Bengaluru cop suspended for tipping off suspects in drug case

Crime

The head constable allegedly tipped off the accused about potential arrests by the CCB.

TNM Staff

Representation photo

A police officer attached with the Sadashivanagar Police Station in Bengaluru has been suspended for allegedly tipping off persons accused in a drug case involving former Congress Minister Rudrappa Lamani’s son Darshan. The head constable of the Sadashivanagar Police Station, HC Prabhakar has been suspended for allegedly colluding with the accused and tipping them off as the Central Crime Branch sleuths were on the lookout for the accused, who were caught red-handed with hydroponically-grown marijuana two days ago.  The CCB caught one of the accused in the case -- Sujay outside the Bengaluru Foreign Post Office with 500 gm of hydroponically-grown marijuana on November 9. One gram of the substance is estimated to cost between Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 in the market. The CCB learned that Sujay and his associates, Hemanth, Prasid Shetty and Suneesh Hegde -- a real estate businessman and resident of Sadashivanagar -- had allegedly ordered the marijuana on the darknet by paying bitcoins.  While the CCB nabbed Sujay, Hemanth and Suneesh had escaped from the CCB’s net. Sources said that head constable Prabhakar allegedly tipped them off regarding the CCB’s plan to arrest them after they nabbed Sujay.  CCB sources said that Hemanth fled to Kodagu, his home town, due to fear of being arrested. While Suneesh and another accused Prasid Shetty had fled to Goa. Hemanth, who is a friend of Darshan Lamani, allegedly called him from Kodagu, seeking his help.  Darshan Lamani allegedly asked Hemanth to travel to Haveri, by promising him that he would be safe. Hemanth and Darshan lamani allegedly stayed at a lodge in Haveri town, before the duo travelled to Goa. They met up with Suneesh and Prasid in Goa, the CCB source said.  “The accused kept moving from one hotel to another. They had even changed mobile phones. With the help of the Goa police, we were able to track them down and arrest them,” the CCB source said.  Investigators claim that parties were held in Suneesh Hegde’s residence in Sadashivnagar where drugs were procured and consumed. “The drugs were procured from the darknet and delivered to the foreign post office. We have been tracking foreign shipments from certain countries regularly and we received information that three people would arrive to pick up the consignment on November 9. But only one person showed up. After probing internally, we learned that a police constable may have been involved. He has been suspended pending inquiry,” the CCB source added. 

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'I will get back to acting': Meghana Raj speaks on life after Chiranjeevi's death

Sandalwood

Meghana Raj held an extensive interaction with the media on Thursday, for the first time since her husband’s death in June this year.

TNM Staff

Twitter

Sandalwood actor Meghana Raj, wife of late star Chiranjeevi Sarja, for the first time since her husband’s death, gave a heartfelt statement about her struggle and the joy she has found since her baby’s birth on October 23. Meghana has refrained from speaking to the media since her husband’s death on June 7 this year. This is the first time since his funeral that she has had a long interaction with the media and has opened up about her struggle for resilience.  On Thursday, a ceremony was held at Meghana’s paternal residence. A cradle commissioned by artisans from Kalaghatgi, renowned for their workmanship, was gifted to Meghana’s baby boy by a distant relative, Vanitha. A puja was performed and the baby was placed in the cradle for the first time.  Speaking to the media at length after the ceremony, Meghana Raj said that the family astrologer has suggested an auspicious letter for the baby's name. “We are looking for names from that letter. Several suggestions have come in and we will announce the dates for the naming ceremony soon,” she said.  Meghana said that after her husband Chiranjeevi’s death, she had many moments of weakness and learned several “lessons” the hard way. She spoke of immense pain, and hope for a happy future after her baby’s birth.  The cradle “I don’t know if I am strong. Once Chiru died, I felt like the very foundation I was living on collapsed suddenly. I am someone who used to plan everything to the 'T'. Chiru was just the opposite. He lived for the present and always told me to enjoy the moment. After his death, I learned that it is very important to enjoy the happiness in the present. One never knows what tomorrow will be like,” Meghana said, as she broke down.  Asked about her baby, Meghana said that he looks very much like Chiranjeevi Sarja, and recounted a time when she bantered with her late husband about the baby they would have. “He always said we would have a boy and I was sure it would be a girl. I think he may have been intuitive. He was right,” she said, adding that Chiranjeevi had once told her about how he would want to show off his child like Simba in Lion King.  “I cried a lot when I watched Lion King. Chiru had identified one balcony in the hospital we visited regularly for check up. He would tell me often that he would hold up our child and show it to the world on the day our baby was born. But I have learned that all plans can never come true,” she added.  Watch: Meghana Raj's baby's cradle made by artisans from Kalaghatagi When asked whether she has grown stronger since her husband’s death, Meghana said that she has had many moments of “weakness”. “Only my mother has seen me that way. When everyone told me I was strong, I know I had moments when I thought about whether it is worth living. I know moving on is not an option. I want to move ahead, carrying all my husband’s memories. At least for my son,” she added.   She said that her parents, and two close friends Nazriya and Ananya, stood by her and helped her through tough times. “I have my baby now. I want to fulfill all of Chiru’s dreams for my baby. My husband was so well known because he was a wonderful human being. I want my baby to be just that,” she said.  Meghana also maintained that she would not quit acting and would continue working once she is able to. “Acting is my passion. It is in my blood. My husband would have never wanted me to quit something I love doing. I will continue to act in films as long as I am able to. In a while, I will surely get back to it,” she said. 

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Special KSRTC buses to run between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu till Nov 16

Transport

This marks the first time that buses will run between the two states since the lockdown began.

TNM Staff

IMAGE: KSRTC BUS BY RSRIKANTH05 VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMON

The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) on Thursday said it will run special bus services between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for Deepavali. These include Bengaluru-Chennai bus services, and will run till November 16. This run marks the first time that KSRTC will run buses between the two states since March, when inter-state travel was not allowed in order to curb the spread of COVID-19. Wearing of masks will be mandatory for all travellers. The services may be extended if there is continued demand. “Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation had stopped operation of inter-state bus services due to COVID-19 and lockdown. As lockdown has been relaxed, KSRTC will operate special services from different places of Karnataka state to various places of Tamil Nadu State from11.11.2020 to 16.11.2020. The services will be operated keeping in view the density of passengers. It is mandatory for all passengers to wear masks. Passengers can book tickets in advance online at www.ksrtc.in or through KSRTC/Franchisee advance reservation counters. The passengers are requested to avail the above facilities,” KSRTC said in a statement. Till now, the KSRTC has gradually resumed interstate travel between Karnataka and all the neighbouring states, barring Tamil Nadu, with the union government relaxing interstate travel rules. At the start of the month, the state government-run corporation had resumed bus operations from Bengaluru and Mysuru to Hyderabad, starting from November 3. Interstate travel to Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Maharashtra and Kerala has already resumed.  The first batch of interstate bus services to function since the lockdown was to Kerala. Buses plied to the state from Bengaluru, Mysuru, Kodagu and Sulia from August 25 to September 6 on account of the Onam holiday season. While most routes have reopened since the lockdown period, the transport corporation is yet to get back to its full scale of operation, compared to the pre-COVID-19 days.

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ED vets 5 companies where Bineesh Kodiyeri was Director, probe funding

Money laundering case

Investigating officials suspect that the accused funnelled money from selling drugs into these companies.

TNM Staff

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths in Bengaluru confirmed that they were vetting five companies where Bineesh Kodiyeri, accused in a money laundering case, was Director. Speaking to TNM, ED sleuths said that they suspected that Bineesh and drug peddler, Mohammad Anoop were allegedly funnelling money from the drug trade into these five companies. Bineesh Kodiyeri was arrested on October 29 by the ED officials in Bengaluru. He is the son of Kerala CPI(M) State Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. Speaking to TNM, ED sleuths from Karnataka said that the companies were spread across Bengaluru and Kochi. “We have identified two event management companies - one in  Bengaluru and the other in Kochi. Bineesh is named Director in both these firms. Then there is a finance company based in Bengaluru where Bineesh is named Director. Two other companies we are checking have listed Bineesh and Mohammad Anoop as Directors,” an ED official told TNM. There is another company, allegedly operated by Bineesh, which is based in Chennai. The Enforcement Directorate officers said that they would be vetting the mails sent and received to the email addresses of the company, as well as the financial transactions of all these firms, to see if there is any link to the drug trade. On November 2, a special court in Bengaluru extended the custody of Bineesh Kodiyeri in a money laundering case to the ED for five more days. Bineesh was arrested in connection with a money laundering case related to a drug bust in Bengaluru. The ED probe stems from a Narcotics Control Bureau investigation that claimed to have busted an ecstasy pill drug trafficking racket in Karnataka in August along with the arrest of Anoop and two others. Bineesh has maintained that he knew Anoop and his family and that the latter had borrowed money from him and some others for setting up a restaurant business in Bengaluru a few years ago.

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Cong leader accused of killing K'taka BJP man went to Delhi to create alibi, says CBI

Crime

The agency has also alleged that the altercation triggered the conspiracy to murder Gowda.

PTI

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Former Karnataka minister Vinay Kulkarni had travelled to Delhi before and after the killing of BJP worker Yogesh Gowda in Dharwad on June 15, 2016, to use it as an alibi, the CBI has alleged. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had arrested Kulkarni, a Congress leader, on Thursday. The CBI probe into the killing, so far, shows that Kulkarni, who was sent to judicial custody on Monday by a special court, had left for Delhi on June 12, 2016, at 11.30 am by a flight and returned the next day at 10.40 am. Similarly, he allegedly left for Delhi on June 16, 2016, evening, a day after the murder, and returned on June 18, 2016, according to the probe by the CBI, which took over the investigation into the case on the recommendation of the Karnataka government. "The tickets were booked on the same day of the journey and the purpose of the journey was to create an alibi," the CBI has alleged. Gowda, a BJP Zilla Panchayat member, was killed in his gym in Dharwad by unidentified men on June 15, 2016, officials said. Gowda's murder was a result of political rivalry as Kulkarni, the then MLA and minister, had allegedly asked him not contest the Zilla Panchayat elections, which the former had refused, according to the agency's probe. Kulkarni and Gowda had entered into verbal altercations on several occasions, and a "serious altercation" took place during a Zilla Panchayat meeting chaired by Kulkarni on April 22, 2016, the CBI has alleged. The agency has also alleged that the altercation triggered the conspiracy to murder Gowda. The Congress has denied the allegations against Kulkarni and has called the case a political witch hunt. "Congress leader Vinay Kulkarni's arrest by the 'puppet CBI' reflects the blatant conspiracy & malicious intent of CM, Yediyurappa & BJP leadership," Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted. B S Yediyurappa should know that Congress leaders will not be cowed down by such cowardly attacks of the BJP and its pawn, the CBI, he said. Surjewala accused the Centre of "misusing " central agencies to "hound" Congress leaders. He had also tweeted that a "fledgling" Yediyurappa government and the BJP "misuse its frontal organisations, the CBI-ED-Income Tax to hound Congress leaders- Sh. D.K.Shivakumar, Sh. G.Parameshwara, Sh. Vinay Kulkarni & many others". The CBI has alleged that as part of the conspiracy, Kulkarni had intervened and assisted to broker a real-estate agreement between Basavaraj Muttagi, an accused in the case and Nagendra Todkar on May 24, 2016, less than a month before the killing. The local police had shown the deal to be a purported property dispute between Muttagi and Gowda, and termed it as motive for murder in its charge sheet. During the CBI probe, the owner of the property allegedly denied having any dispute with Gowda and also deposed before the trial court. The agency has alleged that the killers, who had come from Bengaluru, were made to stay at a resort owned by a close confidante of Kulkarni on June 7, 2016, during first attempt to murder, the officials said. The CBI has also alleged that Kulkarni had booked a room at a Bengaluru hotel between June 8 to June 20 and also met Muttagi a day after the murder at 01.30 am on June 16, 2016.

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Pre-wedding photoshoot mishap: Mysuru cops say woman’s high-heel sandals led to tragedy

Accident

According to the police, since the motorboat of the resort was not available, the couple asked for a coracle to take them in the water for the photoshoot.

IANS

Two days after the Mysuru couple drowned after their coracle capsized during a pre-wedding photoshoot, the police said the woman’s high-heeled sandals led to the tragedy. Chandru (28) and Shashikala (20), residents of Kyathamaranahalli in the city and distant relatives, had gone to Mudukuthore in Mysuru for a pre-wedding photoshoot earlier this week. They got engaged on November 22 last year and their marriage was due to be held on November 22 this year. The engaged couple reached Jaladhama Resort at Mudukuthore for the photoshoot.  According to the police, since the motorboat of the resort was not available they summoned Moogappa, who owns a coracle, and asked him to take them in the water. The coracle was taken about 20 meters away from the river bank with the engaged couple in it. The photographer and Shashikala's brother, Abhi, were standing on the bank and asking the couple to pose like actors in the Hollywood movie, Titanic, the police said.  At the time, Shashikala, who was wearing the high-heeled sandals, lost balance and leaned towards one side. In the process, the coracle turned turtle and all the three fell into the river. While Moogappa, the coracle operator swam to safety, Chandru and Shashikala drowned and were swept away due to the swift current. The photographer went to Talakad Police Station and informed them about the incident. Immediately, the police along with the expert divers went to the spot and retrieved the bodies. Before coming to Mudukuthore, the engaged couple tried for the photoshoot in Talakadu, but they were sent back by the Forest Department personnel. Their request for shooting near the Talakad Temples was reportedly turned down, the police said. A large number of people visit Mudukuthore spot, especially during the weekend. Many of them take darshan of Mudukuthore Mallikarjunaswamy and then go for boating. Commonly found on the river Cauveri, these coracles are primitive, light, bowl-shaped or saucer-shaped boats with a frame of woven grasses, reeds, or saplings covered with sheets of plastic. "These are the most unstable modes of water transport systems that have been available since prehistoric times and are a major tourist attraction here,” said Superintendent of police CB Rishyant.  Speaking to reporters in Mysuru, the official said that he was mulling over writing a letter to the irrigation department to make it "wearing life jackets" mandatory in all tourist spots wherever tourists go for coracle rides. “We need to relook into allowing such rides in tourist places. Even a slight imbalance can lead to a disastrous accident like this. We need to make life jackets compulsory in these coracles, hence, I am writing such a letter to the Irrigation Department," he asserted. According to the police, places in and around Mysuru have become a hotspot for photographers to do pre-wedding photoshoots of engaged couples at various water spots including backwaters of KRS dam, Srirangapatna, Chunchangiri Falls, Cauvery River near Arkanateshwara Temple in KR Nagar, Tiramakudalu in T Narasipur, Mudukuthore and Talakad. At most of these places, coracles are operated illegally.

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Bengaluru godown fire: Police arrest owners of chemical unit

Crime

A major fire had broken out at a godown housing chemicals on Wednesday causing loss of property valued at over Rs 3 crore.

IANS

The Bengaluru police have arrested the three owners of a chemical unit of Rekha Chemicals and Rekha Chemical corporation on Wednesday where a major fire had broken out causing huge loss of property valued at more than Rs 3 crore. The chemical unit was located in Bapujinagar near Hosaguddadahalli in West Bengaluru and the fire department took more than six hours to douse the fire on Tuesday. While 15 fire engines were sent to the spot at around 11:45 am, the fire was not completely extinguished even by 6 pm. Officers at the South Fire Station’s control room said that they had to ensure that the fire did not spread into households located in the vicinity. Police arrested the owners Sajjan Raj, 66, Kamala, 60, and Anil Kumar, 30, for conducting their business from a thickly populated residential locality and without obtaining any requisite permissions from Karnataka Pollution Control Board, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) or Fire and Emergency Service departments. Deputy Commissioner of the Police West division, Sanjeev M Patil said that Sajjan Raj had been into the Chemical supplies business for nearly three decades in the name of Rekha Chemicals, and his wife Kamala is the owner of Rekha Chemicals Corporations. "Whereas their son, Kumar has been running this business for quite some time," he explained. The DCP added that nearly 64,000 litres of 16 highly inflammable types of chemicals were stored in more than 320 barrels. Police said that the fire broke out when one of their employees was transferring chemicals from one barrel to the other. "As these chemicals are highly inflammable, transferring the chemicals produced static charge due to a hot, sunny day and a fire of this magnitude broke out," the police said. Preliminary investigations by the police further revealed that the fire broke out and went out of control as an adjoining godown had stored large quantities of plastic material.

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