Bengaluru pub owner arrested after 2 die falling off building

Negligence

Two customers of the Church Street pub fell from the second floor of the building when they were leaving the premises.

Theja Ram

The Cubbon Park police on Saturday arrested the owner and manager of Bengaluru’s #BEiR on charges of negligence causing death. The owner Abhishek Kulkarni was arrested after two customers fell from a window of his building late on Friday night and died. According to the Cubbon Park Police, the victims – Pavan Attavar (36) was a marketing manager with a media company and Veda Yadav (28) was a techie. Pavan and Veda had visited #BEiR on Friday night and were leaving the premises, located on the third floor of the building. “The woman lost balance first and then Pavan tried to help her and he too fell along with her. They were inebriated and when she wobbled near the third-floor staircase. The window frame, which was loose, came off. Since there was nothing to break her fall, she lost balance and fell out. Pavan tried to save her and he fell too,” the Cubbon Park Police said. Veda died instantly, while Pavan succumbed to a head injury at Bowring Hospital on Friday night. The Cubbon Park Police said that after preliminary probe, they ruled out suicide. “Abhishek Kulkarni was arrested and he is being questioned. The building owner of Prestige RR has also been booked. They have not followed safety norms of the building bye-laws. The windows were not sturdy enough. The area near the staircase had not lighting. It is the responsibility of pub owners and building owners to ensure that corridors are lit properly. Without light, obviously patrons who are inebriated will find it difficult to navigate the stairs,” the Cubbon Park Police added. Rumours had been rife that the two were exiting the pub in a hurry fearing an impending police raid as Police Commissioner Alok Kumar was conducting regular checks on the night of the incident. However, the Cubbon Park Police ruled out such rumours and said that the CCTV footage shows that the two friends were just walking down a dimly-lit staircase. Speaking to TNM, Pramod Rao, a friend of Pavan, who was at #BEiR said that they had gone to the pub as it was Friday night. “There were no raids or anything. It was almost 11.30 and they decided to leave. It was an unfortunate incident,” he added.

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Moily blames Congress tie-up with JD(S) for Lok Sabha rout

Politics

The former Union Minister lost to BN Bachhe Gowda of the BJP in the Chikkaballapur parliamentary seat by 1.8 lakh votes.

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File Image/PTI

Veteran Congress leader Veerappa Moily on Saturday blamed the pre-poll alliance with the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) for the party's rout in Karnataka in the Lok Sabha elections. "We lost badly in the Lok Sabha elections in the state due to our alliance with the JD(S). Had the party contested alone, it would have won 15-16 seats," Moily told reporters at Chikkaballapur. The former Union Minister lost to BN Bachhe Gowda of the BJP in the Chikkaballapur parliamentary seat by 1.8 lakh votes. Claiming that the tie-up with the JD(S) to contest jointly in the general elections was a mistake, Moily said the Congress lost more than its ally, as it won only one of the 21 seats. "Our party could retain only one (Bangalore Rural) of the 9 seats it had won in the 2014 elections, which was the highest from any state in the country," he said. Moily also blamed the JD(S) for his defeat, accusing its leaders and cadres of not supporting him in campaign and securing their party votes for him as a joint candidate. While the JD(S) contested 7 seats, it also won only one seat (Hassan). The BJP won 25 of the 27 seats it contested, while an Independent it supported one more. Besides Moily, Congress veterans and former Union Ministers like Mallakarjun Kharge and KH Muniyappa had also lost, while from the JD(S) saw its supremo and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda lose. As a split verdict in the May 2018 state assembly elections resulted in a hung house, the Congress and JD(S) entered into a post-poll alliance to form a coalition government so as to keep the BJP out of power.

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Bengaluru's RV Road metro station may shut down for construction of Yellow Line

Transportation

If the RV Road station shuts down, commuters will have to board the metro at Jayanagar or Banashankari stations.

Theja Ram

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The Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) may shut down the RV Road Metro Station along the Green Line to facilitate the construction of the Yellow Line. BMRCL is set to commence work on RV Road Station to facilitate the movement of the Yellow Line, which will pass through the metro station. Hence, the existing RV Road station on the Green Line (Nagasandra-Yelachenahalli) is likely to be shut down for a year, according to reports. “The metro station cannot operate properly if work on the interchange is being carried out. We are still thinking about whether it has to be shut down,” a BMRCL official told TNM. BMRCL is planning to demolish half of RV Road Metro Station in order to lay another track which will ply between RV Road and Bommasandra. Over 5,000 passengers use the RV Road Metro Station along the Green Line every day, which has been operational since June 2017. If the RV Road station shuts down, commuters will have to board the metro at Jayanagar or Banashankari stations. “The metro will ply from Yelachenahalli to Banashankari and Jayanagar to Nagasandra. So, commuters going to Yelachenahalli will have to board the metro at Banashankari and those going towards Nagasandra will have to board the metro at Jayanagar,” the BMRCL official said. According to The Hindu, BMRCL had planned to construct a new RV Road station along the Yellow Line. However, the agency now plans to merge it into an interchange station for the Green and Yellow lines. The new metro line to Electronic City, which will begin from RV Road station on the Green Line. will run along the land near Lakshman Rao Park, parallel to the Green Line viaduct. The BMRCL had earlier planned to construct the Phase 2 viaduct over the existing one at the Marenahalli Road Circle. “Lots of trees will be cut in Lakshman Rao Park and to avoid this and also save costs on land acquisition, if RV Road station become the interchange metro station. We have to see if it would be feasible to close the metro station completely. We will hold a public consultation before making a decision,” the official added. Hindustan Construction Company and URC Construction are responsible for the RV Road-Silk Board stretch of the Yellow Line, which is likely to be operational by 2021, the TOI report stated.  

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Karnataka conservationist wins Rolex award, state forest dept objects

Conservation

Karnataka Forest Department is contesting the Rolex Award given to conservationist Krithi for facilitating compensation for people affected by human-wildlife conflict.

TNM Staff

Krithi Karanth via FB

On June 14, Bengaluru-based conservationist Krithi Karanth won the Rolex Award for Enterprise for her and her four-year-old organisation Wild Seve’s work for helping people who have been affected by human-wildlife conflicts in getting compensation. “[Wild Seve] identifies conflict hotspots and currently serves half a million people living in 600 villages near Bandipur and Nagarahole Parks in Karnataka. It has filed 14,000 claims for 6,400 families, worth $200,000, which has decreased hostility and increased trust between conservationists and communities,” the citation reads. While this should have been cause for celebration, the Karnataka Forest Department raised an objection to the same, saying Krithi played no role in facilitating compensation to thousands of human-wildlife conflict victims in Karnataka. Countering Krithi, the Forest Department has said that the Bandipur Tiger Reserve has never engaged or associated – either in the past or as of now – with any private individuals or organizations/NGOs for the such work. "The activities such as crop/livestock damage assessment, processing of claim records, and settlement of compensation/ex-gratia payment claims etc. are performed by the forest officials of Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Karnataka," the statement said. “Hence, the claims being made in this regard by any individuals, organization, or NGOs are false baseless and far from the truth.” In response, the Centre for Wildlife Studies, of which 40-year-old Krithi is the director, has also issued a counter, clarifying that they have merely assisted people who approached them for help in seeking compensation, and have not paid the said compensation to them. "The Wild Seve Program does not claim that has provided direct compensation payment as is alleged. We have built 48 livestock sheds for rural beneficiaries as well as borne expenses of managing the project. We also want to make clear that there may be other cases of wildlife damage which were filed with the government without our assistance. Nowhere have we claimed that such cases were facilitated by our Wild Seve program." “Providing such assistance to victims of wildlife conflict is a perfectly legal activity which is encouraged by the government,” CWS added. They also said that they had submitted the requisite documents regarding the cases they assisted on to the Forest Department’s local staff. “All the 13702 claims for ex-gratia compensation handled by Wild Seve were submitted to forest department local staff on behalf beneficiaries for the past four years. For the Forest Department to now assert it was unaware of these claims is absurd.” The Rolex Award for Enterprise is awarded by Rolex, the luxury watch maker, to people with innovative and original ideas that are changing communities. The winners are also given a large financial grant to further their projects.

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Student organisation protests steep fee hike for Karnataka medical and dental courses

Protest

The All India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDSO) argued that the new fee was discriminatory and took away opportunities for economically weaker sections.

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The hike in fee for medical and dental courses by the Karnataka government led to protests in Bengaluru on Saturday. Earlier in June, the state government had announced a 15% hike in fees for MBBS and BDS (dental) courses for the government quota for the 2019-20 academic year. The All India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDSO) on Saturday staged a protest at Mysore Bank Circle arguing that the fee hike was discriminatory and took away opportunities to study medicine for economically weaker sections. AIDSO representatives submitted a memorandum to the Medical Education Department, asking them to roll back the decision. Since 2012, the hike in fees for private medical and dental colleges has gone up by 50%. According to the Department of Medical Education, the fees for MBBS courses is up from Rs 97,350 in 2018 to Rs 1,11,959 for the 2019-20 academic year. The fee was Rs 46,000 in 2012. The BDS fee has increased from Rs 63,030 to Rs 72,484. It was only Rs 35,000 in 2012. The fees are much high under the management quota. Under this quota, a medical seat will cost Rs 7,85,565. Last year, the fees was 6,83,100. The fee in dental colleges will be Rs 5,32,818, as opposed to Rs 4,63,320 in 2018. In 2012, the fees for MBBS course under management quota was Rs 3,57,500 and Rs 2,53,000 for BDS. However, no fee hike was imposed on government colleges. They will remain at Rs 50,000 for MBBS and Rs 40,000 for BDS. Officials with the department say that the owners of private medical colleges had been demanding a 25% fee hike owing to various operational costs. “How is this hike even fair? Every student who aspires to study medicine must be able to afford the fees. What if the NEET topper did not have money to pay the fees? Rich and poor alike must be afforded the same chance to study. This fee hike indirectly tells us that only the rich are allowed to study medicine. This is not fair,” said Ashwini, state secretary of AIDSO.  

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Two die after falling off second floor of pub in Bengaluru’s Church Street

Accident

The two have been identified as Pawan, who works in a private publication company, and Vedha, who was an IT employee.

TNM Staff

Representative image

Two people died after falling off the second floor of a pub located in Bengaluru’s Church Street on Friday. The two have been identified as Pawan, who works in a private publication company, and Vedha, who worked in an IT firm. According to the police, the two were walking down a flight of stairs at the pub in an inebriated state on Friday night, when they lost their balance and stumbled onto the window next to the flight of stairs. The window frame, which was made out of sub-standard material, gave way and the two fell out of the window located on the second floor. A video put out by a news channel shows Pawan falling on a portico just below the window and then crashing to the ground. While Vedha died on the spot, Pawan was rushed to Bowring Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. A case has been registered at Cubbon Park police station. The police have stated that the window that the two fell out of was made with sub-standard material in order to save costs and thus was not sturdy enough to withstand the weight of the two people. The owner of the building, the owner of the club and the manager of the pub have been booked by the police under Section 304A of the Indian Penal Code (Causing death by negligence). However, no arrests have been made yet. The mortal remains of the two victims have been sent for post mortem. The police have begun an investigation and have questioned the pub staff in connection with the accident. (This is a developing story)  

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Security lapse at Bengaluru airport: 7 passengers reach boarding gate without frisking

Security

They managed to get to the boarding area without going through the security check as the screening booths were not being manned at the time.

TNM Staff

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In a serious lapse of security at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru, seven people reached the boarding gate without having gone through the mandatory frisking. The incident took place on Monday night at around 9pm. Staff members of Indigo airlines took note of four women passengers at a boarding gate whose boarding passes had not been stamped by security personnel. The women who were bound for Pune were later taken to the domestic security holding area and underwent security check before they were allowed to board the flight. Shortly after this incident, a second group consisting of two men and one woman boarded a flight to Nagpur. It was only after they had boarded that the staff members of the airline noticed their passes had not been stamped. The Additional Director General (airport sector) has reportedly asked for a thorough investigation into the incident and has written to the KIA personnel asking for a response. Dated June 18, the letter has sought a proper explanation about the incident. According to reports, the security booth was not manned at the time the passengers entered the security check premises. As a result, these passengers went through without any frisking or checking taking place. The Central Industrial Security Force (CSIF) stated that the seven passengers crossed through an unmanned frisking area and went through it collecting their bags. One set of passengers who were headed to Pune was made to go back and undergo security check after an airline staff member noticed there were no stamps on the boarding passes. The other group managed to board the flight and reached their destination in Nagpur, before the incident was flagged. CISF headquarters in Delhi will look into the issue and decide on the next course of action. 

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