Tiger claw locket case: Actors Darshan, Jaggesh, Nikhil surrender lockets before forest dept sleuths
Bengaluru: Amid increasing calls for stringent action against actors Darshan, Nikhil Kumaraswamy and Jaggesh, whose images wearing a tiger claw locket went viral on social media following the arrest of Bigg Boss Kannada season 10 contestant, Varthur Santosh, all three actors surrendered their tiger claw lockets to the forest department officials on Wednesday.
Bengaluru Deputy Conservator of Forests, Ravindra, confirmed that the lockets handed over by Darshan and Nikhil were replicas. However, actor Jaggesh's golden locket with tiger claws, handed over by his wife Parimala in his absence, will undergo a laboratory test in Dehradun to determine its age. Speaking to the media, DCF Ravindra mentioned, "He has informed us that the locket is 40 years old. It will be sent to a laboratory in Dehradun to ascertain its age. If it is confirmed to be a tiger claw, further action will be taken."
Meanwhile taking to the micro-blogging site 'X', Jaggesh emphasized that Law is above all and also informed that he has handed over the locket to the authorities and that he has informed that his mother had gifted it to him.
In response to the allegations ,JD(S) leader Nikhil Kumaraswamy also earlier in the day clarified that the tiger claw he possesses is, in fact, a fake one. Taking to ‘X’ (formerly Twitter), Nikhil expressed that, “Several media reports suggest that Nikhil Kumaraswamy wore a tiger claw pendant during his marriage. This is far from the truth and I'm certainly aware of the Wildlife Protection Act.”
He further explained that the tiger claw that he wore during his marriage was a gift and that it was fake. “I still possess it, and I welcome concerned authorities to verify it. I request everyone not to spread information which is far from reality.”
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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.
