Last week, the Kannur crime branch arrested 55-year-old Parveen Babu and her 32-year-old daughter Sakeena Fathima — natives of Delhi’s Nangloi, in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. Their arrest comes nearly a decade after the murder of 60-year-old Kunhamina, following which three members of a Delhi family were on the run. Missing alongside them were 10 sovereigns (80 grams) of gold. The absconding family, comprising a woman and her two adult children, spoke multiple languages and moved from state to state using forged identities and documents. However, one small slip — a digital trail — gave them away. The family was tracked down after one of them bought a mobile connection using their own ID proof. Here’s how AI helped the police unravel a decade-old murder.With that, let’s move on to the top stories from today’s edition:Iran’s intel chief killedSharad Pawar in Rajya SabhaIndian women’s hockey team coach’s style Big StoryIsrael on Wednesday struck the world’s largest natural gas field, South Pars, that Iran shares with Qatar across the Gulf. This is reportedly the first strike on Iranian energy infrastructure in the Gulf since the US-Israel war began on February 28. The attack prompted Tehran to warn its neighbours to evacuate their respective energy installations in the Gulf region. Following the warning, Iranian missile strikes hit the Ras Laffan industrial city, Qatar’s primary gas hub, which reported “significant damage.” Condemning the strikes, Qatar expelled all Iranian attaches at the embassies. Follow the latest updates on the Middle East conflict here.Jerusalem Tuesday claimed to have killed Tehran’s Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib in an overnight strike. Khatib, who held several senior posts in the ministry of intelligence and the Office of the Supreme Leader, had studied Islamic jurisprudence. Back in 2022, Khatib was sanctioned by the US Treasury for his role as head of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence “for engaging in cyber-enabled activities against the United States and its allies”. Who was Esmail Khatib? Read here.US President Donald Trump revived a familiar refrain on Sunday, calling on allies in NATO to join the war commenced by the US and Israel against Iran. He warned NATO allies could face a “very bad future” if they refused to help the US in opening up the Strait of Hormuz. These remarks on the alliance have prompted a recall of Trump’s rhetoric at the start of the year, when he took to the stage at Davos to say that the US “never got anything out of NATO.” We explain why NATO doesn’t have to answer Trump’s call.Story continues below this adJourney back home: MT Shivalik, owned by the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), began loading LPG in Qatar on February 26. However, as it was prepared to sail two days later, the US and Israel struck Iran. While it moved to different ports, safety remained uncertain. “We could see missiles coming from Iran and hear explosions every day. And here we were, fully loaded with LPG, in the middle of it all. Obviously, the crew was worried and would often come to speak to me. We knew there was only one way out — to sail,” Captain Sukhmeet shared. It was March 14 when they finally sailed past the final stretch of the conflict-hit Strait of Hormuz and entered the safer waters of the Gulf of Oman. Know more about their journey here.⚡ Only in ExpressBack in RS: As 85-year-old Sharad Pawar enters the Rajya Sabha for his third term this year, the key question emerges: would it mark the end of road for him, with options fast running out for him? From being on the verge of retirement in 2019, but choosing to bounce back, to portraying himself as a quintessential mass leader who wouldn’t give up, Pawar has been instrumental in formation of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra. Our in-house columnist, Neerja Chowdhury, writes: “Pawar’s “unopposed” election to the Upper House assumes significance because it could boost the morale of his NCP(SP) when it is down and out. Interestingly, his candidature was not challenged by the BJP, which managed to get the Opposition’s nominees defeated in the Rajya Sabha polls in Bihar and Odisha through abstentions and cross-voting. From the Front PageHDFC Bank part-time Chairman and Independent Director Atanu Chakraborty has resigned with immediate effect, saying “certain happenings and practices within the bank are not in congruence with my personal values and ethics”. It’s learnt that all was not well on the board about the functioning of the bank for some time. The Reserve Bank of India has, meanwhile, appointed Keki Mistry as the interim part-time Chairman of HDFC Bank with effect from March 19 for a period of three months.Matthew Aaron VanDyke, a US national, was arrested on charges of conspiring to carry out terrorist activities against India last week. Accused of leading a group of Ukrainians in the conspiracy, he was detained at Kolkata airport on Friday. Three Ukrainians were detained at Lucknow airport and three at Delhi airport the same day. On his website, VanDyke describes himself as: a “freedom fighter and prisoner of war in the Libyan civil war”, an “award-winning filmmaker”, a “war correspondent in Iraq and Afghanistan”, founder of “Sons of Liberty International (SOLI), the first military contracting firm run on non-profit principles”, and an “international security analyst”. Must ReadStory continues below this adIn our Opinion section today, Shashi Tharoor sheds light on the Indian populace’s varying stances on the US-Israel-Iran war – accusing the Centre of remaining silent, rather than choosing confrontation. Tharoor writes: “To indulge in sanctimonious moralising by condemning the US-Israeli war on Iran would risk destabilising these relationships. It would jeopardise remittances that sustain millions of Indian households, energy supplies that fuel our economy, and trade ties that underpin our growth. Silence, in this context, is not cowardice. It is a sober recognition of the interconnectedness of our national interests with the realities of the region.”✈️ The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Wednesday directed all airlines to ensure that at least 60% of seats on flights are offered without any selection fee, and passengers on the same booking reference, or PNR, are seated together, “preferably in adjacent seats”. The move comes amid complaints that airlines offered very few free-of-charge seats for pre-selection, and that groups or families travelling on the same PNR were not able to sit together. How Indian airlines will implement these directives is not clear yet. Here’s what this move means.⏳ And Finally…Blueprint: For Sjoerd Marijne, the current Indian women’s hockey team coach, his training sessions are aimed at imprinting a mindset — one that he believes the team is already beginning to absorb without needing to relive the extremes. What he wants now is something deeper, less visible but far more critical: interdependence. This philosophy is expected to take sharper shape when the squad regroups at the national camp in Bengaluru on March 27. “The agenda is clear — reinforce structure, sharpen discipline, and build a style of play that is unmistakably his,” Mihir Vasavda writes. “Marijne speaks with certainty when he says he ‘knows exactly’ how he wants India to play. The early glimpses, he believes, are already visible. “There’s more clarity. More structure. Discipline is higher. And they feel more free,” he shares.” Lastly, tune in to today’s episode of our 3 Things podcast, where we discuss our exclusive investigation into bail orders in cases involving dowry deaths in India; AI data centres built in India; and the proposal to ban non-Hindus from Badrinath and Kedarnath dhams and other temples.That’s all for today. Have a wonderful day!Until next time,AribaStory continues below this ad Business As Usual by E P Unny