Lorry driver Arjun's family accuses vehicle owner of using their emotions for his gain
Kozhikode(Kerala), Oct 2: The family of lorry driver Arjun, who died in the Shirur landslide in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, on Wednesday accused the vehicle owner Manaf of using their emotions for his personal gain, an allegation denied by him.
Arjun's family held a press conference at their residence here and told reporters that Manaf, who was initially with them, was now using their emotions for his personal gain, including collecting funds from various sources.
They also claimed that he was characterising them as destitute which was hurtful as many of the family members have jobs.
Arjun's widow, brother-in-law, sisters and parents told TV channels that several efforts were made to get in touch with Manaf to request him to stop saying wrong things about the family on his Youtube channel, but he was ignoring them and not taking their calls.
They warned of legal measures if Manaf did not stop making statements about Arjun and seeking funds in his name.
They also said that no one should give him money in the name of Arjun as the family does not need any financial assistance.
Manaf, reacting to the accusations, said if they can prove he collected funds in Arjun's name, he was willing to be stoned to death.
The lorry owner said he started the Youtube channel when he was alone in Shirur and was making all possible efforts to ensure the search for Arjun's remains was not stopped.
"I made the Youtube channel to ensure no one forgets about him. Now I am speaking on it regarding various issues faced by me during that time. What is wrong with that," he said.
He further said that despite Arjun's family's various accusations, he still considers them as his family and will continue to treat them as such.
On September 25, after Arjun's remains were recovered along with the lorry from Gangawali river near Shirur village, Manaf had said that his efforts to get Arjun back to his family had been vindicated
He had also said that he fulfilled the promise to Arjun's family, especially his father and infant son, that he would be brought back to them.
The July 16 landslide on National Highway 66 claimed the lives of nine people, including that of Arjun.
Manaf had stayed in Karnataka for more than two months till Arjun's remains were recovered from the river.
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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.
