For killing Indian techie Srinivas Kuchibhotla, US man faces death or life in prison

Agencies
March 7, 2018

Washington, Mar 7: A 52-year-old former US navy veteran charged with killing Indian software engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla at a bar in Kansas last year pleaded guilty on Tuesday to murder in the shooting that was linked to a surge in ethnic, racial and anti-immigrant tensions after President Donald Trump’s election.

Adam W Purinton has been charged with one count of murder, two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder for the shootings of Kuchibhotla’s friend Alok Madasani and another patron, Ian Grillot.

Asked by the judge how he would plead to the first-degree murder charge, Purinton said, “Guilty, your honour.”

He was also charged with hate crime. Purinton faces life in prison with no chance of parole for 50 years when he is sentenced on May 4 for premeditated first-degree murder.

Witnesses said Purinton, who is white, yelled “Get out of my country!” before firing at the two men, who had stopped for an after-work drink at Austin’s Bar and Grill in Olathe, Kansas on February 22, 2017.

The men, both 32, had come to the US as students and worked as engineers at nearby GPS-maker Garmin.

Kuchibhotla’s widow, Sunayana Dumala, was not at the court Tuesday, issued a statement later.

“We must understand and love one another. Let us continue to work for peace, understanding and love -- the things Srinu stood for and will be his legacy,” Dumala said.

She is expected to speak on Friday, which would have been her husband’s 34th birthday.

Dumala, who now has an H-1B visa and started a Facebook page to bring attention to immigration and related issues, was local Congressman Kevin Yoder’s guest at President Trump’s first state of the union address in January.

According to court documents, Purinton was asked to leave the bar when he made the derogatory comments. He returned with a gun 30 minutes later with the lower portion of his face hidden in a scarf.

Madasani told detectives that the gunman asked the men if their “status was legal” before he opened fire, according to an affidavit released last year.

Kuchibhotla, who was shot at least three times, was declared dead at a nearby hospital. Madasani was shot in the leg and Grillot, who had set off after the gunman, in the arm and chest.

After the shooting, Purinton drove 70 miles (110 kilometres) east to Clinton, Missouri, and stopped at a restaurant, where he allegedly confessed to the killings to a bartender, who called the police.

Purinton was a regular customer at Austin’s. Neighbours in the Olathe cul-de-sac where he lived told The Associated Press after the shooting that he became “a drunken mess” following his father’s death about two years before the shooting and had physically and mentally deteriorated.

He still faces federal hate crime charges in the slaying. Federal prosecutors have not determined whether they will seek the death penalty.

Comments

Abdullah
 - 
Wednesday, 7 Mar 2018

Every culprit should be punished. In India also RSS Terrorists should be hanged where ever they kill human beings.

 

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Agencies
February 5,2020

New Delhi, Feb 5: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday expressed his suspicion over the government using force to clear the Shaheen Bagh stretch where an agitation has been ongoing for over 50 days against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

While speaking to ANI over the phone, Owaisi was asked that there are indications from the government that after February 8, Shaheen Bagh will be cleared.

In reply, he said, "Might be they will shoot them, they might turn Shaheen Bagh into Jallianwala Bagh. This might happen. BJP minister gave a statement to 'shoot a bullet'. The government must give an answer as (to) who is radicalising."

Further speaking about NPR and NRC, Owaisi said, "Government must give a clear cut answer that till 2024 NRC will not be implemented. Why are they spending Rs 3900 crore for NPR? I feel this way because I was a History student. Hitler during his reign conducted census twice and after that, he pushed the jews in a gas chamber. I don't want our country (to) go in that way."

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News Network
June 8,2020

Hundreds of thousands of people across the world are joining the anti-racism demonstrations days after the killing of George Floyd in United Sates. 

The protests are being held in cities including London, Manchester, Cardiff, Leicester and Sheffield.

Demonstrators attached ropes to the statue of Edward Colston before pulling it down to cheers and roars of approval from the crowd. Images on social media show the statue was eventually rolled into the city's harbour. 

It was not the only statue targeted on Sunday. In Brussels, protesters clambered onto the statue of former King Leopold II and chanted "reparations".

The word "shame" was also graffitied on the monument, reference perhaps to the fact that Leopold is said to have reigned over the mass death of 10 million Congolese.

In London, thousands of people congregated around the US embassy for the second day running.

While protests were mainly peaceful, there were some scuffles near the office of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and outside the Parliament gates.

In Hong Kong, about 20 people staged a rally in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement on Sunday outside the US consulate in the semi-autonomous Chinese city.

"It's a global issue," Quinland Anderson, a 28-year-old British citizen living in Hong Kong, told The Associated Press news agency.

"We have to remind ourselves despite all we see going on in the US and in the other parts of the world, Black lives do indeed matter."

Several dozen demonstrators took part in a Black Lives Matter protest held in Tel Aviv's central Rabin Square.

A rally in Rome's sprawling People's Square was noisy but peaceful, with the majority of protesters wearing masks to protect against coronavirus. Participants listened to speeches and held up handmade placards saying "Black Lives Matter" and "It's a White Problem".

In Spain, several thousand people gathered on the streets of Barcelona and at the US embassy in Madrid.

Many in Madrid carried homemade signs reading "Black Lives Matter", "Human rights for all" and "Silence is pro-racist".

"We are not only doing this for our brother George Floyd," said Thimbo Samb, a spokesman for the group that organised the events in Spain mainly through social media. "Here in Europe, in Spain, where we live, we work, we sleep and pay taxes, we also suffer racism."

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Agencies
August 3,2020

New York, Aug 3: The number of coronavirus cases confirmed all over the world has surpassed 18 million, while the global COVID-19 death toll stands at over 687,000 according to data from the Johns Hopkins University's Coronavirus Resource Center.

As of 06:00 Moscow time on Monday (03:00 GMT), there are 18,017,556 confirmed coronavirus cases in the world. The global death toll from COVID-19 stands at 687,930. The number of recovered individuals stands at 10,649,108.

The United States remains the country with the largest number of cases (4,665,932) and the highest COVID-19 death toll (154,841), according to the latest data from the Johns Hopkins University.

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