Pro-Gaza protesters in Columbia University stay put despite crackdown, intimidation

Bengaluru, May 6: Arrested JD-S MLA H.D. Revanna, the son of former PM H.D. Deve Gowda, on Sunday said that there is no evidence against him in the sex video scandal kidnapping case and that it was a "conspiracy" against him.

Talking to the media, while being taken for a medical test before being produced in front of a court here, Revanna stated that a kidnapping case had been lodged against him though he does not have 'one black mark' against him in his entire career of 40 years.

"Without evidence, I have been targeted... All allegations against me are false. My arrest has been made out of ill intention," he claimed.

"The case was lodged on April 28, then, they did not have any evidence. Later, the fake evidence was created on May 2 and I was fixed," he alleged.

Home Minister Dr G. Parameshwara stated on Sunday that a Blue Corner notice has already been issued against Revanna's son and MP Prajwal Revanna, the prime accused in the sex video scandal, as he is believed to be abroad.

"The Interpol will communicate to all nations and he will be located. Once he is located, the SIT will take a call on how he should be secured and brought back to India," he added.

Revanna was arrested on Saturday on charges of kidnapping one of the victims of the sex video scandal.

Parameshwara further maintained that the arrest of Revanna has saddened JD-S leaders and if action was not taken, the SIT would be blamed too.

Meanwhile, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge refused to comment on the alleged sex video scandal involving Prajwal Revanna.

About Revanna's arrest, he said that the SIT would initiate action as per the law. "Those indulging in such acts must be taught a lesson and justice should be given to the families of victims. No one can escape the law. No one should use this case politically," he stated.

Hubballi, May 17: Karnataka Police have arrested the killer, Vishwa, also known as Girish, in the sensational Anjali Ambigera murder case, police said on Friday.

Preliminary investigations reveal that Vishwa was a habitual thief who exploited innocent young women. The accused is also a drunkard and was caught while attempting to commit theft. He was also part of a gang which stole bikes.

The accused targeted gullible young women, enacting a drama of love and playing the emotional card to forcefully extort gold, silver, and cash from them. When Anjali did not agree to any of his attempts to rob her and outrightly rejected his offer to go with him to Mysuru city, he brutally killed her.

The police had formed two teams to hunt down the killer. One of the teams was searching in the south Karnataka region, and another team, which launched a hunt in Davanagere, nabbed him. The accused was arrested by the police on Thursday.

The police could not catch him sooner as the killer did not carry a mobile phone and did not use his phone for 15 days, before murdering Anjali. The jurisdictional Bendigeri Police were aware of the killer's history, but even after the complaint by the girl’s family, they showed "utter negligence".

The 24-year-old Vishwa entered Anjali Ambigera's (20) residence at 5.30 A.M. on Wednesday and stabbed the young woman multiple times before she could react. Vishwa dragged Anjali Ambigera all over the house, kicking and stabbing her. Later, he pushed her into the kitchen where he stabbed her repeatedly.

Despite efforts by Anjali’s grandmother and two sisters to stop the attacker, he killed her and managed to flee. The incident occurred in the Veerapura Oni area within the jurisdiction of the Bendigeri Police Station.

Vishwa had been blackmailing Anjali and pressurising her to accompany him to Mysuru without informing her parents. The incident which took place close on the heels of MCA student Neha Hiremath’s brutal murder by the jilted lover has raised concern over the safety of women all across the state.

The BJP had demanded the resignation of Home Minister G. Parameshwara while the Congress leaders have also demanded that the Hubballi-Dharwad Police Commissioner Renuka Sukumar should be transferred for failing to sensitise the police force regarding issues of women’s safety.

Iran has urged Muslim countries to cut all relations with the Israeli regime as means of pressuring Tel Aviv to end its ongoing genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks on Saturday, addressing the 15th Heads of State and Government Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Gambia’s capital Banjul.

“Beyond doubt, this time period will also pass by, despite all its hardships and adversities for the Palestinian nation,” he said.

“However, the manner and quality of the role that is played by us, Muslim states, in the face of this crisis will go down in history,” the top diplomat added.

“Undoubtedly, severance of diplomatic and economic ties and [imposition of] practical arms and trade embargo [on Israel] serves as an important means of cessation of its genocide in Gaza and atrocities in the West Bank and the Noble al-Quds.”

At least 34,654 people have died in Gaza since October 7, when the Israeli regime began the war in response to al-Aqsa Storm, a retaliatory operation by the coastal sliver’s resistance groups.

Despite the unabated campaign of bloodshed and destruction, the regime has so far fallen short of realizing its goals, including defeating Gaza’s resistance, causing forced displacement of the territory’s entire population to neighboring Egypt, and enabling the release of those who were taken captive during al-Aqsa Storm.

Amir-Abdollahian said Gaza’s developments proved that elimination of the Palestinian resistance “was nothing but an illusion.”

“Because the Israeli regime is not a legitimate government. It is only an occupying apartheid power,” he said, adding, “Passage of time is not going to lend legitimacy to an occupying power.”

The foreign minister asserted that realization of sustainable peace and security in the region was only possible through cessation of the regime’s occupation of Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon, return of the Palestinian refugees to their homeland, and manifestation of Palestinians’ right to self-determination.