Bengaluru FC extend unbeaten record over Kerala Blasters in front of record home crowd

Sport

A flying header from Bengaluru FC captain Sunil Chhetri header settled the southern derby in the home team's favour.

Prajwal Bhat

ISL Media

Bengaluru FC rose to the second position in the Indian Super League (ISL) table with a 1-0 in an action-packed South Indian derby against Kerala Blasters at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Saturday. Bengaluru FC captain Sunil Chhetri's flying header in the 55th minute proved to be the winner in a packed stadium with 27,083 spectators, a record attendance for a Bengaluru FC game in the city. Bengaluru made one change to its time with Albert Serran replacing Rahul Bheke in defence after the latter's muscle injury ruled him out of the game. Kerala started the game with two strikers — Bartholomew Ogbeche and Raphael Bouli — but decided to leave new signing Vlatko Drobarov and young Indian national player Sahal Abdul Samad on the bench. Kerala started the brighter of the two sides with an energetic first-half performance and should have taken the lead when the two strikers Ogbeche and Bouli combined but a sliding Bouli could not stretch to convert the cross.  Despite a slow start, Bengaluru should have taken the lead in the 28th minute when Raphael Augusto headed in a cross by Udanta, but the goal was disallowed as the assistant referee deemed the ball had rolled out of play. Bouli had a glorious chance to take the lead just before half time after he raced clear on goal only to miss the target with his shot.  But after the half-time break Bengaluru began the second half with more composure and purpose and within ten minutes, found a breakthrough. Dimas Delgado's corner was met by the unmarked Chhetri with a diving header that flew into the corner of the net.  The goal silenced the large contingent of Kerala fans in the stadium and Bengaluru looked to seize control of the game in the second half. Raphael Augusto went close with a glorious chance from a cross by Udanta but failed to convert it.  The introduction of Sahal Abdul Samad seemed to revive Kerala however Bengaluru manager Carles Cuadrat responded by taking off Harmanjot Khabra and shifting Nishu Kumar to the right back slot. Aashique Kuruniyan, who had a bright game, dropped to the left-back role.  Bengaluru FC saw out the game with relative comfort despite a contentious offside decision towards the end which saw a through ball by Sahal Abdul Samad ruled offside even though replays suggested otherwise.  Before the game, thousands of Kerala Blasters fans gathered outside the Kanteerava Stadium to lend a frenzied atmosphere to the game. While many fans residing in the city turned up, hundreds arrived from different parts of Kerala for the occasion. Apart from the east stand designated for away fans, the north and south stands at the stadium were filled with Kerala supporters at the game.  The fan groups of the two clubs — Manjappada and West Block Blues — indulged in banter throughout the contest. But the bragging rights were reserved for Bengaluru, who are unbeaten in five matches between the two sides, winning four of them. 

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KPL's next edition only after match-fixing scandal probe

Controversy

The KPL has been mired in controversy after seven people, including former Karnataka Ranji players CM Gautam and Abrar Kazi, were arrested.

TNM Staff

The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) has said that the ninth edition of Karnataka Premier League (KPL), which was hit by the multi-crore international match-fixing scam in September, will be announced only after the investigation in the matter is completed. The KSCA runs KPL —  a Twenty20 cricket league like the Indian Premier League (IPL) — every year.   The tournament, which concluded on August 31, was mired in controversy in September when police officials arrested the owner of Belagavi Panthers franchise Asfaq Ali over charges of match-fixing. It was alleged that players accepted money to fix matches in the league, including the final, in which two players have been accused of “slow batting”. Further investigation revealed a wide web of match-fixing in the Twenty20 cricket league, where players were allegedly blackmailed through honey-trapping tactics by bookies.  “Finding sponsors for a tournament like KPL requires months of groundwork and preparation, all of which went into a tailspin following the police investigation,” said KSCA Treasurer Vinaya Mruthyunjaya, prompting the state association to declare, on Wednesday, that there will be no KPL until the probe is over.  “When we decide the date, we will start looking for sponsors. No sponsor has committed to KPL for a long-term partnership, like two years, yet,” said Mruthyunjaya. When asked about the response of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which approves the Twenty20 cricket tournament, the association said that they have neither received any information nor communication from BCCI about the match-fixing scandal,” the treasurer said.  Meanwhile, the Chief Executive of the state cricket association, Parthasarathi, is furnishing the information that the police demanded in the KPL betting scam probe. The investigation, led by Sandeep Patil, Joint Commissioner of Police, Central Crime Branch, sought information on the participating teams, scorecards, video footage of all the matches and details of all the players, including their phone numbers. Mruthyunjaya also added that the state cricket association will not lose revenue owing to the uncertainty surrounding the conduct of the intra-state tournament, as KPL is more of an opportunity than a revenue-generating platform. “We are not looking at any revenue from KPL, but at creating opportunities for the cricketers. It is more of an opportunity for cricketers,” he said. KSCA is depending on the police investigation to unearth the many facets of the betting scam, although the state cricket association has an ethics officer and ombudsman, Justice (retired) KS Keshava Narayana, who is a former Karnataka High Court judge.  The state cricket association's official website also invites suggestions and complaints from the public, listing the ombudsman's email address and informing about a dropbox kept at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The KSCA Treasurer had earlier claimed that neither the BCCI nor the state association had any inkling of the betting, honeytraps, bookie-funded foreign holidays and spot-fixing scandals, which have plagued the local T20 league.  Bengaluru Commissioner Bhaskar Rao revealed that players were filmed during expensive trips abroad to Dubai and the Caribbean after they were 'honey-trapped'. The videos were used to blackmail them into fixing games.  Earlier, the police issued a lookout circular against former Bellary Tuskers' owner Arvind Venkatesha Reddy, who is suspected to have fled overseas for his involvement in the KPL betting scam. Since the investigation began after Belagavi Panthers' owner Asfaq Ali Thara was arrested on September 25, six persons have been taken into custody — Bengaluru Blasters players Gautam, Kazi, Nishant Singh Shekawat and Vishwanathan, their bowling coach Vinu Prasad and Bellary Tuskers drummer Bhavesh Bafna. The police also arrested Haryana-based bookie Sayyam for his role in the KPL betting scam. CM Gautam and Abrar Kazi are former Karnataka Ranji players.   Started in 2008, and functioning as a feeder tournament for the IPL, KPL has emerged as a leading local franchise-based league with BCCI's approval. KPL also provides a platform to tap the Karnataka hinterland cricket talent. As many as 16 KPL players have featured in the IPL. With IANS inputs

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Postmortem helps reveal man in Bengaluru allegedly murdered wife, mislead police

Crime

Rakesh’s wife Radha was found dead at their house in JC Nagar on November 18.

TNM Staff

A 29-year-old medical representative from Bengaluru was arrested on Saturday on charges of killing his wife. Police officials at Mahalakshmi Layout police station in the city arrested Rakesh Gupta for allegedly killing his wife and trying to make it appear like an accident.  Radha was found dead at their house in JC Nagar on November 18. At the time, Rakesh told Radha's family and the investigating police officials that she accidentally fell from the stairs and died.  In his statement, Rakesh claimed that he had asked Radha to take medicines stored in a room on the terrace. He then said that he allegedly heard her scream and rushed out. He said that she had fallen from the stairs even before he could take her to the hospital, police officials said quoting Rakesh, who hails from Andhra Pradesh. While the police waited for Radha's post-mortem report from MS Ramaiah Hospital, a policeman in plain clothes was deputed to monitor Rakesh. The post-mortem report arrived on Friday and revealed that Radha died on November 17, and not November 18, as claimed by Rakesh. He allegedly waited till the next day to take her to the hospital, The Hindu reported. Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) N Shashikumar said that the time of death, confirmed by the post-mortem report, did not corroborate what Rakesh had said. He added that Radha suffered severe internal injuries in her brain, allegedly as a result of a physical assault and that her ribs were also fractured, reported the Times of India.  Upon interrogating Rakesh again, based on the findings of the post-mortem report, he allegedly confessed to the crime. He admitted that the couple had a strained relationship and that Rakesh assaulted her because Radha accused him of having an affair. They got married in 2016 and have a two-year-old son, who according to Rakesh, was sleeping when the incident occurred. 

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Bike-rental company Bounce introduces electric scooters in Bengaluru

Mobility

The company, which operates around 11,000 petrol-run bikes, is focussing on making at least half their fleet electric.

Alithea Stephanie Mounika

Bike-rental company Bounce has begun rolling electric scooters in Bengaluru. The Economic Times reported in July that Bounce was looking to acquire fresh funding to add electric vehicles to their repertoire. Now, Bounce has joined the electric mobility fray by introducing 1,000 new electric bikes to their existing fleet of around 11,000 petrol-run bikes. Commuters can avail the electric bikes as through the Bounce app on smartphones by booking any vehicle that is close-by.  Electric bikes are differentiated slightly on the app, with a small additional thunderbolt icon on the map. Shared mobility platforms are also working towards rolling out electric vehicles. Yulu has introduced small one-seater electric bikes for last-mile connectivity, in addition to their fleet of shared bicycles. Bounce is currently working on R&D to convert their existing fleet of petrol bikes into electric, and had seen some positive results. When contacted, Bounce told TNM that the plan for the long term was to make the entire fleet electric. However, the focus on the short-term is to make at least half of the fleet electric. The range is said to be around 80-100 km, depending on usage. Bounce has developed technology for swappable batteries that can be exchanged for fully charged batteries at kiosks that are around the city. Unlike other electric scooters, there is currently no provision for charging the bike, as the charging time for each battery is four hours. The time to swap a discharged battery with a charged one is about one minute. The pricing for the petrol bike and electric bike, remains the same, for now: 1 rupee per km, along with usage charges of 1.50 per minute. There are no plans to reduce the pricing for electric bikes, since prices are already considered low, the company says.  The push towards electric vehicles has increased in recent years, in both private and public transportation. Electric buses were recently rolled-out in multiple cities across Tamil Nadu and the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation has previously announced that the state will have 300 electric buses on the road in the near future.     

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Bengaluru pharmacy owner held for illegally selling painkiller that killed 2 youth

Crime

On November 17, the two youths had injected a prescription drug called Tydol which they had purchased from a pharmacy in Rajajinagar, and they died two days later.

Theja Ram

The Bengaluru Police have arrested the owner of a pharmacy in Rajajinagar for allegedly selling Tydol tablets to two the two youths who died on November 19 due to an overdose. On Friday, the Vyalikaval Police arrested Manish Kumar, the owner of Mandeep Pharmacy located in Rajajinagar’s Dr MC Modi Road. The arrest was made after the police obtained the statement of one of the victims of the alleged overdose – Sumanth, who is currently undergoing treatment at KIMS Hospital in Bengaluru. According to Sumanth’s statement, at around 5 pm on November 17, he planned to meet his friends Gopi and Abhilash at Gopi’s residence for a birthday party. When the trio met, Gopi allegedly asked Abhilash to stay back, while he asked Sumanth to accompany him to the medical store. “Gopi drove us all the way from Vyalikaval to Rajajinagar to Mandeep Pharma, where he bought some tablets, distilled water and syringes. We went back to Gopi’s house. Gopi took us to a building, which was under construction opposite his house, where he told us about Tydol,” Sumanth’s statement reads. Tydol is a painkiller used for post-operative care. It is an opioid and overdose can lead to death. Sumanth told the police that the owner of Mandeep Pharma had sold them the pills without a prescription. “Gopi told us that he had bought it (tablets) many times from Mandeep Pharma. Abhilash and I were reluctant to consume it. Gopi mixed the pills with water and injected it into his body first.  Abhilash did it the second time. I did not want to do it but I felt pressurised to. We injected it into our bodies twice,” Sumanth’s statement reads. Soon after, Abhilash allegedly complained of pain in his heart and stomach. The trio then decided to return home, thinking it may have been the alcohol they had consumed prior to the consumption of Tydol, that was causing the uneasiness. “On the morning of November 18, Abhilash’s parents had taken him to Suguna Hospital. Gopi was taken to Vera Hospital. I was brought to KIMS by my parents. I did not know what was happening until the doctors told me that it was the painkiller,” Sumanth said in his statement to the police. However, earlier, the police had told TNM, the three friends had met at Abhilash’s home and had stayed back at his residence after consuming the drug. The police, now say that the FIR has been registered based on Sumanth’s statement as they did not have the information during preliminary investigation. Based on his complaint, the Vyalikaval police informed the state Drugs Controller that Mandeep Pharma had allegedly illegally sold a prescription drug to the three youth, which resulted in their deaths. The Drugs Controller under officer Khanapure raided Mandeep Pharma on Friday evening. Khanapure told TNM that they found a huge stash of Tydol at the pharmacy, which was not logged into the store’s books. “This was stashed illegally. He was selling Tydol illegally for months before the raid. We have seized the drugs and the police have booked him under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act,” Khanapure said. In addition, Manish has been booked under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC.  

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Sharad Pawar's denial in Maharashtra 'coup' similar to what Deve Gowda did in 2006

Politics

The scenario playing out in Maharashtra is strikingly similar to the events that unfolded in Karnataka in 2006 when JD(S) suddenly pulled out of the coalition with Congress and formed a government with BJP.

TNM Staff

The startling twists that politics in Maharashtra has taken is a stark reminder of the political upheaval that took place in Karnataka in 2006. The JD(S) had suddenly pulled out of the coalition with the Congress and formed an alliance with the BJP. On Saturday, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar claimed that his nephew, Ajit Pawar who was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra at 8 am, had forged an alliance with the BJP without his consent. "Ajit Pawar's decision to support the BJP to form the Maharashtra Government is his personal decision and not that of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). We place on record that we do not support or endorse this decision of his," Sharad Pawar tweeted. This scenario is strikingly similar to the events that unfolded in Karnataka in 2006, when JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda's son -- HD Kumaraswamy -- convinced 46 out of 58 JD(S) MLAs to withdraw support from the coalition government it formed with the Congress in 2004. Kumaraswamy's sudden change in stance at the time had come as a shock to many. When Kumaraswamy had announced his "unconditional support" for the BJP in 2006, many questions prevailed on whether Deve Gowda had granted his approval for the political coup.  At the time, Deve Gowda held a press conference at JP Bhavan in Bengaluru and said that Kumaraswamy had acted out of his own volition and that he did not support his son's move.  "It was Kumaraswamy's decision, not mine," Deve Gowda had repeatedly said when Karnataka was plunged into a political crisis overnight.  Just like Sharad Pawar, Deve Gowda too distanced himself from his son’s plot to break up the alliance with the Congress. An insider privy to the most confidential matters in the JD(S), Kumarswamy's "sudden move" as Deve Gowda had called it, seemed like a betrayal to the former Prime Minister. "Kumaraswamy formed the alliance with the BJP for power," Deve Gowda had then said. His words are rather similar to Pawar's. However, others believe that senior Gowda was very much part of the plan, but it was only for public posturing that he distanced himself from his son's decision. And just as questions are being raised today on just how much Sharad Pawar knew of his nephew’s plans to ally with the BJP, many had then wondered if Deve Gowda was also in on his son’s plans.  Despite repeatedly stating that his son had betrayed him, Deve Gowda had ultimately stayed silent when the JD(S)-BJP coalition formed the government with both his sons -- HD Kumaraswamy and HD Revanna holding top posts in the government. One was a Chief Minister, while the other held the powerful Energy portfolio.  

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Struggling to stay afloat, Bengaluru’s iconic bookstore Goobe’s may have to shut shop

Business

The store may have to close down by as early as December this year.

Alithea Stephanie Mounika

Goobe’s Book Republic, the decade-old secondhand bookstore in Bengaluru, is struggling to keep its doors open, and is appealing to bibliophiles to head over and support the business. Goobe’s began serving customers secondhand books, as well as the latest releases, in 2009. It is situated in a basement at one end of Church Street, parallel to MG Road. Goobe is among the iconic bookstores of Bengaluru, like its neighbours, Blossoms and Bookworm. However, the store may have to wind up soon. They recently posted on social media that demonetisation and the current economic slowdown has caused their business to dwindle. This comes after several businesses in the city have been threatened by low demand. Ravi Menezes, the owner of Goobe's, told TNM that he has been finding it hard to cover his overheads ever since demonetisation happened. “We’d love to keep working, but it’s important for us to clear our overheads, and generate new business.” Some, who are moved by the thought of this iconic bookstore shutting down, have been fervently sharing posts on Facebook to encourage people to go to Goobe’s Book Republic. Social media posts say that Goobe’s is “staring at extinction”, as quickly as by December this year. The posts urge people to go and there and support local bookstores. Goobe’s is currently hosting a clearance sale of select books. Prices for these books start at Rs 25, Rs 69 and Rs 99. Besides selling books, Goobe’s has also been a frequent spot for book launches, and for talks with authors. Apart from the bookstore, Goobe’s also offers a library service to office spaces with more than 50 employees. They propose to set up a book rack at the office, and change 100 of the books with fresh stock every month, based on reading preferences. The service starts at Rs 7000, and can be personalised for organisations with more employees. Other popular bookstores on Church Street that also attract local bibliophiles are Bookworm and Blossoms. The latter has recently expanded to open a second store on Church Street.  

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