9 accused held in Ex-Mayor Ravikumar murder case:Tumkur SP Divya Gopinath
Tumkur, October 15: SP Divya Gopinath said that the police have arrested total nine accused including main accused Sujay Bhargav in the former mayor Ravikumar alias Gadda Ravi murder case in the city.
Speaking to reporters here on Monday, the SP said that among the arrested, few of them were in judicial custody and others in police custody. Since 2013, both Ravikumar and Sujay were together. But in recent years, they developed enmity for some issues. It was found in the investigation that Sujay and his team killed Ravikumar for this reason. The police have been collecting more details. As Ravikumar was interfering in the business of Sujay, the latter had planned to kill him, she said.
Through one of his associate Rajesh alias Raji, Sujay had given contract to some rowdy-sheeters from Bengaluru and Mandya to kill Ravikumar. When Ravi was having tea at a stall, the accused got the message and came to the tea stall on a tempo and under the guise of purchasing cigarette, the tempo driver came to the tea stall and threw chilly power on Ravikumar. Later, seven accused who were in the tempo hacked Ravikumar to death. But so far, it was not confirmed who attacked Ravikumar on his head. After the murder, the accused fled the scene with the tempo and left the vehicle at Hanumanthapura cross and from there, they went in a car. The police would also interrogate the person who gave them the car to escape, the SP said.
Main accused Sujay has been facing total nine cases including Jaipura Krishna murder in 2004 and one atrocity case. Two others who were giving information to Sujay about the movement of Ravi were at large and they would be nabbed shortly, she said.
The police have arrested Sujay Bhargav alias Suji of Hanumanthapura, Raghu alias Chaddi of Bidirumale Thota in the city, Rajesh alias Raji of Kundur, Naveen of Devaraya Patna, K.L. Devaraj alias Devu of Kolala, Raghu alias Chiya of Basaveshwar Nagar in Bengaluru, Joman V. George alias George of Parvathi Nagar Laggere in Bengaluru, Jagadeesh B.M. alias Jaggu of Besagarahalli in Mandya, V.N. Mahesh alias Amase of Valagerahalli in Mandya district, she said.
Under the leadership of DySP K.S. Nagaraju, PSIs Raghavendra, Chandrashekar, Radhakrishna, Ramakrishnaiah, Ambareesh, Madhusudhan and Parvathamma led five teams, she said and hailed the efforts of the officers and staff in arresting the accused.
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Top US counterterrorism official resigns over Iran war, says Iran posed no imminent threat
Washington (AP): Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Centre, announced his resignation on Tuesday, saying he “cannot in good conscience” back the Trump administration's war in Iran.
Kent said on social media Iran “posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
There was no immediate comment from the White House.
Kent, a former political candidate with connections to right-wing extremists, was confirmed to his post last July on a 52-44 vote.
As head of the National Counterterrorism Centre, he was in charge of an agency tasked with analysing and detecting terrorist threats.
Before entering President Donald Trump's administration, Kent ran two unsuccessful campaigns for Congress in Washington state. He also served in the military, seeing 11 deployments as a Green Beret, followed by work at the CIA.
Democrats strongly opposed Kent's confirmation, pointing to his past ties to far-right figures and conspiracy theories. During his 2022 congressional campaign, Kent paid Graham Jorgensen, a member of the far-right military group the Proud Boys, for consulting work. He also worked closely with Joey Gibson, the founder of the Christian nationalist group Patriot Prayer, and attracted support from a variety of far-right figures.
During his Senate confirmation hearing, Kent also refused to distance himself from a conspiracy theory that federal agents instigated the January 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol, as well as false claims that Trump, a Republican, won the 2020 election over Democrat Joe Biden.
Democrats grilled Kent on his participation in a group chat on Signal that was used by Trump's national security team to discuss sensitive military plans.
Still, Republicans praised Kent's counterterrorism qualifications, pointing to his military and intelligence experience.
Sen. Tom Cotton, the GOP chair of the intelligence committee, said in a floor speech that Kent had "dedicated his career to fighting terrorism and keeping Americans safe.”
