Actor Vivek Oberoi’s brother-in-law among 12 named in Bengaluru drug case

Crime

TNM has joined the dots between politicians, actors and realtors and through source information, traced their connection with drug peddlers.

Theja Ram

After the arrest of actor Ragini Dwivedi in connection with the drug case, the police registered an FIR against 12 people. Among them is real estate developer Aditya Alva, son of late Janata Dal minister Jeevaraj Alva and brother-in-law of Bollywood actor, Vivek Oberoi. Sources in the Central Crime Branch say that the entire case came to light after they received a tip-off in August this year that the 204 kg of marijuana, which was to arrive in Bengaluru from Andhra Pradesh, belonged to an associate of a politician in Karnataka. “The person who tipped us also said that the politician wanted to expose the drug abuse in the film industry. We are still investigating the connection,” a senior CCB source said.  The roots of the drug case While the CCB was trying to solve the drug case, the Narcotics Control Bureau in late August, arrested Anikha D and seized MDMA pills from her residence. NCB had allegedly found Ragini Dwivedi’s name on her list of contacts in the mobile phone, which was retrieved from Anikha.  The accused in the marijuana bust, meanwhile, allegedly revealed Ravi Shankar’s name. When the CCB was surveilling Ravi Shankar, the sleuths came across another case registered at the Ashok Nagar Police station two years ago. The case involved three parties -- Shivaprakash, Ragini Dwivedi and Ravi Shankar. Shivaprakash, a realtor and film producer, was accused of assaulting Ravi Shankar with a glass bottle at a restaurant. The fight allegedly began after Shivaprakash, who was a long-time friend of Ragini’s, accused Ravi Shankar of interfering in his friendship with the actor. However, this case was not investigated thoroughly, CCB sources said.  “That’s when we found the connection. Ravi Shankar was working at the RTO office and was involved in giving out special license plate numbers to celebrities, businessmen and others. He was also connected with Ragini. When we found the connection, we arrested him. We retrieved information from chats he had had with Ragini, they used code words to communicate,” the CCB source added.  The connection with the other accused Sources with the CCB said that Shivaprakash and Ragini attended private parties organised at various farm houses in the outskirts of Bengaluru. These parties were private and only those with invitations were allowed to attend. CCB sources said that Ravi Shankar allegedly introduced Ragini to Viren Khanna, the affluent party planner, two years ago.  “She was invited to his parties. Viren also knew Aditya Alva through his connections with the film industry. We suspect that Aditya Alva was attending these parties but we don’t know whether he was consuming drugs or supplying it. His phone is switched off,” the CCB source added.  The CCB has divided the case into three sections -- the party planners or organisers, those who attended and consumed drugs and finally those who supplied the drugs.  CCB sleuths said that Ravi Shankar and another accused named Rahul Shetty were allegedly supplying drugs to these parties attended by actors, musicians, children of prominent businessmen and techies.   Ravi Shankar and Rahul Shetty allegedly procured drugs from a Senagalese national, which he allegedly supplied to these private parties. Sources say that one such party was organised on July 5, where the accused were involved.  “Ragini has been lodged at the state-run women’s home in NIMHANS, where she is being questioned by a team of women police officers led by officer Anjumala. She has maintained that she only attended the parties and did not consume drugs. We found cigars at her residence, which have been sent for examination to the FSL. So far, we have compiled a list of actors, businessmen and others in the film industry, who will be issued summons for questioning,” the CCB source added. 

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Karnataka Labour Min Shivaram Hebbar tests positive for coronavirus

Coronavirus

Hebbar is the eighth minister in the BS Yediyurappa cabinet to test positive.

TNM Staff

Screengrab

Karnataka Minister for Labour and Industrial Development Shivaram Hebbar tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday. "Today, my wife and I tested positive for coronavirus," Hebbar said on Saturday. The 64-year-old Minister from Yellapur said that he is under home quarantine on the advice of his doctors as he is now showing many symptoms. "I am in home quarantine on the advice of doctors as there are not many symptoms," he said. Meanwhile, Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar wished Hebbar a speedy recovery from the virus. "I hope that my cabinet colleague and Labour Minister Shivaram Hebbar will soon recover from coronavirus and get back to his daily duties," said Sudhakar. With this, Hebbar is the eighth minister in the BS Yediyurappa government to test positive for the novel coronavirus. On September 1, Karnataka Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K S Eshwarappa had tested positive for COVID-19 and had been admitted to a hospital on medical advice Earlier on August 26, Karnataka Women and Child Development Minister Shashikala Jolle had declared that she was also under home quarantine after testing positive for the novel coronavirus. Previously Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, Health Minister B Sriramulu, Tourism Minister CT Ravi, Agriculture Minister BC Patil, Forest Minister Anand Singh were among those who had tested positive and have now recovered. Other than the cabinet ministers, many other high profile political functionaries in the state haVe tested positive for the virus since the onset of the pandemic.  These include former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Congress state president DK Shivakumar and BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel.  Incidentally, Karnataka on Saturday reported 9,746 new COVID-19 cases and 128 deaths, taking the total number of infections to 3,89,232 and death toll to 6,298. A total of 2,83,298 discharges after recovery have been recorded so far, the Health department said in its bulletin.

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Karnataka govt says it will conduct 1 lakh COVID-19 tests per day

In the past week, around 75,000 persons have been tested daily.

TNM Staff

Karnataka will soon reach its goal of conducting one lakh COVID-19 tests per day as it has increased the number of labs and the tests done, Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said on Saturday. "From one testing lab for COVID-19, we have opened 108 labs in six months. From 300 tests per day, we have increased it to 75,000. This will soon reach the goal of one lakh tests per day," Sudhakar said.  He said that the state government has shown its commitment to contain the pandemic and has been successful. The Minister was speaking after inaugurating the MVJ Molecular Lab at MVJ Medical College & Research Hospital at Hoskote near Bengaluru. Stating that COVID-19 can be prevented completely only with the use of a vaccine, he said that the death rate in the state was about 1.65% and the aim is to bring it down to less than one percent. As of September 4, cumulatively, 3,79,486 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 6,170 deaths and 2,74,196 discharges. Bengaluru urban district tops the list of positive cases, with a total of 1,41,664 infections. A total of 31,97,110 samples have been tested so far, out of which 73,192 were tested on Friday alone, and among them 31,641 were rapid antigen tests. Stressing the need to improve the quality of the medical education system in Karnataka and also bring about change, Sudhakar said a study of the medical education system in developed nations must be carried out and measures that aid the system  have to be incorporated to make this possible. "A decision will be taken in this regard," he added. The Minister also noted that molecular test labs should be opened in government medical colleges and asked the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences to look into it. He said medical universities must collaborate with international medical colleges to send medical students from the states to clinical expos and added that this was necessary to provide exposure to newer findings in the field of medicine. "The state government had planned to launch an initiative this year, but it could not be carried out due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.

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Bengaluru's largest COVID Care Centre at BIEC to shut due to lack of demand

Coronavirus

The facility, which was touted to be the largest one planned in the country, was inaugurated on July 27.

TNM Staff

FIle image of inaugration of BIEC

The Karnataka government on Saturday night announced that the COVID Care Centre (CCC) set up at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) will be shut down from September 15. The facility, which was touted to be the largest one planned in the country was ceremoniously inaugurated on July 27 and is now being shut down as most patients are opting for home isolation, rather than going for institutional setups. In a press note, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) said that they discussed the issue with the Chief Minister as suggested by Rajendra Kataria, senior IAS officer in-charge of these facilities. A delegation of ministers led by Deputy Chief Minister Ashwath Narayan and senior bureaucrats had inaugurated it with the option of increasing the total tally of beds to 10,100. The facility on the first day had 5,500 beds. Now these beds will be sent to government institutions, university hostels and public hospitals. Earlier in August, Rajendra Kataria told TNM even when they were expecting a demand for the government-run CCCs, they had decided not to expand the number of beds in BIEC. He had then said that the idea behind not expanding BIEC is to allow businesses to open up as quickly as possible when they can. Instead, he said the government was targeting idle facilities like school and college hostels which were lying vacant and untapped medical and paramedical college facilities. The facility had also got its fair share of controversy with the government accused of indulging in corruption over procurement of essentials for the facility. The issue had led to Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa himself examining the purchases and subsequently ordering officials to procure the items needed for the centre instead of leasing them on a rental basis. While the cost for leasing the equipment was Rs 24 crore, buying them cost only Rs 4.23 crore.

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Kavitha Reddy releases statement on Samyuktha Hegde: Insists she wasn't moral policing

Coronavirus

The video however shows otherwise. Moreover, Kavitha took to Twitter to call Samyuktha a 'cheap publicity actor'.

TNM Staff

collage of Kavitha and Samyuktha

Lake activist and Congress member from Karnataka Kavitha Reddy has released a statement after facing much outrage on the moral policing incident involving Kannada actor Samyuktha Hegde and her two friends. Though she regretted losing her temper, Kavitha Reddy insisted that she did not moral police Samyuktha and claimed she had only intervened as the three friends had played loud music at the park. The incident happened at a public park near the Agara lake in Bengaluru where the actor and her two friends had gone to practice with hula hoops. Taking objection to the workout clothes or sports bra that Samyuktha was wearing, Kavita Reddy and others asked them to leave the park. Things became heated up when Kavitha charged at one of the women and later brought in the police.           View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Samyuktha Hegde (@samyuktha_hegde) on Sep 4, 2020 at 5:38am PDT   "I was called by walkers and the guard at Agara Lake saying that some 3 girls have been playing music and dancing and there are complaints daily why it is allowed in the park when no other park allows. When the guard called there was already shouting and screaming going on. I went and met Samyuktha and 2 of her friends," the statement says.   Kavitha then says that at no point did she make a reference to Samyuktha's attire. "I called the two guards and asked Samyuktha and two of her friends to apologize to them as they have abused and shouted at them for doing their job. Samyuktha and two of her friends told me that the guards also made some remarks, I told her that all the three will apologize and he will also apologize for his mistake," she says.  "It's ridiculous to say that I was doing some moral policing when the fact remains that I go for a walk wearing shorts and many who come to Agara Lake wear what they want without any dress code or restrictions," she adds  She then goes on to say that as she tried to call the police and simultaneously record, a video, one of Samyuktha's friends called her a 'Bloody b****' and this is when Kavitha charged at her. In the statement, Kavita keeps insisting that she never commented on Samyuktha's attire and questioned why the actor took off her pullover during her live video. "She herself took off her top and started a live video which was definitely objected by the public and even police who were a bit confused how to act in that situation," she said It must be noted here that Samyuktha did not remove her pullover in the beginning of the video, she only does it when Kavita Reddy tells the police that the actor should be booked for indecent behaviour in public. It is then that an emotional Samyuktha removes her pullover and shows her workout clothes to the camera and the police asking what is wrong with her attire.  Read: ‘We were moral policed, abused, assaulted in a Bengaluru park’: Actor Samyuktha Hegde It must also be mentioned here that though Kavitha Reddy says in her statement that she never talked about Samyuktha's attire, it is very clear from the video that Kavitha mentions 'indecent exposure' to the police, even before Samyuktha removes the pullover for the video. Moreover, neither Kavitha nor anyone in the crowd can be heard mentioning about the loud music to the police. Kavitha however says she has videos to prove her version. Kavitha Reddy also says in her statement that her version will be collaborated by real people and not someone who 'claims to be a victim'. In Samyuktha's video however, at least three other people can be clearly heard supporting the actor and rejecting moral policing. On Twitter, she referred to Samyuktha as a cheap publicity actor.

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Three years since Gauri Lankesh was shot dead, trial yet to begin

Crime

Gauri Lankesh was shot dead on September 5, 2017 outside her residence in Rajarajeshwari Nagar.

Theja Ram

Three years after journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh was shot dead and nearly two years since the chargesheet was filed in the murder case, the charges are yet to be framed and the trial is yet to begin. Gauri Lankesh was shot dead outside her residence in Bengaluru’s Rajarajeshwari Nagar on September 5, 2017. Subsequently, over the course of one year, the Special Investigation team arrested 18 persons in connection with the crime.  In its 9,235 page chargesheet submitted to the Principal Session Court in November 2018, the SIT had named 18 persons including 16 who had already been arrested and were allegedly members of the Hindu Janajagruthi Samiti, an offshoot of right-wing Hindu outfit Sanatan Sanstha. The KCOCA (Karnataka Control of Organised Crime) Act was invoked after it was established that the scribe was killed as a result of an organised criminal conspiracy.  Speaking to TNM, S Balan, the public prosecutor in the case, said that the delay in starting the trial was due to the defence’s “delaying tactics”. The Principal Sessions judge hears all KCOCA cases. The Principal Session judge is also overburdened with work due to his administrative responsibilities in addition to hearing criminal and civil cases, along with those filed under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, he said. “Every day a lot of time is spent in administrative work by the Principal Sessions judge. This case has not been taken up on priority basis despite the fact that KCOCA cases should be given preference. A special court should be constituted to try the Gauri Lankesh murder case just like the Madani Case. Only then can it be tried in a speedy manner,” he added. During this time, the former judge presiding over the case, Justice Ammannavar, was elevated to the Karnataka High Court and the seat remained vacant for one month before another appointment was made earlier this March.  Defence attorney Amruthesh, who was appointed by Sanathan Sanstha, has held ground and not allowed the charges to be framed against the accused, stating that all the accused were not produced in court on the same day.  “The prosecution brings in five or six accused and we held ground stating that all the accused should be produced when charges are being framed. Since they are lodged in different jails, the prosecution has not been able to produce them at once due to various reasons,” Amruthesh told TNM.  The prosecution, however, argued that the defence was protracting the trial by filing individual bail petitions and individual appeals for the bail petitions that have so far been rejected.  “The accused are lodged in Mysuru, Bengaluru, Ballari and Belagavi jails. Amol Kale in the Mysuru Court. The defence is always requesting more time and petitioning for adjournment. They have been filing frivolous applications. Both Sessions and High Courts have denied bail applications. Then they file one bail application each for each of the accused and when those are rejected, they file appeals. There will be oral arguments from the defence and prosecution. This is delaying the trial,” S Balan said, while adding that the prosecution has also filed petitions demanding release of property of the accused that the police has attached.  The next hearing is on September 8 and this one is also a hearing for another bail application for five accused persons including A5, A6, A9, A13 and A14.  The case SIT sleuths allege that Amol Kale, the prime accused, assigned specific roles to each of the arrested persons. None of them knew each other’s original names and they only had to concentrate on their specific task to avoid suspicion. KT Naveen Kumar, who was the first person arrested in the Gauri murder case, was allegedly involved in conducting background checks and was a part the logistics team. Sujeet Kumar, believed to be Kale’s go to man for recruiting people to carry out the murders, allegedly shortlisted names and recruited people to carry out the murder. Sujeet Kumar allegedly recruited Parashuram Waghmore, the alleged shooter in the case. Amit Degwekar, who was allegedly involved in the 2009 Margao blast case, is believed to be Amol Kale’s right-hand man and financier of operations. Manohar Edave was allegedly in-charge of carrying out reconnaissance of Gauri Lankesh’s house and workplace. He is believed to have created a timeline of her day-to-day movements. Rajesh Bangera, government employee and former PA to MLC Veena Achaiah, was allegedly the weapons expert, and trained Sujeet Kumar’s recruits in shooting. Rajesh Bangera allegedly trained these recruits at a farmhouse owned by another arrested accused Bharat Kurne. SIT sources say that Amol Kale had allegedly instructed Ganesh Miskin to shoot Gauri Lankesh in case Parashuram Waghmore failed to do so. After the shooting, Ganesh and Parashuram allegedly sped away and met with another accused in the case – Amit Baddi on Mysuru Road. They handed over the weapon, helmet and bike to Amit Baddi. They changed their clothes inside a Maruti Omni van, which Amit Baddi had brought and the duo made their way to Nelamangala. “They reached Nelamangala and another accused Bharat Khurne got them into a bus to Bijapur,” the SIT source said. Amit Baddi allegedly took the weapon, the bike, clothes and helmet to a safe house in Kumbalgodu owned by another arrested accused Suresh Kumar and handed them over to Sudhanva Gondhalkar. Sources say that Sudhanva allegedly kept the clothes, weapon and bike in the safehouse for over a week. Another arrested accused, Mohan Naik allegedly rented the house from Suresh. “If we get custody of Sudhanva and Sharad, we will be able to figure out the details of the murder weapon,” the source added. Sudhanva Gondhalkar and Sharad Khalaskar were among five people arrested by Maharashtra’s Anti-Terrorism Squad earlier in August in Nalasopara. The ATS had uncovered a huge cache of arms including IEDs, pistols and also equipment to build crude bombs. The SIT believes that the pistol used to kill Gauri may be one of the 16 guns seized by the ATS. “We have requested custody of the weapons in order to carry out forensic tests,” the source said. So far, the SIT has arrested five more people in connection with the murder and believe that Amol Kale is their mastermind and handler. The Kalburgi murder The Karnataka CID, which is probing the murder of Professor MM Kalburgi, has now compiled a list of eight men, one of whom they believe shot Professor Kalburgi. CID sources say that the SIT probing Gauri's murder decoded information found in Amol Kale's diary and handed over the aliases of eight men, whom they believe were involved in Kalburgi's murder. "Amol Kale, Amit Degwekar, Amit Baddi, Rajesh Bangera and Ganesh Miskin were involved in Kalburgi's murder but none of them were the shooters. We are looking for the shooter," CID sources had told TNM earlier.  

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Colleges’ dilemma: Fight outbreaks or send sick kids home

About 20 percent of colleges plan to open exclusively or primarily in person, according to a tracker from Davidson College in North Carolina.

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