'Go tell Modi,' says terrorist to woman from Karnataka after shooting down husband

Pallavi Rao had just seen her husband fall to a terrorist bullet. As life ebbed out of the Shivamogga realtor, his distraught wife pleaded with the gunmen to shoot her and their son dead, too. The reply? "Go, tell Modi." Kashmir wasn't just a dream destination for Manjunatha Rao. He hadn't been on a family holiday outside his native Karnataka in his 46 years. On Tuesday, the Raos were soaking in the beauty of Pahalgam's meadows when gunshots broke their reverie. Manjunatha was among two tourists from Karnataka - the other was Bengaluru's Bharat Bhushan - singled out and shot dead.

Manjunatha had booked the trip after his son Abhijit's Class XII exams. They were part of a group that left Shivamogga on April 19. Pallavi, branch manager of Malnad Areca Marketing Co-op Society's Birur branch, recounted to a TV channel how terrorists purportedly profiled their victims before opening fire.