Parmesh S Jain

The Northeast Division police of Yelahanka police have rescued kidnapped Civil Enginner within 3 hours and arrested six kidnappers including a contractor.

The accused has been identified as,Nandagopal, 31,Sunil Seenappa,32,Ashok Lingappa,31, Vignesh Ananthram,21,Manoj Srinivas,24 and Shadaab Ahmed, 24.

Senior officer told media persons,a complaint was registered in Yelahanka police station in which vicitm colleague is a complainant who said in his complaint that while passing near Raithare Santhe he noticed that his friend was being forcibly dragged in a SUV by six member gang.

Acting on the information In a swift action,the Yelahanka police inspector,Sathyanarayan and his team on Wednesday rescued a 30-year-old civil engineer and arrested a gang of six who have abducted him for ransom and later decided to kill him after he refused to pay them money .

Team headed by PI,KP Satyanarayna track down the accused to an isolated place on the Kolar Bengaluru highway.

The immediately rushed to the spot with additional force and after getting the location the team surrounded the area and zeroed in on all the six members and arrested Nandagopal,31, Sunil Seenappa,32,Ashok Lingappa,31,Vignesh Ananthram,21,Manoj Srinivas,24 and Shadaab Ahmed, 24.

During investigation it was found that the victim Manas,from Odisha,runs a construction company in Yelahanka bagged a contract to construct a residential apartment .

Manas had given a sub contract to Nandagopal to construct the basement structure and owed him Rs 3 lakh .

When Manas was not dodging to return the money,Nandagopal planned to abduct him and extort the money.

As per the plan,the gang intercepted his SUV near Raitha Santhe road in Yelahanka on Wednesday while Manas was on his way to office with his office staff pawan G.

The accused confronted his SUV dragged Manas out and assaulted him before he was forced into a SUV.

One of the accused also took control of the Manas SUV asking the Pawan to get out and said that they are taking him to the police station.

Instead the accused took him to Kolar highway and tortured him and robbed his gold valuables demanding Rs 33 lakh ransom for his release. When Manas refused to pay they even decided to kill him and dump his body in forest area.

Meanwhile Pawan who suspected something fishy, approached the police and filed a complaint.The police swung into action and track down the accused and rescued Manas hours before he was killed.All the six accused has been arrested and have been taken into custody to ascertain their criminal background.

The entire operation was appreciated by Senior police officer,as, Commissioner of police, Kamal Pant, Addl CP East, Subramanyeswara Rao,DCP, Northeast,Anoop A Shetty,ACP,Manoj Kumar,PI,KP Sathyanarayana,PSIs,as,Sunil Kumar KB,Ms.Shylaja M,and crime staff as,Arun Kumar,Mahaveer, Raghavendra BN,Erresh,and DCP office staff,Babu who helped in technical inputs to nab the kidnappers and rescue the civil engineer within 3 hours for the Excellent and tremendous job done by the team a suitable reward will be given to the team he added.

Parmesh S Jain

Officials of the Central Crime Branch police on Thursday busted a gold biscuit racket and arrested four persons who are making sub standard gold biscuits using osmium sponge and mixture of other alloys and sell it to jewellers after putting the seals of international brands which authenticate the purity of gold.

The accused has been identified as,Rajesh Bhosle,44,Ajay Kanthilal,19,Akshay Bajrang 26, and Hritik Babasab Salunke,19.

Joint CP Crime, Raman Gupta,told reporters,a credible information was received by CCB officers that a shop situated in Mathaji Jewellery market is indulged in cheating jewellery shop owners by putting fake seal of international brand and are making sub standard gold biscuits.

Acting on a tip off,a team of officials under the leadership of DCP,Crime-1,Dr SD Sharanappa,PI,Ravi Patil and his team swung into action and approach the shop as a customer and after getting confirmation the team raided the shop situated in Mathaji jeweler market complex situated on Nagarathpete and caught four gold smiths red handed.

During raid the officials also seized 1.7 kgs of gold,Rs.20,000 cash and seals containing the names Valcambi Suiss 100 g gold 999.0, Matalor Swixerland, 100 g 999.0,All Ethihad Dubai,UAE, 10 tolas 999.0,Agro 100g,999.0,and credit suisse 100g 999.0,seals which they used on the sub standard gold bar to make it look like mark of purity .

Investigations revealed that the accused used to deal with 3 to 5 kilos of gold to make biscuits and distribute on an average per day.

The CCB police have taken all the four accused into custody to ascertain their network and business operations.

Finally Bengaluru Police Commissioner,Kamal Pant has appreciated Joint CP Crime,Raman Gupta,DCP Crime-1,Dr SD Sharanappa,PI,Ravi Patil and other officers who has done a exemplary work in busting the fake gold biscuit racket and arrested four persons who were cheating people by putting fake international brand seals on gold biscuits a special reward will be given to the team he added.

Parmesh S Jain

An Assistant Executive Engineer of BBMP on Friday filed a complaint against Jio company and two of its employee for damaging road to lay cables without required permission in Jalahalli .

The accused employees identified as Kutti Saravana and Suresh were found cutting the railway under bridge road on MES road in Jalahalli using heavy machine without required permission.

The road was busy and due to the roadwork caused inconvenience to the motorists.Mr. Umesh estimated the damage as per the rules to Rs 29.6 lakh.

Based on the complaint by NG Umesh,AEE BBMP, Yeshwanthpura sub division,the Jalahalli police have registered a case against the accused charging them under section 427 (mischief to cause damage) 283 (causes danger, obstruction or injury to any person in any public way or public line of navigation) and also under Prevention of damage to public property and further investigation is on.

Parmesh S Jain

The South Division police of Girinagar police have arrested a 32 year old Rowdy-Sheeter who execute house break thefts in and around south division with the help of his associates the team has recovered stolen gold,silver articles worth Rs.60 lakhs form him.

The accused has been identified as, Narasimha@Reddy@Narasimha Reddy,32,resident of Sapthagiri layout in Hosakerehalli area.

Senior officer told reporters,as there were series of House break thefts and vehicle thefts were reported in Girinagar and South Division limits.

A special team was formed by DCP South Harish Pandey,under the leadership of ACP,BL Srinivasmurthy,a team headed by PI,Deepak L and his crime staff pressed into action.

The team visited the scene of crime and after collecting information from victims the team started analysing CCTV footage and in one such CCTV footage the team got the identity of the accused.

As the team was analysing CCTV footage one of the crime staff identified the accused and with the help of technical and technology investigation skills the team zeroed in on the accused and apprehended him.

During investigation the accused confessed the crime and it was revealed that the accused Narasimha Reddy having over 15 criminal cases used to move around in car to identify locked houses and direct his gang to break into the houses and steal valuables.

The accused would then sell the booty in many jewel shops in Avenue road,Tamil Nadu and Kolar .

Based on his statement the team recovered one kg gold ornaments,one kilo of silver articles,three cars altogether total worth Rs.60 lakh from him.

With his arrest the police have managed to solve eight house break thefts reported in Girinagar, HSR Layout and one in Channammanakere Acchukattu police station limits.

Greatly appreciate the efforts of the @girinagarps
team in apprehending a notorious rowdy-sheeter, who, for leading a luxurious lifestyle went on a robbing spree. The accused was wanted in several House Break-In & Theft (HBT) cases.

1 Kg gold ornaments worth Rs.60 lakh, silver articles, and 3 cars have been seized from the commissioner of police Kamal Pant said in his tweet.

Finally Bengaluru Police Commissioner,Kamal Pant has appreciated Addl CP West,Sandeep Patil,DCP South,Harish Pandey,ACP,BL Srinivasmurthy,PI Deepak L,PSIs,as,Raghu Nayak AR,Sunil Kaddi,Praveen Hosur, Manjunath Daddimani, Probationary PSI,Rakesh D and other crime staff who has done a exemplary and meticulous investigation in nabbing the notorious Rowdy sheeter to lead a lavish life and luxurious life went on Robbery spree in the city giving sleepless nights to people is now behind bars and colling his heels in jail and a special reward will be given to the team for nabbing the notorious Rowdy sheeter he added.

BAGALKOT: A pall of gloom descended in Mahalingapura as social worker Ibrahim Sutar, 82, who is popularly known as ‘Kabir of Kannada’, breathed his last after suffering a severe cardiac arrest in the wee hours on Saturday, February 5, 2022.

Grieving family members said, “Ibrahim Sutar was ailing from diabetes and hypertension for the past few years. He complained about heartache on Friday. The doctor recommended an angioplasty. While he was being taken to the hospital, he breathed last on the way.”

He is survived by a wife, two children and grandchildren.

The family has made all the necessary arrangements for the public to pay their last respects at Mahatma Gandhi grounds in Mahalingapura. The final rites are likely to be performed on Sunday, according to the relatives.

The Union Government recognized his social work towards spreading social and communal harmony and awarded him the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, in 2018.

Ibrahim Sutar was known to spread harmony through his songs and bhajans, which were popular not only in Karnataka but also in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Delhi and Goa. He is popular among the masses in the districts of North Karnataka for his spiritual discourses.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Minister for Water Resources Govind Karjol condoled the passing away of Ibrahim Sutar.

BENGALURU: Seeking to end the hijab (head scarf) controversy in education institutions in Karnataka that has begun taking political colour, the State government on Saturday ordered banning wearing clothes which disturb equality, integrity and public order in schools and colleges.

“Invoking 133 (2) of the Karnataka Education Act-1983, which says a uniform style of clothes has to be worn compulsorily. The private school administration can choose a uniform of their choice,” the government order said.

It said the students have to wear the dress chosen by the College Development Committee or the appellate committee of the administrative board of the pre-university colleges, which come under the pre-university education department.

“In the event of administrative committee not selecting a uniform, clothes which disturb equality, integrity and public law and order should not be worn,” the order said.

The government order noted that the KEA-1983 had explained that all students should wear a common uniform so that they should belong to a common family and behave in a manner that there is no discrimination.

The order also said that the second pre-university or the 12th standard is crucial for the students in their life.

A common programme has been chalked out for all the schools and colleges in the state for the benefit of students, the order said.

“However, the education department has noticed that in some education institutions, the boys and girls have started behaving according to their religion, which hurts the equality and unity,” it added.

The order also cited the rulings of Supreme Court and various High Courts in India in favour of uniform.

Initially the controversy was restricted to Udupi and Chikkamagaluru in the beginning of January as Muslim girls started attending classes wearing Hijab.

In protest, the Hindu students started attending classes wearing saffron scarves around their neck.

Gradually the issue spread to other parts of the state where Muslim girls demanded permission to attend classes wearing head scarves.

The issue of Hijab had snowballed into a major controversy with political parties striving to derive mileage over it.

While the Congress leaders backed Hijab, the BJP said it will not allow ‘Talibanisation’ of education institutions.

Congress Legislature Party leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who has thrown his weight behind Muslim girls on their right to wear the hijab to educational institutions, accused the BJP and RSS of trying to create communal disharmony throughout the State in the name of Hijab.

He urged Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to immediately put a brake to this and arrest those who instigate people.

Further claiming that the main agenda of the Sangh Parivar is to deny education to Muslim girls in the name of Hijab, Siddaramaiah said, “PM Narendra Modi speaks about ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padao’. Is he not aware of this incident?”

“The Constitution has given the right to practice any religion which means one can wear any clothes according to their religion. Prohibiting ‘Hijab’ wearing students from entering school is a violation of fundamental rights,” he added.

Meanwhile, the ruling BJP’s state president and Member of Parliament Nalin Kumar Kateel said the government will not allow hijab at educational institutions and will take strict measures to ensure that things go as per rules of the school, and won’t let things be turned into “Taliban like”.

“There is a BJP government in this state, there is no room for hijab or any other related incidents. Schools are temples of mother Saraswathi (goddess of education); everyone should abide by rules and regulations there. Bringing religion there is not right, what students need is education, if someone can’t follow rules they can choose their path elsewhere,” he said.

Kateel also hit out at Siddaramaiah accusing him of bringing in divisive policies like celebrating Tipu jayanti and schemes like ‘Shadi Bhagya’ among others aimed at creating rift between the communities, when he was CM.

With the issue snowballing into a major controversy and the matter coming up before the High Court, Chief Minister Bommai on Friday held a meeting with Law and Education departments, and the government has asked educational institutions to follow existing uniform related rules, until the Court comes out with an order in this regard, next week.

The Karnataka High Court on February 8 will hear the petitions filed by five girls studying in a Government Pre-university College in Udupi, questioning hijab restriction in college.

JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, hitting out at both the BJP and Congress for the controversy, said instead of ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padao’, they are trying to make it “Beti Hatao”, “they should stop it.

” He asked the government to maintain the status quo at institutions where hijab was allowed till now, and not to allow it at places where it has started recently. Instead of Hindu-Muslim issue, children being used for such thing is more dangerous,” he added.

Calling hijab row, a systematic conspiracy, Kannada and Culture Minister V Sunil Kumar said, hijab or burka can be worn from home to college premises, but on entering classrooms everyone should wear uniform and it is the system.

VIJAYAPURA:  The district became only one in North Karnataka and second in the State to achieve 100 per cent vaccination in both the doses against the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the state health bulletin, “The district health authorities have administered first dose of vaccine to over 17.04 lakh people against the target of 16.34 lakh. With this, the first dose of vaccination rate stands at 105 per cent. With regard to the second dose, the district has vaccinated overall 16.34 lakh people, achieving 100 percent.”

“Bengaluru Rural is the only other district in the State to have achieved 100 per cent vaccination. However, over 12 districts have jabbed over 90 per cent of the eligible people with both the doses. The state vaccination rate for first dose stands at 101 per cent and for second dose at 88 per cent,” as per the bulletin.

The Covid vaccination drive kick-started in the district in January, 2021. According to previous population census held in 2011, the district administration had set a target of inoculating 16.34 lakh people. However, at present 17.54 lakh people have been vaccinated with the first dose.

The district administration paced up the second dose vaccination after the vaccination mela launched on the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday on September 16, 2021. The district managed to achieve 100 per cent vaccination with both doses in just over one year.

DC P Sunil Kumar said “With the efforts of health personnel, Asha workers and staff of other departments, the district administration has achieved cent per cent target of vaccination with both doses to all the eligible people in the district. ”

BENGALURU/MANGALURU: Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra on Thursday said students should neither wear hijab (headscarf) nor saffron shawls to schools and colleges, and stressed that they should wear only the prescribed uniform. His remarks come amid a row over some students of a government PU college in Udupi wearing the hijab in classrooms. In another incident, girl students of a government PU college in Kundapur, who reached the institution wearing the hijab on Thursday, were stopped at the gate.

Addressing the media here, Jnanendra said educational institutions should overcome the barriers of religion and caste and promote the feeling that all are one. Religious practices should be followed in places of worship like temples, churches and mosques. In educational institutions, students should have the feeling of oneness and there should be an academic atmosphere for students to develop a culture of national unity and integrity, he stressed.

“No one should come to school for practicing their religion,” he said, while responding to a question on students wearing saffron shawls as a counter to a few students wearing the hijab. He said he has directed the police to keep an eye on fundamental organisations and to take stern action against those who disturb unity.

The issue has caught national attention with former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor slamming the authorities. Mehbooba, who also sports a hijab, said, “Beti bachao-beti padhao is yet another hollow slogan. Muslims are being denied the right to education simply because of their attire. Legitimising the marginalisation of Muslims is one more step towards converting Gandhi’s India into Godse’s India.”

Tharoor tweeted, “It’s been a strength of India that everyone is free to wear what they want. If the hijab is disallowed, what about the Sikh turban? The Hindu’s forehead mark? The Christian’s crucifix? This college is going down a slippery slope. Let the girls in. Let them study. Let them decide.”

Davanagere: Members of the Hindu Jagaran Vedike (HJV) on Thursday staged a protest in front of the DC’s office in Davanagere, urging the government to give directions on wearing of uniforms across all schools and colleges in the state. In a memorandum to the government submitted through DC Mahantesh Bilagi, the activists said the adamant attitude of some Muslim girls over wearing of hijab and attending classes cannot be tolerated, as it is a fundamentalist mindset. Educational institutions are centres where religion, caste and other factors are not given preference, and proper dress code and uniform will bring equality among students.

“A section of society is stating that wearing of hijab is a right provided by the Constitution, this is wrong. The same Constitution states that all residents of India are equal, hence there shouldn’t be dress difference between Hindus and Muslims,” they said. 

MANGALURU/UDUPI: The controversy over college students wearing headscarves in classrooms seems to be escalating rather than seeing a resolution, with another government PU college in Udupi district denying entry to a group of girl students on Thursday.

This comes even as some students of a government PU College in Udupi city are fighting for their ‘constitutional right’ after they were denied entry into classrooms with headscarves. One of them have also moved the High Court over the issue.

On Thursday, a video went viral, which showed Ramakrishna, principal of the Government PU College at Kundapur, closing the gates on 28 hijab-clad students as they tried to enter the campus. The girls have been attending classes with headscarves for long. 

Just a day earlier, more than 100 Hindu boys had turned up with saffron shawls to register their protest against Muslim girls wearing the hijab. Following this, local Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Halady Srinivas Shetty, who is also the college development committee president, convened a meeting and strictly told the college principal to stick to the college uniform.

While the girls strongly registered their protest, telling the principal that his ‘act to deny them education’ is wrong and will jeopadise their future as the exams are just two months away, the principal maintained that he was only implementing the MLA’s directives. Meanwhile, the issue has taken a political turn and with different political parties indulging in mud-slinging over the matter.

The hijab controversy is nothing new to the region where a majority of Muslim women prefer to cover their heads while stepping out of home. A few years ago, the century-old St Agnes College in Mangaluru, a women’s college, had faced protests over a hijab ban, but the issue was amicably resolved. But this time, the controversy got thicker as ruling party MLAs got actively involved in it.

Udupi district in-charge minister S Angara told reporters on Thursday that a high-powered committee, formed to look into the issue, is expected to submit its report soon. Different government colleges cannot have different rules, he stressed.

In the light of the developments, there is a fear that many poor Muslim families may not send their daughters to government colleges. Reacting to the issue, Congress leader and former minister UT Khader noted that since his daughter refused to give up the hijab, he had to send her to a Muslim-run private college, highlighting the predicament of the community.