Former hockey player from Kodagu stabbed to death by wife

Jun 18: Sri Lanka "sold" the 2011 World Cup final to India, the country's former sports minister said on Thursday, reviving one of cricket's most explosive match-fixing controversies. Mahindananda Aluthgamage, who was sports minister at the time, is the second senior figure to allege the final was fixed, after 1996 World Cup-winning skipper Arjuna Ranatunga. "I tell you today that we sold the 2011 World Cup finals," Aluthgamage told Sirasa TV. "Even when I was sports minister I believed this."

Aluthgamage, sports minister from 2010 to 2015 and now state minister for renewable energy and power, said he "did not want to disclose" the plot at the time.

"In 2011, we were to win, but we sold the match. I feel I can talk about it now. I am not connecting players, but some sections were involved," he said.

Sri Lanka lost the match at Mumbai's Wankhede stadium by six wickets. Indian players have strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Ranatunga, who was at the stadium as a commentator, has previously called for an investigation into the defeat.

"When we lost, I was distressed and I had a doubt," he said in July 2017. "We must investigate what happened to Sri Lanka at the 2011 World Cup final."

"I cannot reveal everything now, but one day I will. There must be an inquiry," added Ranatunga, who said players could not hide the "dirt".

Sri Lanka batted first and scored 274-6 off 50 overs. They appeared in a commanding position when Indian superstar Sachin Tendulkar was out for 18.

But India turned the game dramatically, thanks partly to poor fielding and bowling by Sri Lanka, who were led by Kumar Sangakkara.

Sri Lankan cricket has regularly been involved in corruption controversies, including claims of match-fixing ahead of a 2018 Test against England.

Earlier this month, the Sri Lankan cricket board said the International Cricket Council was investigating three unnamed former players over alleged corruption.

Sri Lanka introduced tough penalties for match-fixing and tightened sports betting restrictions in November in a bid to stamp out graft.

Another former sports minister, Harin Fernando, has said Sri Lankan cricket was riddled with graft "from top to bottom", and that the ICC considered Sri Lanka one of the world's most corrupt nations.

Former Sri Lankan fast bowler Dilhara Lokuhettige was suspended in 2018 for corruption relating to a limited-overs league.

He was the third Sri Lankan charged under the ICC anti-corruption code, following former captain and ex-chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya, and former paceman Nuwan Zoysa.

Jayasuriya was found guilty of failing to cooperate with a match-fixing probe and banned for two years. Zoysa was suspended for match-fixing.

Benglauru, May 17: A garment company manager jumped to death from his third-floor house on Saturday, four days after having killed his wife and wrapping her body in a blanket. 

Manish Kumar, 42, gave a relative and neighbours frightening moments before committing suicide at AECS Layout, Kudlu Gate, Southeast Bengaluru. The relative had come over after Kumar’s brother called him from Delhi, saying he had stopped responding to phone calls. 

The relative, who lives in Hongasandra, arrived at Kumar’s house around noon. He knocked on the door which was bolted from the inside but didn’t get a response. When he asked the neighbours, they said they didn’t have a clue. The relative and the neighbours decided to break the door open. 

But as they entered the house, they got the shock of their lives. Kumar was slitting his wrist with a blade. He then ran into the bathroom and locked himself in. They followed him and asked him to open the door. But he ignored them. They had to break open the bathroom door, too. By this time, Kumar had slashed his hands, chest and other parts of the body. Waving the blade at them, he asked them to stay away. 

Even the relative and the neighbours pleaded with him to drop the blade, he ran out and jumped off the building. He was taken to a hospital but it was too late. 

A bigger shock awaited them. They felt a foul smell emanating from the house. When they went in, they found the decomposed body of Kumar’s wife, Sandhya, 35, wrapped in a blanket. They called the cops. 

Police found a death note purportedly written by Kumar on May 12. “We suspect he killed her on that day,” said a police officer investigating the case. 

Police said the death note specifies what made Kumar kill his wife and commit suicide. Sandhya suspected him of having an affair since he regularly chatted up some bar dancers he had met in Gurgaon and Delhi. She accessed his phone and saw the calls and the WhatsApp messages he had sent them. The issue rocked their marital life and they often fought over it. He then decided to kill his wife and commit suicide, as per the death note. 

Police said Kumar appeared to have spent the last four days at home, with his wife’s body wrapped in the blanket. “We don’t know whether he tried to dispose of the body or didn’t want to see it,” the officer said. Police couldn’t determine how he killed her and are waiting for the post-mortem report. 

Joshi Srinath Mahadev, DCP (Southeast), said the couple hailed from Bihar. “We are waiting for Sandhya’s relatives to arrive in Bengaluru. A case of murder and suicide has been registered at the Parappana Agrahara police station.” Another officer said the couple had a love marriage.

Mangaluru, May 31:  Even as the worst locust attack on India in recent years raised concerns over its impact on crops, swarms of locusts have triggered panic in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada too. 

Farmers in the coastal district were taken aback when they found the swarms of locusts, which they feared as the arrival of desert locusts in the region.

According to reports, Renjalady village under the limits of Nuji Baltila Gramp Panchayats in Kadaba taluk and Shirlalu village in Belthangady taluk witnessed locust attacks in last couple of days. 

“Locust swarms were seen in many areas. We have also alerted agriculture department. Already insects have destroyed crops of many farmers,” said a farmer in Shirlalu village.  

Joint director of Dakshina Kannada district agriculture department MC Seetha confirmed that officials have received information from villagers about the locust scare and entemologists have already visited the place to collect more information.

Not Desert Locusts?

“We contacted entemologists and forwarded the pictures that farmers sent to us. Looking at the picture, entemologists have opined that it may be calotropis locust or colour grasshopper. Desert locusts usually arrive in lakhs,” said Ms Seetha. Desert locusts that are destroying crops in other parts of India may not come to Dakshina Kannada, she added.