Archives for August 2021

BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday said he has decided to visit all the border districts of the state that have more COVID-19 cases and review the situation there in the days to come.

“I will be traveling in Mysuru district today. I will have a discussion with officials on the COVID situation there. In the same way I have decided to visit all the border districts, where there are more COVID cases,” he said.

Speaking to reporters here ahead of his trip to Mysuru, Bommai said he will also visit Chamundeshwari temple and Suttur Mutt, a prominent Lingayat seminary in the region.

Concerned over the spread of the virus from the neighbouring Kerala and Maharashtra, the Karnataka government has announced weekend curfew in all districts bordering the two states.

Those districts that are bordering Maharashtra where weekend curfew is being imposed are- Belagavi, Bidar, Vijayapura and Kalaburagi-, similarly those districts bordering Kerala are- Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, Mysuru and Chamarajanagara.

He has also deputed Ministers to each district in the state, and has asked them to visit and personally monitor the situation there.

The state recorded 1,598 fresh COVID-19 cases and 20 deaths on Sunday, according to the Health Department.

The number of the infected and the dead reported during the day took the total to 29,18,525 and 36,793 till date, the department said.

There were 23,930 active cases while the recovery of 1,914 patients took the number cured so far to 28,57,776.

Dakshina Kannada district, bordering Kerala, saw 438 cases and six fatalities while the Bengaluru urban district witnessed 348 fresh infections and one death.

The capital city of Karnataka has so far reported 12,30,486 infections and 15,914 deaths.

There were 8,493 active cases.

Other districts also reported COVID-19 cases: Udupi reported 129 cases, Mysuru 98, Kodagu 83, Hassan 80, Uttara Kannada 53 and Chikkamagaluru 52.

According to a bulletin, there were fatalities in nine districts, including Bengaluru, Dakshina Kannada, Kolar, Hassan, Dharwad, Uttara Kannada and Mysuru.

There were zero fatalities in 21 districts of the State where 1,46,446 tests were conducted today.

The tests included 1,14,176 RT-PCR tests, the bulletin said.

So far, 3.98 crore tests have been done, it said.

As many as 1,23,932 people were innoculated today and the total number vaccinated till date was 3.29 crore.

The test positivity rate for the day was 1.09 per cent and the case fatality rate 1.25 per cent, the Health Department said.

Enforcement Directorate,(ED)raided properties belonging to former MLA R.Roshan Baig and Congress MLA B.Z.Zameer Ahmed Khan,in connection with the Rs.4,000 Crore IMA Scam,a Ponzi scheme that cheated thousands of investors in the name of Halal investment and went bust in June 2019.

Raids have been underway at multiple locations in the city against both leaders since Thursday morning.

This is a first raid by the ED officials on the four-time legislator from Champarajepet Zameer Ahmed Khan’s premises after his name cropped up in the scam in July 2019 and even he had mentioned in asset declarations form submitted to the Election Commission that he borrowed loan from IMA and its founder.

While Mr.Baig has been chargesheeted in the case by CBI,Mr.Khan though was questioned by multiple agencies including ED before for a property transaction with IMA founder Mohammed Mansoor Khan,he has not been charged by any agency till date.

ED,Bengaluru that began the probe into the case in 2019,transferred the case to the head office in Delhi in 2020,due to the sensitive and high profile nature of the case,sources said.

The Agency that had largely kept quiet for nearly a year and a half sprung into action on Thursday.

A team of over 100 ED officials from New Delhi branch have landed in the city for the raids and search operations are underway at over six properties connected with Mr.Baig,including his two residences in Shivajinagar,while it is underway at the Chamarajpet residence of Mr. Khan apart from the offices of National Travels,a firm he owns and other properties linked to him, sources said.

Mr.Khan is known to have sold one of his properties on Serpentine Road,Richmond Town spread over 14,924 sqft for a consideration of Rs.9.38 Crore to IMA founder Mohammed Mansoor Khan,a transaction declared in the 2018 poll affidavit.

Mr.Khan has consistently denied any other business links to IMA other than the property sale.

He was questioned by multiple agencies -SIT of Karnataka Police,CBI and ED in connection with the case,but none charged him of any offence till date.

Meanwhile,Mr. Baig,whom IMA Founder Mohammed Mansoor Khan blamed for his business to go kaput as he was forced to pay him Rs.400 Crore,was arrested by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in November 2020 and is presently out on bail.

CBI filed a chargesheet against him in the case in April 2021 in which they accused that depositor’s investments in IMA was diverted to Mr.Baig,then a minister in the Siddaramaiah led Congress government to continue its illegal activities.

The Competent Authority in IMA and other scams of Karnataka on July 6 has already attached around 20 movable and immovable properties belonging to Baig,estimated to be worth over Rs.15 crore.

Congress suspended him from the party after the scam broke and though he wanted to join BJP, the party high command blocked his entry due to his tainted image making him a political pariah. Competent Authority in IMA and other scams, Government of Karnataka on July 6 attached around 20 movable and immovable properties of Mr. Baig,estimated to be worth over Rs.15 Crore.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials on Thursday arrested Congress legislator Zameer Khan’s nephew Muzamil says sources.

The search operations are underway at various premises connected with Baig,including his two residences in Shivajinagar,and at the Chamarajpet residence of Khan apart from offices of National Travels,a firm he owns,and other properties linked to him.

Sources revealed that in all the locations the officials informed the local police about the raids after which security was deployed in these areas.

Pramesh Jain

The Madanayakanahalli police have registered a case of cheating against a group of delivery boys who were cheating their company by booking orders through fake IDs and replacing them with the fake goods to return the same .

The fraud came to light when the company after a series of complaints brought it to the notice of its service partner.

The company officials verified the details and tracked the booking records leading to the exposure of the scam.

The accused would book the product using different Ids which they would create and mention the address which would fall under their area of work.

The accused are Nitish Kumar,Srinivas,Kiran and others working as delivery boys for a company which is a service partner for the parent company (amazon).

Using the modus operandi the accused have taken laptops from branded companies,wrist watches,mobile phones,cameras and ear phones cheating the company worth over four lakhs.

Based on complaint by the company senior representative a case of cheating and breach of trust is registered against group of delivery boys and manhunt is on to nab the group a special team has been formed to nab the culprits he added.

Pramesh Jain

Narcotics Control Bureau,Bangalore had neutralised a drug trafficking syndicate operating through courier.

The NCB Hyderabad Sub Zone raided the courier company after a thorough check the team seized a courier parcel shipment destined to Australia on 02.08.2021.

One Kilogram of Pseudoephedrine seized by NCB Bangalore Zonal Unit effected a seizure of 2.512 Kgs,of Amphetamine from a courier parcel destined to Australia at Bangalore.

Two arrested accused has been identified as,
A Thahir and R Meeran, from Tamilnadu identified by the NCB team with the help of CCTV cameras were arrested on Tuesday.

Amit Ghawate said,NCB Bangalore gave specific information to Australian authorities based on
which Australian authorities seized 1.4 Kgs,of Pseudoephedrine which was concealed with metal hand press kitchen appliances were recovered and two persons arrested.

The NCB officials of Hyderabad Unit on Monday busted another international drug racket and  seized one kg of Pseudoephedrine from a consignment at a courier office in Akbarbag, Hyderabad,which was readied to be shipped to Australia.

The consignment contained bundles of lace and along with other embroidery items.On thorough examination,the NCB officers found a transparent pouch with a white colour crystal powder well concealed in the cavity of the wheel of the bundle.

The extraction and testing of the hidden material revealed that it was Pseudoephedrine, a Controlled Substance under NDPS Act,1985.

NCB Bangalore Zonal Unit had seized 2.512 Kgs. of Amphetamine concealed in a gym equipment destined to Australia from a courier parcel at Bangalore.

Based on further analysis one suspected parcel destined to Australia from Hyderabad was identified and promptly informed to Australian authorities.

Australian authorities seized 1.4 Kgs of Pseudoephedrine from that parcel which was concealed with metal hand press kitchen appliances.

Further field surveillance indicated involvement of individuals from Tamilnadu.These two individuals named A Thahir and R Meeran were caught on 03.08.2021 by NCB Hyderabad while sending the courier to Australia.

The operation was headed by Amit Ghawate (Zonal Director,Bangalore) Sumit Arya, Superintendent and other officers associated to this case at NCB,Hyderabad Sub Zonal Unit.

Pramesh Jain

A day after members of the African community protested after the death of a Congolese man, the JC Nagar police registered two more FIRs and confirmed that one of the five arrested during the protest had tested positive for consumption of drugs

Followed by lathicharge in front of the JC nagar on Monday,police stepped up investigations to identify the people who instigated the attack .

We have taken two cases including the attack on PSI Latha and PSI Mallikarjuna during the protest and also a case about a minor boy injured when he was pushed by the accused while fleeing after the violence,a police officer said .

Based on the complaint by the boy’s parents the police have registered a case and are looking for the prime accused who led the violence group to attack the police.

The police have collected the CCTV and video footage to identify the accused.A special team has been formed to track down the accused who are on the run,the police added.

The police have arrested five persons so far in connection with the attack and their travel documents are being verified,Dharmedra Kumar Meena,said .

The accused have been subjected to medical examination since they are under the influence of alcohol.

The special team tracking down the accused also verifies the travel documents of african nationals during the search and take legal action whoever is found to be overstaying.

Mr.Meena said adding that the police have taken action against 154 persons in the north division who were caught staying without valid documents.

Meanwhile the post mortem of john died in police custody is being conducted at bowring hospital.

Meanwhile the CID officials visited the station and obtained the details of the deceased to initiate a probe.

Responding to the incident,Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that the lathi-charge by the police was a response to the protestors turning violent.

He also added that For the last 2 years, we have been strictly monitoring drug issues.There are many African nationals in the State,some of them are staying even after visa expiry.

We are taking strict action in the matter and are arresting them under PIT NDPS Act”.

Alikali, vice-president,Congolese Community in Bengaluru, told reporters that,A student from our community was arrested around 1 am yesterday.

This morning we got the news of his sudden death.He was fully healthy.People protested because they think police brutality was meted out to him.

He added that though the JC Nagar police claimed they didn’t touch him and he died of a cardiac attack, many people including his girlfriend suspected police brutality.We want to
get a clear picture,he said.

Congolese embassy officials visit the Bangalore police commissioner’s office The two officers met Commissioner Kamal Pant.

North Division DCP Dharmendra Kumar Meena has issued a statement on the uproar of African nationals in front of the city. We have registered 2 cases of incident. 

1 case has been filed on the complaint of PSI Lata. A young boy has been hurt by the uproar of African nationals.We are already investigating these 2 cases.”

There is a video of those involved in yesterday’s protest. The accused will be found.Case under NDPS and Foreigners Act.

A sample of five urine has already been collected.One’s Drugs Intake Report has been positive.154 people have been found in the Northern Division for a year.Dharmendra Kumar Meena,DCP, North Division said,

Parmesh jain

The Sathanur police of Ramanagara district arrested two persons,including a former bank manager,for allegedly replacing 9.5kg of pledged gold with fake gold jewellery,and selling the original.Police recovered gold worth Rs 2.12 crore from the accused.

The accused has been identified as Anant Nag K, a resident of Peenya and former bank manager, and Rajneesh S Jain (42),of Gandhi Nagar in Mandya,who received the gold from him.

Senior officer told media persons,The Sathanur police on Tuesday arrested a 32-year-old former manager of Canara bank of Honniganahalli branch for stealing and replacing 9.5 kgs of gold valuables with fake articles and selling the booty to a mandya based jeweller to make money in the last three years .

The fraud came to light in July this year when the Assistant General manager of the bank auctioned some of the pawned gold valuables as part of a recovery drive and came to know that they were fake .

Suspecting the role of Rajanna HS,valuer appointed by the bank,Mr.Rao filed a complaint with the police on July 16.

Based on the complaint,a special team was formed by Superintendent of Police,Girish S and his team swung into action.

The team picked up Rajanna for questioning and after a detailed probe the police gave him a clean chit and summoned the manager,Ananthnag, 32, for questioning.

A detailed questioning by the police team in their own style not only led him to confess to the crime but also led the police to arrest his partner -in-crime,Rajnish Jain a 42-year-old jeweller from Mandya, who was buying the gold from Ananth Nag.

Based on his information the police seized 4.7 kgs of gold valuables (out of total 9.5kgs gold valuables he had stolen) worth Rs 2.12 crore along with cash Rs 23 lakh from him.

The police also seized 9.5 kgs worth of fake gold valuables which he had replaced with the genuine gold valuables and two cars used by the accused.

The accused had constructed a palatial house in Peenya out of the money he got from selling the pawned gold .

The accused had targeted the gold valuables of 352 customers who defaulted the repayment of gold loan and replaced 9.5 kgs of artificial gold valuables to take away the genuine gold and sell it to Rajnish Jain.

Finally DG-IGP,Praveen Sood,IGP,Central Range,M Chandrashekhar has appreciated,Superintendent of Police,Girish S,PI,Ravikumar C,and his team for the good piece of investigation,superintendent of Police,Ramanagar district,S Girish,announced a cash reward to Ravi Kumar C,to his team for the exemplary and commendable job done by them he added.

Pramesh Jain

Sri Veerabhadraswamy temple situated in Jadigenahalli village in Hoskote taluk has been burgled and cash from the donation box looted while the security guard,Srinivas was sleeping in the security room inside the temple in the wee hours of Sunday.

The guard told the temple trust members that he finished the rounds at around 1.30 am and went to the security room and slept. 

Senior officer said,The theft had occurred between 1.30 am to 6 am.The incident came to light when cleaning staff,Thimmmarayappa came to the temple and noticed that one of the window in the temple has been broken and the cctv installed in and around have been bent and turned away for other directions.

He informed the manager Pavithra S who rushed to th spot and opened the temple doors to see the donation box was ransacked coins scattered around and the currency notes have been taken away.

The burglars have also broke open the office inside the temple took away the cash Rs.54,000 along with the DVR and the monitor.

The cash in the donation box was counted in front of the tahsildar and the members of the temple on July 27  which was approximately around Rs 4 lakh,Pavithra said in her complaint . 

Pramesh Jain

The National Investigation Agency on Wednesday arrested four people as it conducted simultaneous searches in Jammu and Kashmir and Karnataka in connection with terror activities of a group propagating the violent ideology of the ISIS, an official said.

An NIA spokesperson said the searches were carried out along with local police units at five locations three in Kashmir and one each in Bengaluru and Mangalore.

The arrested accused have been identified as Obaid Hamid of Srinagar,Muzammil Hassan Bhat of Bandipora;Ammar Abdul Rahman of Mangalore and Shankar Venkatesh Perumal of Bengaluru, he said.

The case pertains to terrorist activities of a group led by one Mohammed Ameen of Kerala, the official said.

He said three people Ameen and his associates Mushab Anuvar and Rahees Rashid were arrested in March after preliminary examination.

The group has been running various ISIS propaganda channels on different social media platforms such as Telegram,Hoop and Instagram for propagating the violent Jihadi ideology, and radicalising and recruiting new members to the terror module, the NIA official said.