Swift police action could have prevented riot: Siddaramaiah after DJ Halli visit

Riot

On the night of August 11, a mob had resorted to violence and arson in East Bengaluru after an allegedly offensive post by the nephew of a Congress MLA.

TNM Staff

Twitter / @siddaramaiah

Former Karnataka Chief Minister and current Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Siddaramaiah on Wednesday visited the recently riot-hit areas of east Bengaluru within DJ Halli and KG Hallli police station limits. He was accompanied by his junior colleague and Shivaji Nagar MLA Rizwan Arshad and other Congress functionaries. On the night of August 11, a mob had gathered in front of the DJ Halli police station demanding the arrest of Naveen, the nephew of Congress MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy, for allegedly putting up an offensive post against Prophet Mohammed on social media. The mob torched several vehicles and left the MLA’s house and the DJ Halli police station partially gutted. In a series of tweets, Siddaramaiah said, “I was undergoing treatment for COVID-19 when DJ Halli incident happened and I have come now to visit the spot after completing quarantine norms.” Condemning the violence, Siddamraiah added that the incident could have been avoided had the police taken swift action against Naveen. I condemn the act of violence and all those who were involved in the violence should be punished. This could have been averted if police had taken swift action against Naveen. 2/3 — Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) September 2, 2020 He also demanded that the police release people who have been allegedly wrongly apprehended. He tweeted, “I condemn the act of violence and all those who were involved in the violence should be punished. This could have been averted if police had taken swift action against Naveen.” He added, “Many are arrested for orchestrating violence in the DJ Halli. Police should gather evidence and pursue the case. Release those people against whom there is no evidence. Innocents should not be framed and at the same time real culprits should not be let off.” It may also be recalled that police had to open fire to contain the violence and three persons died of bullet injuries. Another person who was arrested had also died due to a pre-existing health complication, police have said. More than 300 persons have been arrested and police have also invoked the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, and claimed that many of the accused in custody were also linked to the Church Street (2014) and Malleshwaram (2013) bomb blast cases. Functionaries of the SDPI (Social Democratic Party of India) and husband of a Congress corporator are among those who have been arrested in the case.

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IMD issues yellow alert for Bengaluru, thunderstorm warning for many K’taka districts

Weather

IMD forecasted low impact water pooling on Bengaluru roads and low lying areas for the two days.

TNM Staff

PTI/ File image

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday afternoon issued a thunderstorm warning for more than 10 districts in Karnataka mostly in the northern parts. The IMD also issued yellow and orange alerts for many parts of the state including Bengaluru.  For Bengaluru, the agency forecasted low impact water pooling or water logging on roads and low lying areas for the next two days and issued a yellow alert ending September 7 morning. An alert was issued at 1:30 pm to the Deputy Commissioners of Belagavi, Bagalkot, Vijayapur, Raichur, Dharwad, Haveri,Gadag, Chitradurga, Chikkamagaluru, Tumakuru and Hassan. The IMD said these districts are likely to witnessthunderstorms with lightning accompanied with light to moderate spells of rain and gusty wind speed reaching 30-40 kmph likely in the next three hours. Orange alert has been issued for he next two days ending on Friday morning for Shivamogga, Chikkamaggaluru and Hassan. In a forecast on Tuesday, the Karnataka State Disaster Monitoring Centre had said there will be fairly widespread to widespread light to moderate rains with isolated heavy rains likely over Bengaluru city limits till Thursday morning. As part of its daily forecast, IMD on Wednesday said rain/thunderstorms were very likely to occur at most places over South Interior Karnataka; at many places over Coastal Karnataka and North Interior Karnataka. It also gave a heavy rainfall warning for the next 24 hours. “Very to very heavy rainfall likely to occur at isolated places over South Interior Karnataka, heavy rainfall likely to occur at isolated places over Coastal Karnataka & North Interior Karnataka,” the forecast read. Southwest monsoon is active over South Interior Karnataka and weak over Coastal Karnataka and North Interior Karnataka.  Rainfall occurred at most places over South Interior Karnataka and over Coastal Karnataka and at a few places over North Interior Karnataka on Tuesday, IMD said. Only four IMD rainfall recording stations saw heavy rainfall while there were no instances of heavy rainfall or very heavy rainfall in other parts of the state.

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Drug peddler from Goa with alleged links to Karnataka film industry arrested

Crime

The arrest comes in wake of the Kannada film industry facing allegations of widespread drug use.

TNM Staff

NCB

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Tuesday arrested a Goa-based alleged drug peddler F Ahmed (30) on charges of supplying marijuana and other banned drugs to tourists and Bengaluru residents. The NCB said that his customers were in turn linked to prominent personalities in the Kannada film industry. Ahmed works as a driver with a famous resort in Goa, authorities said. The arrest was made as part of multi-location raids including in Delhi and Mumbai after an international drug peddling racket, which involved the supply of drugs like Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), had come to light. The NCB seized 3.5 kg of curated marijuana, which they said is imported from the USA and Canada. They said the drugs were bought on the darknet and paid for, using cryptocurrencies. The arrest comes in wake of the Kannada film industry facing allegations of widespread illegal drug use, following a major drug bust on August 21, when the NCB had busted a synthetic drug racket and seized a diary from one of the accused. Investigation officials said that the diary allegedly contained the names of 15 celebrities including actors, musicians, models and reality TV actors from Karnataka.  In multiple raids conducted by the NCB in upscale gated communities in Bengaluru at the time, the pan-India agency had recovered large quantities of MDMA and LSD. The prime accused Anikkha had reportedly admitted that she was selling imported drugs from 2014 to college students and had slowly built a network of celebrity customers, including filmstars. Incidentally, ex- Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Monday alleged that money from the drug mafia was used to fund the coup, which toppled the Congress-JD(S) coalition government. He claimed during his tenure as CM, many drug peddlers had gone to Sri Lanka due to the fear of getting arrested. He said due to this, it was money from these peddlers and betting rackets that were used to topple the coalition government.  In another development on Monday, filmmaker Indrajit Lankesh who had also claimed that there is a widespread drug menace in Sandalwood went to the Central Crime Branch (CCB) of Bengaluru Police for questioning. In his interaction with the police, he had reportedly dropped a few big names. However, he did not submit any evidence, Joint Commissioner of Crime, Bengaluru Police Sandeep Patil said.

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Bengaluru sees 2967 new COVID-19 cases, over 400 reported in city’s south zone

Coronavirus

Karnataka reported a total of 9,058 coronavirus cases on Tuesday.

TNM Staff

Bengaluru on Tuesday reported 2,967 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday. Over 400 patients were from the city’s south zone. East zone reported the second highest number of cases, followed by west zone. This is a departure from the dominant trend in the past weeks where the west zone had been reporting a higher number of daily cases. The number of recoveries was also lower on Tuesday with only 1,137 discharges in the single day. Most of these were in the west zone, followed by east zone and Mahadevapura respectively. Most of the new patients were men between 30 and 39 years of age, followed by men in the 20 to 20 age group and then by men between 40-49 age group. The women in the corresponding age groups reported the next highest number of coronavirus cases. Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak in Bengaluru, men between 30-39 have accounted for a majority of the coronavirus positive cases. In women, that age group is the 20-29 one.   Recoveries on Tuesday were highest among men in the 40 to 49 age group, followed by women in the 30 to 39 age group. A majority of the 40 people who succumbed to COVID-19 on Tuesday were men over 70 years old. Wednesday marks the third day that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike has not provided an update on the number of containment zones in the city. The number, per the last update, remains at 15,723 active containment zones (39%), out of a total of 40,563. The positivity rate in the city is at 14.8%; the rate of recovery from COVID-19 is at 69.03% and the active rate is 29.4%. Overall, Karnataka reported 9,058 COVID-19 cases and 5,159 COVID-19 recoveries on Tuesday. The total number of active cases in the state is 90,999. Bengaluru accounts for 38,906 of these, the highest in the state. It also makes up for 2,005 of the 5,837 total casualties due to COVID-19 in the state. 

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Karnataka mulls online sale of liquor, sets up team of officials

Liquor

The team of officials will draw up a report and consult with Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa before taking a final decision.

TNM Staff

The Karnataka government has constituted a team of officials to study the pros and cons of online liquor sale, and a decision will be taken in this regard based on its report, State Excise Minister H Nagesh said on Tuesday. He said the team will study the success rate of online sale in the states where it has been implemented. "Regarding online liquor sale we have constituted a team of senior officials to visit and study wherever it is implemented and look into pros and cons. Whether it (online sale) is going on successfully, upto the mark and is it satisfactory," Nagesh said. Speaking to reporters, Nagesh said the government will not take any hasty decision in this regard and all necessary procedures and consultation will be followed before taking a final call. "After looking into the pros and cons and consulting the Chief Minister (BS Yediyurappa), we will take a decision," he said. The Minister also noted that with online sale there will be additional service charge on the consumers, which the people will have to agree to. "There is also opposition to it from the wine merchants association, their consent is also required and we will have to talk to them," he added. This is not a new idea in Bengaluru and until September 2018, services like Dunzo and HipBar delivered alcohol to the city's residents. A part of Dunzo's service (as a task running app which was delivered from government-licensed vendors) was delivering alcohol while it was the mainstay of HipBar. But the applications were shut down after the Excise Department in the state said there was no license for the online delivery of liquor. While different companies have tried without much success for the home delivery of alcohol, Zomato is now pushing to deliver alcohol, reported Reuters. According to reports, several states including Kerala and Maharashtra, have already launched the online delivery of liquor. With easing of restrictions under Unlock 4, the Karnataka government has allowed bars, pubs, clubs and restaurants in the state to serve liquor with 50 percent of their seating capacity from Tuesday. The state government had in May allowed sale of liquor through MRP outlets. This was followed by permission for bars, microbreweries, pubs and others to clear out their stocks, but in-house service was not allowed. According to Excise Department's data, the excise revenue at the end of August is Rs 7,580 crore, lower than the Rs 9,131 crore reported during the corresponding period last year. With inputs from PTI

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'Thanks to UP police for not killing me in an encounter': Dr Kafeel Khan after release

Law

The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday quashed Dr.Khan's detention under the National Security Act and ordered his immediate release.

TNM Staff

Dr Kafeel Khan, PTI

Following an order of the Allahabad High Court, Dr Kafeel Khan was released from Mathura jail late on Tuesday night, his lawyer said. "Uttar Pradesh govt kept me in jail for 8 months under a fictitious case and did not give me food for 5 days. I thank the UP STF who brought me from Mumbai to Mathura and did not kill me in an encounter. I thank them," Dr. Kafeel said upon his release. "They kept me in jail without food, I would like to thanks UP STF for not killing me in encounter" ~ Dr Kafeel Khan #drkafeelkhan pic.twitter.com/0QUsbPFTbe — Md Asif Khan‏‎‎‎‎‎‎ (@imMAK02) September 1, 2020 The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday quashed Khan's detention under the National Security Act and ordered his immediate release. "Mathura jail administration informed at around 11.00 pm that Dr Kafeel will be released, and at around midnight, he was released," Khan's lawyer Irfan Ghazi said. The bench, comprising Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh, passed the order on a petition filed by Khan's mother Nuzhat Parveen. The petition alleged that Khan was granted bail in February by a competent court and he was supposed to be released on bail. However, he was not released for four days and the NSA was subsequently invoked against him. Hence, his detention was illegal, the petition argued. Khan was in jail since January after he delivered a speech at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) during the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protests in December last year. The court said that prima facie, the speech did not disclose any efforts to promote hatred or violence. "It also nowhere threatens peace and tranquillity of the city of Aligarh. The address gives a call for national integrity and unity among the citizens. The speech also deprecates any kind of violence. It appears that the District Magistrate had selective reading and selective mention for few phrases from the speech ignoring its true intent,” the court stated. Read: ‘His speech called for integrity, not violence’: HC orders Dr Kafeel Khan’s release

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Bengaluru residents return to bars, pubs for first time since March amid restrictions

Liquor

While crowd favourites like Bob's Bar and Toit were open with restrictions, others like Pecos continued to remain closed.

Prajwal Bhat

Toit Brewpub, Bengaluru

Pubgoers in Bengaluru returned to their favourite watering holes for the first time in five months after bars and pubs across the city were reopened to serve liquor under Unlock 4. Bars and pubs in the city were closed on March 22 following the Janata Curfew announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.  "We are following the standard operating procedures laid down by the government. We have spaced out our tables and removed around 8 tables from the ground floor area. Customers have to go through a temperature check while entering the bar and they have to wear masks and maintain distancing. Empty tables are sanitised every time a customer leaves," Jagdish, manager of the popular Bob's Bar in Indiranagar told TNM. The guidelines allow bars and pubs to serve 50% of customers at a time in their premises as per their seating capacity so as to ensure 6-feet physical distancing is maintained. A fairly high number of people thronged to Bob's Bar on Tuesday night and managing the crowd that turns up at bars was an issue. The seating area on the ground floor was almost full. "We will be making changes to our system to ensure that the crowd is 50%," Jagdish said.  While some popular bars like Bob's, Toit and Sarathi in Indiranagar were open, others like Pecos, Three Dots and a Dash, and Barebones in the same area remained closed on Tuesday night. Excise officials told TNM around 600 bars and pubs reopened on Tuesday.  "This is not the usual crowd we are used to on a Tuesday night, but we have begun serving customers following the restrictions laid down. This is also a working day so it is too early to tell whether the demand is lesser," Hamesh Kumar, manager at Toit Bar told TNM. The waiters have to sanitise the area and tables after one set of customers leave and before the other customers occupy them. "As stipulated in the SOP, the air-conditioning in all bars and pubs has been set on 24-30 degrees Celsius. Orders are placed contactless and payment is through digital mode to avoid touching any surface or object," state federation of wine merchants' association Govindraj Hegde said. Though the state government reopened liquor sale through retail outlets since May 4 and allowed bars and pubs to sell their stock piled up due to lockdown since Unlock 1 began on June 8, serving of drinks was not allowed till September 1. Restaurants are also allowed to serve liquor along with food as per guidelines. According to state excise minister H Nagesh, the state government has suffered an estimated Rs 1,435 crore loss due to restricted sales and ban on serving liquor in bars, restaurants and pubs. The excise department has set a revenue target for this fiscal (2020-21) of Rs 22,700 crore. With inputs from IANS

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