Jain monk Tarun Sagar dies; President, PM offer condolences
New Delhi, Sep 1: Jain monk Tarun Sagar passed away at a temple here early on Saturday after a prolonged illness, an official said. He was 51.
Sagar, who was suffering from jaundice and other ailments, breathed his last at around 3 a.m. at the Radhapuri temple here, a temple official told IANS.
President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over his demise.
"Sad to hear of the passing of Jain Muni Shri Tarun Sagar Ji Maharaj. Known for his 'Kadve Parvachan'. He spread the message of peace and non-violence in the society.
"Our country has lost a well-respected spiritual leader. My condolences to his countless followers," Kovind tweeted. "Deeply pained by the untimely demise... We will always remember him for his rich ideals, compassion and contribution to society.
"His noble teachings will continue inspiring people. My thoughts are with the Jain community and his countless disciples," Modi tweeted.
Sagar was earlier admitted to a private medical centre in Delhi. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh also offered his condolences, saying Sagar was the sources of inspiration.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said he was "pained to hear of the sad demise". "His teachings and ideals will always inspire humanity."
Born in Madhya Pradesh's Damoh district on June 26, 1967, Sagar has a huge following in the Jain community.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
