7 arrested in Telangana honour killing case
Hyderabad/Patna, Sep 18: Telangana Police on Tuesday said that they have arrested seven accused over the killing of a Dalit youth, who was hacked to death last week in a case of honour killing. The accused include a hired killer from Bihar.
The police revealed that T. Maruthi Rao, the main accused, struck the deal to kill his son-in-law Pranay Kumar for Rs 1 crore.
The accused include Asgar Ali and Mohammed Abul Bari, who were earlier arrested and acquitted in the murder of former Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya.
Pranay Kumar, 23, was hacked to death on Friday as he was coming out of a hospital in Miryalaguda town of Nalgonda district along with his wife Amrutha Varshini, with whom he had an inter-caste marriage.
Nalgonda Superintendent of Police A.V. Ranganath told reporters that they have cracked the sensational case, which evoked huge public outrage.
Amrutha and Pranay, who were in love since their school days, had married in January this year against the wishes of her father Maruthi Rao, a businessman who comes from an upper caste.
According to the police, Maruthi Rao hatched the plot to eliminate Pranay with the help of Asgar Ali, Bari and Abdul Karim. Maruthi Rao's brother T. Shravan and driver S. Shiva are the other accused.
The police chief said the conspiracy was hatched in July. The deal was struck for Rs 1 crore though Asgar and Bari had demanded Rs 2.5 crore. Maruthi Rao had paid Rs 15 lakh advance.
"In the meantime, when Amrutha became pregnant, his father tried to pressurise her to abort because he was afraid that if Pranay is killed and a child is born to her daughter, it will lead to more problems. She, however, refused to abort," the SP said.
The investigations revealed that the gang failed to execute the plot on couple of occasions.
As the couple was sensing danger to their lives, the police had suggested them to install CCTVs around their house. On August 17, they hosted a wedding reception, which further angered Maruthi Rao and he speeded up his efforts to get Pranay killed.
On September 14, when Pranay was coming out of a hospital along with his wife following a regular pregnancy check-up, an unidentified armed with axe attacked him from behind. Pranay died on the spot even as his wife ran into hospital screaming for help. The horrific images were captured in CCTV.
After questioning Maruthi Rao and others, the police identified the killer as Subhash Sharma, a native of Bihar, whom Bari had met in Rajahmundry Central Jail.
Sharma was taken into custody from Jagatsinghpur in Samastipur district of Bihar. A Samastipur police officer Paritish Kumar said Sharma was arrested by a team of Telangana Police along with the local police. He was produced in a court and handed over to the Telangana Police on transit remand.
Both Asgar Ali of Nalgonda and Bari of Hyderabad were arrested in 2003 for their alleged involvement in the killing of former Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya. The police had claimed that they underwent terrorist training.
An anti-terror court in Gujarat had sentenced them along with seven others to life imprisonment in 2007. However, Gujarat High Court later acquitted them.
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Trump pauses Project Freedom, claims great progress for final agreement with Iran
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump has suspended “Project Freedom,” to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, claiming progress in negotiations with Iran toward an agreement to end the war.
In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump said, “Great progress has been made toward a complete and final agreement with representatives of Iran.”
“Based on the request of Pakistan and other Countries, the tremendous Military Success that we have had during the Campaign against the Country of Iran and, additionally, the fact that Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement with Representatives of Iran, we have mutually agreed that, while the Blockade will remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom (The Movement of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz) will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed," Trump said.
Project Freedom was launched on Monday to escort ships, stranded due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, out to safety. Trump had announced the operation on Sunday and the US Central Command began implementing it the next day.
However, the Project led to friction in the vicinity of the narrow seaway, a key route for transporting one-fifth of the global oil supplies, with the UAE claiming that its ships were attacked by Iran. The US also claimed to have destroyed several Iranian small boats.
Trump’s statement on Truth Social came hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Operation Epic Fury, launched on February 28, had concluded as its objectives have been achieved.
"Operation Epic Fury is concluded. We achieved the objectives of that operation. We're not cheering for an additional situation to occur. We would prefer the path of peace. What @POTUS would prefer is a deal... that is, so far, not the route that Iran has chosen," Rubio told a press conference at the White House on Tuesday.
On Project Freedom, Rubio said the goal was to rescue almost 23,000 civilians from 87 different countries who were trapped inside the Persian Gulf and left for dead by the Iranian regime.
"This is not an offensive operation. This is a defensive operation, and what that means is very simple: there’s no shooting unless we're shot at first. We’re not attacking them, but if they're attacking us or they’re attacking a ship, you need to respond to that," Rubio said.
