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Monday, April 22, 2019
BJP IT cell was running a call centre from Karnataka govt property, cops shut it down
Election flying squad officials along with police officials arrived at the office space after they received a tip about the activity on Saturday night.
Image for representation
Police officials in Kalaburagi shut down an operation run by the BJP IT cell in which the members of the cell were calling up voters from a room inside a government building in the district. Election flying squad officials along with police officials arrived at the office space after they received a tip off about the activity happening at the Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation (KEONICS) IT Park in Kalaburagi on Saturday night. The IT Park was developed by the Karnataka government. "We found that around 12-13 people had taken up a space inside a big hall and they had voter lists of people voting from northern Karnataka. They also had a list of mobile numbers and they were calling them up. They had not taken prior permission for this," said a police official from Kalaburagi Rural police station. As per the Model Code of Conduct, government buildings cannot be used without prior permission from the Election Commission, particularly for political purposes. Police also confirmed that the person accused of organising the call center is Sharan, who is the head of the BJP IT cell in Kalaburagi. Police officials locked down the office and registered a case under section 171 H of the IPC (Illegal payments in connection with an election) against Sharan and other party workers on Sunday. If found guilty, the workers will be fined up to Rs 500 each. Police have not been able to collect voice data, but suspect that party workers were using the office to call up voters and ask their voting preferences and persuading them to vote for the BJP. Kalaburagi goes to polls in the third phase of elections on April 23 and nine-time MLA and two-time MP, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge of the Congress is contesting against Umesh Jadhav, who recently joined the BJP. Mallikarjun's son and Karnataka Social Welfare Minister Priyank Kharge took to social media to highlight the incident and questioned why the government-owned Keonics IT Park building was used for the activity. . @BJP4Karnataka’s Kalaburagi IT Cell has been running an illegal call center for elections in the Govt owned Keonics building. Premises given on rent has been misused by the firm. A case has been registered by the Administration & locked down the office@ITBTGoK @Gaurav_Gupta67 — Priyank Kharge (@PriyankKharge) April 21, 2019 The findings of the police and the Election Commission officials also raises questions about how the BJP IT cell gained access to the list of mobile numbers of voters. The BJP IT Cell have been calling up voters & seeking their Voter ID details & voting preferences which is a clear breach of privacy. How do they access to all the numbers of the voters? Are the TelCos being forced to share their databases with BJP? — Priyank Kharge (@PriyankKharge) April 21, 2019 The BJP IT cell is known to target messages to voters via WhatsApp. In the run-up to the 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections, the IT cell had created a network of over 40,000 WhatsApp groups at booth levels across the state. The BJP IT cell in Karnataka also set up call centers in 2018 before the Assembly elections.
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Mysuru man pretends to be cop to get police to pay for his road trip, lands in jail
The Mysuru Police have arrested 35-year-old Dileep and booked him for cheating and forgery.
Krishnaraja Police
What would you do if you wanted to go on a road trip and did not have a car? While most people would hire one, a Mysuru man allegedly posed as an IPS officer and tried to con the police into paying for his ride. On the afternoon of April 14, 35-year-old Dileep allegedly walked into the Krishnaraja Police Station in Mysuru city, putting on an air of authority and demanded to meet with the sub inspector in-charge. He was soon directed to SI Sunil’s cabin, where he introduced himself as an IPS officer on probation, who was from the Kerala cadre. Dileep is said to have demanded that Sunil arrange an Innova car for him as he wanted to go on a trip to Mangaluru and stated that all expenses of his trip must be borne by the station officials. Sunil informed Dileep that he would have to talk to Inspector Narayanaswamy and go through the proper procedure to arrange the car and driver Dileep had requested for. Dileep was ushered in to meet Inspector Narayanaswamy where he reportedly made the same demand. “He was speaking in an authoritative voice and he told me that we would have to bear the expenses of his trip including the car, driver and fuel charges. I got really suspicious when he introduced himself and later asked for my name. No IPS officer would ask for a PI’s name when he can see my name tag. That’s when I got suspicious,” Inspector Narayanaswamy said. Narayanaswamy then struck up a conversation with Dileep and asked him about his cadre and where he underwent training. He also casually dropped a few names of IPS officers and asked Dileep if he knew them. “These were officers of 2017 Kerala cadre who underwent training together but he said he did not know them as they did not train together. This was even more suspicious,” Narayanaswamy said. Dileep then informed Narayanaswamy that the vehicle had to arrive at his residence in Mysuru’s Vijayanagar area at 9 am on April 19. In the meantime, Narayanaswamy decided to conduct an inquiry of his own. Narayanaswamy said he found that Dileep had conned the Vijayanagar Police into providing him with personal security by posing as an IPS officer. When he enquired with Dileep’s neighbours, he received conflicting reports that Dileep is an IAS officer and not an IPS officer. “I finally got the head constable to bring Dileep over to the station. When I asked him to show me his ID card, he said it was at home. I sent the constable with him and he produced a Home Ministry notification dated November 2018 that he was probationary leave,” Narayanaswamy added. Since Dileep failed to show any police identification document, Narayanaswamy further found that Dileep had forged the Home Ministry notification. “We arrested him and after questioning, he told us that he had failed the civil services exam thrice and that his family members would always demean him saying he is a failure. So, he decided to forge the Home Ministry document and obtain benefits from it. He had promised his mother that they could go on a fully paid trip to Mangaluru and so he pretended to be an IPS officer to con us,” Narayanaswamy added. Dileep was sent to judicial custody on Monday and has been booked under sections 170 (pretending to be a public servant), 463 (forging government documents), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (forgery), 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating) of the IPC.
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Bengaluru man critical after cops thrash him for using mobile while riding bike
Mohammed Tanveer has lost function in both his kidneys and is currently in the ICU.
Mohammed Musaveer
Just post midnight on April 10, Mohammed Tanveer and his friend Danish stepped out to buy medicines for Tanveer’s father. Today, twelve days later, Tanveer is battling for life in hospital after being brutally assaulted by policemen. When Tanveer and Danish were on the bike to go to the pharmacy, Tanveer’s mother called him, asking him to buy some more medicines. As he picked up the call while driving, he was stopped by a police constable. “The police saw him talking over the phone and caught him,” Tanveer’s brother Musaveer told TNM, “The constable, Ayyappa, told Tanveer to cut the call when my mother was telling him the name of the pill he was supposed to buy. Tanveer took a few seconds longer to cut the call and Ayyappa got angry.” When Tanveer was hanging up the phone call, constable Ayyappa beat Tanveer with his lathi. The force of the blow was so strong that the lathi allegedly broke in half. Angered by the treatment doled out to him, Tanveer questioned Ayyappa as to why he was being subjected to violence. “My brother told Ayyappa to impose a fine on him and take away his bike but beating him was not the right thing to do. That’s when Ayyappa called the Hoysala and forced Tanveer and Danish to get in. Sub Inspector Santosh was also inside the Hoysala. Tanveer was pushed into the back seat. There was another constable sitting at the back, who beat him on his legs continuously till they reached the station,” Musaveer said. Constable Ayyappa allegedly dragged Tanveer out of the car and into the police station whilst beating him. Tanveer was beaten up continuously from 1 am to 8 am on April 10 by eight constables. Musaveer said that the constables took turns to beat him up. Around 8 am, Ayyappa allegedly tore Tanveer’s pants and pulled them down. “Throughout the night they beat him. They broke four lathis and one iron rod was damaged while they beat him with it. Ayyappa banged my brother’s head to the metal rods of the jail door multiple times and spat on him. He called the other constables and made him spit on my brother while my father watched,” Musaveer alleged. Around 9 am, the Inspector of DJ Halli Station Keshava Murthy arrived and Tanveer’s father approached him. The constables then got Tanveer and Danish out, and made them do 100 squats in front of Keshava Murthy. “My father kept begging them to let Tanveer go. They did not assault Danish as much because he had not spoken a word since they got caught. Finally, one of the SIs, Nayaz, made both of them write ‘I will never talk back to the police’ 1000 times. By the time they finished it was 5 pm. That’s when my father finally got them home,” Musaveer said. Two days after the incident, Tanveer could not get up from his bed and on April 12, his mother noticed that his urine was red in colour. They rushed him to Bombay Clinic located near Kaval Byrasandra when the doctors told them that his kidneys had been damaged. Tanveer was then shifted to Shifaa Hospital on Queens Road on April 17, where the doctors informed the family that his condition is critical. “They told us that he has to undergo dialysis. Tests showed that Tanveer’s blood creatinine levels had increased drastically and he has been battling for his life since April 18. Doctors said that if his creatinine levels do not decrease soon, he may not survive,” Musaveer said. Speaking to TNM, ACP Seemanth Kumar Singh said that the police had visited the hospital on Sunday to take down Tanveer’s statement. The ACP confirmed said, “Preliminary investigation suggests it was a case of police brutality.” Ayyappa and SI Santosh have been suspended pending inquiry and an FIR has been registered against them and seven unidentified police officers. “Once Tanveer is able to wake up and identify the others, their names will be added to the FIR too,” ACP Seemanth Kumar Singh said. The FIR has been registered under sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt with a dangerous weapon), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the IPC. Musaveer says that the police have not taken his complaint seriously and have not added attempted murder to the FIR since his brother’s life is at stake. Speaking to TNM, Congress candidate for Bengaluru Central segment Rizwan Arshad said that he would talk to the Police Commissioner and ask him to take stringent action against the police officers involved in the incident. “I will ask them to add attempted murder to the FIR. This is abominable and police officials cannot resort to such brutality,” he added. This is not the first case of alleged police brutality reported this year. On January 24, a 21-year-old undertrial prisoner, who was lodged at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in Bengaluru, died in Victoria Hospital. An autopsy was performed, which concluded the cause of death as assault. The victim Fairoz allegedly told his brother Tabraiz and the doctors at Victoria that the police at Parappana Agrahara Central Prison had beaten him mercilessly and had refused him proper treatment. They had allegedly kept him in the isolation cell at the prison for three days after beating him up, due to which his contion deteriorated.
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Bengaluru pubs, bars told to isolate smokers: No open air puffing, only closed rooms
The Excise Department issued the directive after the BBMP failed to reign in the pubs and bars to follow its smoking ban in public places.
Sitting in your favourite bar or pub in Bengaluru, sipping on a pint of beer and smoking at the same time will not be possible anymore. According to a directive from the Excise Department, smoking in pubs and bars with open-air and semi-open air settings are prohibited. Pubs and bars, instead, can have designated smoking rooms, which are in compliance with the COTPA (Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act. These smoking rooms have to be approved by the local civic body, too. This directive is aimed to make pubs, bars and restaurants smoke-free and thus prevent secondhand. The Excise Department has issued a circular to this effect in March, stating that failure to comply with this rule will result in stringent action from the department. The circular has asked these establishments to obtain a ‘no objection certificate’ (NOC) from the respective civic bodies. Dr Manoranjan Hegde, the Chief Health Officer of BBMP, told TNM, “The smoking rooms have to be in isolated corners and there should be separate entries and exits. The designated smoking room cannot have any shared ventilation with the service area of the establishment. Food and drinks cannot be served there.” Saying that bars and pubs should have designated smoking zones as per COTPA Act, he added, “They must apply for NOC online. We will inspect them and issue a NOC. After the elections are over, we will definitely take action against errant bars and pubs under Sections 4, 5 and 7 of COTPA Act.” Apart from COTPA guideline, officials in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) said that the NOC will be issued is the room does not pose any fire safety hazard. Officials in the Excise Department said that the latest circular was issued after the BBMP failed to reign in the pubs and bars to follow its smoking ban in public places. Read: One month on, how effective is BBMP's 'smoking ban' in Bengaluru pubs? The BBMP’s action was based on a Directorate of Municipal Administration circular, which said that establishments having a seating capacity of 30 or more should have designated smoking zones as per COTPA and the Karnataka Prohibition of Smoking and Protection of Non-smokers Health Act. Speaking to TNM, Minister of Urban Development UT Khader, who was heading the Directorate of Municipal Administration then, said that the government will explore all ways to reduce the effect of smoking on non-smokers. “Smoking is injurious to health but passive smokers get affected without any fault of their own. Our decision and steps are based on creating awareness and preventing the ill-effects of secondhand smoking,” he said.
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Bengaluru man among five Indians confirmed dead in Sri Lanka attacks
The High Commission of India in Sri Lanka confirmed that KG Hanumantharayappa, who was staying at the Shangri-La hotel in Colombo, was confirmed dead in the blast.
A man from Bengaluru is among those confirmed dead in the serial blasts that hit Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday. The deceased has been identified as KG Hanumantharayappa, a businessman from Bengaluru. Rajath, a relative of Hanumantharayappa, took to social media to find out about KG Hanumantharayappa following the series of blasts in Colombo. @IndiainSL my uncle missing from shangri-La hotel Sri Lanka since today his name is "Kachanahalli govindappa hanumantharayappa" Bangalore, India his staying in room no 618,619 — Rajath (@Rajath_444) April 21, 2019 The High Commission of India in Sri Lanka confirmed that Hanumantharayappa was confirmed dead in the blast along with M Rangappa. @SushmaSwaraj We sadly confirm the deaths of the following two individuals in the blasts yesterday: - K G Hanumantharayappa -M Rangappa. — India in Sri Lanka (@IndiainSL) April 22, 2019 Hanumantharayappa was a builder and was the president of Mathrushree Developers. He was staying at the Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo during his visit. "We received the confirmation at around 2 am that he was among those confirmed dead. He had travelled to Sri Lanka in a group of five persons and was staying at the Shangri-La Hotel. We don't know any more details at the moment about how he died or whether the others are alive," Rajath told TNM. Hanumantharayappa is among five Indians confirmed dead in the attacks in Sri Lanka on Sunday. The others include M Rangappa, from Karnataka, Lakshmi, Narayan Chandrashekhar and Ramesh. The Kerala government claimed that Razeena, a woman from Kasargod was also killed in the blasts. Read: Indian woman from Kerala among those killed in Colombo blast As per a media release by the Sri Lankan embassy in Washington DC, USA, 25 unidentified bodies believed to be of foreign nationals is currently at the Colombo Judicial Medical Officer’s mortuary. 290 people were confirmed dead while around 500 others were injured in eight coordinated bomb blasts that took place in the island-nation. A majority of the victims are Sri Lankan nationals while over 14 foreign nationals were also confirmed dead in the incident. The terrorist bombings took place in churches, luxury hotels, a guest house and a housing complex spread across Colombo, Negombo, and Batticaloa. Read: Sri Lanka death toll rises to 290: A timeline of how it happened
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Sunday, April 21, 2019
IAS officer suspended for checking PM's chopper in Odisha transferred to Karnataka EC
Congress had strongly objected to the suspension of Mohsin and raised questions about the neutrality of the Central Election Commission.
IAS officer Mohammed Mohsin, who was suspended for inspecting Prime Minister Modi’s helicopter in Odisha’s Sambalpur on April 16, has been asked to report to the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer. Karnataka-cadre IAS officer Mohsin was placed as a General Observer in Sambalpur until his suspension order. The suspension order had raised a storm in political circles with the opposition raising questions about the neutrality of the Election Commission of India’s office. In its defence, the EC said that Mohsin had acted contrary to the instructions of the EC concerning SPG protectees. Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Ahmed Patel had attacked the Election Commission asking why it suspended Mohsin for checking Prime Minister Narendra Modi's helicopter in Odisha. "There have been instances where during polls, the EC was allowed to check convoys of both current and former Congress Presidents. The Special Protection Group (SPG) protectees can't be frisked personally. Why suspend an officer for checking PM's chopper? What message is being sent?" Patel asked. "The question is simple. If SPG protectees of the Congress party can be subjected to inspection, why is the same not applicable to the BJP," he added. However, questions were also asked on whose complaint the Election Commission of India took the decision. Meanwhile, former Chief Election Commissioner of India SY Quuereshi in a statement said, “The suspension of an IAS officer who was posted as an election observer in Odisha for checking the helicopter in which Prime Minister Modi had travelled is not only unfortunate but a great missed opportunity to restore not only the image of the EC but also the PM himself. Both these institutions have been under the public scanner – PM for repeatedly violating the model code and EC for repeatedly overlooking it.” He added, “This ‘raid’ on PM's chopper should have been used to demonstrate that the law is equal for everybody. In one stroke, the intense criticism against them both would have come crumbling down. Unfortunately, they both chose a different course. The already ongoing criticism would now get magnified many times over.”
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