74-year-old Indian-American man arrested for killing daughter-in-law in US
San Francisco (PTI): A 74-year-old Indian-American man has been arrested in the US state of California, for fatally shooting his daughter-in-law at a parking lot possibly out of anger over her plans to divorce his son, according to a media report.
Sital Singh Dosanjh killed his daughter-in-law Gurpreet Kaur Dosanjh last week in the South San Jose parking lot of the Walmart where she worked, the East Bay Times reported.
A police investigation that led to the arrest of Sital revealed that the victim was on the phone on Friday telling her uncle about her fear that Sital was looking for her, it said.
She also reportedly told her uncle that she saw Sital driving in the lot, indicating that he travelled 150 miles (241 kms) to find her, the report added.
The uncle told police that her niece sounded frightened and that Sital was approaching her car, where she was taking a break from work.
That was the last thing the uncle said he heard before the phone call disconnected. Five hours later, a Walmart co-worker discovered Gurpreet's body in the same lot, in the same car, suffering from at least two gunshot wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene, the report added.
According to the police summary, Gurpreet's uncle told investigators that his niece was in the process of divorcing (the) suspect's son, and that the husband and his father lived in Fresno. Gurpreet lived in San Jose, according to the investigation.
As homicide detectives and other officers were investigating the shooting, the victim's uncle, who was the last person to hear his niece alive, drove from the Central Valley and arrived at the crime scene. Police said he helped investigators formally identify Sital Dosanjh as the likely suspect.
The next morning, Sital was arrested at his home in Fresno. During a search of the residence, police seized a .22-caliber Beretta pistol, according to a police investigative summary accompanying a murder charge filed Wednesday by Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office.
Sital was transported to the Main Jail in San Jose, where he has been held without bail. During his arraignment in a San Jose courtroom Wednesday, he was clad in a red jumpsuit reserved for high-security inmates, had a blue surgical mask over his face and did not speak. He did not enter a plea and was ordered to return to court on November 14.
Detectives found that surveillance video showed that Sital's black Silverado pickup truck was seen entering the parking lot, driving up near his daughter-in-law's car, and then leaving the lot.
The detectives also determined that license plate reading cameras in Gilroy, surveillance cameras on Pacheco Pass, and Sital Dosanjh's cell phone records charted his drive back to Fresno over the next few hours.
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TVK falls short within touching distance; what next to ensure majority
Chennai (PIT): With TVK falling 10 short of a majority, its leader Vijay has the option of forming a minority government in Tamil Nadu without any outside support, analysts said on Tuesday.
Senior political analyst Sumanth Raman told PTI that the TVK is likely to opt to be a minority government with outside support.
"Since it is the single largest party, TVK has the option to go for that. I don't think he (Vijay) will opt for official support from other political party's MLAs", he said.
"If he opts for minority government, the only thing is that, Vijay will have to prove the support once again after six months".
Raman also pointed out that in 2006 when DMK won only 92 seats, the then party president, the late M Karunanidhi formed a minority government with outside support.
In a completely unexpected turn of events in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, the TVK has emerged victorious, putting an end to the almost six decade-long dominance of the two major Dravidian parties--DMK and AIADMK.
By clinching victory in its debut electoral contest, the party has elevated its status to that of a recognised political entity. However, the Vijay-led TVK did not secure a mandate large enough to form a government with an absolute majority on its own, requiring another 10 to cross the finish line. Experts have varied opinions.
Specifically, to attain a simple majority, a political party must win at least 118 out of the total 234 constituencies. The TVK, however, secured victory in 108 constituencies. Given that the TVK fell short of the majority mark, what might unfold next?
TVK leader Vijay has won in both constituencies he contested--Perambur in Chennai and Tiruchirappalli East. As per the election commission rule, he will have to resign from one of these seats. TVK sources said that the leader is likely to surrender the Tiruchirappalli assembly seat.
If Vijay does so, the party's total tally of seats will decrease by one. Then it will be 107. Adding to the number games, TVK appointed Speaker of the Assembly will be ineligible to cast a vote during a confidence motion and the party's effective voting strength will be reduced by yet another seat, which comes to 106.
Accordingly, the TVK requires the support of an additional 12 members to demonstrate its majority. As of now, within the DMK alliance, the Congress party has secured five seats, the two Communist parties have won two seats each (totaling four), while the DMDK has secured one seat, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has won two seats and the VCK has secured two seats.
Within the AIADMK alliance, the PMK has grabbed four seats, the BJP has won one seat, and the AMMK has secured one seat. Going by the calculations, if TVK gets the support of other parties within both alliances, it would gain an additional 21 seats.
TVK could potentially secure a total of 129 seats (108 + 21). However, the TVK does not require the support of all those parties, and the backing of just 12 members would suffice.
As Vijay is expected to visit Lok Bhavan on Wednesday (May 6) to meet the governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar to stake claim to form government, the governor is expected to offer the TVK two options.
First, he may summon the TVK chief and instruct him to demonstrate his majority on the floor of the legislative assembly. Alternatively, he might ask Vijay to gather letters of support from "allied" parties and submit them to him.
If the TVK secures support exceeding 118 seats, the governor would invite the party form the government. If TVK fails to garner support from other political parties, it will be denied the opportunity to form the government.
In such a scenario, the governor has the option to invite the DMK, the party holding the second-highest number of seats to form the government.
If DMK too is unable to form a government, the state of Tamil Nadu will come under governor's rule for the subsequent six months. Following this period, fresh legislative Assembly elections will be once again held across all 234 constituencies.
Another political analyst Durai Karuna ruled out that TVK will go for a minority government.
"If he (Vijay) gives an appeal, many political parties including Congress, VCK and left parties will join TVK", he claimed. "In addition, the AIADMK, which has decided to organise MLAs meeting on Wednesday, might also announce that it would support TVK unconditionally".
He said a clear picture on Vijay's decision will emerge in a couple of days.
Tharasu Shyam, political critic, claimed that Congress was "holding talks with Vijay."
"From now on, the DMK must change its approach and this applies equally to the AIADMK," he said in an apparent reference to some reported difference of opinion between allies DMK and Congress over seat-sharing and power-sharing ahead of the April 23 polls.
Incidentally, AICC in-charge for Tamil Nadu, Girish Chodankar, on Tuesday admitted that the Congress party leadership's decision to stick with the DMK alliance went against strong grassroots sentiment favouring the TVK.
"The local leaders, the grassroots level leaders, were suggesting if Rahul Gandhi, who has a large acceptance in Tamil Nadu, joins the campaign with Vijay, it will create a big impact and we can sweep the Tamil Nadu polls, and get somewhere around 180-190 seats," Chodankar told PTI Videos.
