Mysuru: Congress Women's Wing leader allegedly murdered by husband after fight

A high-ranking official with the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement says the six Israeli captives found dead in a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip were killed in Israeli airstrikes against the besieged coastal territory.

“The ones who kill our people daily are the Israeli colonizers with American weapons. The captives found in Gaza were not killed by us but by the relentless Zionist bombardment,” Izzat al-Rishq, a member of the political bureau of Hamas, said in a statement on Sunday.

He further criticized the United States, saying, “If President [Joe] Biden truly cares about the lives of Israeli hostages, he should cease his support for this enemy with money and weapons and pressure Israel to end its aggression immediately.”

Rishq emphasized that Hamas had been more concerned about the lives of the hostages than Biden himself, citing Hamas’s agreement to a ceasefire proposal and the UN Security Council’s resolution, both of which were rejected by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Earlier on Sunday, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesperson, alleged that Hamas murdered the six captives, whose bodies were found inside a tunnel in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

The Israeli army identified them as 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; Alexander Lobanov, 33; and Carmel Gat, 40.

Hamas has offered to release Israeli captives in return for an end to the genocidal war on Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners.

Netanyahu has taken a tough line in Gaza ceasefire negotiations, and repeatedly said that military pressure is needed to bring home the captives.

According to Israeli media, he has feuded with the regime’s high-profile officials who have said a deal should be struck urgently.

Hamas has said that dozens of captives were killed by Israeli airstrikes targeting Gaza.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 last year after Palestinian resistance groups carried out a surprise retaliatory operation into the occupied territories.

So far, the regime has killed at least 40,691 Gazans, most of them women, children, and adolescents. Another 94,060 Palestinians have sustained injuries as well. 

Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Friday joined the Congress ahead of the upcoming Haryana Assembly polls and will be the candidate from Julana. Along with Phogat, Bajrang Punia also joined the party.

Meanwhile, Former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh took a jibe at the wrestlers saying, "God has punished them for cheating."

"Haryana is the crown of India in the field of sports. And they stopped the wrestling activities for almost 2.5 years. Is it not true that Bajrang went to the Asian Games without trials? I want to ask those who are experts in wrestling. I want to ask Vinesh Phogat whether a player can give trials in 2 weight categories in a day? Can the trials be stopped for 5 hours after the weigh-in?... You did not win the wrestling, you went there by cheating. God has punished you for the same, " Brij Bhushan said, as reported by ANI.

Additionally he also called out Congress leader Bhupinder Hooda.

"I am not guilty of disrespecting daughters. If anyone is guilty of disrespecting daughters, it is Bajrang and Vinesh. And the one who wrote the script, Bhupinder Hooda is responsible for that. If they (BJP) will ask me (to campaign in the Haryana polls), I can go. One day Congress will have to regret it...," he said.

Both Phogat and Punia met Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence before officially joining the party at an event at headquarters in the presence of General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal.

Vinesh Phogat, who defied several odds to make the final of the women’s freestyle 50 kg event of the Paris Olympics, was disqualified after being overweight by a few grams.

Now, Olympians Phogat and Bajrang Punia, who were at the forefront of the wrestlers' protest against former WFI chief and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh last year, entered the political arena on Friday by joining the Congress with a vow of "not being scared or backing off".

Hours after joining the Congress, Punia was appointed as the working chairman of the All India Kisan Congress. It seems unlikely now that he would be fielded in the polls.

The 90-member Haryana Assembly is scheduled to go to polls on October 5 and the counting of votes will be undertaken on October 8.

Udupi, Aug 27: Police on Tuesday arrested a BJP worker in connection with the abduction and rape case in Karkala, which Sangh Parivar had tried to portray as a ‘love jihad’ case.

In fact the BJP had run a campaign over the abduction and rape case and slammed the Karnataka government alleging a ‘love jihad’ angle.

The arrested BJP worker identified as Abhay is the third accused to be arrested in the case.

Police stated that Abhay had also helped the main accused Altaf to escape after the incident.

The Karkala town police have also slapped the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act) against him as investigation has revealed that Abhay had provided drugs to Altaf.

The accused had posted BJP MLA and Karnataka General Secretary, V Sunil Kumar's photo in his social media account and also identified with Hindu organisations, police said.

A probe has revealed that Abhay was close to Altaf.

The development has triggered a debate on social media.

Abhay had also taken part in the campaign against drugs organised by the Bajrang Dal and he was also a part of the team which submitted a memorandum to the Deputy SP of Karkala.

More details are yet to emerge regarding the incident.

The police department is yet to give an official statement regarding the development.

An incident of an Instagram friend kidnapping and raping a 21-year-old woman had come to light on last Saturday from Karkala town of Udupi district.

The police had arrested two persons in this connection and the victim was admitted to hospital.

The case had taken a twist with Hindutva organisations alleging ‘love jihad’ and claiming that the victim was gang-raped.

The police had warned of strict action against those spreading rumours.

The arrested persons were identified as Altaf and Xavier Richard Quadros.

Udupi SP, Dr Arun Kumar had stated, "We received a complaint on Friday evening regarding the kidnap and rape of a young woman. The victim and accused were friends on Instagram for three months. The accused and the victim belong to the same place."

The accused Altaf, who was the woman’s Instagram friend, had called the victim and asked her to come to a particular spot near her work place on Friday noon.

When the victim reached a particular spot, she was kidnapped from there, he stated.

The victim claims that she was forced to consume a drink laced with some sedative substances and the accused then raped her, SP Arun Kumar had stated.

After committing the crime, the accused had dropped the victim home, he had said.