#CBIFindAjitabh: Family of missing Bengaluru techie demand answers from agency

Ajitabh missing case

Ajitabh has been missing since December 2017.

Soumya Chatterjee

Ajitabh Facebook Account

Nearly three years since the disappearance of Bengaluru-based techie Ajitabh Kumar after he took his Maruti Ciaz car to a buyer he met on the online site OLX, his friends and families organised a Twitter storm #CBIFindAjitabh on Sunday. It's been 994 days, 23856 hours, 1431360 minutes since Ajitabh Kumar went missing on 18 Dec 2017. How is this possible? What is the CBI doing? Is fast track investigation only for VIP's and celebrities?#CBIFindAjitabh #justiceforajitabh @CBIFindAjitabh @WFRising pic.twitter.com/5UKQmcRgEF — lilcheepcheep (@lilcheepcheep) September 6, 2020 #CBIFindAjitabh Don't make any case become a mystery by not investigating on timely basis. @narendramodi @NitishKumar @AmitShah @ndtv @ZeeNews @NEWS9TWEETS pic.twitter.com/PUHeQwf1cl — Mimic Zadoo (@MimicZadoo) September 6, 2020 Find Ajitabh #CBIFindAjitabh @republic @Republic_Bharat @ANI @Swamy39 https://t.co/qscAobBGXf — Himanshu (@chhimanshu23) September 6, 2020 #CBIFindAjitabh - How come all investigation agencies of India are clueless, Karnataka Police, CID Karnataka and CBI too? Or they are trying to protect someone by deliberately ignoring the case. @narendramodi @NitishKumar @AmitShah pic.twitter.com/u9GvRA3u0l — Lal Anish (@lal_anish16) September 6, 2020 #CBIFindAjitabh No breakthrough...No update...No justice... Non-celebrity suffering... !!!@republic @ZeeNews @ZeeBiharNews @ndtv @PMOIndia @AmitShah @AmitShahOffice @NitishKumar @aajtak @BSYBJP @rajeev_mp https://t.co/FqfJQwn31U — gauravanki (@gauravanki) September 6, 2020 Ajitabh had gone missing on December 19, 2017 after leaving his Whitefield residence to meet the prospective buyer. Close to a year after he went missing, the case was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in November 2018. His family was disappointed with the city police and Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which made no headway into the case. The case was transferred to the CBI after the family had approached the Karnataka High Court. Rohit Srivastava from the CBI handling the case currently (third officer to probe the case) refused to share any development if any regarding the investigations. Speaking with TNM, Ajitabh’s sister Pragya said the family is now thoroughly disappointed with the progress in the CBI probe too. She pointed to the frequent transfers of officers, adding that the failure to make any headway in the case had only added to the family’s ordeals.  “Within the first six months of the CBI investigation, the officers were changed and everytime the new officer comes in they have to go through the case details from scratch. Not only does the officer have to go through the probe by the CBI but also go through the files of the city police and the CID. So they will say ‘we need time to understand and make progress in the case,” Pragya told TNM. She added, “We had sought a CBI probe as we were told that unlike other agencies, the CBI has a better record of filing chargesheets within six months. So we were really pinning our hopes on CBI, but we remain disappointed as time started passing by and there seems to be no progress. Now again there was a transfer and that officer also met with the family and we had to brief him all over again.” Pragya added that the family is of the opinion that there is a criminal hand involved in the disappearance. She questioned the probe agencies’ inaction over the initial clues and proactiveness. “Even though the CBI said they will probe all angles, there is absolutely zero progress,” she said. 

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Bengaluru man accused of stealing 20 bikes worth Rs 10 lakh arrested

Crime

The Bengaluru police said victims of vehicle theft will get endorsement for insurance claims within 60 days from the date of complaint.

TNM Staff

Police in Bengaluru arrested a man accused of stealing 20 bikes and two-wheelers worth Rs 10 lakh on Saturday. Following his arrest, police have also recovered the stolen bikes. The accused has been identified as one 29-year-old Jagadish alias John who is a resident of Nandini Layout.  Police were trying to trace him in the recent days and finally he was picked up by police. He was arrested from Annapoorneshwari Nagar police station limits in west Bengaluru near the Bangalore University campus. City Police Commissioner Kamal Pant took note of the arrest by retweeting Dr Sanjeev M Patil, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West). This is the third such arrest recently. On Saturday, policemen from Kalasipalya Police Station arrested another man who allegedly stole vehicles after posing as a buyer on online platforms. Automobiles worth Rs 22 lakh worth were recovered from the accused, which included one SUV ( sport utility vehicle) car, three motorcycles. Earlier in May, police in the city had arrested one suspect Shashi Kumar alias Gunda (30), of Gauribidanur from neighbouring Chikkaballapura district, who stole only one particular bike model-Hero Splendor. Eighteen bikes of the same make were recovered from him. He would sell these bikes for as low as Rs 3,000 to people in rural areas surrounding Bengaluru. Incidentally, police had earlier this week announced that it will make the process of endorsing stolen vehicles incidents for the purpose of insurance claim easier. Police Commissioner Kamal Pant said the police from now will endorse a stolen vehicle complaint if the vehicle is not traced within 60 days of registering complaint. Victims can approach the jurisdictional DCPs and senior officers if such an acknowledgement is not given by police within 75 days from the date of complaint registration regarding the stolen vehicle. 

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FIR against Kavitha Reddy for assaulting actor Samyuktha Hegde and her friends

Crime

The FIR was registered at the HSR Layout Police Station.

Theja Ram

Kirik Party actor Samyuktha Hegde was verbally abused and heckled at a park in Bengaluru on Friday by a group of people including All India Congress Committee member and civic activist Kavitha Reddy. Following the incident, Samyuktha Hegde and two of her friends went to the HSR Layout Police Station to file a complaint against Kavitha Reddy and the men who heckled them at the park adjacent to Agara Lake.  Speaking to TNM, HSR Layout Police Inspector Muni Reddy said that Samyuktha Hegde submitted a written complaint on Saturday morning, after which an FIR was registered against Kavitha Reddy and others.  “We have registered a case of assault and intimidation against Kavitha Reddy and other accused. Samyuktha submitted videos. She has accused Kavitha Reddy of assaulting her, which can be seen in the video,” Inspector Muni Reddy said.  On Friday morning, Samyuktha and two of her friends had gone to the park to exercise with hula hoops. She was wearing joggers and a sports bra while working out. Allegedly taking objection to the workout clothes that Samyuktha was wearing, Kavita Reddy and others asked them to leave the park. 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 In an Instagram live, Kavitha Reddy can be heard saying that Samyuktha was “dancing naked” and is heard telling the police personnel that she wanted to file a case accusing Samyuktha of “public indecency”.  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, TNM had earlier reported. While Samyuktha questions the crowd that had gathered at the park and points out that she did not do anything wrong, a man wearing a red shirt threatens to “tell the media” that Samyuktha is “consuming drugs”.  “If you wear such clothes, we will have to hit you,” Kavitha Reddy can be heard saying in the video. Although Kavitha Reddy has issued a statement saying that she only objected to Samyuktha playing loud music in the park, which is against the rules, the videos, however, suggest otherwise.  “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,” Kavitha Reddy said in a statement she released after the incident.  However, she allegedly called Samyuktha and her friends “cabaret dancers” who were “stripping in public,” which was caught on camera.   

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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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(With IANS. PTI inputs)

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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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