celebrity and noise lies the factor that made Vijay harder to measure than previous third-front challengers: he may be the first major alternative face in decadeswhosestrongestemotional connection is with the youth. The actor-turned-TVK leader closed his campaign on Tuesday at the YMCA Ground in Chennai with a speech that mixed welfare promises, attacks on rivals, appeals to minorities, complaints of being targeted, and the repeated suggestion that he alone represents something genuinely new. “My greetings to all of you who reside in my heart,” he »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 wEST BENGAL (PhASE 1) SEATS: 152 (34 SC and 14 ST) 2021 TURNOUT: 82.64% resultsin2021 PARTY SEATS SHARE (%) TMC 92 46.90 BJP 59 39.65 Congress 0 4.33 CPI(M) 0 3.26 Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief Vijay campaigns ahead of the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. PTI In Nandigram, TMC bets on Hindu pitch to loosen Suvendu’s grip Ravik Bhattacharya & Atri mitra Nandigram (Purba Medinipur), April 21 AT NANDIGRAM’S Badar Auliya Pir Saheb Mazar field, horses line up to race as a huge crowd cheers. Roaming the field,localTrinamoolCongress (TMC) leader Mijanur Shah urges his colleagues to quickly arrive with party candidate Pabitra Kar so that he can meet thevillagerswhohavegathered to watch the annual horse race, one of the few events where Hindus and Muslims participate together. As West Bengal heads to the first phase of polls on April 23, with campaigning ending Tuesday, Nandigram will be oneofthemostcloselywatched among the 152 constituencies goingtovote.Thatisbecauseof ‘Wait for summons’: At tribunal building, in last hours, one more order the centrality of Nandigram to Tanusree Bose the Trinamool Congress’s Kolkata, April 21 (TMC) rise to power. The 2007 anti-land acquisi- INTO THE final hours of their tion movement in Nandigram, last bid to be included in the alongwiththeoneinSingur,pro- West Bengal electoral list, Ram pelled Mamata Banerjee to the PrasadBiswas,RupaSen,SukhChiefMinister'schair.In2021,the deb Sarkar, Hassan Khan, AnCM lost narrowly to her former wara Begum, Chandan Purassociate and current Leader of kayat and Sabidul Mulla Opposition(LoP) returned withSuvendu Adhiout answers. kari from the They were DECISION constituency, among those making the conwho trooped test this time an through the day W EST B ENGAL to the Syama evenbiggerprestige battle. The Prasad MookerTMC, copying jee National InfromtheBJPplaybook,haspitted stitute of Water and Sanitation Adhikari’s former aide, Pabitra at Joka near Kolkata, identified Kar, against him, even as Adhi- as the site of all the 19 tribunals kari squares off against Mamata meant to hear applications of in her south Kolkata consti- 27.10 lakh people deleted from tuencyofBhabanipur. the Bengal voter roll after ad»CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 judication. 2026 happening Rs 22.9 cr lost in digital today arrest, RBI ombudsman lIPL: Lucknow Super Giants and Rajasthan Royals face off in Lucknow (7.30 pm). lENGLISH PREmIER LEAGUE: Manchester City look to level points with league leaders Arsenal as they play against Burnley (12.30 am, Thursday). TRACK THESE AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPrESS.cOm Business as Usual By EP UNNY tells five banks to pay retired banker Rs 1.3 cr Order cites deficiencies related to KYC compliance Naresh Malhotra on February 25 by the RBI ombudsman in New Delhi asked these banks to collectively pay Rs 1.31 crore to the victim. The order for penalties marks a major development in whatisdescribedasDelhi’sbiggest digital arrest case in which 78-year-old Naresh Malhotra, a retired banker, lost Rs 22.92 crore to digital arrest frauds »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Jonathan Swan, Elian Peltier, Tyler Pager & Farnaz Fassihi Washington, Islamabad, April 21 US VICE President J D Vance’s trip to Pakistan for a second roundofnegotiationswithIran has been put on hold after Tehran failed to respond to American positions, a US official with direct knowledge of the situation said Tuesday. Iran, for its part, said it had not yet decided whether to resume talks with the US. With the two-week truce set to expire Wednesday in Iran, it was unclear what steps, if any, Iran or the US would take next. Talks could resume at a moment’snoticethoughPresident Donald Trump has suggested that he did not want to extend thetrucewithoutalonger-term agreement. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, said Iran had not decided whether to even go to Pakistan. He blamed it on “contradictory messages, inconsistent behaviour and unacceptable actions by the American side,” according to the nation’s state broadcaster, IRIB. But in private, two senior »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Billboards near the Serena Hotel in Islamabad where the second round of talks between the US and Iran were to take place. AP Diplomatic road long, arduous but why ‘grand bargain’ remains the goal C. Raja mohan New Delhi, April 21 AS WASHINGTON and Tehran inchtowardsasecondroundof negotiations, the idea of a“grandbargain”isvery much at the centre of the complex diplomatic dynamic between the two sides. For two adversaries locked in intense and seemingly irreversible hostility since the 1979 IslamicRevolution,theveryarticulation of such an ambition marks a significant shift. Yet the fragility of the mo- ment is evident. Confusion over the opening and closing of the Strait of Hormuz; arguments over rival blockades; US President Donald Trump's optimismTuesdayabouta "great deal," and his threats to attack Iran's infrastructure if Tehran doesn't agree; and the questions very late into this evening over Iranian participation underline the deep mistrust that continues to shadow the talks. If even preliminary coordination remains so contested, the path E. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kharge calls PM a ‘HM (Shah) said open tourist terrorist, clarifies; spots with maximum footfall, BJP slams remark, will meet EC today not ones easiest to open’ Srinagar, April 21 New Delhi, April 21 At its last hearing, the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to hear their applications and “unfreeze”votingrolltoinclude their names in supplementary lists, to be released on April 21 (for the April 23 polling) and April 27 (for the April 29 phase). OnApril21,attheJokainstitute,everyoneoftheapplicants wastoldthesamething:towait for a “summons”, and then come to the tribunals. Meanwhile, there was no word from the ECI till almost midnight on what to expect in the supplementary list hours before the deadline ended, including the total number of applicationsbeingheard.Asenior official said, “Details would be shared in the list.” Down heavily barricaded roads, the Joka institute, with His deadline ending today, Trump pushes for quick deal PAHALGAm: ONE YEAR LATER Naveed Iqbal Ritu Sarin IN RARE relief to a victim of a digital arrest scam, the Reserve Bank of India, through its Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, has asked five “beneficiary” banks, where mule accounts were opened last year to transfersiphonedfunds,topay the victim between 5% and 7.5% of the deposited sums. The five banks are Axis Bank, City Union Bank, ICICI bank, IndusInd Bank and Yes Bank. A speaking order passed SOURCE: EC hold, Iran says no talks under threat ON THE eve of the first anniversary of the terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah told The Indian Express about how his government worked with the Centre to ensure security, and also simultaneously open all tourist destinations because that’s the way to remove fear from the minds of people. Excerpts: On the ground, there are apprehensions about some tourist destinations still remaining shut for tourists and locals. Can you talk about the efforts over the past year to reassure people keen to visit ExPrESS interview OmAR ABDULLAH CHIEF MINISTER, J&K Kashmir? Look, there were multiple things. One, of course, was on the ground here, ensuring that the security audit took place andplaceswereopenedastheir safety and security was assessed, and that happened. At the same time, we worked with thelocalstakeholders,thetourism industry, to see how best we can position ourselves because we didn't want to appear callous. We wanted to look sensitive in the backdrop of a tragedy like this. So, it had to be done in a very sort of careful and calibrated way. Officials of the government also travelled to other states to reassure people to visit. Has that been beneficial? While going out to the markets that we know are sort of well disposed towards J&K, where we get the maximum number of our tourists from — that was Gujarat, West Bengal, Maharashtra, among others. We have seen with the start of »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Express News Service Chennai, New Delhi, April 21 A ROW erupted Tuesday after CongresspresidentMallikarjun Kharge called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “terrorist” at a press conference in Chennai, a remark that drew condemnation and sharp reactions from the BJP and senior ministers in the Union government. A BJP delegation will be meeting the Election Commission Wednesday morning in this connection. Onthefinaldayofcampaigning in Tamil Nadu, Kharge told reporters: “Periyar, Dr Ambedkar, Annadurai, Kamaraj and Kalaignar – these people stood for women’s reservation, justice, equality and fraternity. Modi is not for these principles… How can these Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in Chennai Tuesday. ANI AIADMK people join hands with Modi when their party itself was founded by Annadurai? He is a terrorist. His party doesnotbelieveinequalityand justice. These people are joining with them – it means they are weakening democracy.” Asked to clarify what he meant, the Congress president said, “I just want to clarify that »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 l A YOUNG BRIDE’S HOSPITALISATION LEADS TO PROBE INTO ARSENIC POISONING, MURDER Doorstep delivery, poisoning: How UK-based man plotted revenge in Hyderabad Nikhila Henry Vemuri Rama Tarakanath. Her fingernails have white lines across them. Mees’ lines, they JULY 26, 2023. She has been arecalled—atell-talesignofarmarried for only two months senicpoisoning.DrTarakanath when Bala Sashirekha, in her is alarmed and runs a few tests early 30s, is wheeled into a hos- on Sashirekha. pitalinGuntur,AndhraPradesh. The reports confirm Dr TaSashirekhahasbeenunwell rakanath’s fears: Sashirekha for a while now. She has severe has arsenic in her body, about diarrhoea and vomiting, and 10 times the normal limit. oedema has left her Telangana Police PAGE 1 limbs swollen and now have a twisted dysfunctional. Her criminal case at parents have taken hand. her to several doctors over the pastweek,butnoonecouldput The one that didn’t get theirfingeronwhatwaswrong. away She is referred to a neurologist. Sashirekhasurvives.Her62As he holds Sasirekha’s year-old mother-in-law, howhand,somethingoddstrikesDr ever, was not as lucky. M Uma Hyderabad, April 21 anchor Maheshwari died on July 5, 2023, a little over a month after her son’s marriage was fixed with Sashirekha at a small gettogether at their Hyderabad home. Her family believed Uma died of natural causes and cremated her, preserving her ashes to honour her memory. But once Sashirekha is diagnosed with arsenic poisoning, it alarms M Sirisha. Sirisha is the sister of Sashirekha’s husband and Uma’s daughter. She lives in the UK. On August 18, around three weeksafterSashirekha’sresults came out, Sirisha approaches Cyberabad’s Miyapur police station. In the FIR, she accuses based in the UK, to kill his estranged wife and her family. An ‘uneasy’ celebration M Sirisha's mother M Uma Maheshwari died on July 5, 2023; Sirisha's home in Hyderabad's Miyapur (right) her ex-husband of having poisoned her mother. What unfolds in a month from then is a detailed plan allegedlyhatchedbyAjithKumar Mupparappu, a pharmacist June 3, 2023. A plush apartment in Sainatha Enclave in Hyderabad’s Miyapur is buzzingwithactivity.Itisthedaythe marriage of Sirisha’s brother, M Purnender,isgettingfixedwith Sashirekha from Guntur. It is supposed to be a joyous occasion, but the to-be bride and groom are battling a sense of uneasiness. Other members ofthefamily,too,havetakenill, vomiting throughout the day. “None of us thought of foul play,” Sirisha tells The Indian Express,speakingonthephone Ahmedabad from London. A fraught second innings The story begins in 2018. Both divorcees from their first marriages, Ajith and Sirisha connect on a matrimonial portal. Sirisha has a 7-year-old daughter; Ajith also has a youngson.Withtheapprovalof both families, they tie the knot at an Arya Samaj temple in Hyderabad. But things soon turn south. “There were signs from the beginning,” Sirisha recalls. According to Hyderabad police’s chargesheet in the case, Ajith startedverballyabusingSirisha right after they got married. After two months in Hyderabad, they move to the UK, where Ajith works as a consultant. “He had a degree in pharmacy, but he was doing a lot of other work,” Sirisha says. She also takes up a job as a general practitioner trainee. In London, Ajith’s verbal abuses had taken the shape of physical violence, she says. Some time in 2022, Ajith, she says, threatened her at knife-point. A second time, he brandishes a wine bottle, threatening to smash her with it. Ajith even hurts Sirisha’s daughter, manhandling her amidstaheatedargumentwith Sirisha,thechargesheetdetails. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2