Thermal plant employee in Raichur falls into furnace, dies: Police allege negligence

Death

The 27-year-old contract worker was working overtime and was not given any safety equipment while working next to the furnace.

TNM Staff

A 27-year-old contract worker at Karnataka’s Raichur Thermal Power Station fell into the furnace and died late on Thursday night. Deepak Naik, who hailed from Odisha, was working overtime on Thursday when the incident occurred. At around 11.30 pm on Thursday, Deepak was working in the boiler room at the power station. Deepak’s job was to pick out stones and particles from the conveyor belt, which transported the coal to the furnace in the boiler room. Deepak was using a claw attached to a metal rod to pick out stones and other particles from the conveyor belt. However, the claw got stuck to the rubber mat on the conveyor belt and Deepak tried to pull it out. However, while he was doing that, the rod got stuck to Deepak’s belt and he got pulled onto the conveyor belt due to the speed at which the belt was moving. Deepak was dragged onto the belt and with no supervisor around to help him out, Deepak fell into the furnace and died due to burn injuries. Speaking to TNM, Ramesh, the investigating officer at Raichur’s Shakti Nagar Police Station says that Deepak’s supervisor Ajith Kumar and the engineer in-charge – Venkatesh, were both absent from the area when the incident occurred. “Deepak Naik was working overtime. He was asked to work late but none of his supervisors were there. He was not given any safety equipment. There was no one around when he screamed for help. By the time the other employees could reach Deepak, he had already fallen into the furnace,” Ramesh said. Deepak was supposed to have been given a helmet, gloves, boots and a jumpsuit to protect himself from the heat. Had Deepak been given the jumpsuit, the rod would not have gotten stuck to his belt and he would not have been pulled by the belt, police say.  “The rod is a dangerous piece of equipment to have. The claw attached to it gets stuck to the conveyor belt a lot. Ideally, this work should not have been delegated to a person but should have been mechanised. When employees are working, the supervisor must be present, especially in the boiler room, which is the riskiest place in the power plant. If there were people to drag Deepak out of the belt, he could have been saved,” officer Ramesh said.   Deepak’s body was fished out of the furnace immediately and rushed to Raichur district hospital, where he was declared brought dead. The Shakti Nagar Police have booked engineer in-charge Venkatesh, Deepak’s supervisor Amith Kumar and Prince Thermal India Pvt Ltd, the contracting company, which employed Deepak under sections 287 (negligent conduct with respect to machinery) and 304 (criminal negligence) of the IPC. The police were yet to make any arrests in the case at the time of writing.    

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'This is no way to treat citizens': SC dismisses ED’s plea against DK Shivakumar’s bail

Courts

The top court rejected the ED’s plea and noted that the ED 'copy-pasted' from their petition against Congress leader P Chidambaram.

TNM Staff

In a relief to former Karnataka Minister and Congress strongman DK Shivakumar, the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea filed by the Enforcement Directorate challenging his bail granted by the Delhi High Court. According to reports, the top court had noted that the ED had 'copy-pasted' from their petition against P Chidambaram, the ex-Home Minister, who is currently in Tihar jail. The petition had apparently referred DK Shivakumar as a former Union Home Minister, instead of calling him an MLA. Coming down heavily on the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the central probe agency, the apex court remarked, “This is not the way people of the country should be treated,” and asked him to read their dissenting judgment in Sabarimala issue. “Mr Mehta, you should read the dissent in Sabarimala review. It is for people like you to educate and instruct the officials that our judgments are not to be played with,” Bar and Bench quoted Justice RF Nariman as saying.   Justice Nariman tells SG Tushar Mehta for ED: This is not the way people of the country should eb treated. Mr. Mehta, you should read the dissent in Sabarimala review... It is for people like you to educate and instruct the officials that our judgments are not to be played with. — Bar & Bench (@barandbench) November 15, 2019 The bench also issued notices to the ED based on a petition filed by DK Shivakumar which sought quashing of charges filed by the Income Tax Department based on which the ED had filed the charge sheet. DK Shivakumar, who had spent 50 days in jail, was granted bail by the Delhi High Court on October 23 after he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate. His previous applications for bail were rejected by the trial court. While his police custody ended on September 19, he was remanded to judicial custody till October 1 by the Rouse Avenue court. He was reportedly lodged in the same jail compound as former Finance Minister P Chidambaram. The ED had been probing accusations of money laundering registered against DK Shivakumar since August 2017, when a cash amount of Rs 8.86 crore was found at his New Delhi residence.  Allegations against DKS include that he, along with his associates, transferred unaccounted money through hawala transactions to the Congress top brass.

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Bengaluru man, who led search for missing 4-year-old, arrested for murdering him

Crime

According to the police, the man allegedly lured the boy away from his home, and sexually assaulted and murdered him

TNM Staff

Image for representation

Eleven months after a four-year-old boy went missing from his residence in Bengaluru, the accused has been nabbed by the police. The accused has been identified as Narada, a native of Bihar, who had moved to Bengaluru 25 years ago and settled down in Hosakote. Narada has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting and murdering the boy. According to reports, the boy had gone missing from his home on the evening of January 1. Residents in the neighbourhood had joined the parents to search for the boy. Narada, too, joined the search party, pretending to search for the boy. Two days later, on January 3, a decomposed body was found near a eucalyptus grove, which is 300 meters away from the victim’s house in Hosakote. The Anugondanahalli police registered a case and started the investigation. As Narada himself was at the forefront of the search, there were no suspicions against him. It wasn’t until Ravi D Channannanavar, Superintendent of Police (Bengaluru Rural) directed the jurisdictional police to increase efforts to solve the case that they were able to identify the culprit. The police told the Times of India that the autopsy report had confirmed that the boy was sexually assaulted. “We suspected someone high on drugs may have committed the offence. We questioned two young male labourers and one of them told us that Narada used to invite them to have sex. We immediately picked up Narada. He first denied his role, but later confessed to the crime,” an investigating officer is quoted as telling the Times of India. As per reports, Narada used to lend money to the young labourers for purchasing ganja and would let them off from repaying the money if they allegedly agreed to have sex with him. Upon investigation by the police, Narada confessed to the crime and stated that it was an “accident.” According to his confession to the police, Narada claimed that he was looking for a partner on January 1 when he found the boy playing near his house. He allegedly took him to the eucalyptus grove and sexually assaulted him, following which, he claimed, the boy died. He has been remanded to judicial custody after the police produced him before a court on Thursday.

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Ilaiyaraaja to perform concert at Bengaluru airport arena on Saturday

Music

The performance will kickstart the musician’s world tour, which will continue till 2020.

TNM Staff

On the occasion of Ilaiyaraaja’s 75th birthday, the musician will be performing at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA). This will be the first-ever concert to be held at the airport premises. The concert will be held at the Concert Arena, which is located adjacent to the newly constructed South Access Road. According to reports, the musician will be performing songs in a number of languages, including Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. An audience of over 16,000 people is expected to attend. The legendary composer made a visit to the city on Thursday to announce the concert date and launch ticket sales. He said that he would be performing songs in a number of languages, without giving his fans a glimpse into his song list. He will be embarking on a world tour, starting with the concert in Bengaluru. Following this, he will also be performing in London, Paris, Oslo, Dublin, a number of cities in the United States and the Middle East. In India, he will also perform in Hyderabad, Kochi, Mumbai and his hometown Theni, Tamil Nadu. The world tour will continue until 2020. Earlier in July, the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) operators of KIA proposed the building of a Concert Arena on the airport premises. “BIAL plans to develop a world-class Concert Arena on a 6.3-acre land parcel at the Airport campus to cater to the growing demand for entertainment events in Bengaluru. Once complete, this arena would be the first of its kind to be built at an Airport in India. It is proposed to be a cost-effective, semi-permanent structure,” a BIAL spokesperson reportedly said. This is the first arena to be built on the same premises as an airport in India. Officials hope to host a wide array of events at the arena, ranging from concerts to exhibitions, conventions, award shows and more.

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No one wants Roshan Baig: Disqualified MLA in a fix as BJP distances itself

Politics

Roshan Baig's departure from the Congress opens up opportunities for Rizwan Arshad.

Prajwal Bhat

The stage was set for a grand induction of disqualified Congress and JD(S) MLAs to into the BJP at the party's office in Bengaluru's Malleswaram on Thursday morning. But instead of inducting all 17 disqualified MLAs, as hinted by Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa before, the BJP inducted only 16 disqualified MLAs into the party. Conspicuous by his absence was former Shivajinagar Congress MLA Roshan Baig who was not invited by the BJP to join the party. "How many times do we tell you all we don't Roshan Baig. BJP doesn't want Roshan Baig", said Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister KS Eshwarappa when asked about Roshan Baig. However, he refrained from giving a reason for the party's stance on not inviting Roshan to join. Sources in the BJP said that the senior leaders in the party were unwilling to allow Roshan Baig to join the party. Roshan was named by Mansoor Khan, the founder of IMA Jewels, in the scam which came to light in June this year. In a video, Mansoor claimed that he paid Rs 400 crore to Roshan which had not been returned to him. BJP functionaries also cited reservations over the murder of RSS worker Rudresh, who was hacked to death on Kamaraj Road in central Bengaluru in 2016. Several BJP leaders including Shobha Karandlaje had blamed Roshan Baig and claimed that he was involved in the killing. "His name came up in the videos released by Mansoor Khan and even though BJP leaders were seen with him around the time of his resignation from the Congress, the party has now decided it will not invite Roshan Baig to join the party," a BJP functionary told TNM. Unlike other disqualified MLAs, Roshan has found it difficult to transition into the BJP. "We will work for any candidate chosen by the party but a section of BJP workers in this area did not want Roshan to be named as the candidate, both because of his history and because he is a popular Muslim leader," a party functionary in the city said. This came as a surprise to Roshan, who till Wednesday maintained that he was joining the BJP.  A communication sent from a source close to Baig requested his supporters to join the induction ceremony at the BJP's office in Malleshwaram in the city on Thursday. Even though the party's official media release excluded Roshan from the list, the seven-time MLA maintained that it was a "typing error". The BJP's decision to exclude him leaves Roshan's political future uncertain. Roshan, a seven-time legislator from Bengaluru, has been the face of the Congress party in Bengaluru's central area for years. He was first elected as the MLA in 1985 and worked as a minister in the Janata Party government headed by JH Patel. In 1999, when the Janata Dal split to form the Janata Dal (Secular) headed by HD Deve Gowda, and the Janata Dal (United), Roshan decided to move to the Congress. He was elected six times as a Congress MLA and became a popular figure of the party in the city. However, trouble began for Roshan when he was overlooked in favour of Zameer Ahmed Khan, who became the Minister for the Haj and Wakf Board under former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Earlier this year in May, just after the Lok Sabha elections, Roshan lashed out at Congress leaders KC Venugopal and Siddaramaiah showing the first signs of dissension with the party's hierarchy. He called Venugopal, party in-charge in Karnataka "a buffon" and described former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as "arrogant". Soon after, Roshan was detained by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the IMA scam on July 15. At the time, he was pictured with BJP leader CP Yogeshwar and party functionary Santhosh, a close aide of Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa. In the last two years, Roshan had grown wary of the rise of Rizwan Arshad, who contested as the Congress candidate in the Bengaluru Central constituency losing to PC Mohan of the BJP. Roshan Baig's departure from the Congress opens up opportunities for Rizwan Arshad, who is one of the Congress aspirants from Shivajinagar. Rizwan's tiff with Roshan became public knowledge earlier this year when Rizwan alleged that a TV channel worked in collusion with Rumaan Baig, son of Roshan Baig, to air a programme linking him to the IMA scam. He filed a legal notice against the news which telecasted tweets posted by Rumaan in its programme. "Before he submitted his resignation, Roshan already knew that he wanted to leave the Congress. He was unhappy that he was sidelined and that Rizwan Arshad was taking his place in Shivajinagar, "a source close to Roshan said. According to sources, Roshan planned to field his son Rumaan Baig as the BJP candidate in Shivajinagar. But with the BJP officially naming M Saravana as the party's candidate in Shivajinagar, it appears the door is now closed for Roshan to make a swift return to politics.

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Prince Charles joins wife, Duchess Camilla, at Bengaluru wellness centret

News

Prince Charles will reportedly be in Bengaluru till Saturday, spending time with close family at the wellness centre.

TNM Staff

Courtesy: Clarence House on Instagram

Prince Charles of Wales, eldest son to the Her Majesty the Queen of England, is in Bengaluru for a trip to Soukya, a wellness centre, on the outskirts of the city. He will reportedly be here till Saturday, spending time with his wife, Duchess Camilla, and some close family who arrived in Bengaluru earlier and are already at Soukya. The wellness centre and organic farm is situated near Whitefield. The 30-acre property promotes organic farming and integrative wellness. This is an extension of the 71-year-old prince’s official two-day royal trip to India. He spent his birthday, which falls on November 14, in Mumbai, where he attended an event at The British Asian Trust, a foundation that works to tackle poverty in South Asia. It is an NGO funded by Princes Charles of Wales. In the evening the same day, he arrived at Bengaluru.           View this post on Instagram                   Today The Prince of Wales turns 71! During a @thebritishasiantrust event in Mumbai this morning, HRH was given a birthday card and cake from school children. #RoyalVisitIndia A post shared by Clarence House (@clarencehouse) on Nov 14, 2019 at 1:53am PST   The Hindu reported that he will be joining his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, who is here to have rejuvenation therapy, as she has done several times before. He spent his first day in India on November 13 meeting the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind. He also visited the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara in New Delhi for the birth anniversary Guru Nanak. He spent his time with community leaders.           View this post on Instagram                   The Prince of Wales kicked off this year’s Autumn Tour today with engagements in New Delhi, India. #RoyalVisitIndia In celebration of the 550th anniversary of the birth of Guru Nanak, The Prince of Wales visited Bangla Sahib Gurdwara, where HRH met members of the Sikh community and tried his hand at making a chapati! The visit follows a week of festivities celebrating the founder of Sikhism. Earlier today, The Prince met @presidentofindia at Rashtrapati Bhavan and planted a tree in the Presidential Garden. HRH also visited the India Meteorological Department where, in the National Weather Forecasting Centre, HRH heard about the new cyclone forecasting system allowing faster preparation and response time for India and other countries. The Prince was also able to test out one of the city’s e-rickshaws, a sustainable alternative to traditional transport, which have been developed by clean energy company SUN Mobility. Press Association / @ukinindia A post shared by Clarence House (@clarencehouse) on Nov 13, 2019 at 8:07am PST   Just before he set off on the trip, the official leg of which was scheduled from November 13 to 14, he gave an address to the people from the Sikh community from Clarence House: his royal Instagram page. “As I depart for India, on my tenth official visit, I did just want to convey my warmest best wishes to all of you in the Sikh Community in the United Kingdom, and across the Commonwealth, on the 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji.” He said as part of his statement. He added that the Sikh community is valued and admired by them all.

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Karnataka bye-polls: JD(S) releases list of 10 candidates, to support BJP rebel

Politics

JD(S) has not announced candidates for Mahalakshmi Layout, Kagwad, Athani and Gokak.

Soumya Chatterjee

The Janata Dal (Secular) on Thursday announced its candidates in 10 out of 15 Assembly seats that are headed for bye-polls on December 5.  The seats in which the party has not announced candidates yet include Kagwad, Athani, Mahalakshmi Layout, Hosakote and Gokak. The party has announced it will support independent candidate Sharat Bachegowda in Hosakote.  The JD(S)' announcement comes a day after the Supreme Court decided that the rebel MLAs who resigned from the Congress-JD(S) ruling coalition can contest the bye-polls. Incidentally, all the rebel MLAs except Roshan Baig joined the BJP in presence of Chief Minister and former state president BS Yediyurappa on Wednesday. The BJP has allotted 13 seats to 13 of these rebels and is yet to announce its candidates in 2 seats. The Congress released its first set of eight candidates on October 31. Here is a list of the JD(S) candidates 1) KR Pete: BL Devaraju Devaraj a current member of the Zilla Panchayat. He was also among the probables during the run-up to the 2018 Assembly polls. But he was pipped by incumbent MLA KC Narayana Gowda for the ticket. After failing to secure a party ticket, he had contested the elections as an independent. He had also served as the Chairman of the now-defunct Mysore Lamp Works.   2) Yeshwanthpur: Javarayi Gowda He had unsuccessfully contested the 2018 polls on a JD(S) ticket but was defeated by then Congress candidate and ruling MLA ST Somasehekhar. Javarayi is one o fthe richest JD(S) candidates. He has declared assets of above Rs 270 crore. 3) Ranebennur: Mallikarjun Khuba He won the elections from 2013 from Bidar district. He was also one of those named in the illegal mining report in Ballari district by Justice Santosh Hegde, the then Lokayukta. He had incidentally contested from the same seat on a BJP ticket. 4) Hirekerur: Anjappa Jatappa Considerably a newbie in politics, Anjanappa joined the party only recently. A software engineer from Bengaluru, he joined politics with the aim of doing social work.  5) Vijayanagar: NM Nabi NM Nabi is a former minister and currently the state vice-president of the JD(S). He was formerly with the Congress after leaving the JD(S) and had ensured that his son was the Youth Congress president of Ballari rural unit 6) Chikkaballapura: KP Bache Gowda A former MLA, KP Bache Gowda had contested the 2018 elections on a JD(S) ticket unsuccessfully and lost by a margin of 30,000 votes. He was among those who were recommended to be suspended by the Appachu Ranjan legislative committee report.  7) KR Puram: Krishna Murthy A former vice-president of the party and a two-time MLA, Krishna Murthy had also incidentally lost an election by the margin of a single vote. He was with the JDU before joining the JD(S). In the 2018 elections, he had unsuccessfully contested from Rajajinagar seat 8) Hunsur: C Somashekar Somasekhar is also a new face in the list of candidates. Somasekhar is a contractor who has bagged many road projects in the state. Until now he was not associated with party politics and seems to be the second person to have made the cut without any prior experience in the party.   9) Shivajinagar: Tanveer Ahmed Tanveer Ahmed is a national spokesperson for the JD(S). He routinely appears in television debates to present the JD(S)' point of view and also runs the Tanveer Ahmed Foundation in the city. 10)Yellapur: Chaitra Gowda Chaitra Gowda is the JD(S) state president of the Yuva Mahila Raitha Dala. She has campaigned for involving scientific measures to improve the welfare of farmers in the state.

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