Why Santosh Patil committed suicide in Udupi?: CT Ravi raises question over contractor's suicide
Vijayapura: Raising doubts over the alleged suicide of contractor Santosh Patil which led to the resignation K. S. Eshwarappa from his Ministry, BJP National General Secretary, C. T. Ravi on Friday questioned why the contractor chose to committee suicide only in Udupi and not any other place?
“I have serious doubt over the whole incident. Firstly, there is no answer to the question as to why he committed suicide in Udupi only. Secondly, whether the death note forwarded on WhatsApp was typed by Santosh himself before the death or somebody else did that on his behalf after his death. Thirdly, why did he choose to stay in a separate room in the hotel while all of his friends stayed together”, he asked.
Ravi however said that only the autopsy report will give answers to all these questions.
Asked whether he will seek a CBI probe, he said that since there is no demand for it either from the family of the deceased or from the general public, thus, I do not think that a CBI probe is needed. However he said that based on the situation, the CM will take appropriate decisions.
On the resignation of K. S. Eshwarappa from the Ministry, Ravi said that he welcomed the decision stating that the former took the decision on moral grounds and not because the opposition was demanding.
On the allegations of the Karnataka State Contractors’ Association that they have been demanded 40% commission by the government officials and the elected representatives, Ravi refuted all the allegations.
On the contrary he doubted that someone else is instigating the state president of the association to make allegations against the government.
Admitting that corruption exists in the system, he however blamed the Congress for nurturing corruption and making it a huge problem.
Claiming that the BJP is a secular party which never does politics on communal grounds, Ravi said that it is Congress that has been doing appeasement politics for the vote of Muslims.
Addressing media persons on Friday, he said the Congress has been doing only appeasement politics which its projects as secularism.
“It is time we should change the definition of secularism and communalism. The Congress projects appeasement as secularism and the BJP which believes in religious equality, projects as communalism. What kind of justice is it? If the Congress stands for Hijab then it is a secular party, but when the BJP stands for uniformity in schools, then the Congress calls it communalism. This is not acceptable at all”, he said.
“When Harsha and Chandru were killed, the Congress stayed quiet but when some watermelons of Muslim vendors were destroyed, the Congress started feeling pain for people. This is nothing but selective politics”, he said.
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US SC rejects 26/11 attack accused Tahawwur Rana’s plea seeking stay on his extradition to India
New York, Apr 7 (PTI): The US Supreme Court has rejected 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused Tahawwur Rana's appeal seeking a stay on his extradition to India, moving him closer to being handed over to Indian authorities to face justice.
Rana, 64, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, is currently lodged at a metropolitan detention centre in Los Angeles.
He is known to be associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 attacks. Headley conducted a recce of Mumbai before the attacks by posing as an employee of Rana’s immigration consultancy.
Rana had submitted an ‘Emergency Application For Stay Pending Litigation of Petition For Writ of Habeas Corpus' on February 27, 2025, with Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and Circuit Justice for the Ninth Circuit Elena Kagan.
Kagan had denied the application earlier last month.
Rana had then renewed his ‘Emergency Application for Stay Pending Litigation of Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus previously addressed to Justice Kagan’, and requested that the renewed application be directed to US Chief Justice John Roberts.
An order on the Supreme Court website noted that Rana's renewed application had been “distributed for Conference” on April 4 and the “application” has been “referred to the Court.”
A notice on the Supreme Court website Monday said that “Application denied by the Court.”
Rana was convicted in the US of one count of conspiracy to provide material support to the terrorist plot in Denmark and one count of providing material support to Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Lashker-e-Taiba which was responsible for the attacks in Mumbai.
New York-based Indian-American attorney Ravi Batra had told PTI that Rana had made his application to the Supreme Court to prevent extradition, which Justice Kagan denied on March 6. The application was then submitted before Roberts, “who has shared it with the Court to conference so as to harness the entire Court’s view.”
The Supreme Court justices are Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
In his emergency application, Rana had sought a stay of his extradition and surrender to India pending litigation (including exhaustion of all appeals) on the merits of his February 13.
In that petition, Rana argued that his extradition to India violates US law and the UN Convention Against Torture "because there are substantial grounds for believing that, if extradited to India, the petitioner will be in danger of being subjected to torture."
"The likelihood of torture in this case is even higher though as petitioner faces acute risk as a Muslim of Pakistani origin charged in the Mumbai attacks,” the application said.
The application also said that his “severe medical conditions” render extradition to Indian detention facilities a “de facto" death sentence in this case.
The US Supreme Court denied Rana's petition for a writ of certiorari relating to his original habeas petition on January 21. The application notes that on that same day, newly-confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio had met with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Washington on February 12 to meet with Trump, Rana’s counsel received a letter from the Department of State, stating that “on February 11, 2025, the Secretary of State decided to authorise” Rana’s "surrender to India,” pursuant to the “Extradition Treaty between the United States and India”.
Rana’s Counsel requested from the State Department the complete administrative record on which Secretary Rubio based his decision to authorize Rana’s surrender to India.
The Counsel also requested immediate information of any commitment the United States has obtained from India with respect to Rana’s treatment. “The government declined to provide any information in response to these requests,” the application said.
It added that given Rana’s underlying health conditions and the State Department’s findings regarding the treatment of prisoners, it is very likely “Rana will not survive long enough to be tried in India".
During a joint press conference with Prime Minister Modi in the White House in February, President Donald Trump announced that his administration has approved the extradition of "very evil" Rana, wanted by Indian law enforcement agencies for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, "to face justice in India”.
A total of 166 people, including six Americans, were killed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in which 10 Pakistani terrorists laid a more than 60-hour siege, attacking and killing people at iconic and vital locations in Mumbai.
