Sahitya Akademi winner Dr G Nanjundan’s decomposed body found in Bengaluru house
Bengaluru, Dec 22: Eminent translator and Sahitya Akademi award winner Dr G Nanjundan was found dead at his residence here on Saturday, police said.
Police said they suspect the 58-year old Nanjundan died of cardiac arrest around four days ago and his decomposed body was found in his apartment at Nagadevanahalli
Dr Nanjundan earned recognition for translating more than a dozen books from Kannada to Tamil. They included Jnanpith award winner U R Ananthamurthy's 'Bhava' and 'Avasthe'.
He received the Akademi Translation Prize in 2012 for his work "Akkaa", a Tamil translation of short stories of various Kannada women writers.
According to police, Nanjundan, who worked as a lecturer in the department of statistics in the Bengaluru University, did not turn up for work for a few days.
When his assistant grew suspicious and went looking for him on Friday, he noticed a foul smell emanating from the house.
He then alerted the lecturer's wife and son, who were in Chennai. They came here and informed police, who broke open the door and found the decomposed body.
"He is suspected to have died of cardiac arrest," a police officer said.
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.
South African police arrest suspect in mass shooting that killed 12, including 3 children
Johannesburg (AP): A 32-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with a mass shooting which claimed the lives of 12 people including three children at an unlicensed pub earlier this month, South African police said on Monday.
The man is suspected of being one of the three people who opened fire on patrons in a pub at Saulsville township, west of South Africa's capital Pretoria, killing 12 people including three children aged 3, 12 and 16.
At least 13 people were also injured during the attack, whose motive remains unknown.
According to the police, the suspect was arrested on Sunday while traveling to Botlokwa in Limpopo province, more than 340 km from where the mass shooting took place on Dec 6.
An unlicensed firearm believed to have been used during the attack was recovered from the suspect's vehicle.
“The 32-year-old suspect was intercepted by Limpopo Tracking Team on the R101 Road in Westenburg precinct. During the arrest, the team recovered an unlicensed firearm, a hand gun, believed to have been used in the commission of the multiple murders. The firearm will be taken to the Forensic Science Laboratory for ballistic analysis,” police said in statement.
The suspect was arrested on the same day that another mass shooting at a pub took place in the Bekkersdal township, west of Johannesburg, in which nine people were killed and 10 wounded when unknown gunmen opened fire on patrons.
Police have since launched a search for the suspects.
South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and recorded more than 26,000 homicides in 2024 — an average of more than 70 a day. Firearms are by far the leading cause of death in homicides.
The country of 62 million people has relatively strict gun ownership laws, but many killings are committed with illegal guns, according to authorities.
According to police, mass shootings at unlicensed bars are becoming a serious problem. Police shut down more than 11,000 illegal taverns between April and September this year and arrested more than 18,000 people for involvement in illegal liquor sales.
