Bengaluru woman strangles 2-year-old son, later kills self

Crime

The woman has been identified as Prathima Mangalurkar and her son as Saarthvik S.

TNM Staff

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A 28-year-old woman strangled her two-year-old son to death before hanging herself at their residence in Bengaluru’s Kalyan Nagar. The woman has been identified as Prathima Mangalurkar and her son as Saarthvik S. She was married to Sathish Shetti, who works as a first division assistant in the excise department. The couple were natives of Yellapura in Uttara Kannada district. Police have reportedly stated that the incident took place on Saturday evening and was only brought to their notice when Sathish attempted to reach his wife but was unable to do so. After multiple attempts to reach her on the phone went in vain, her husband reached home at around 9pm after work and found his wife and child dead. He immediately alerted neighbours after which Chandra Layout police were informed. Police rushed to the couples’ home and took the bodies of Prathima and the toddler to Victoria Hospital where a post-mortem was conducted. Sathish works for the Excise department and was on election duty on the day the tragic incident took place. Prathima was suspected to be depressed, according to the police.  Prathima’s parents, Shankarnath Mangalurkar and Vidhya were informed of the incident. They told the police that there had been no issues between the couple, who were married four years back. They alleged no misconduct on the part of Sathish and made no allegations against him. Vidhya, Prathima’s mother, stated that she had spoken to her daughter on the phone at around 3pm on Saturday. She told police that everything seemed fine and nothing seemed amiss. Prathima’s parents rushed to Bengaluru from their native place of Karwar, and arrived on Sunday morning after hearing about the incident.  If you are aware of anyone facing mental health issues or feeling suicidal, please provide help.  Sahai : 24-hour helpline numbers: 080- 65000111, 080-65000222

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Bengaluru college student accuses friend of attempted sexual assault, FIR filed

Sexual Assault

The accused has been identified as Shadath Mohammed and is yet to be apprehended.

TNM Staff

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A man from Bengaluru’s Kothanur has been booked for attempting to sexually assault his friend. The 24-year-old woman — a resident of Ejipura, filed a complaint on Friday with Kothanur police, following which police registered an FIR against the accused.  The woman studies at a private college in the city. The incident took place on March 15. The woman has stated that she was sexually assaulted by her classmate when she was staying at his apartment. The accused has been identified as Shadath Mohammed and is reportedly on the run from the police and is yet to be apprehended. According to her complaint, the woman and her friends including Shadath, had gone to a pub in Indiranagar. Following this, all of them decided to stay at the accused’s apartment, as it was getting late. After everyone had fallen asleep, Shadath allegedly entered the room in which she was sleeping at around 6 am, and attempted to sexually assault her. She managed to fight him off and told her friends at once, before leaving for her home. She told the police that he attempted to undress her and tried to sexually assault her. According to police officials who are investigating the case, the woman knew the accused through mutual friends and they had all spent time together before. Officials have also stated that the other friends present on the day of the incident would be brought in for questioning. Efforts to track down the accused are underway. Police have stated that further details would be available only after speaking to the friends and after investigating the accused. 

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Why the BJP has not picked a candidate for Bengaluru South

Lok Sabha 2019

The Bengaluru South segment has been a bastion of the BJP ever since Ananth Kumar defeated Congress heavyweight BK Hariprasad in 1999.

Theja Ram

The last date for filing nomination for the second phase of the Lok Sabha polls is just two days away. And yet the BJP has not announced its candidate for the Bengaluru South Lok Sabha segment. Incidentally, ever since rumours were rife in the media that the seat has been reserved for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several BJP leaders and party workers began tweeting from their Twitter handles, requesting Modi to contest from Bengaluru South. But senior BJP leader from Karnataka Suresh Kumar said that those were only rumours. However, BJP insiders said that there was an internal scuffle between BJP National General Secretary BL Santosh and state party President BS Yeddyurappa’s supporters, over offering the ticket to Tejaswini Ananth Kumar, wife of the late Union Minister Ananth Kumar. While BL Santosh wants to contest from the seat, Yeddyurappa has backed Tejaswini. The Bengaluru South segment has been a bastion of the BJP ever since Ananth Kumar defeated Congress heavyweight BK Hariprasad in 1999. The Congress has once again fielded BK Hariprasad as its candidate for the upcoming polls. Tejaswini Ananth Kumar or Tejaswi Surya? With Ananth Kumar’s demise in November 2018, several state leaders decided to back Tejaswini Ananth Kumar and the leaders had also announced that she was going to be the party’s pick. However, an official announcement was never made. Meanwhile, during the BJP Central Committee meeting held on Saturday, a few BJP leaders are said to have opposed Tejaswini’s candidature, and instead wanted to field Tejaswi Surya, a lawyer and BJP member. Tejaswi's uncle, Ravi Subramanya, is the BJP MLA from Basawanagudi segment in Bengaluru. “Tejaswi Surya has been a member of the BJP for a while and he has worked for the party. His family members have been part of the RSS and are from the Brahmin community. He has good oratory skills and is better than Tejaswini. Besides, he has experience handling political affairs,” a BJP source said. This put the high command in a spot as the state leaders had initially only recommended Tejaswini’s name when they sent out a final list of aspirants. Speaking to TNM, Tejaswi Surya said that he was not an aspirant and that he had strongly backed Tejaswini Ananth Kumar’s candidature. “A week ago, I had also tweeted in her support. I was taken aback when I heard my name was being suggested,” he added. The BJP high command is expected to finalise a candidate soon as the last date for filing nomination from the segment is on March 26. 

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Bengaluru North ticket returns to Congress, BL Shankar may contest

Lok Sabha Elections 2019

While there are speculations that senior Congress leader BL Shankar will get the ticket, there is a chance that it may go to Roshan Baig as well.

Theja Ram

Facebook/BLShankar

The coveted Bengaluru North ticket has made its way back to the hands of the Congress party, after it was initially offered to the JD(S). While the Congress party had earlier handed the ticket to the JD(S), senior leader of the party HD Deve Gowda approached Congress leader BL Shankar and offered him the seat, and asked him to contest on the JD(S) symbol. However, Shankar refused to contest as a JD(S) candidate, citing his loyalty to the Congress. Deve Gowda even considered running on the Bengaluru North ticket, before ultimately choosing to contest from Tumakuru. Several influential leaders in the Bangalore North constituency, such as Byrati Suresh, Priya Krishna, and M Krishnappa are staunch supporters of former Chief Minister and Congress head Siddaramaiah. These leaders have openly professed their support for Siddaramaiah and have expressed to Deve Gowda that they would not support him. As a result, it seems that the likely candidate for the seat will be none other than Congress’ BL Shankar, though it is speculated that Roshan Baig may also be an option. The Karnataka Congress announced its first list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on Sunday. Sitting MPs have been offered tickets. The party announced its candidate for Bengaluru South as BK Hariprasad after much speculation. BL Shankar, a native of Chikkamagaluru district, earlier contested as a Congress candidate in the 2018 Assembly elections. He had earlier been the MP of Chikkamagaluru district from 1996 to 1997, and entered the Legislative council twice: once between 1987 and 1988 and the second time from 1998 to 2004. He also served as state president for the Janata Dal party from 1997 to 1999. Earlier in 2017, there were several reports which suggested that Shankar would defect from Congress to the BJP party. He had even met Senior party leader, BS Yeddyurappa. The BJP had allegedly been trying to woo Shankar into joining their party since 2009.

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Bandipur forest fire: Police arrest one person for setting fire again

Environment

This comes after more than 500 hectares of forest were gutted in a fire that was set on Saturday.

Soumya Chatterjee

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Karnataka police have arrested one person for allegedly setting the sensitive Bandipur Tiger Reserve on fire on Saturday, and have seized one mobile phone from him. Two other suspects are absconding. The Saturday fire which is now under control had razed 80 hectares in the Kundakere range. The ravaging fire destroyed acres of forest grassland and shrub jungle common to the habitat. Kundakere Range forest officials confirmed the development. The person arrested has been identified as one Chandru, resident of Chelavarayanapura of Gundlupet taluk in Chamarajanagar. His associates Chikkamadappa and Muniraju are currently absconding. Saturday’s fire comes a month after a similar, man made fire had engulfed hectares of pristine forest land with more than 500 hectares of forest land being gutted. The fire which had continued to rage for five days was doused with the help of two Indian Air Force helicopters, along with the work of foresters, foremen, and volunteers. A total of 30,000 litres of water had to be water bombed in the Gopalaswamy Betta Range of the forest in Chamarajanagar district. Questions were also raised on the issue of lack of preparedness of forest officials with fires in the forest being common in this season. According to top officials of the forest department all forest fires in this region are man made and are often deliberate rather than accidental. Often the reason for setting fires are to settle scores with stringent forest officers who check on forest land encroachment and restrict entry into forest lands for grazing or agricultural purposes. Even for the February forest fires, police had arrested two men who confessed that they had set the forest on fire as they were not allowed to use the forest land for grazing and tigers often killed their livestock.              

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JD(S) MLA caught on video asking party workers to ‘slap Modi supporters’

Controversy

Karnataka BJP has lashed out at the MLA but has cited a comment from a different, edited video which has gone viral.

TNM Staff

JD(S) legislator from Karnataka's Arasikere in Hassan district, Shivalinge Gowda, on Sunday landed in the midst of a controversy after a video of his speech where he asked people to slap supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi went viral. In the video, MLA Shivalinge Gowda is seen asking JD(S) party workers to slap people who chanted slogans of ‘Modi, Modi”. Shivalinge Gowda was addressing JD(S) party workers in Arsikere when he made the statement. An edited video of his speech also went viral in which Shivalinge Gowda is heard telling party workers to slap Modi, which was reported by local media. The BJP has lashed out at Shivalinge Gowda's statement and claimed that the legislator's words were a threat to democracy. "Goonda JDS MLA KM Shivalinge Gowda urged his goons to pelt stones at PM Narendra Modi when he visits Karnataka. Coalition partners are openly issuing threat to kill PM. Clear attempt to wipe out democracy and install dictatorship is made under HD Kumaraswamy's rule," the Karnataka BJP said in a tweet. What exactly did Shivalinge Gowda say? Speaking to party workers, Shivalinge Gowda said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made false promises to the farmers across the country. "Modi said that he would bring back the black money politicians and other rich people had stored in bank accounts and deposit Rs 10 each in the bank accounts of farmers. Why did he not do that? Where is the money? I am telling you to question everything the BJP does. When they come to you and say ‘Modi, Modi,’ slap them," Shivalinge Gowda said. The legislator also said that Prime Minister Modi had no concern for the farmers of Karnataka, which is why the drought relief funds had not reached the bank accounts of the eligible farmers. "He banned notes and when the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes were returned, all the money was accounted for. Where is the black money? Why did he introduce Rs 2,000 notes? So that people can easily walk around with even Rs 1 lakh in their pocket," he further stated. Watch the full video:

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Suspension to be revoked, Ola to run as usual in Bengaluru: K'taka minister to TNM

Transport

Ola was issued a six month suspension order on Friday for operating illegal bike taxis.

Soumya Chatterjee

In a relief to thousands of cab drivers, owners and users, the suspension of license of Ola cabs for six months by the transport authority in Bengaluru will be lifted. Karnataka Minister for Social Welfare Priyank Kharge told TNM that Ola cabs will run their business as usual starting from Sunday, just two days after the Regional Transport Office issued a suspension notice for app-based cab aggregator Ola in Bengaluru, for running illegal bike taxis. In a tweet on Saturday evening, the minister said, “@Olacabs will run their business as usual from today. However there is an urgent need for policies to catch-up with new technologies & also industries too should work closer with Govt to help evolve policies for innovations.” According to the suspension notice, Ola was required to submit its license to the RTO starting from Monday for operating illegal taxis in violation of Karnataka On Demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Rules 2016. Currently, bike taxis in Karnataka are illegal due to lack of policy framework Speaking to TNM, the minister said, “I've had a meeting with the transport department. The transport officials have also met the chief secretary. It'll be resolved, it should not be a problem. There are new technologies that are being introduced. Policy in any part of the world, not only in Bengaluru, is always playing catch-up with technology. Innovation happens faster than policy. That is why we had suggested that any innovation that needs to be evaluated by government, we will come up with an innovation authority which will be headed by the CM.” He suggested that in the coming days, the government will come with a bike taxi policy. He added, “Any innovation, as long as it is legal in the nature of its business, it should be allowed. Even the private sector should understand this and they should also come and seek the right permissions from the government saying, 'Look, we're going to pilot this in a sandbox environment and it is going to happen from such and such date and we would require permission'. Because at the end of the day when somebody raises a concern from the public perspective, we are answerable.”            

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