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Mumbai, May 13: An NCP youth wing leader on Friday approached the cyber cell of Mumbai police seeking action against the BJP for uploading an alleged edited version of Sharad Pawar's recent speech in order to portray him as a "Hindu hater".

The @BJP4Maharashtra on Wednesday tweeted a short video of the speech and claimed that "atheist Sharad Pawar always hated Hindu religion" and he would not have achieved his political success without taking such a stand.

However, some social media users pointed out it was an edited video and Pawar, in the speech made at an event on May 9 in Satara, was in fact referring to a poem by Jawahar Rathod that deals with casteism and untouchability.

In his complaint to the police, Suraj Chavan, president of the state unit of the NCP's youth wing, said, "An attempt was made to create a divide in communities and cause law and order problems by sharing such a tempered video on Twitter. Action must be taken against the Twitter handle (of the BJP) as per sections 499, 500, 66A and 66F."

Pawar had told reporters on Thursday that he was reading out lines from a poem that depicts the pain of the labour class, but went to take a swipe at the BJP by saying those who wanted to spread disinformation were free to do so. 

Colombo, May 12: Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Sri Lanka's prime minister for the sixth time on Thursday, though the veteran politician has never completed a full term in office.

The 73-year-old's political career appeared to be drawing to a close before this week, when he agreed to helm a unity administration and help steer the South Asian island nation through a crippling economic crisis.

"This is a historic event," Tamil legislator Dharmalingam Sithadthan told AFP in reference to Wickremesinghe's latest return to the top office.

"This shows the desperate situation in our country."

Wickremesinghe is the sole parliamentary representative of the United National Party, a once-powerful political force that was nearly wiped out in Sri Lanka's last elections.

The former lawyer hails from a political family and his uncle Junius Jayewardene served as president for more than a decade.

But Wickremesinghe once told AFP he would have likely pursued a career as a journalist, had the government of the day not nationalised his family's newspaper business in 1973.

He was first appointed premier in 1993 after the assassination of then-president Ranasinghe Premadasa, who was killed in a bomb attack by Tamil Tiger guerrillas during Sri Lanka's decades-long civil war.

Underscoring the dynastic nature of Sri Lanka's politics, Premadasa's son Sajith is the current opposition leader and had also been touted as a possible prime ministerial candidate this week.

Wickremesinghe's first term in office lasted little more than a year.

He returned to power in 2001, earning a reputation for sound economic management after steering the country out of recession.

Conflict with the president saw him sacked before his term was over, and he spent the next decade in the political wilderness.

Wickremasinghe lost two presidential contests and led his party to a string of election defeats, prompting even his own supporters to dub him a "record loser".

He was nonetheless sworn in as prime minister again in 2015 after the election defeat of president Mahinda Rajapaksa after the opposition rallied behind him as a unity candidate against the authoritarian leader.

His "Mr Clean" image was muddied later that year when his administration was rocked by an insider trading scam involving central bank bonds.

A key accused in the multi-million dollar scam was the central bank chief at the time, Arjuna Mahendran, who was Wickremesinghe's schoolmate and choice for the job.

He was accused of cronyism during his tenure and failing to prosecute members of the previous Rajapaksa regime, members of which had been accused of graft, kickbacks and siphoning off public finances.

Political conflict with the powerful Rajapaksa family also threw the country into crisis in 2018, with Mahinda taking over the premiership for six weeks before the Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional.

Wickremesinghe returns to office to replace Mahinda Rajapaksa, who resigned on Monday after his supporters attacked anti-government demonstrators, and later had to be rescued from his residence by the military.

He will serve at the pleasure of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Mahinda's younger brother, who has fought off calls for his own resignation over the government's mismanagement of the economic crisis.

Wickremesinghe will be taking charge of a bankrupt nation in default of its $51-billion foreign debt and without money to import essential goods.

His status as a pro-West, free-market reformist could smooth bailout negotiations with the International Monetary Fund and foreign creditors.

But he has already warned there will be no quick fix to the nation's unprecedented economic woes.

"The worst is yet to come. We have very high inflation now and hyperinflation is on its way," Wickremesinghe told parliament last week.

"We should start addressing the issues now, we can't put it off any longer," he added. 

Mangaluru, May 9: Six persons, including a hotel management student, have been arrested by the police in connection with the murder of a rowdy-sheeter on April 29 at Emmekere grounds in the Mangaluru South Police Station jurisdiction.

The arrested are Mahendra Shetty (27) from Emmekere, Akshay Kumar (25) from Bolar, Sushith (20) from Emmekere, Dillesh Bangera (21) from Morgan’s Gate, Shubham (26) from Bolar and Vishnu P (20) from Emmekere.

An old rivalry is suspected to be the reason for the murder, according to Commissioner of Police N Shashi Kumar. 

Four of the accused hacked the victim - Rahul Thingalaya alias Kakke - to death. The police are on the hunt for eight more suspects who were part of the conspiracy to murder Rahul.

While Mahendra, Kumar, Sushith and Bangera were arrested at Surathkal Railway Station late Sunday night, the other two were arrested at Suthan Battery and Someshwar Beach on Monday.

The police have recovered three talwars, four sickles, three knives, two scooters, one bike and five mobile phones from the suspects.

The commissioner said that those arrested along with others had conspired to murder Rahul a day before the incident near Marigudi Temple in Mangaluru.

The prime accused Mahendra and the victim Rahul had a personal enmity following a clash between two groups in Emmekere in 2016. Rahul had allegedly attacked Mahendra in 2019.

Rahul had also attacked one Karthik Shetty and his associates in 2020. So, Shubham had introduced Karthik Shetty and his brother Bharath Shetty to youth from the Emmekere group of Mahendra. As Rahul had attacked the groups of Mahendra and Karthik Shetty, they allegedly decided to murder him. After hatching the conspiracy, all were in contact with Kumar to work out their shelter and the means of escaping after the crime. Vishnu had allegedly helped the accused to flee.

About 13 members are believed to be part of the conspiracy.