One More Arrest In Gauri Lankesh Murder Case Takes Total To 10
BENGALURU: The three arrests from Karnataka this week in the murder case of journalist Gauri Lankesh has brought the total number of arrested men to 10. While two people were arrested from Hubballi, another was arrested from Madikeri. Gauri Lankesh, 55, a vocal critic of hardline right-wing ideology, was shot dead outside her Bengaluru home in September last year.
The two men arrested from Hubballi in south Karnataka, Amith Baddi a goldsmith and Ganesh Miskin who manufactures incense sticks, are in police custody till August 6 - charged with murder and under the arms act. Fifty-year-old Rajesh D Bangera was arrested from Madikeri, the police said on Tuesday. He too has been sent to police custody till August 6.
There were protests in Hubbali by right-wing activists after the two men from the town were arrested by the special investigation team or SIT for their alleged involvement in the murder.
The two have the support of right-wing activists who say the men - and the others arrested - are innocent. The protestors handed over a memorandum to the tahsildar.
"We are giving this memorandum to say that we condemn the arrest of these Hindu youth and demand their immediate release. Already so many Hindus have been arrested in the Gauri Lankesh case. And now, without giving any reason, the SIT have arrested Anil and Ganesh on Saturday night even though these young men have no involvement in the case. They are the sole bread-winners for their families," one of them said.
Amith's mother, Jayashree, said, "They didn't tell us anything. They just took him away." Amith's wife tearfully added, "My small child keeps asking where papa is."
The support from Hindu groups and the depiction of the arrested men as innocent youth makes the affiliation between the arrested men and such groups seem more likely.
And makes it even clearer which way the investigation is heading.
The statement by the first man arrested in the case in February - Naveen Kumar - talks of his involvement with Hindu groups like the Sri Rama Sene headed by Pramod Muthalik notorious for being accused in the Mangaluru pub attack case - though he was later acquitted.
The statement also indicates how Gauri Lankesh was said to have made anti-Hindu statements and was a threat to the religion.
Four other men arrested in the case were being investigated for a plot to kill the Mysuru-based rationalist, K Bhagwan - with possible links to Gauri Lankesh's killing being made later.
courtesy : ndtv.com
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LPG crisis: Karnataka temples gear up to stock wooden logs for ‘Prasada’
Bengaluru (PTI): Temples in Karnataka have started preparations to stock wooden logs fearing that the LPG shortage could hamper the ‘Prasada’ preparation and distributions to the devotees.
The looming LPG crisis in the state in the wake of Iran-Israel conflict has made the temple managements jittery.
According to the Akhila Karnataka Hindu Temple Archakas Federation (AKHTAF) president M S Venkatachalaiah, there is no immediate crisis in the temples.
“We have LPG cylinder stock that can last for a week but if this scarcity continues then there will be a problem in serving Prasada (offerings to the deity) to the devotees,” AKHTAF president said.
He added that many temples in the state have started stocking wooden logs to overcome the LPG crisis.
“Our temples have started preparing to store wooden logs to prepare Prasada though currently we don’t have a problem, at least for a week,” Venkatachalaiah told PTI.
Another priest working in a temple belonging to the state Endowment Department said the temples may have to go back to the traditional way of cooking as done in the ancient time using wood.
The LPG crisis has not affected the mid-day meal programme for government school students yet, though there was a meeting in the Education Department to find ways to tackle if crisis deepens, sources associated with the Mid-day Meal programme said.
Meanwhile, the largest partner of the Mid-day Meal programme in the country is Akshaya Patra.
The NGO said they do not depend much on LPG gas cylinder.
“The LPG crisis has not affected us. Our kitchens are steam-based, and we generate steam through boilers which run on electricity. That’s point number one. Point number two—gas is used only for very minor things, mainly for seasoning. That is the tadka,” an Akshaya Patra executive told PTI.
According to him, the NGO has has a gas reserves for about nearly one month across India, though gas is used in very small quantities every day.
He pointed out that the Mid-day meal programme will not be affected because in one or one-and-a-half weeks, schools will close owing to summer vacation.
Akshaya Patra feeds 23.5 lakh children across more than 24,000 schools across India, in 16 states and three Union Territories, he said.
