MOTORSPORTS | Gill blazes away to the lead in the South India Rally

admin — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 13:05:00 +0000

Gaurav Gill on a charge in the Super Special Stage of the South India Rally at the Madras International Circuit, Chennai, on Friday, April 17, 2026.

Gaurav Gill, returning to rallying after a year’s break, showed no rustiness as he topped the time sheets in the 49th South India Rally, which commenced at the Madras International Circuit here on Friday.

The three-day event is also the second round of the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and Round-1 of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship.

The 44-year-old Gill, a three-time APRC champion and winner of seven National titles, clocked a combined time of two minutes, 51.5 seconds for the two loops of 1.45 kms dirt Super Special Stage. He piloted a Volkswagen Polo to finish 5.1 seconds ahead of arch-rival Karna Kadur in the APRC segment with Jason Saldanha in third place.

Gill, with the experienced Srikanth Gowda as co-driver for the first time, gave a near-flawless exhibition of pace, precision and car control and looked to be in a good space going into Saturday’s Special Stages.

Arun Y. Mavaji and Arvind Dheerendra topped the INRC 2 and INRC 3 classes, respectively, while Tarushi Vikram was the fastest in the Ladies class and also in the Junior INRC category.

Provisional results (Leg-1, Section-1): Asia-Pacific Rally Championship: 1. Gaurav Gill & Srikanth Gowda (02mins, 51.5secs); 2. Karna Kadur & Kumar Ramaswamy (02:56.6); 3. Jason Saldanha & P.V. Srinivasa Murthy (02:58.3).

Indian National Rally Championship: INRC Overall: 1. Gill & Gowda (02:51.5); 2. Ritesh Rai & Phalguna Raghavendra (02:55.6); 3. Kadur & Ramaswamy (02:56.6)

INRC 2: 1. Arjun Y. Mavaji & Jeevarathinam J. (03:09.5); 2. Ritesh Guttedar & M. Suraj (03:10.3); 3. Rakshith Iyer & Chandrashekar (03:18.2).

INRC 3: 1. Arvind Dheerendra & Shahid Salman (03:01.5); 2. Ashwin Pulagiri & Raghunath Swaminathan (03:01.9); 3. Tarushi Vikram & Athreya Kousgi (03:05.6).

INRC 3T: 1. Vikash Balachandran & Chiranth Jain (02:59.6); 2. K.C. Adith & C.A. Avinash (03:09.7); 3. Sidhartha Santosh & Sawan Sathyanarayan (03:11.9).

Ladies: 1. Tarushi Vikram & Athreya Kousgi (03:05.6); 2. Athira Murali & Arun Chakkalakkal (03:05.9); 3. Shivani Pruthvi & Vinay Padmashali (03:09.4).

Junior INRC: 1. Tarushi & Athreya (03:05.6); 2. Hoshmand Elavia & Venu Ramesh Kumar (03:14.0).

Published – April 17, 2026 06:35 pm IST

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Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan charged in cipher case

admin — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 08:30:29 +0000

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

A special court in Pakistan on October 23 indicted that former Prime Minister Imran Khan in the cipher case for allegedly violating the secret laws of the country.

Mr. Khan, 71, was arrested in August after a case was filed against him for allegedly violating the Official Secrets Act by disclosing a secret diplomatic cable (cipher) sent by the country’s embassy in Washington in March last year. Former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was also indicted along with Khan.

Mr. Khan had used that document to build a narrative that his government was ousted as a result of a foreign conspiracy. The hearing of the case was held at the Adiala jail in Rawalpindi by special court judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain. Mr. Khan and Mr. Qureshi have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

After the indictment, the court adjourned the hearing till October 27 when it will start the formal trial.

Earlier after hearing the case last week, the court had adjourned the hearing till October 23 with the remarks that Mr. Khan and Mr. Qureshi would be indicted on that day.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on September 30 presented the charge sheet against Mr. Khan and Mr. Qureshi who signed its copies.

The court was earlier set to indict Mr. Khan on October 17 but it delayed it after Mr. Khan’s lawyers objected that he was not provided with the copies of charge sheet.

The cipher case concerns a diplomatic cable, which reportedly went missing from Mr. Khan’s possession. Imran Khan had repeatedly said before and after the no-confidence motion against him last year that the cipher pointed to a conspiracy to remove him from the Prime Minister’s office.

Mr. Khan has been in jail due to cipher case since the Islamabad High Court on August 29 granted him bail in the Toshakhana case in which he was arrested on August 5 from Lahore.

More than 150 cases have been registered against Imran Khan since ouster from power in April last year.

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FIA – Artifex.News

MOTORSPORTS | Gill blazes away to the lead in the South India Rally

Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan charged in cipher case