Kerala CM expresses "shock" over the murder of two men by drug mafia
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday expressed shock over the recent murder of two persons in Kannur allegedly by a drug mafia gang and said the duo were killed for joining the government's fight against the drug menace.
The gruesome murder comes amid the ongoing mass campaign against intoxicants and contraband substances in the state, he said, adding strict legal action would be initiated against the culprits.
Khalid (52), a fisherman and his 40-year-old brother-in-law Shameer were hacked to death on Wednesday in Thalassery area of Kannur district allegedly by a drug mafia gang.
According to police, the two men who were killed and a third person, who was the victims' relative, were attacked by the gang, a day after they brutally assaulted the son of one of the victims for objecting to the sale of banned substances by them.
Vijayan said there has been widespread interference of people against the drug abuse and questioning of the sale of the intoxicants now-a-days.
"Drug mafia gangs are upset about it and such acts must be dealt with without any compromise. The whole society should wake up and work for it," the Chief Minister said here in a statement.
Stating that such crimes should be viewed as a challenge against the land, he said similar gangs would be rooted out through comprehensive probe and coordinated interventions by the police and excise departments.
The society should be aware that those who join the fight against drugs should not be attacked this way, he said, adding that their family members should not be left helpless.
"Let's fight together to save our land and future generations from a disaster," the CM said and conveyed his condolence to the families of the deceased persons.
According to police, Shameer's cousin Shanid (38) was injured in the attack and is presently undergoing treatment at the Thalassery Cooperative Hospital, police said.
It was Shameer's son, Shabeel, who was beaten up allegedly by the same gang the previous day, police said.
Those accused of having carried out the attack are in hiding, it 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.
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.
