Man stabs many pedestrians at Bengaluru street, one killed and 6 injured

Crime

A woman daily wage labourer was among those stabbed and she succumbed to her injuries.

TNM Staff

A 30-year-old labourer stabbed several people in Bengaluru on Sunday, killing one person and injuring six others, before being overpowered by police personnel. The man, identified as Ganesh, went to a butcher's shop at Cottonpet area to purchase meat, stole a knife from there, ran away and stabbed six people at random. He walked around the area in Anjanappa Garden, Bakshi Garden and Balekai Mandi where he stabbed morning walkers and other pedestrians. One of those injured, also a labourer, succumbed to injuries in a hospital. Another person was critically injured and is in the Intensive Care Unit, police said. On being alerted by the public, an inspector and a constable rushed to the area, cornered the man and seized the weapon from him. Ganesh has been booked under Sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code, police said, adding that the motive behind the attack was not known. The incident took place around 8:30 am on Sunday morning. Mari, a 30-year-old daily wage labourer, was killed in the incident, Bangalore Mirror reported. She succumbed at the KIMS Hospital where she was rushed to after the incident. Ganesh was arrested and the knife was recovered from him. He was charged with murder and attempt to murder by police officials. One of his family members has claimed that he was coping with mental health issues and was undergoing treatment at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS). The police are verifying the family member's claims, Deccan Herald reported.

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Army pressed in for rescue ops as 4 north Karnataka districts reel under floods

Floods

CM BS Yediyurappa will undertake an aerial survey of the damages on October 21.

PTI

File image/ Karnataka Fire Dept

The flood situation remained grim on Sunday in four districts of Karnataka with Krishna and Bhima rivers in spate as the Army, the national and state disaster response forces undertook rescue work, evacuating hundreds of marooned people, officials said. Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said many villages in Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, Yadgir and Raichur districts were either completely or partially submerged due to floods caused by heavy rains last week and he would undertake an aerial survey of the affected areas on October 21. According to the Karnataka Disaster Management Authority (KDMA), a total of 20,269 people, including 15,078 in badly- hit Kalaburgi, have been evacuated so far by the personnel of the Army, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) besides local police and district authorities. There was no loss to human lives anywhere in the flood affected areas whereas two cattle died in Vijayapura, KDMA Commissioner Manoj Rajan said. A total of 111 villages in the four districts have been affected by the floods, caused by heavy rains and water released by the dams in neighbouring Maharashtra. "Two NDRF, one SDRF and one Army column have been deployed in Kalaburagi while two Indian Air Force helicopters are on standby. Similarly, the NDRF and the Army personnel are deployed in other three districts. Situation is under control," Rajan told PTI. Yediyurappa said the floods have also resulted in damage to the crops. "In the given circumstances, it has become necessary to carry out an aerial survey to understand the actual situation. Against this background, I will be carrying out an aerial survey of Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Raichur and Vijayapura on October 21," he said in a release in Bengaluru. Officials said river Bhima continued to remain in spate in Kalaburagi, Vijayapura and Yadgir districts while the surging Krishna river affected villages in Raichur. Bhima, the major tributary of Krishna, has been in spate for the past one week due to the torrential rains in neighbouring Maharashtra and in parts of Karnataka. The river was flowing 4.45 metres above the danger level and 1.61 metres above its previous Highest Flood Level, the Central Water Commission in its latest update. According to the KDMA, as many as 55 villages across six taluks of Kalaburagi, thirteen villages in three taluks of Yadgir and 26 villages of Vijayapura were badly affected by the floods. The authority said it has also identified 157 villages in Kalaburagi, 45 villages in Yadgir and 26 villages in Vijayapura as vulnerable. Expressing solidarity with the flood-hit people, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured the state of every cooperation from the Centre. This is the third time the state has been hit by floods in the past three months following heavy monsoon rains.

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New political party unveils website with details of ward-level projects in Bengaluru

Civic

The Bengaluru NavaNirmana Party (BNP) said that citizens can use this website to be vigilant and make sure that the money allocated for the wards is spent on the right projects.

TNM Staff

Representational image

The Bengaluru NavaNirmana Party (BNP), a newly founded political party which has geared up to contest the upcoming city elections, has unveiled a unique portal having ward-wise details of all the projects approved and undertaken by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). Using this website, city residents can assess the progress and quality of work that is being taken up at the neighbourhood-level, promoting a sense of transparency.  The website (https://ift.tt/3o1pqxj) has the details of all the projects across wards and the provision for citizens to download the details of projects in their respective wards or sort the projects by year, by ward and other such categories. The party said that with this website, citizens can be vigilant and make sure that the money allocated for the wards is spent on the right projects with full transparency. Explaining the move, NA Srinivas Reddy, Governing Council Member of BNP and also a Ward Committee Member of Hagaduru Ward, said, “Citizens have been seeking transparency from the corporators and political parties for a long time. Despite a lot of citizen pressure and despite ward committees having been constituted, the Corporators and all existing political parties refuse to share any information about ward-level projects.” Stressing on the importance of the initiative, Lalithamba BV, Core Working Group Member of BNP, said, “Transparency is very much the starting point of good governance. The existing corporators and political parties have been deliberately not sharing information about projects with citizens at the ward level for obvious reasons. This has facilitated and fostered rampant corruption, mismanagement and misappropriation of funds.” This website launch comes after BNP earlier in September had highlighted the wide-scale use of a transparency exemption clause in executing civic works in the city. In what they called the ‘4(g) scam’, BNP pointed out that by blanket use of Section 4(g) of the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements (KTPP) Act, close to 50% of the city’s ward-level works were awarded to the Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Ltd (KRIDL), a government agency, without any tender process. While KRIDL is a government agency, it subcontracts the work to private players in an opaque manner and receives commissions ranging between 3% and 10% without providing any technical inputs, activists say.

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Despite high daily cases, key COVID-19 figures improve in Bengaluru

Coronavirus

Both the positivity rate and mortality rate showed improvement on October 16 vs September 16.

Soumya Chatterjee

Representational image

Even as the daily increase of COVID-19 cases in Bengaluru has continued to be among the highest in the country for the past month, the positivity rate and the mortality rate has decreased in the same period. While as on September 16, the positivity rate was 13.95%, the same as on October 16 is 12.77%. Similarly, the mortality rate which was at 1.39% on September 16, is at 1.15% as of October 16. Positivity rate is the number of patients testing positive for every 100 tests while the mortality rate is the number of deaths per 100 positive patients. Experts say that the rise in daily caseload can be explained as a result of more testing in Bengaluru and specifically RT-PCR testing. They say that accurate and early detection of cases is the only way to arrest the growth of the infection and prevent deaths. This is because rapid antigen tests have proved to be unreliable giving a high number of false negatives. While antigen tests are inexpensive and less time consuming, they have lesser reliability. They stress that instead of concentrating on caseload in isolation, the positivity rate and case fatality rate should be looked at as well. Over the last 10 days, Bengaluru has recorded 46,293 cases averaging 4,629 cases daily. This after the city conducted 4,62,527 tests in the same period, averaging 46,252 tests daily. Chennai at the same time has been doing only 13,000 tests daily while Mumbai has fallen below 10,000. Speaking on this, senior IAS officer and Karnataka War Room in-charge Munish Moudgil said, “The government of Karnataka is deliberately doing a high number of tests in Bengaluru, compared to every other Metro. Seventy to 80% tests are RT-PCR in Bengaluru and we plan to ramp up RT-PCR tests further.” Officials pointed out that at the same time the majority of Delhi’s tests are on antigen-based kits – 80% of Delhi’s state averaging around 50,000 daily tests are on antigen-based kits.

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Tourist places in Mysuru to remain open, as government overrules DC notification

Dasara

The 10-day long Dasara festivities commenced in Mysuru on Saturday.

TNM Staff

CMO Karnataka

The famous 10-day long Dasara festivities commenced in this palace city of Mysuru on Saturday with religious fervour, amid the shadow of COVID-19 pandemic. Incidentally, a notification on the closure of tourist places in Mysuru from October 17 to November 1 issued by Mysuru Deputy Commissioner was overruled by Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa. This withdrawal of notification was announced by Mysuru-district-in-charge Minister ST Somasekhar. Celebrated as 'Nada Habba' (state festival), the festivities began with Dr CN Manjunath, Director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research, Bengaluru and Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa showering flowers on the idol of goddess Chamundeshwari, the presiding deity of Mysuru royals, atop Chamundi Hill. Dr Manjunath, who is also the nodal officer for COVID-19 testing was chosen for Dasara inauguration, in recognition of the service of doctors and front line COVID-19 warriors. Six coronavirus warriors were also honoured at the inaugural to recognise their service in the fight against the pandemic. With COVID-19 pandemic casting a shadow, the government had decided to organise the 410th Dasara festivities in a "simple" way, by and large restricting it to keep up with the traditions. The 10-day event that every year showcases Karnataka's cultural heritage resplendent with folk art forms, and attracts large crowds and tourists, has been scaled down this time due to COVID-19. The Mysuru administration has restricted people at most of the events and has made arrangements for live telecasts. With Mysuru reporting a large number of cases, the focus is on strict enforcement of SOPs for controlling the spread of the virus and to mark safe Dasara. 'Jumbo Sawari' or the procession of well-decorated elephants carrying the idol of Goddess Chamundeshwari placed in a golden Howdah on Vijayadashmi or the 10th day of the festival, which marks the culmination of celebrations on October 26, has been restricted to the palace premises. At the palace too, the royal family has decided to hold the celebrations in a simple way with select gathering, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Navaratri celebrations at the palace include several rituals, most remarkably Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, the scion of Mysuru royal family, dressed in grand attire, conducting Khasagi durbar (private durbar) by ascending the golden throne, amid chanting vedic hymns. The royal palace and several parts of Mysuru city will be illuminated with thousands of bulbs glowing during the evenings, all through the festival. Dasara was celebrated by the rulers of the Vijayanagar empire and the tradition was inherited by the Wadiyars. Festivities were first started in Mysuru by the Wadiyar King, Raja Wadiyar I in the year 1610. However, with the abolition of the institution of the kings and the announcement of privy purses, the state government took over the mantle of celebrating Dasara.

Body 2: 

(With PTI Inputs)

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Bengaluru pub owner murder case: Police arrest four-member gang

Crime

The police had to open fire at Munna, the mastermind of this murder, and another accused when they were being taken to recover the murder weapons.

IANS

Representational image

The Bengaluru city police on Saturday arrested four members of a gang, which was allegedly involved in the murder of pub owner, Manish Shetty. The police said that the accused were hiding in a lodge in the city after committing the crime. The police had to open fire on two of the gang members, who allegedly tried to attack the police who had taken them to recover murder weapons — four machetes were hidden in a burial ground on Hosur Road on the outskirts of the city. According to the police, the arrested have been identified as Shashikiran alias Munna (45), resident of Somavarpet, Kodagu; Ganesha (39), resident of Mangaluru; Nitya (29), resident of Somavarpet, Kodagu; and Akshay (32), resident of Bantwal in Mangaluru. Speaking to reporters, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Division), MN Anucheth said that the police had to open fire at Munna, the mastermind of this murder, and Akshay, who had gone with the police to recover murder weapons. He added that personal rivalry between Munna and the deceased Shetty seems to be the motive behind this murder. "During the course of the investigation, the police team had taken Munna and Akshay to Barlane cemetery on Hosur Road to recover the machetes used for the offence. At around 6.30 pm, both the accused tried to assault the police team and our team opened fire on them in self-defence," he explained. In response to a question, Munna seems to have been nursing a grudge against Manish Shetty for his involvement in Karkala murder case. "First, the gang opened fire on Shetty, later, they hacked him to death using a machete," he said. It can be recalled that four bike-borne assailants shot Manish Shetty, aged about 45 years, in front of his bar located on Rest House Park Road (RHP Road, off Brigade Road) at around 9 pm on October 15. Immediately, he was shifted to Mallya hospital for treatment but the doctors there declared him dead.

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IMA ponzi scam: Two IPS officers named as accused in CBI’s supplementary chargesheet

Crime

Other than the two IPS officers, the CBI has also booked several other city police officials as accused in the case.

PTI

File image of protest against IMA

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a supplementary charge sheet in Rs 4,000-crore I-Monetary Advisory (IMA) scam case against 28 accused, including senior IPS officers Hemant Nimbalkar and Ajay Hilori, officials said on Saturday. In its supplementary charge sheet filed at a Bengaluru special court, the CBI has also named IMA managing director Mansoor Khan as an accused in the case and former assistant commissioner of Bengaluru North Sub Division, LC Nagaraj, among others, the official said. Besides, former deputy superintendent of police (CID) EB Sridhara, inspector and station house officer of the Commercial Street Police Station M Ramesh, and sub-inspector of the station P Gowrishankar have also been listed as accused. Sridhara was the inquiry officer and Nimbalkar was the supervisory officer as inspector general in the enquiry done by CID EOW into activities of IMA group entities, the sources said. The CBI has alleged in the supplementary charge sheet that Karnataka government revenue officials along with police officials of Bengaluru had closed the enquiries and verifications conducted by them into the complaints and information received by IMA. "It was further alleged that the accused did not take necessary action under the law, including the KPID Act 2004, and instead had given a clean chit and recommended closure of the complaints, stating that the said private company had not indulged in any illegal acts. It was also alleged that the illegal activities of the said company had continued unabated and several thousands of investors had lost crore of rupees," CBI spokesperson RK Gaur said. Nagaraj also inquired into the affairs of IMA and gave a clean chit without conducting a proper probe, the CBI said. The clean chit was given on the grounds that no unauthorised deposits were collected and investments of partners, limited liability, partnership are exempted under KPID Act, the agency has found, officials said. The agency probe shows that Hilori, directly supervising the work of Ramesh and Gowrishankar, had failed to register cases in spite of receiving written complaints from state government officials and social activists, they said.

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