Bengaluru: Chief Minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah has order the setting up of a special court to quicken the hearings in the cases of murder of rationalist MM Kalburgi and journalist Gauri Lankesh, who were both known for holding strong views and being vocal against communalism and religious fundamentalism.
The investigations of the cases have revealed that the murders had been ideologically motivated and linked to a wider conspiracy that targeted left-weaning activists.
Kalburgi had been shot dead outside his house in Dharwad in August 2015. The legal proceedings had been consistently delayed although the charge sheet was submitted in 2018 and family inquiries had been completed. Following persistent requests by Umadevi M, the CM, in an order dated December 2, directed the initiation of necessary action to form a special court exclusively for the Kalburgi murder case.
Gauri Lankesh, who was a journalist, was assassinated in a similar manner in Bengaluru on September 5, 2017. The police arrested 18 persons for involvement in the case, and also presented a comprehensive charge sheet with as many as 1,200 pieces of evidence in the murder case.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) had said in the charge sheet filed in 2019 that 'Sanatan Sanstha', the Hindu extremist organization, was responsible for the murder of Gauri Lankesh, adding that the murder was linked to the killing of other activists and rationalists like Kalburgi, Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare. The police officers had concluded that a common group, driven by ideological motives, was behind the murders.
The trial began in July 2022 but was hampered by the court backlog. In response to the Gauri Lankesh's sister Kavita Lankesh's plea, Siddaramaiah ordered the formation of the special court with a full-time judge.
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Manchester, Jul 25 (PTI): The prolific Joe Root on Friday surpassed Australian legend Ricky Ponting's tally to become the second highest run-getter in the history of Test cricket and next in sight of the England batter is Indian icon Sachin Tendulkar who continues to head the list.
On the third day of the fourth Test against India here, Root first leapfrogged legendary Indian Rahul Dravid and South African great Jacques Kallis' aggregate of runs in a space of eight balls and then went past Ponting by steering the ball behind point for a single as the Old Trafford crowd gave him a standing ovation.
Ponting had scored 13378 runs in 168 matches at an average of 51.85, while Tendulkar continues to top the list with 15921 runs.
It was apt that Ponting was in the commentary box when Root went past him. The 34-year-old Root began his Test career with a 73-run knock on debut during England's tour of India back in 2012 at Nagpur.
"Congrats, Joe Root. Magnificent," a delighted Ponting, doing commentary alongside Ravi Shastri, hailed the Yorkshire man.
Root is playing in his 157th Test.
It was some sight as England skipper Ben Stokes, who was also in the middle, raised his bat even before Root could take off his helmet and acknowledged the cheers and applause from the crowd and the players
Earlier, Root entered the history books by breaking the record of most Test centuries against India with his 12th hundred against the Asian giants, against whom he has played in 34 Tests so far.
Root had equalled Australian Steve Smith's record (11 centuries) in the third India-England Test at Lord's last week by scoring a hundred (104 runs from 199 balls) in the first innings.
Overall, the ton at Old Trafford was his 38th in red ball format as he joined former Sri Lanka star Kumar Sangakkara at fourth place in the list of centurions in the game's longest format.
Tendulkar (51), Jacques Kallis (45) and Ponting (41) are ahead of him in the hundred's list.