Gauri's assassins also tracked rationalist Narendra Nayak
Mangaluru: The group accused of murdering journalist Gauri Lankesh also watched the activities of Prof. Narendra Nayak of Mangaluru, the president of Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations, and identified him as a target, reported The Indian Express.
Rajesh Bangera (50), one of the accused in the Gauri murder case, had tracked the movements of Narendra Nayak in Mangaluru for two days in 2016, says SIT in its report to the court.
Bangera, allegedly the arms trainer of the group, trained four youths namely Mohan, Yathin, Yathish and Kumud to use guns before the surveillance began, the police alleged.
A diary recovered from main accused in the Lankesh case, Amol Kale, lists Mysuru's rationalist thinker Prof K S Bhagwan, Mangaluru's rationalist Prof. Narendra Nayak, Swami Nijuguanand and Bengaluru's playwright Girish Karnad as “targets.”
It is also alleged that the diary had listed the names, in code words, of those who would carry out the murders. After assassinating Lankesh, the group had planned to assassin Prof. Bhagwan in Mysore in February 2018. However, the SIT probe in the Lankesh murder achieved a breakthrough, resulting in disruption of the plan.
The police have registered a separate case against seven of the 18 persons accused in the Lankesh murder case on the charges of plotting to murder Prof. Bhagwan.
In its chargesheet, the SIT has documented the finding of 16 bundles of copies of Sanatan Prabhat, the mouthpiece of Sanatan Sanstha, at the home of Bangera after his arrest.
The SIT has filed a 9,235-page chargesheet against 18 persons in the Lankesh case. Of them, 16 arrested and two are still on large.
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.
Jos Buttler hopes short break from cricket will help him in IPL 2026
London (PTI): England batting mainstay Jos Buttler has said that spending time away from cricket after a disappointing T20 World Cup campaign should put him in good stead as he looks for a fresh start with the Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League beginning later this month.
Former England captain Buttler continued to receive the team's backing even as his runs dried up during the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, a lean patch for one of the country's most prominent white-ball batters.
Buttler managed just 87 runs across eight matches at an average of 10.87, with a forgettable strike rate of 116, while opening the batting for England at the World Cup. England bowed out of the tournament after losing to India in a high-scoring semifinal in Mumbai.
The 35-year-old hopes that the break he took from the game since that semifinal on March 5 should help him heading into the IPL starting on March 28.
"I couldn't have been further away from cricket, which for me at the time was just perfect. It's exactly what I needed," Buttler said on 'For the Love of Cricket' podcast.
"Obviously, the tournament didn't go personally how I'd have liked it to go. I just felt like I needed some space (away) from cricket and not to think about the game, and I could not have been further away from cricket where I was in that week," he said.
IPL 2022 winners Gujarat Titans will get their campaign underway on March 31 in an away game against Punjab Kings.
Buttler said the break was energising, which also gave him time to reflect.
"It was really refreshing -- I really enjoyed it -- a complete sort of release," he said.
"Slowly but surely, I'd say at the start of this week, (I am) just starting to reflect a bit and have a few thoughts about what's important to me and my cricket, and why it probably didn't go quite as I would've liked."
Buttler said his lack of runs in the T20 World Cup was not due to lack of effort, since in the lead-up to the semifinal against India he had spent the longest possible time in the nets trying to bat himself back into form. But what had followed was another scratchy 25 runs off 17 balls.
"There's elements (to what went wrong) that I actually don't really know exactly. For all your best intentions and hard work and efforts to perform, it just didn't work, and sometimes that's okay as well. That's something I've had to realise. It wasn't for a lack of effort; it just didn't quite happen,” he said.
