For Rs 10 parking fee, Bengaluru man murdered at movie theatre

Bharani Dharan, a 38-year-old resident of Austin Town had gone to Lavanya Theatre, a cinema hall in Bharatinagar, to watch a movie on Thursday night.

TNM Staff

A Bengaluru movie-goer was brutally beaten to death at a movie theatre parking complex by a parking attendant and his assistant, over a parking fee of Rs 10. Bharani Dharan, a 38-year-old resident of Austin Town had gone to Lavanya Theatre, a cinema hall in Bharatinagar, to watch a movie on Thursday night. Bharatinagar police told TNM that Bharani Dharan is a daily-wage worker and would often get drunk and watch films at night after work. “Bharani arrived at the movie theatre at 5.30 pm to watch the movie Kanchana 3. He came on his motorbike and parked it in the movie hall’s parking spot,” the police said. The parking attendant, 50-year-old K Selvaraj, asked Bharani to pay the parking fee of Rs 10 before going into the cinema hall. Bharani allegedly told Selvaraj that he would pay up when the movie ends. Selvaraj allegedly insisted that Bharani pay the money on the spot. Bharani was allegedly drunk and so was Selvaraj. They began fighting with each other when Shekar, the housekeeping staff at the movie hall, who was also Selvaraj’s assistant, intervened. “Selvaraj pushed Bharani into the theatre’s compound and Shekar also began hitting him. Both of them began beating Bharani on his chest and soon he became unconscious,” the police added. Bharani Dharan was rushed to Bowring Hospital by the police, where he was declared brought dead. Police say that the blows to Bharani’s chest were so hard that it cracked his ribs and punctured his organs. Selvaraj and Shekhar, residents of Frazer Town, were arrested on Friday for murder. “Selvaraj was not even the actual parking attendant and he was collecting money illegally from people who parked two-wheelers near the theatre. All this started because of Rs 10 parking fee,” the police added. Selvaraj and Shekar have been remanded to judicial custody. 

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Bengaluru police arrest man for allegedly insulting national anthem inside theatre

Crime

According to the police, Jatin, a sound engineer had come to Bengaluru from Australia a week ago and had decided to watch the movie 'Avengers: Endgame'.

TNM Staff

The Ashoknagar Police on Wednesday arrested a 29-year-old sound engineer for allegedly disrespecting the national anthem. According to the police, Jatin, a sound engineer had come to Bengaluru from Australia a week ago and had decided to watch the movie Avengers: Endgame. Jatin is a resident of Sanjayanagar and had gone to Australia as he was a part of a film crew that was shooting there. “On Tuesday night, Jatin had gone to watch the movie and when the national anthem played before the film began, Jatin did not stand up for it,” Ashoknagar Police told TNM.   However, the man standing next to him, Suresh Kumar, took exception to Jatin’s behaviour and asked him to stand up. “It’s not mandatory to stand up when the national anthem is being played but it is wrong if the national anthem is disrespected. Jatin conveyed this to Suresh Kumar and that’s when an argument began,” the police said. Police say that Jatin and Suresh’s argument grew loud and the duo began hurling abuses at each other. “Suresh Kumar said that he would have let the argument pass if Jatin had only insulted him personally. According to his complaint, Jatin hurled expletives at the National Anthem,” the police added. Suresh Kumar and Jatin were told to leave the movie theatre as their argument was disturbing the other viewers. “Suresh Kumar came to the station and filed a complaint just past midnight on Wednesday. Jatin was arrested within minutes and he later obtained bail,” the Ashoknagar Police added. Jatin was booked under Prevention of Insult to National Honours Act. Ashoknagar police say that they are questioning the audience who were at the theatre the night Jatin and Suresh Kumar argued. “Currently, it's one person’s word against the other. We are talking to others present there and also the security guard who had asked Jatin and Suresh to leave,” the police added.

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Water from Bengaluru’s Bellandur Lake to be dumped into Varthur to start desilting work

Environment

This onetime clean up will mean foul smell and more mosquitoes.for residents living near the Bellandur lake.

Soumya Chatterjee

For residents in Bengaluru’s Bellandur, it seems that things will get much worse before it gets better. This because the infamous lake in their backyard will undergo dredging/desilting processes as suggested by the National Green Tribunal-appointed committee. The Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA), which is the custodian of Bellandur Lake is cleaning up the lake by dumping the existing contaminated water into the Varthur Lake, which has also spewed toxic foam in the past. Water (mostly sewage) currently flows from Bellandur to Varthur to Dakshina Pinakini river as part of the connected tank systems of Bengaluru. Pinakini is a downstream tributary to Cauvery which continues to flow towards Tamil Nadu. As discussed by the Justice Santosh Hegde appointed committee, the BDA has already created additional temporary channels to drain the water further downstream into Varthur Lake. BDA officials say that once the one-time clean-up of Bellandur Lake is complete, they will bypass the flow away from Varthur Lake and dump into the Dakshina Pinakini River. Once clean-up of lakes upstream is complete, clean water will flow into the river, they argue. Once the STP is ready by June 2020, the original flow of the lakes will be restored.  An all stakeholder meeting was held on Thursday in this regard. Officials of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) have been asked to deal with the swift removal of the weeds and silt in the lake but that will bring with it problems of stench and the threat of mosquito breeding. And as the deweeding work begins, activists are worried whether the BDA will live up to the task or only desilt the lake partly. “As the lake sediments are exposed to sun, foul smell will emanate as will mosquitoes. BBMP will have to take steps to mitigate both, but nearby residents should brace for the worst,” Sonali Singh, a resident-activist who is closely following the developments, said. She added, “While these problems are unavoidable, we have to ensure that this desilting process is done at least to a depth of 10 feet.” “We will finish the dredging by July 20. With the monsoon coming, we have to be prompt as we want to fill the lake with freshwater,” by Shivananda, Superintendent Engineer, the concerned BDA official, told TNM. TV Ramachandra, veteran scientist at the IISc who is also part of the NGT committee, said, “There are things that should be done before they can desilt. They need to have a drain to divert the sewage. Till the sewage is treated by the BWSSB completely, a temporary drain has to be constructed. For this, they have to file a TPR (Technical Project Report) and get a financial concurrent. Only after all this is done can the desilting take place.” Background The lake has been in the news since February 2017 after it caught fire for the second time in recent history. The second fire had prompted the NGT to take suo motu cognisance and pull up the state government and local bodies, and monitor the restoration process of the lake body. Till date, the lake froths and foams from time to time, especially during rains. All this continues because untreated sewage and industrial emissions flow into the lake unabated. The state government had promised a fix by 2020 by installing a new sewage treatment plant. When asked why the BWSSB was letting sewage flow into the lake all this while, officials said that they were only implementing government plans as they are an implementing agency and have no freedom to plan projects. Over the last three decades, the Bellandur and Varthur lakes have been receiving steady inflow of sewage as the BS+WSSB had not diverted the illegal sewage inflow into the lake. “As over the years, the sewage increased, the STP capacities remained the same. The new STPs will solve the problem of untreated sewage flowing through the underground drainage system. For areas which are not unserviced by the UGD system, they are supposed to have their own STPs,” the BWSSB official added.                

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After Kodagu floods, K'taka govt allows landowners to convert agri land to build home

Disaster

Landowners with up to 20 cents of land in non-vulnerable areas of the district can convert land for building individual houses.

Prajwal Bhat

Photograph by Dhruv Khanna

The Karnataka government has relaxed regulations banning the conversion of land in Kodagu district, and now allows small landowners to build their homes by converting agricultural land. "Land conversion for commercial purpose in Kodagu is still banned. The state government, however, has allowed construction of individual homes in an area of 20 cents, as long as it is not in a vulnerable region," Kodagu Deputy Commissioner Annies Kanmani confirmed.   Small landowners with up to 20 cents of land in non-vulnerable areas of the district can now convert their agricultural land for building individual houses. Vulnerable areas include areas close to the river and slope areas of the district. The land will be thoroughly surveyed by the tahsildar. The survey report (conducted by the tahsildar) will be reviewed by the Deputy Commissioner under Section 95 of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act of 1964 before granting conversion, according to a press release issued by the Principal Secretary of Revenue Department. The new rules still prohibit landowners from building resorts or homestays, and only allow the construction of individual houses. Read: Kodagu clamps down on commercialisation, 693 applications to convert land rejected The regulations over land use were tightened in November 2018 based on recommendations made by the Geographical Survey of India (GSI) three months after the district was ravaged by floods and landslides. Based on the regulations, Kodagu district authorities rejected over 693 applications in the last five months to convert land for commercial use. The district authorities also requested the state government to allow individuals looking to construct houses in non-vulnerable areas in the district to be able to convert their land. "We welcome the decision to allow individual houses to be built. There are some genuine cases where people are looking to build a house for them or their family," said Col. Cheppudira Muthanna, President of the Coorg Wildlife Society (CWS). However, he added that the ban on conversion of land in the district is a much-needed move and it should not be revoked. With inputs from Story Infinity

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Supreme Court upholds Karnataka law granting reservations in promotion for SC/ST staff

Law

The SC upheld the validity of the law on the grounds that an exercise for determining "inadequacy of representation", "backwardness" and the impact on "overall efficiency" had not preceded the enactment of the law.

Prajwal Bhat

The Supreme Court has upheld the validity of a Karnataka law granting reservation in promotion to SC/ST government employees. A two-judge bench comprising Justice UU Lalit and DY Chandrachud upheld the provisions of the Karnataka Extension of Consequential Seniority Act. The Act, which provided for consequential seniority to persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes promoted under the reservation policy of the State of Karnataka, was passed by the state Cabinet in January with immediate effect. However, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Krishna Byre Gowda had then confirmed that the law will be scrapped if the Supreme Court rules against it. Now that the Supreme Court has upheld it, paving the way for the law to be implemented in the state. The two-judge bench upheld the validity of the law on the grounds that an exercise for determining "inadequacy of representation", "backwardness" and the impact on "overall efficiency" had not preceded the enactment of the law. The apex court noted that the law rectified the deficiencies pointed out in the BK Pavitra case. Pavitra was a government engineer working with the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA). She challenged the concessional seniority given to SC/ST employees in promotions in court. The case came to be known as BK Pavitra and others vs Union of India and in 2017, the Supreme Court ruled in Pavitra's favour and asked the Karnataka government to stop caste-based seniority in promotions for government posts going all the way back to 1978. Following the verdict, thousands of SC/ST staff in the state faced demotion from their posts. The then Chief Secretary Ratna Prabha asked all government departments to complete the process of notifying the demotions and the subsequent promotions. However, the Karnataka government in 2018 passed a new law to address the defects pointed out by the Supreme Court including lack of data on representation and its effect on the efficiency of administration. The law was also passed to protect those who were affected by the verdict passed by the top court. Advocates Rajeev Dhavan and Kumar Parimal representing the general category of employees had sought the Supreme Court to ask the state government to comply with the judgement passed in the BK Pavitra case. The hearings on this case began in October 2018. The court also noted that under Ratna Prabha's directive, data was collected on the representation of SC/ST employees. Based on the data collected, the court passed its verdict upholding the law formed by the Karnataka government. However, there is no clarity if those demoted due to the new law will be given same salaries or whether similar positions will be created. The state government is yet to provide details of the implementation.

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Bengaluru civic body's white-topping along Mysuru Road is causing severe traffic jams

Civic Issues

Commuters will have to put up with traffic jams for the next two months, says a BBMP official.

TNM Staff

Representation photo

Bengaluru's traffic woes are infamous, so too are its potholes. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike's (BBMP) move to make the roads pothole-free by white-topping them has now resulted in causing severe traffic jams. The BBMP, which had halted white-topping work along Mysuru Road in April, has started the construction once again. The Palike has started the white topping work at the Goripalya Junction near the Mysuru Satellite Bus Stand resulting in painful traffic jams spanning 1-2 km along the stretch. BBMP had finished white-topping work on one side of Mysuru Road and has begun constructing the other side now, leaving commuters only half the road to ply on resulting in traffic jams. “One bus can ply along the path and two cars next to each other. Since the construction work is being carried out, there are traffic jams,” a BBMP official said. The Palike had begun white-topping along the stretch from Nayandahalli to the Central Crime Branch signal last year but had stopped construction work as commuters were being inconvenienced due to traffic jams. “Currently, there is a lot of traffic as the alternate route from Majestic via the Cottonpet Main Road has also been dug up as TenderSURE roads are coming up in the area. Vehicular traffic has been prohibited on this road and hence people moving towards Goripalya are getting stuck in traffic and the jams are stretching up to two kms from the junction,” the BBMP official added. BBMP officials, however say that the white-topping work will continue and is expected to be completed within two months. The officials are laying concrete along the stretch from KR Market to BHEL. “We have already finished half the work eight months ago but had to stop as there were major jams and the congestion was too much. Commuters have to just bear for two more months,” he added. Currently, the BBMP has finished white-topping work from the Mysuru Satellite Bus Stand to Guddahalli signal. The BBMP has to complete white-topping on another 2 km stretch. “A lot of commuters have complained and demanded an alternate route but we are currently unable to do so because the alternate road has been closed for traffic,” he said.     

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Bengaluru police find decomposed body of 45-yr-old woman who was bludgeoned to death

Crime

The woman was working as a flower seller in KS Layout.

TNM Staff

Police in Bengaluru found the decomposed body of a 45-year-old woman from her 7th Cross Doddakallasandra residence on Thursday, apparently four days after she was brutally murdered. The victim has been identified as 45-year-old Bhagyamma hailing from Mavalli village near Mandya. She was working as a flower seller in KS Layout. According to police, she might have been killed on Sunday. Police suspect that she was killed after being hit by a boulder. The police said after other flower sellers in KS Layout did not find her for three days, they called her brother. Her brother Narayan who in turn failed to reach her on the phone, visited her residence. When police reached her residence along with her brother, they found Bhagyamma’s head crushed and blood splattered on the wall.  Jurisdictional Subramanyapura Police Station probing the murder case suspect miscreants to be behind the murder. Reportedly, Bhagyamma had a quarrel with her next door neighbours recently for the alleged nuisance they caused. Police said they are probing all angles of the murder and are interrogating neighbours. According to the latest statistics compiled by the Karnataka State Police, murders are close to 100 in number in the state every month. In March, 2019, there were 120 murders in the state out of which only four were for gain. This was seven less compared to March 2018. Out of the 127 murders in March 2018, only four were murder for gain. In February, there were 104 murders in the state with five for gain. For Bengaluru, the number of murders in a year is close to 200 mark. While there were 228 murders in 2016, the number was 234 in 2017. Till November, the number for 2018 was 202.  

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