Report Wire

Tag: Bengaluru news

  • Karnataka: MP Tejasvi Surya finds communal twist, CM Yediyurappa calls probe

    KARNATAKA CHIEF Minister B S Yediyurappa Wednesday ordered the police’s crime department to analyze allegations raised by BJP MP Tejasvi Surya and two occasion MLAs, together with Surya’s uncle, of a rip-off within the Bengaluru municipal company’s mattress allotment system for Covid sufferers – the MP and MLAs additionally questioned the presence of 17 Muslim employees amongst 205 within the system.
    While Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Sandeep Patil mentioned two police complaints have been filed and 4 individuals, together with a lady, arrested to this point, Surya’s allegations left the BJP authorities red-faced after senior Congress leaders congratulated the MP and attacked the administration.
    The allegations, which have been raised Tuesday, additionally led to a joint commissioner within the BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike), Sarfaraz Nawaz, discovering himself on the centre of a social media backlash. Taking to Facebook, Nawaz mentioned he was not concerned with the allocation and was dealing with Covid Care Centres and strong waste administration.
    “I am completely pained because a communal angle is given to this issue by blaming me who has no knowledge and concern with that department,” the BBMP official mentioned. On Wednesday, Surya clarified that he didn’t take Nawaz’s identify and apologised to the official.
    Police have recognized two of these arrested as Netravathi and Rohit Kumar. They mentioned the arrests have been primarily based on a tip-off that the 2 have been performing as brokers for reserving beds in Bengaluru.
    On Tuesday, Surya, who’s being groomed by a piece within the BJP for a bigger political function, claimed to have unravelled a rip-off that has led to a scarcity of beds.
    “There is a nexus of certain BBMP officers, Arogya Mitras (hospital liaison officers) and certain outside agents who have created a bribe for bed scam. Beds are blocked in the names of asymptomatic patients without the knowledge of the patients who are at home. Thereafter the agents speak to the people in the war room (for bed allocation) and get the blocked bed allotted to people who are willing to pay,” the MP mentioned.

    “More than 4,065 cases have come to light following our analysis where booked beds have got unblocked. A bed is blocked for 12 hours and afterwards it is sold — if unsold the bed is unblocked,” Surya mentioned.
    Later, considered one of a number of movies launched by the MP’s crew confirmed Surya, his uncle Ravi Subramanya and Sathish Reddy — each are MLAs in south Bengaluru — questioning employees within the BBMP’s south zone struggle room on the presence of 17 Muslims amongst employees on the facility.
    “Who are these people, who recruited them, how were they recruited?” the video reveals Surya asking. “Have you recruited people for a madrasa or for the city corporation?” it reveals Subramanya asking. “Is it a Haj Bhavan list?” Reddy is seen asking.
    State Congress chief D Okay Shivakumar congratulated Surya, Reddy and Subramanya “for exposing corruption in bed allocation by their party’s government and corporation”. “They should immediately name the BJP minister responsible for making people suffer so much,” he mentioned.

    Senior occasion chief and ex-CM Siddaramaiah mentioned it’s “really unfortunate and insensitive on the part of” Surya “to communalise the issue”.
    Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai promised motion and mentioned the federal government will begin a day by day bulletin on mattress positions within the state’s hospitals for Covid remedy.

  • Karnataka HC: Ex-judge’s bribe for Governor submit unlucky

    A former Karnataka High Court decide’s alleged try and safe a Governor’s submit by bribing a politically-connected astrologer has lowered the status of judges and the picture of the Governor’s submit, the Karnataka High Court has stated.
    The commentary was made by the single-judge bench of Justice K Natarajan whereas denying bail pleas filed by the previous excessive court docket decide B S Indrakala and astrologer Yuvaraj Swami, 52, who has been accused in a number of circumstances for dishonest politicians and businessmen.
    Swami, arrested in December final yr, allegedly cheated these individuals of crores of rupees by promising them excessive positions in authorities.
    The retired decide filed a police criticism of being cheated by the astrologer after his arrest in December 2020. She claimed she had paid the astrologer Rs 8.5 crore.

  • Lack of ICU beds in Bengaluru alarming, says Karnataka High Court

    THE LACK of availability of a enough variety of beds for critically sick Covid sufferers in Bengaluru is an “alarming situation”, the Karnataka High Court stated Tuesday whereas listening to a plea on Covid-linked points within the state.
    A division bench headed by Chief Justice Abhay Sreenivas Oka and Justice Aravind Kumar famous that there had solely been a “marginal increase” in availability of beds within the metropolis and that they have been inadequate for the variety of instances.
    The courtroom stated the shortage of medical services — beds, oxygen provide and key medication like Remdesivir — are linked to the fitting to life enshrined below Article 21 of the Constitution.
    The High Court’s remarks got here after it was knowledgeable by officers that solely 74 HDU beds, 24 ICU beds and 14 ICU ventilator beds have been obtainable within the metropolis Tuesday morning. The division bench directed officers to accommodate sufferers in hospitals belonging to the defence forces, resembling Command Hospital, in Bengaluru.
    Earlier, on April 23, the bench had known as the Covid state of affairs in Bengaluru “shocking” and “scary”.

    The metropolis is going through a extreme crunch in beds for Covid sufferers requiring intensive care and ventilator assist. “The situation is so bad that even senior government officials cannot get an ICU or an ICU ventilator bed in the city,” a senior official stated.
    The variety of instances in Bengaluru has soared from a mean of 4,000 within the first week of April to over 15,000 previously week. This month has additionally witnessed 326 extra Covid deaths than the earlier peak of September 2020 when 971 deaths have been reported.

  • 2 held in Rajasthan, cops say a part of ‘sextortion’

    2 held in Rajasthan, cops say a part of ‘sextortion’

  • 26-year-old’s suicide in Bengaluru factors to on-line ‘sextortion’ racket

    THE SUICIDE in Bengaluru final month of a 26-year-old MBA has put the highlight on the rising menace of what’s being described in police circles as “sextortion” by organised gangs utilizing social media accounts.
    Several days after Avinash BS hanged himself at his house on March 23, an internet gang contacted his elder sister on Facebook — with out realising that their sufferer was lifeless — and demanded extra money to make sure that a video just isn’t posted on-line or shared with family and friends.
    According to police sources, this was when the household realised that the possible reason for Avinash’s demise was steady efforts by the gang to blackmail him with alleged movies of his on-line sexual conduct.
    The sufferer’s sister additionally learnt from Avinash’s pals that he had borrowed practically Rs 35,000 to repay the gang that had began blackmailing him after a girl who recognized herself as “Neha Sharma” established contact on social media and allegedly lured him into performing sexual acts on digital camera that had been recorded.
    On April 3, the sister filed a criticism with the Ok R Puram police station within the Whitefield division of Bengaluru on April 3, accusing 5 individuals of extortion and abetment in her brother’s suicide.
    Experts from the CID cyber crime cell in Bengaluru say that is amongst a sequence of latest circumstances across the nation involving organised gangs which might be focusing on folks by social media.
    In March, the cell busted a gang that focused a 54-year-old businessman from the Nelamangala area of rural Bengaluru. The businessman made a number of funds however turned to the police when the gang turned relentless of their demand for extra to stop an alleged video from being circulated amongst his pals listed on social media.
    “There is a full-fledged racket to carry out these extortions. Many of the gangs involved in online fraud seem to have switched over to this activity. Very few come forward to file complaints on account of fear of the stigma from the recordings going public — even if they are fake,” a cyber crime official mentioned.
    “Citizens are requested to exercise utmost caution while dealing with any stranger on social media and should make it a practice of using the privacy controls in mobile devices as well as in applications,” Karnataka CID ADGP Umesh Kumar mentioned.
    In the businessman’s case, filed with the CID in February, the sufferer alleged that an unknown individual, claiming to have obscene images and movies of him, was threatening to submit them on Facebook, WhatsApp and different social media.
    He mentioned in his criticism that the extortionists obtained his photos and movies with out consent, “morphed and edited them in an obscene manner” and threatened to share them together with his pals after sharing a replica with him.
    The CID probe led police in March to Rajasthan’s Bharatpur the place 4 individuals had been allegedly working a full-fledged on-line extortion racket utilizing faux on-line and offline identities. The CID subsequently arrested them — Sahun, Shahrukh Khan, Nasir and Shahid Anwar — from the Pahari police station limits.
    The gang was concerned in related extortions of many different victims, CID officers mentioned. “There is a rapid increase in the number of instances where attractive social media profiles are created by criminals with malicious intent. The scamsters use these fake profiles to entice and induce male victims to share their private pictures or videos which are later used for extorting money by threatening to reveal them,” mentioned M D Sharath, SP, CID cyber crime division.
    “Fake profiles with attractive photographs on dating apps, social media sites, matrimonial websites or apps are generally used by the criminals to get in touch with victims. Initially, the conversations will be normal for a few days and once confidence is established, the victim will be induced to share their intimate pictures and videos,” CID officers mentioned.
    “On getting access to these private pictures and videos, fraudsters will start extorting the victim for money. The fraudsters will threaten to upload them on the internet or share those with the victim’s relatives, family and friends,” SP Sharath mentioned.
    In Avinash’s case, the sister advised police that her brother made a number of funds totalling Rs 35,000 to the e-wallet of a person recognized as Tejas R on March 22 — a day earlier than his demise.

    She has mentioned that two days after her brother’s demise, an individual claiming to be “Neha Sharma” pinged her on Facebook asking if she was associated to Avinash and whether or not she may present his whereabouts.
    The sister, who obtained suspicious since all her brother’s pals had been conscious of his demise, performed alongside and offered the cellphone variety of a cousin. Soon, a message was acquired on the cousin’s cellphone — from an unknown quantity — threatening to ship a video to Avinash’s pals if a ultimate fee of Rs 21,000 just isn’t made, the sister’s criticism states.

    The sister was given the cellular numbers of 4 “managers” to whom cash might be wired, it states. One of the messages from the extortionists learn: “First send money next video delete.”

  • Siddaramaiah urges Governor to sack CM Yediyurappa, suggest President’s rule

    Terming the allegations made by senior Minister Okay S Eshwarappa in opposition to Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa as “serious” and proof forcollapse of administration within the state, Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah on Thursday urged the Governor to intervene and suggest President’s rule.
    The senior Congress chief additionally demanded that the Chief Minister be sacked.
    Eshwarappa, who’s Rural Development Minister in Yediyurappa’s cabinet, on Wednesday had complained to the Governor in opposition to the Chief Minister alleging direct interference within the affairs of his division.
    He had met Governor Vajubhai Vala and submitted a five-page letter on “serious lapses and authoritarian way of running the administration” by the Chief Minister.
    “Eshwarappa has provided evidence for the allegations of corruption, nepotism and illegalities against the BJP that I have been making as the leader of opposition. He should not bow down to any pressure and stick to his statement,” Siddaramaiah stated in a press release.
    Stating that Eshwarappa for the primary time in his political profession has executed a great job, he stated, “I congratulate him for considering the interest of the state as important over his personal interest.”

    Corruption, nepotism and illegalities weren’t restricted to solely Rural Development Department, he stated, it was there in each division of this authorities.
    “The BJP leadership should not attempt to shut Eshwarappa’s mouth and provide opportunity to other Ministers to share their opinion freely.”
    Eshwarappa, in his letter, has listed out situations just like the Chief Minister sanctioning large funds on the request of MLAs to the tune of Rs 774 crore beneath RDPR Department ignoring him, works value Rs 460 crore sanctioned by bypassing him.
    He has additionally alleged Rs 65 crore was straight sanctioned on the idea of a letter by the Bengaluru Urban zilla panchayat president, who in response to him is a “close relative” of Yediyurappa’s household, whereas stating that annual allocation for the Bengaluru Urban zilla panchayat is simply Rs 1.17 crore.
    Noting that Ehwarappa has not solely complained in opposition to the Chief Minister to the Governor, but additionally to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP National President, Siddaramaiah demanded that they need to react to the allegations instantly and uphold inside democracy.
    “Eshwarappa through his research has made it public that it is the corruption virus which has infected this government and not coronavirus that is responsible for the state treasury getting empty,” he stated.

    Pointing out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi throughout the 2018 meeting polls marketing campaign had alleged his administration as “10 per cent commission government”, the previous Chief Minister requested him to provide a corruption score to the state authorities after inspecting its “horoscope” despatched tohim by his personal social gathering minister.
    “Prime Minister Narendra Modi, change your world famous slogan ‘Na Khaunga, Na Khane Doonga’ (neither will I indulge in corruption, nor allow anyone else to indulge in it), to ‘Main bhi Khaunga, Tum bhi Kaho’ (I will also indulge in corruption, you too indulge),” he chided.
    Referring to Karnataka High Court vacating the keep on investigation in opposition to Yediyurappa and others for allegedly providing bribe to JD(S) MLA Naganagouda Kandkur’s son Sharanagouda in 2019, Siddarmaiaah stated, “this proves our allegation that the BJP government in the state is an illicitchild from an immoral act called ‘Operation Kamala.”
    He demanded for an detailed investigation into the crores of rupees that had been allegedly used for ‘Operation Kamala’ which was the principle motive for the BJP authorities’s existence.

  • SIT to probe Jarkiholi ‘defamation’

    The Karnataka authorities on Wednesday determined to represent a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe allegations made by former state minister Ramesh Jarkiholi that the intercourse CD scandal episode was a conspiracy to defame him.
    Jarkiholi had resigned as a minister following the allegation.
    “We have received a complaint that there has been an effort to defame the former minister and to bring him into disrepute politically. They have sought a suitable investigation,” Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai mentioned. “After discussion with senior police officers and the CM we have decided to order a comprehensive probe into the people behind the CD – how it was recorded and prepared – through an SIT under additional commissioner of police Soumendu Mukherjee.”

    Bommai ordered establishing of the SIT in a letter to the Bengaluru police chief on Wednesday. He talked about that Jarkiholi wrote to him on March 9, stating {that a} criticism of sexual harassment lodged in opposition to him with Cubbon Park police by a social activist on March 2, 2021 was meant to defame him, and that the conspiracy entails a number of individuals.
    Meanwhile, the Jarkiholi household, which claims to have carried out a non-public probe with the assistance of personal detectives into the alleged scandal, on Wednesday claimed to have recognized the important thing individuals concerned within the alleged conspiracy. “We have used a private detective to collect all information,” BJP MLA Balachandra Jarkiholi, certainly one of 5 Jarkiholi brothers, mentioned. “We want to ensure there is a solid case. We will name at least two persons in the case so that the conspiracy is revealed when the police arrest them. We wanted to be sure of their roles before we lodge the case.”
    Police sources mentioned a proper investigation into the case was delayed since March 2 on account of doubts over who the sufferer actually is – Jarkiholi, or the lady seen within the recordings, because it had been alleged by social activist Dinesh Kallahalli that the connection allegedly concerned coercion.
    Kallahalli has since sought to withdraw the harassment allegation he made in opposition to Jarkiholi however is prone to face investigations since he’s a key hyperlink within the former minister’s criticism of defamation conspiracy.
    Politics, in the meantime, performed out over the episode, with state minister S T Somashekhar accusing opposition Congress of being behind the scandal, and the state Congress hitting again. “The Congress is behind the CD conspiracy. I have been in that party for 20 years and I know this,” Somashekhar said.
    While welcoming the probe into the CD ‘conspiracy’, state Congress president D Ok Shivakumar rebuffed allegations that the Congress is behind the conspiracy. He mentioned, “Let the BJP ministers reveal what all we have done…. Did we ask you to say the things you said? Did we ask you to say the CM is corrupt? Did we ask you to speak against the people of Karnataka? Did we script it? We will also not sit quietly.”

    He mentioned, “Let them carry out any investigation that they want. When we (Congress) say the government is corrupt, it is a different matter. But here (in the CDs) a sitting minister of the government is [purportedly] saying that the Chief Minister is corrupt — should there not be an investigation into the matter? I do not know how the Chief Minister is tolerating all this.”
    Stating that Jarkiholi and he have been “together once upon a time”, and subsequently “distanced myself from him”, the Congress chief mentioned, “If you are a good person why would people trap you? You should be conscious of yourself…. Let them make allegations against me – this is a game of political chess.”
    The state Congress chief additionally mentioned, “If it is a fake CD then why is there a necessity for a case and a probe? People can discern between fake and real things.”

  • Lankesh killing: Court rejects bail plea of six accused

    A SESSIONS court docket has rejected a bail plea — citing delays within the begin of their trial — of six of the 18 accused within the 2018 killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh, indicating that a part of the explanation for the delay was the frequent submitting of intervening functions by the accused themselves.
    Amit Degwekar, Bharat Kurne, Rajesh Bangera, Sudhanwa Gondhalekar, Sujith Kumar and Manohar Edave, who’re related to Sanatan Sanstha and its affiliate Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, sought bail on the grounds that the trial of their case had not commenced regardless of a February 2019 court docket order to expedite it.
    The accused had been arrested in 2018 after investigations revealed that they had been a part of a secretive outfit spawned by the Sanatan Sanstha’s extremist non secular ideology. The SIT probe revealed that members of the outfit gunned down Gauri Lankesh, 55, Kannada scholar M M Kalburgi, 77, and Maharashtra progressive thinkers Govind Pansare, 81 and Narendra Dabholkar, 69, between 2013 and 2018.

    The classes court docket rejected their bail plea on February 20, stating that a part of the explanation for the delay within the graduation of the trial – aside from the Covid-19 disaster – was frequent functions filed by the accused.

  • Bengaluru protest calls for Disha launch: Govt ought to see motive

    THE BJP authorities on the Centre should see motive and transfer to launch 22-year-old local weather activist Disha Ravi, who has been arrested by Delhi Police within the toolkit case, historian and creator Ramachandra Guha mentioned at a protest held in Bengaluru by varied teams.
    “What is the message we want to send the world – that we do not want a young girl to express her views? What is the future we want for our country – one of conformism, obedience, cult of personality? It is really awful. It is good that there are protests. This government should see reason and must release not just her but all such prisoners immediately,” Guha mentioned on the protest held by a bunch of round 100 folks, largely college students.
    Guha, who has been probably the most distinguished of protesters in Bengaluru on points such because the Citizenship Amendment Act, participated briefly within the protest on Monday. “Students standing for farmers, for environmental protection, for democracy, for human rights are targeted. It is kind of a Chinese model. This kind of repression is much worse than anything seen since the emergency,” he mentioned.

    “If you feel that she has said something then she can be called in and spoken to but to arrest her, keep her in custody and charge sedition cases is worse than the colonial regime,” he mentioned.
    Students from the All India Students Association and schools in Bengaluru held placards calling the arrest of the 22-year-old activist a “conspiracy against democracy”.
    The United Federation of Karnataka’s Farmers-Workers-Dalits Pro-Peoples Organizations in a press release condemned the arrest and mentioned that youths who’re within the surroundings motion are likely to assist the farmers’ protests as a result of each contain the way forward for our nation.
    “It has to be questioned as to how a girl residing in Karnataka could be permitted to be arrested by the Delhi Police,” mentioned Vinay Sreenivas, an advocate for the federation.
    Police in Bengaluru, nevertheless, mentioned an individual must be produced earlier than an area Justice of the Peace on the place of arrest provided that the individual can’t be produced within the court docket that issued an arrest warrant inside 24 hours of the arrest. The police claimed that Delhi Police instructed the jurisdictional police after Disha Ravi was detained and simply earlier than she was flown to Delhi.
    “There are different kinds of cases. There’s nothing called protocol. We also go and arrest so many people from outside our state. The question is not that. The case was lodged in the national capital and Delhi Police acted on certain evidence,” Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai mentioned.

    “This is a warning to the youths in the country that there is a situation worse than the emergency,” KPCC chief D Okay Shivakumar mentioned.

  • Astrologer who ‘duped’ Karnataka HC ex-judge faces cash laundering probe

    The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has opened up a probe into doable cash laundering by an astrologer arrested in December by the Bengaluru Police crime department on costs of duping politicians, a former Karnataka HC decide and businessmen of over Rs 80 crore by flaunting connections to high Central and state political leaders.
    The company has registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) to have a look at the monetary actions of Yuvaraj Swami alias Yuvaraj Ramdas alias Sevalal, 52, who’s an accused in as many as 14 circumstances of dishonest in Bengaluru, an ED official stated.
    Swami is accused of promising his victims excessive positions within the authorities – together with that of Governor, MP, Union minister, in addition to high positions in boards and firms run by the Central and state governments – and swindling enormous funds from them.

    Swami is alleged to have taken retired Karnataka High Court decide Justice B S Indrakala to Delhi and launched her to a number of leaders to achieve her confidence so as to get her to half with over Rs 8 crores for the promise of a excessive authorities place in 2018-19.
    A former BJP MP can be alleged to have paid over Rs 10 crore to Swami, who promised his re-nomination in addition to a ministerial place. The former MP has not filed a proper grievance however associates are reported to have petitioned the police in December 2019 concerning the swindle.
    Swami was initially arrested by the Bengaluru Police on December 16 after businessman Okay P Sudheendra Reddy filed a grievance on December 14, saying that he was cheated of Rs 1.5 crore by the astrologer, who promised to make him the chairman of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation by utilizing his connections within the authorities.
    After Swami was arrested, a number of different individuals got here ahead with related complaints, together with Indrakala, BJP chief Anandha Kumar Kola and a member of the Kalahasti temple belief in Andhra Pradesh.
    A civil and classes court docket in Bengaluru lately ordered the provisional attachment of 26 properties, valued at over Rs 80 crore, belonging to the astrologer as a part of efforts to get well the big sum of money alleged to have been swindled by him.

    Earlier this week, a court docket in Bengaluru rejected a bail plea filed by the astrologer within the case filed by Reddy by referring to the police argument that Swami is “politically and financially very influential”.
    In the course of the listening to, Swami’s advocates argued that “no prudent man would receive such huge amounts for an illegal cause”. They argued that the individuals who’re claiming to have been cheated have to be prosecuted underneath the Prevention of Corruption Act for staking declare to authorities posts by making an attempt to pay bribes to individuals in public service.