Gauri Lankesh murder: Arrest the ‘masterminds’
Finally, the progress on Gauri Lankesh murder investigation has reached a stage of filing the chargesheet. The police have submitted a chargesheet on two young men with Sangh Parivar background. The anxiety of Gauri Lankesh murder being hushed up as Prof Kalburgi murder has been put to rest, at least tentatively. The murder happened when former CM Siddaramaiah government was in the office, and the crime took place almost late evening. People had expected the arrest of culprits much faster than this, but then again, the agencies took a disappointingly longer time.
There are allegations that Gauri Lankesh’s family didn’t cooperate with the investigating agencies. The inconsistency of statements of Indrajit Lankesh, Gauri’s brother, have often contributed to the delay in derailing the investigation. Media has also contributed much in this regard. Yet, this has been a big achievement on part of the police to have made a headway into this progress. However, the chargesheet says the ones arrested are not those who planned the murder, but only those who executed it. This is disappointing since a delayed investigation and submission of witness and circumstantial evidence would mean the culprits will come out free within no time. So, the arrest of Naveen and Praveen are not the final sigh of relief for friends and family of Gauri. The supari killers may have been paid by certain elements in the society and their role has to be probed to get to the root of this bigger issue of hating dissidence. The ones who killed Gauri may not even have known why they were asked to kill her. Money may be their only link to this crime.
Such Supari killers are not hate mongers. They are just the tools at the hands of hate mongers who want every dissident voice wiped off from the face of earth. Had the Kalburgi killers been nabbed, there were chances of Gauri being alive today. If the killers of Gauri aren’t nabbed with their network, it may lead to another such incident and loss of a significant life. There are already plans of writer Bhagwan being targeted. The culprits often hide themselves amidst the general public. And they are also confident that they’d be let off for want of evidence. Hence even the hands of legal system is bloodied with Gauri’s murder.
One young fellow had celebrated Kalaburgi’s murder in Dakshina Kannada. He was arrested and let off on bail. The same fellow used the loopholes in legal frame work and gathered courage to kill another youngster Harish Pujari In Bantwal. His agenda was to create unrest among Hindu and Muslims. Had he been punished for his behavior earlier during Kalburgi’s incident, a life would have been saved and Bantwal wouldn’t have witnessed communal tensions.
Just the way as Sangh Parivar’s ideology is responsible for the threatening situation and murder of intellectuals, loopholes in legal frame work has also greatly contributed to the emboldening of criminals. Communal tensions are being dealt with some sort of soft handed approach and this has led to communal mindset even among law implementing agencies. Political pressure could also be another reason.
Many assume delivering hate-speeches can make them leaders. If cases are lodged against them, they wouldn’t even dare repeat their crime. Former MLA Ramanath Rai couldn’t arrest Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat despite having declared that he’d do that. Had he done that, the state would have been far safer today and many people would have been alive amidst us.
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Axar shifts focus to next IPL after KKR all but end DC's campaign
New Delhi (PTI): A beleaguered Axar Patel admitted that both his team's batters and bowlers let the side down after Delhi Capitals suffered a humiliating eight-wicket defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders, virtually ending their IPL 2026 playoff hopes, while indicating the team had already begun looking ahead to the next season.
DC endured a miserable outing at home, managing only 142/8, which Kolkata Knight Riders chased down in just 14.2 overs, powered by a blistering unbeaten 100 from Finn Allen and his destructive stand with Cameron Green (33 not out) as the visitors tore apart the bowling attack.
With just eight points from 11 matches, DC are eighth on the table, while KKR revived their playoff hopes with a resurgent run, moving to seventh with nine points from 10 outings, though their road to the knockouts still remains difficult.
"For now, we'll go back and think about the mistakes we made. After that, obviously there's still a long journey ahead and next year will come too. So we'll think about what plans we can make for next year and what approach we should take," said Axar after the match.
"Based on that, we can also look at the players sitting on the bench and decide who can be given opportunities and what changes we can make," he added, hinting at a possible major overhaul next season.
With 200-plus totals becoming the norm this season, 142 was always going to be inadequate, and Axar admitted the score was well below par while also pointing out at poor judgement shown by the spinners while defending the modest total.
"I think the runs were definitely below par and at the same time the spinners made quite a few mistakes. Looking at the way the pitch behaved, I feel the spinners did make errors.
"At the same time, we lost five wickets in two-three overs, and I think that's where the momentum slipped away from us. That's probably something we need to think about because the same thing happened against CSK...we started well, and then suddenly wickets kept falling," he added.
He admitted the solutions to the issues could be found but players need to show the right mindset and character.
"See, you can't solve it in a complicated way. So, I think it's more about applying the right mindset. Even if you lose one or two wickets, you can still spend time at the crease and play through it. I think that's what needs to be applied, when wickets are falling in clusters, you need to absorb the pressure for an over or two," opined Axar.
KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane was pleased to see a struggling Finn Allen finally rediscover his touch with the bat.
"I'm really happy for Finn Allen. He was struggling first four or five games, working really hard, but the way he batted tonight was fantastic. But I want to praise our bowlers again.
"We did well because of them. And they've been doing it so well consistently, especially those middle overs and the death overs. Our spinners, Sunil Narine, Varun (Chakravarthy) and Anukul Roy, have been fantastic," he said.
"Fielding-wise, yes, we are working really hard. Our fielding coach has been really strict with us. And that's what has been helping us. The result which you've been seeing about the catches and the ground fielding, credit goes to our fielding coach as well," he added.
