Four BJP sympathisers held on fake news cases, party says 'Emergency' in Karnataka

Crime

Karnataka police have taken action against five persons - Hemanth Kumar, Shruti Belakki, Sharada Diamond and Ajith Shetty Heranje - over two separate cases.

Prajwal Bhat

The BJP in Karnataka has termed police action against five of its sympathisers as equal to imposing Emergency in the state. Journalists Mahesh Vikram Hegde and Hemanth Kumar, BJP sympathisers Shruti Belakki, Sharada Diamond and Ajith Shetty Heranje - were either detained or arrested in the past few days over instances of fake news propagated by them. BJP leaders CT Ravi and Shobha Karandlaje were among the party leaders who took to social media to highlight the action against the five persons. CT Ravi alleged that this was the onset of an 'emergency' in Karnataka. BJP leaders and right wing sympathisers even trended the hashtag #EmergencyInKarnataka on Twitter. Mahesh Vikram Hegde, founder of news portal Postcard News, notorious for posting fake stories, was detained by police on April 24 for publishing a fake letter which he claimed had been written by Karnataka Home Minister MB Patil to Sonia Gandhi in 2017. He was later let go after CID officials interrogated him. Shruti, Sharada and Hemanth were arrested for promoting the fake letter  that talked about a meeting that a few ministers held with representatives of the “Global Christian Council” and “World Islamic Organisation” regarding the strategy to be adopted for the Karnataka Assembly Elections. (These organisations do not exist). Shruti Belakki, a resident of Dharwad, was first detained by the police for spreading the fake letter. Later, Hemanth Kumar, a Bengaluru-based journalist, and Sharada Diamond, an engineer, were arrested in connection with the same case.  Meanwhile, an FIR was filed against Ajith Shetty Heranje and Gangadhar, the proprietor of UKsuddi.in news portal, for publishing photoshopped images of HD Kumaraswamy and his wife Radhika Kumaraswamy. The news portal Uksuddi.in published a story claiming that the duo were at a resort in Udupi. A complaint was lodged by Dinesh, the media secretary of the CM at High Grounds police station in Bengaluru.  Dinesh stated that CM Kumaraswamy had in fact gone to Kaup in Udupi district for two days for naturopathy treatment. "Gangadhar published the false write-up with the photoshopped image while Ajith shared it on social media. We have arrested these two persons," confirmed a police official at High Grounds police station.  The duo were charged under sections 468 (forgery), 471 (using forged document as genuine), 474 (having possession of document known to be forged) 509 (insulting modesty of a woman), of the IPC.    CONgress - JD (S) Government has brutally murdered Democracy by arresting Nationalists on flimsy reasons. People who attempted to divide Hinduism and Vested Interests who abuse Hindus on a daily basis are roaming free mocking at the Law.#EmergencyInKarnataka — Chowkidar C T Ravi ಸಿ ಟಿ ರವಿ (@CTRavi_BJP) May 3, 2019 #Congress planned Lingayat-Veershaiva split for votes but Journalists&SM activists exposed their conspiracy to the world. For exposing them, govt is brazenly misusing state police to shut the thoughts&FOE of the common man. Undeclared #EmergencyInKarnataka under the Co-Ja Govt. pic.twitter.com/6F9eLaCgXu — Chowkidar Shobha Karandlaje (@ShobhaBJP) May 3, 2019 Dear Karnataka government, random arrest of people in the name of some ridiculed strange act, won't help you. Please focus on governance. And do the needful.#EmergencyInKarnataka — BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) May 3, 2019  

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Yard overhaul: 3 Bengaluru suburban trains, one long-distance cancelled

Railways

Four trains have been cancelled, and four others partially cancelled until the end of May due to yard remodeling.

TNM Staff

Image for representation

Three Bengaluru suburban trains and one long-distance train from Bengaluru to Vijayawada have been cancelled starting from Saturday until the end of the month due to yard remodelling work at Baiyyappanahalli.Four other trains will also be partially cancelled because of the work. Railway officials said Train No 56503 / 56504 Bengaluru Cantonment – Vijayawada – Bengaluru Cantonment Passenger will be cancelled from Saturday, May 4. The suburban trains 06571/06572 and 06573/06574 Banaswadi – Hosur – Banaswadi Passenger trains will also not run for the same period of time. Besides this, Train No 06577/06578 Whitefield - Banaswadi – Whitefield Passenger will also stand cancelled. Krishna Prasad, a railway enthusiast and activist, said, “The overhaul work is necessary and will facilitate faster movement of trains and possible increase of frequency of trains once the project is completed. The Vijayawada train is the most important among those cancelled, as many poor people use the train daily to commute from places like Doddabalapura and beyond. Maybe the Railways could have run this train till Krishnarajapuram or even Yehalanka rather than cancelling it.” Officials at the SWR refused to comment on the cancellations. Partial cancellations Train No. 56262 KSR Bengaluru– Arakkonam Passenger commencing journey from May 4 onwards stands partially cancelled between Jolarpettai – Arakkonam until further advice and train will run between KSR Bengaluru – Jolarpettai with MEMU rake, officials said. Similarly, Arakkonam – KSR Bengaluru Passenger commencing journey on May 5  onwards will be partially cancelled between Arakkonam – Jolarpettai and the train will run between Jolarpettai – KSR Bengaluru with MEMU rake. Train No 08301 Sambalpur – Banaswadi Express commencing journey on May 8, 15, 19, 22 and May 29 will be partially cancelled between Krishnarajapuram – Banaswadi. Accordingly, this train will terminate at Krishnarajapuram. Banaswadi–Sambalpur Express commencing journey on May 9, May 16, May 23 and May 30 will be partially cancelled between Banaswadi- Krishnarajapuram. Accordingly, this train will originate from Krishnarajapuram.

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7 Karnataka fishermen still missing as Indian Navy finds wreckage of Udupi boat

Missing

The fishing boat with seven fishermen on-board had left the coast of Goa on December 13 and last made contact on the morning of December 16 around 1 am.

Prajwal Bhat

Suvarna Tribhuja Boat

More than four months after the disappearance of Suvarna Tribhuja, a fishing boat from Udupi, the Indian Navy has found the wreckage of the boat. The seven fishermen who were on board are currently missing.  The Navy confirmed that the lengthy search operation for the missing boat, which had left for a deep-sea fishing expedition off the coast of Goa, ended after the wreckage of the vessel was discovered 33 km west-south-west (WSW) off the coast of Malvan in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra. The wreckage was found by INS Nireekshak, a diving support vessel of the Indian Navy, through side scan sonar operations. The wreckage was confirmed by naval divers who dove to a depth of 60 metres.  Missing Fishing Boat Wreck Found by #IndianNavy - After an intensive search by ships & aircraft since December 2018, #IndianNavy has located the wreck of fishing vessel Suvarna Tribhuja 33 km WSW of the coast of Malvan. The wreck was found by #INSNireekshak on 01 May 19. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/23ZVJ3XfxZ — SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) May 2, 2019 The fishing boat with seven fishermen on-board had left the coast of Goa on December 13. It had last made contact with six other boats from Udupi, which were also fishing off the coast of Goa, on the morning of December 16 around 1 am.  Protest held in Udupi in January over the plight of the missing fishermen After this, the boat and fishermen were unreachable. The men on-board were Chandrashekar, who owns the boat, along with six other fishermen – Damodar (40) from Malpe, Lakshman (45), Sathish (35), Ravi (27), Harish (28), and Ramesh (30) from Bhatkal. The Indian Navy and police officials in Udupi did not comment about the recovery of any persons on-board. "We have made contact with the naval base in Karwar about the possibility of anyone on-board found with the wreckage. We are yet to receive a confirmation about this," said Udupi Superintendent of Police (SP) Nisha James.  Ten members of the families of the fishermen also assisted the Indian navy in the search for the ship. "We made repeated visits along with the Indian Navy to search for the ship near Sindhudurg. We found three canisters from the ship in December but there was no further trace of the ship," said Nithyananda, brother of the boat-owner Chandrashekhar. Nithyananda was also part of the latest team to search for the ship this week.  Read: 25 days and counting: Families of 7 Udupi fishermen live in hope of finding them   In January. thousands of fishermen protested in Udupi urging authorities to intensify the search for the boat. The plight of the missing fishermen was also highlighted by several politicians who visited the Malpe fishing harbour including Home Minister MB Patil, Udupi District Minister-in-charge Jayamala and MLA Raghupathi Bhat.  Read: Thousands protest to highlight plight of 7 K’taka fishermen missing at sea for 22 days  

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Raichur engineering student’s death: CID probes footage of 4 men circling her house

Crime

The CID sleuths on Thursday questioned several students and faculty members of the engineering college, where the woman studied.

Theja Ram

The CID team probing the mysterious death of a 23-year-old engineering student is now pursuing several leads and are also probing the possibility that the woman may have committed suicide. The woman’s body was found hanging from a tree on the outskirts of Karnataka’s Raichur, after she went missing on April 13. After photos of her decomposed body went viral on social media, students from her college had alleged that the woman did not commit suicide but may have been murdered. On Thursday, the investigators procured footage from the CCTV camera outside the victim’s house. The victim’s parents have alleged that four men, who are allegedly Sudarshan Yadav’s relatives, would conduct recces outside their house and look out for the victim. The CID is currently in possession of the footage and the investigators are looking out for the four men, who they believe are currently absconding. “The four men were always roaming around outside the victim’s house. We are looking for them now. So far, we are probing the case by looking at it as a suicide. We are in the process of gathering more evidence. If the evidence leads us to conclude that it is a murder, only then we can declare it,” the source added.   CID sources, however, say that they are also probing the suspicion that she committed suicide. The CID sleuths on Thursday questioned several students and faculty members of the engineering college, where the victim studied. “We have found that the woman had backlogs in various subjects in four semesters. She had cleared her backlogs in the fifth semester. However, she would have taken two more years to complete her engineering course. We are probing to see whether she took her own life as she had so many backlogs,” a CID source said. Investigators are also probing to see whether the victim’s former boyfriend, Sudarshan Yadav, who is currently in judicial custody, was in any way responsible for the woman’s death. CID sources said that while Sudarshan was in their custody for nine days, they took him to several places to gather CCTV footage. “These were places that Sudarshan and the victim frequented whilst they were in a relationship. They had also been to Mantralaya in Andhra Pradesh. We have footage of them from there. We found that the woman had broken off with Sudarshan two months before she died. He would constantly call her and beg her to get back to him. We want to know if he had any role in her death,” the source added.  

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Officials' apathy leaves Bengaluru anganwadi without water, electricity for years

Welfare

The anganwadi has been surviving on the goodwill of the nearby houses and a trader who allow them to take water and electricity respectively.

Soumya Chatterjee

From outside, the anganwadi in Homegowda Nagar by the Bannerghatta Road in Bengaluru doesn’t really cut a sorry figure. When this reporter visited, the anganwadi was filled with the chatter of the children playing. The walls both inside and outside were painted in bright blue and green. Framed photos of Mahatma Gandhi and BR Ambedkar hung inside, and sacks and boxes of rice and other food supplies were stood stacked by one wall. The preschool facility, which has been around for over 15 years, caters to 15 children from a nearby low-income settlement just behind the building. However, the rosy exterior is marred by the lack of basic facilities in this anganwadi – there’s no electricity, and even though there is a toilet, there’s no running water – because the authorities have not paid the electricity bill for three years and pass the buck when it comes to taking responsibility. Speaking to TNM, Meera, an anganwadi worker at the centre, says that they rely on the goodwill of the nearby homes from whom she carries a few buckets of water for the day’s use at the anganwadi. The Indian style toilet was revamped about a year ago as part of a CSR initiative. And while there are taps in the toilet, the only water available for use is from the three buckets Meera has placed inside. Inside the anaganwadi, while there is a tubelight and a fan, there is no active electricity connection. Thankfully, a nearby trader has allowed for the centre to take electricity from his establishment so that a tubelight and fan can be used. Arun Prasad, a social activist working in the area, has followed up with authorities over the issue numerous times over the past year, only to see no result on the ground. “This is 2019. Authorities need to make sure that these basic needs are met. Is this neglect because these people are poor and they don’t have a voice?” he questions. Speaking with TNM, an official from the Women and Child Welfare Department in the know of the situation said the root of the problem lies with BESCOM cutting power supply after the local corporator stopped paying power bills three years ago. “Even though the CSR activity provided a new pump, there's no running water as there is no power. The pending bill had gone up to Rs 10,000,” the official said. When TNM contacted D Chandrappa, corporator of Hombegowda Nagar, he denied responsibility saying that the state government should foot the bill, not the BBMP. Upon learning of the incident, BBMP Special Commissioner Randeep D said that he will resolve the issue. Started as part of the Integrated Child Development Scheme in 1978 by the union government, anganwadis guarantee nutrition, basic healthcare and immunisation programmes for children under the age of six across India. Over the years, the scope of anganwadis has expanded to include other functions too. In some states like Karnataka, anganwadis also provide midday meals to pregnant women from economically weak backgrounds as part of a state government scheme.

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Mangaluru teacher helps bring menstrual health awareness, sanitary pads to rural areas

Human interest

They have distributed close to 6,000 pads since the group’s inception.

Anusha N Bhat

For over two years, a teacher based in Mangaluru has been leading a group of students in manufacturing affordable sanitary pads for low-income groups. Prameela Rao, a faculty member at Government College in the city, says they have distributed close to 6,000 pads since inception in Gurupur, Bajpe, Surathkal and Dandeli and other rural areas in and around the Dakshina Kannada district. Prameela has created a volunteer group of young students, mostly boys, to learn and understand the production of sanitary pads. Under the group’s trust, ‘Kalpa,’ they have also tied up with New Delhi-based Goonj Foundation, where volunteers have been trained in the production of sanitary pads since 2014. Through the work, Prameela hopes to educate her students on menstruation and menstrual health, as well as dispel common misconceptions. “Similar to extending aid to any other health condition, it is important that every boy or man, must be aware of the menstruation cycle. It’ll help them to understand and help their mother, sister, wife as well as daughter and develop a sense of empathy towards women in general” she said. Prameela has also worked extensively to create awareness on unhygienic practices around menstruation in rural areas and among economically-backward communities. In 2017, the group raised a trust called ‘Kalpa’ which focused on reaching out to underprivileged sections of society. Process of making pads “Initially, we wash the cotton fabrics and sterilise them, then we cut it into 8 by 9 inches and iron them. Then, we fill it with the medicinal cotton, along with other bedding of the same size and stitch it from all sides,” Prameela said. According to the group, after the successful production of pads, it is packed and labelled under ‘Swastya.’ The pads are then distributed in rural areas by the student initiative. If sold, a sanitary packet of 10 will cost Rs. 60. The group is working towards a manufacturing goal of around 20,000 pads. The pads are made by the student volunteers using sterilised cotton cloth and medical cotton under hygienic conditions. “We are also examining the use of alternative, environmental-friendly and decomposable materials or fabric that can be used to manufacture sanitary pads,” Prameela said. Street Plays The Kalpa Trust also conducts street plays on how menstruation is an important part of a woman's life and the kind of care that should be taken by them. Pranav Shetty, who works at a local college, writes scripts for the plays. The group notes that just like television, newspaper and radio are effective methods of communication, street plays are a cost-effective way of making an impact as well. The team has performed street plays in Mangaluru and outside the city. The plays are written in tandem with the folklore of the local region. Sujatha, a resident of a Koraga colony, said that the group, along with Prameela, visit residential areas every month. “There is a kind of hesitation among women to speak or raise concerns on subject of menstruation. The volunteers not only give us advice on the subject, but also distribute ‘Swastya’ sanitary pads. Several women use it, and it is comfortable,” she said. Content provided by www.storyinfinity.com (Subs and Scribes Media Ventures LLP).  

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International drug racket busted in Bengaluru, NCB seizes 50 kg of ketamine

Crime

Two persons, who were part of a Chennai-based international drug racket, have been arrested.

TNM Staff

In a major drug bust in Bengaluru by the Narcotics Control Bureau, more than 50 kg of ketamine, which is also used as a ‘date rape’ drug, was seized following the arrest of two men.  The sleuths also discovered a clandestine lab with manufacturing facilities of the drug in the city. Based on further investigation, the NCB has also started probe of a similar underground facility in Hyderabad, run by the same group.  The duo is part of a drug trafficking network based in Chennai linked to southeast Asian countries and Australia. They have been booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. Investigators have also seized an oven box and one cash counting machine, among other things. Sources said the total drug seized could be worth Rs 40 lakh. The drug bust involved a concerted effort for the last three days by the NCB team. The first move was made on Tuesday evening at 8.30pm in Majestic when 26.75 kg of ketamine was seized near Movie Land Theatre from a 33-year-old Chennai man identified as J Kannan during handing over of the consignment. Meanwhile, the “supplier”, later identified as Shivraj Urs fled the scene on his sedan.  J Kannan and Shivaraj Urs were arrested in connection with the drug racket It was Shivaraj who ran his own lab on the ground floor and garage of his house in Kengeri.  "The drug was kept in one poly gunny bag of rice and kept inside a trolley bag. Seeing the NCB team, both the receiver and the supplier of the drug tried to flee. The receiver who hails from Chennai was caught along with the drug, while the supplier of the drug fled in his Corolla Vehicle No. KA-03 MD 7250. When he was asked to stop his vehicle, he also tried to mow down the NCB officials,” a release by the NCB said on Thursday.  Later, the officials traced and intercepted him in Yelahanka at 10am. “Upon interrogation, it was revealed that he has one house at Kengeri and one at Vidyanagar, Bangalore. It was also revealed that he was manufacturing ketamine from his house at Kengeri. On the night of 30th April - 02nd May, his house located in Kengeri was searched in his presence. A clandestine lab with manufacturing facilities of the drug was found in the basement of his house.” the release added.  Sources said the consignment was about to be transported to Malaysia, which is a major market. A source said, “Urs did not have  any qualification, he had just learned to do it. He was working for a Chennai based group which was sending it all to Malaysia.” The operation was carried out with the help of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

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