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
July 29,2020

New Delhi, Jul 29: Coronavirus infections in India continue to mount as the country's total case tally crossed the 15-lakh mark.

India added 48,513 fresh cases in 24 hours, taking the total tally to over 15.3 lakh, according to the Health Ministry’s 8 a.m. update on July 29.

Key Figures

Total number of confirmed coronavirus cases: 15,31,669
Active cases: 5,09,447
Cured/discharged/migrated: 9,88,029
Deaths: 34,193
Number of fresh cases in 24 hours: 48,513
One-day recoveries: 35,175
One-day deaths: 768
India’s coronavirus epidemic is growing at the fastest pace in the world, increasing 20% over the last week, according to Bloomberg’s Coronavirus Tracker. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are among the states where the maximum number of daily cares are being reported.

Fresh cases continued to come in at a heightened pace, hovering just below 50,000 for the last six days.

Moderna Inc.’s vaccine candidate against Covid-19 protected against the virus in a trial that inoculated 16 monkeys, an encouraging step on the path to a defense for humans against the pandemic. Pfizer Inc., however, is preparing for the novel coronavirus to endure, leading to long-term demand for a seasonal shot to protect against Covid-19.

“There is a likely scenario that either the vaccine’s immunity will not be lasting forever,” said Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla in an interview Tuesday, “or that the virus will mutate, or that the virus will find ways to come back again and again.”

Even as the transmission rate of Covid-19 remains high in India, the pace of recovery has risen too. On Wednesday, India reported its third day of over 35,000 recoveries.

Global Update

Flare-ups in virus cases from Hong Kong to Europe are proving difficult for policy makers to wrangle. The U.S. neared 150,000 deaths from Covid-19, even as daily infections slowed in some hard-hit states. China reported 101 new cases, up from 68 a day earlier, with 98 of the total from local infections, mostly in Xinjiang.

Philippine health authorities warned that hospitals and infirmaries risk getting overwhelmed.

Globally, confirmed Covid-19 cases have topped 16.6 million with over 658,000 dead.

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News Network
June 24,2020

Islamabad, Jun 24: A plane crash which killed 97 people in Pakistan last month was because of human error by the pilot and air traffic control, according to an initial report into the disaster released Wednesday.

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane came down among houses on May 22 after both engines failed as it approached Karachi airport, killing all but two people on board.

"The pilot as well as the controller didn't follow the standard rules," the country's aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan said, announcing the findings in parliament.

He said the pilots had been discussing the coronavirus pandemic as they attempted to land the Airbus A320.

"The pilot and co-pilot were not focused and throughout the conversation was about coronavirus," Khan said.

The Pakistani investigation team, which included officials from the French government and the aviation industry, analysed data and voice recorders.

The minister said the plane was "100 percent fit for flying, there was no technical fault".

The county's deadliest aviation accident in eight years came days after domestic commercial flights resumed following a two-month coronavirus lockdown.

Many passengers were on their way to spend the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr with loved ones.

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News Network
June 5,2020

Karachi, Jun 5: Pakistan's coronavirus cases rose to 89,249 on Friday after a record 4,896 new infections were detected in the country, while the death toll due to COVID-19 has reached 1,838, according to the health ministry.

The Ministry of National Health Service said that 68 patients died in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 1,838, whereas another 31,198 people have recovered.

It was the third consecutive day when a record number of cases were reported in Pakistan after the Eid holidays and easing of lockdown restrictions at the end of May.

Sindh province reported 33,536 infections, Punjab 33,144, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 11,890, Balochistan 5,582, Islamabad 3,946, Gilgit-Baltistan 852 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 299.

The authorities have conducted 638,323 tests, including a record 22,812 tests in the last 24 hours, the ministry said.

Despite the spike in number of COVID-19 cases, both houses of parliament are scheduled to meet separately on Friday. The Senate session started this morning while the National Assembly will be held in the afternoon, Radio Pakistan reported.

Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani and Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser at a meeting at the parliament house in Islamabad reviewed arrangements made for the two sessions.

Fumigation was also carried out in the parliament house for the safety of the lawmakers and staff.

Earlier, the Opposition rejected the idea of virtual meetings and insisted that the sessions be held in person, noting that it was an important session of parliament because the budget is expected to be presented in the National Assembly in the next week.

The novel coronavirus which first originated from China's Wuhan city in December last year has claimed 391,249 lives and has infected over 6 million people globally, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

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