Kalburgi killed for remark on idols, suspect tells police
Bengaluru, Oct 05: KANNADA SCHOLAR and writer M M Kalburgi, who was killed outside his home in Dharwad in North Karnataka on August 30, 2015, was reportedly targeted for a remark he made in June 2014, when he quoted Jnanpith awardee U R Ananthamurthy to say that urinating on idols would not attract divine retribution.
According to sources, Ganesh Miskin (27), one of two suspects arrested by the Karnataka Police CID for Kalburgi’s murder, has said that the 77-year-old scholar’s statement, made during a discussion on an anti-superstition Bill, was perceived as “anti-Hindu”, and triggered the attack on him. Miskin and Amit Baddi (28), both linked to a radical Hindu outfit, were arrested by the CID on September 15, after a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Karnataka Police probing the September 5, 2017 murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh (55) indicated their possible involvement in the Kalburgi case.
Both the youths are from the Hubbali-Dharwad twin city region in North Karnataka. They were earlier among 16 persons linked to radical Hindu outfits from Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka who were arrested by the SIT in the Gauri Lankesh case. Both have a criminal record for involvement in communal violence in Hubbali area. Miskin had earlier given a similar account to the SIT.
Sources said that Miskin, in the course of his interrogation by the CID, revealed knowledge of the Kalburgi murder, but denied any involvement in the shooting. The duo were in the CID’s custody from September 15-28. In June 2014, while participating in a discussion on an anti-superstition Bill in Bengaluru, Kalburgi had, in an effort to promote rational thinking, quoted an essay written by Ananthamurthy in the 1990s in which he claimed to have urinated on idols as a child without attracting retribution. The speech was deemed to be offensive to Hindu sentiments and a case was filed against Kalburgi and Ananthamurthy for hurting religious sentiments by a resident of Bengaluru in July 2014.
Over a year later, Kalburgi was murdered by two unidentified persons, who rode a motorcycle to his home. One of them rang the doorbell, asked for the scholar and shot him at close range, while the other waited on the motorcycle at the gate. Following Gauri Lankesh’s killing last year, forensic analysis of the cartridges and bullets revealed that one 7.65 mm countrymade pistol was used in both the Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh murders.
In July this year, Miskin and Baddi were arrested by the SIT probing the Gauri Lankesh case after investigations revealed that they were part of a group of radical Hindu activists — many were linked to the Sanatan Sanstha and its affiliate, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti — who allegedly planned and executed the murder of the journalist in Bengaluru. Miskin, who worked in an incense stick manufacturing firm in Hubbali, is accused of taking Gauri Lankesh’s shooter to her house on a motorcycle, while Baddi, who worked as a goldsmith, is accused of facilitating the getaway after the murder.
In August, the SIT, in a report to the CID, indicated the likely role of Baddi and Miskin in the Kalburgi murder case — including the possibility of one of them being the shooter. The SIT also indicated that a former HJS activist, Amol Kale (37), who reportedly recruited the two youths among several others and provided arms training, was also possibly involved in the murder.
Some of the suspects arrested in the Gauri Lankesh case had earlier indicated that the journalist was targeted for her alleged “anti-Hindu’’ statements — including a 2012 speech in Mangaluru, which was re-circulated on social media in 2016, in which she said that Hinduism has no specific parentage and is merely an arrangement of social structure. Following the 2012 speech, a resident of Mangaluru had filed a case against Lankesh for hurting religious sentiments.
According to sources, a video of her speech was found on a computer in the possession of a suspect, Sujeet Kumar (38), a former activist of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, who was among those arrested for the journalist’s murder. The video was shown to youths recruited by the outfit to execute the murder, sources said.
Courtesy: indianexpress.com
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NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
