Gauri Lankesh murder accused Shrikant Pangarkar wins Jalna Civic Poll as independent
Jalna: Shrikant Pangarkar, an accused in the 2017 murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, won the Jalna Municipal Corporation elections from Ward 13 as an independent candidate on Thursday. Pangarkar celebrated his victory with supporters after defeating candidates from the Bharatiya Janata Party and other parties in the ward.
The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena did not field a candidate in Ward 13. Ahead of the November 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections, Pangarkar had briefly joined the Shiv Sena, but his induction was kept in abeyance following public backlash.
Gauri Lankesh, a senior journalist and activist, was shot dead outside her residence in Bengaluru on September 5, 2017, a killing that sparked nationwide outrage and debates on freedom of expression, secularism, and political violence.
Pangarkar has a long political history in Jalna. He served as a municipal councillor between 2001 and 2006 when the Shiv Sena was undivided. After being denied a party ticket in 2011, he joined the right-wing Hindu Janjagruti Samiti.
In August 2018, Pangarkar was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad in connection with the seizure of crude bombs and weapons from various parts of the state. He was booked under the Explosives Act, the Explosive Substances Act, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
In the Gauri Lankesh murder case, Pangarkar was granted bail by the Karnataka High Court on September 4, 2024. His electoral victory has once again drawn attention to the case and the broader debate on criminal cases involving political candidates.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
