‘Suspect’ at B'luru's Majestic a homeless man who wanted first metro ride: Police

Controversy

The visuals of Sajid refusing a security check and leaving the Majestic station had led to the Bengaluru police issuing a high alert at all metro stations in the city.

Theja Ram

The Bengaluru police have identified the individual who was seen refusing to be frisked at Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Metro Station, commonly known as Majestic, as Sajid Khan, a homeless man.  Four special teams tracked down the man who belongs to Rajasthan. When they questioned him, it was revealed that he begs for alms near the masjid located close to the metro station.  According to the police, on that day, Sajid had received a lot of coins as alms and wished to experience a metro ride, something that he had not done before. When Sajid stepped into the metro station’s security scanner, the coins in his pocket triggered the alarm. The metro security official spoke to him in Kannada, however, Sajid did not know the language and did not understand what he was being asked to do. “Further questions from the officials intimidated him and he left the metro station from there, thinking he was doing something wrong,” Bengaluru Police Commissioner T Suneel Kumar told TNM. The visuals of Sajid leaving the metro station had led to the Bengaluru police issuing a high alert at all metro stations in the city. Home Guards were also deployed at the Majestic bus station located nearby. Four teams were formed to track down the ‘suspect’ seen refusing to be frisked at the metro station, which is also the interchange station for passengers to change between the metro’s Purple Line and Green Line.  The four teams that were formed to look into the CCTV footage traced Sajid to a location near the masjid, where he and his family live and beg for alms. The police have ruled out any threat from him.  Meanwhile, TNM had reported two days ago that the other commuter who was being highlighted by a section of the media as a suspect as well, was identified as Riyas Ahmed, a regular commuter who has been running a stall in the city for the past 30 years. Riyas was seen entering the metro station just before Sajid.  After seeing his face flashing on TV screens, Riyas had filed a police complaint accusing the media of branding him as a terrorist. He had said that he did not leave the metro station from there but had gone ahead and entered the station to board the train. The police conducted a background check on him and ruled out any threat.  Police stated that though a threat from these two people has been ruled out, the high alert that was issued after the Sri Lanka terror attacks still remains in place. 

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Parts of Bengaluru to have 12-hour power cut this weekend due to maintenance work

Power

Some of the areas that will be affected are Vijaynagar, RPC Layout, Govindraj Nagar, Marenahalli.

TNM Staff

The Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) has announced many parts of the city will have power cuts due to urgent maintenance work over the weekend. While some parts will have a 12-hour (8 am to 8 pm) outage, other places will have 2-hour (12pm-2pm) scheduled power cuts. The areas that won’t have power from Saturday 8 am to 8 pm are Vijaynagar, RPC Layout, Govindraj Nagar, Marenahalli, Nagarbhavi, Kamakshipalya, Chandra Layout, Hampinagar, Sir MV Layout, Kodigehalli, BHEL Layout, Bapujinagar, Deepanjalinagar, Hosapalya, Jnanabharathi, Vinayaka Layout, Kengeri Satellite Town railway station, Girinagar, Bank Colony, Srinagar, Hanumanthnagar, Chamarajpet, Vidyapeetha, Thyagarajanagar, Hosakerehalli and Mysuru Road. On Saturday, many areas of south-east Bengaluru will not have power between 12 pm - 2 pm. These areas include areas fed by 220/66/11-kV HAL station, 66-kV Kadubisanahall substation. The areas that will be affected due to this are  Amarjyothi Layout, Domlur, Domlur Layout, Murugeshpalya, Jagdeeshnagar, Malleshpalya, Vignan Nagar, Maruthinagar, Basavanagar, Rameshnagar, Lal Bahadur Shastri Nagar, Kalappa Layout, AS Palya, Islampur, Vinayakanagar, Doddanekundi, LRD Layout, Sanjaynagar, Manjunathanagar, Marathahalli, Kaveri Layout, Manjunatha Layout, Vagdevi Layout, Ejipura, ST Bed, 80 feet Road, Ashwani Layout, Vivekinagar, Anepalya, Neelasandra, Sonnenahalli, Rose Garden, YG Palya, Rudrappa Garden, Srinivagilu, Indiranagar, and surrounding areas.  

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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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