Parmesh S Jain

The Sampigehalli police on Monday arrested a 34-year-old realtor from Pune who posing as HR manager cheated job aspiring techies offering positions at IBM and escaped after collecting money from them.

The accused has been identified as,Sanjeev Gangaram Ghurkha Chinchwad,from Pune was caught based on a complaint from the IBM company after four of the victims walked into the IBM office at Manyata tech park with fake job offer letters last week.

Based on the complaint, the Sampigehalli police swung into action and track down Sanjeev and arrested him.

Senior officer told reporters,an Initial probe revealed that the accused is B com graduate and worked in a call centre which offered support to IBM.

Later accused started real estate business and wanted money to invest.He chalked out a plan to cheat people and targeted gullible job aspirants online .

Claiming as HR Manager,Sanjeev interviewed many people and offered them different roles.He took money ranging from 80,000 to Rs 25,000 on the pretext of security deposits for issuing the laptops at the time of joining the company.

The accused had opened at least 8 bank accounts to ask the victims to deposit money online.Anup A Shetty,DCP northeast,said media persons.It is suspected that he had cheated as many as 40 persons since the last few months and investigations are on to ascertain his criminal background, Mr.Shetty,said to reporters.

Parmesh S Jain

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel attached to Mangaluru Junction Railway Station on Sunday detained a man travelling with Unaccounted cash worth Rs.1.48 crore in cash and 800 grams of gold ornaments without any valid records on the Mumbai LTT-Ernakulam Duronto Express.

The accused has been identified as, Mahendra Singh Rao,33, hailing from Rajasthan.

Senior RPF officer told reporters,The operation, under the supervision of RPF Inspector,Manoj, was conducted by personnel K.Chithraraj, Satheesh Balaji, K.P. Sanjeev Kumar and K. Shajith.

The RPF personnel,who were conducting a preventive check on the Duronto Express (Train No 12223) that arrived at 10.20 a.m.at the Junction,examined the luggage of the man,who was occupying Berth 35 on S4 coach,and found currency bundles wrapped in old newspapers.

The accused was taken to the RPF Post where he informed the personnel that he was working for Shubh Gold,owned by Praveen Singh,in Kozhikode of Kerala.

A man known to his owner handed him six packs of currency notes and three packets of jewellery at Mumbai to be given to the owner,he told them.

The seized currency notes in Rs.2,000 and 500 denomination accounted for Rs.1,48,58,000, while the gold ornaments weighed around 800 grams,worth Rs 40 lakh,the RPF said in a communique.

The RPF personnel later handed over the man, identified as Mahendra Singh Rao (33),a native of Udaipur district in Rajasthan,to the Government Railway Police (GRP),Mangaluru Central,along with the seized material.

The GRP police have arrested the man after booking cases under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure and Karnataka Police Act.

Finally Senior Divisional Security Commissioner,Debashmita Chattopadhyay Banerjee,ADGP,Railways,Bhaskar Rao,has appreciated,SP, Railways,Dr Siri Gowri,RPF Inspector,Manoj,K.Chithraraj,Satheesh Balaji, K.P. Sanjeev Kumar and K.Shajith for the tremendous and exemplary work in nabbing the accused by their pro-active presence of mind while conducting search in train a special and suitable reward will be given to the whole team he added.

Parmesh S Jain

The Northeast Division police of Kodigehalli police have arrested a gang of three men for kidnapping a 24-year-old girl after forcing her for marriage.

The accused has been identified as, Devaraj,32,Naveen,Kumar,

A senior police officer said a complaint was filed by victims Father stating that,On Saturday night the girl was returning home after the work and Devaraj along with his friends confronted her and kidnapped her in their car and took her to Sakaleshpura.

Based on a complaint the Kodigehalli police inspector passed the information to his seniors as DCP, Northeast,Dr Anoop Shetty regarding the kidnapping,DCP,along with ACP, Yelahanka Sub-Division,Jayaram,PI,Raghavendra Babu and their crime staff rushed to the spot and after analysing CCTV footage in the vicinity the team identified the vehicle used in kidnapping.

A special team was formed under the supervision of DCP,a special team with the technology skill tracked the accused to Sakaleshpura a special team immediately swung into action and rescued the girl with in 24 hours and Devaraj and his gang was nabbed.They have been taken into police custody for further investigations.

During investigation it was revealed that the prime accused Devaraj,(32), a real estate agent and married to elder sister of the victim and fell in love with her since few months.He forced her for marriage and as she refused it he decided to kidnap.

The gang even tortured her and tried to convince her for marriage.But she managed to contact her family members and told about the incident. Then they approached the police and the girl has been reunited safely to their family members.

A detailed investigation by the team it is revealed that the accused who is victim’s sister husband has kidnapped before also in Tumakuru and was jailed and is out on bail.A case of Dowry harrasment is also filed against the accused in Tumakuru and she got separated from him and was leaving in her father’s house working in a private company he added.

Finally Bengaluru Police Commissioner,Kamal Pant has appreciated Addl CP East, Subramanyeswara Rao,DCP,Northeast,Dr Anoop Shetty,ACP,Jayaram,PI,Raghavendra Babu and his whole team who has done a exemplary and meticulous investigation in nabbing the trio and rescuing the girl within 24 hours safely a special reward will be given to the team he added.

Parmesh S Jain

Appointments to various Boards and Corporations depends on the discussions in the party over the issue,Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said.

Reacting to BJP State President,Nalin Kumar Kateel’s statement that the appointments would happen in the next week,Bommai said,it depends on the party.

There is no proposal before the Chief Minister on the issue of appointments to Boards and Corporations.

The party leadership would examine the issue and submit a report.Action would be taken based on that,Bommai said speaking to media persons here on Monday.

Budget Preparations :

Preparations for the Budget have started.Internal meetings have been held with finance and revenue generating departments in the month of December.Instructions have been issued on achieving the targets.

Another meeting with the Finance department would be held on January 25 in the backdrop of Covid havoc since the end of December.

The budget would be prepared after discussions with various departments and organisations, Bommai said.

I don’t know about secret meeting :

Replying to a question about a secret meeting reportedly held at the house of Umesh Katti in Belagavi,I don’t know about it.

Different leaders keep meeting on various occasions.Even Congress and BJP leaders keep meeting.Interpretations of the media about these meetings are not correct,Bommai said.

Cabinet expansion :

There are 4 vacant berths in the ministry. Naturally there are aspirants for them.Nothing wrong with that.Top leadership will decide on when and how to go about it.

I too have brought it to the notice of the top leadership.I will provide all the details when the top leadership calls me for discussion,Bommai said.

Booklet on 6 month achievements of the Govt:

The Bommai government is completing 6 months in office on January 28.When asked whether he is happy about his performance so far,Bommai said, “I will reply by calling a press conference. A booklet giving details of the achievements would be released on the occasion.”

Covid situation :

Various decisions have been taken to tackle Covid.The weekend curfew has been withdrawn. The spread of the pandemic, its trend and condition of the infected is being monitored. Suitable decisions would be taken based on these aspects, Bommai said.

Reacting to happenings at the Udupi college, Bommai said,Education minister has been instructed to look into the issue.

Parmesh S Jain

A 16-year-old girl ended her life by suicide at their house in KP Agrahara on Saturday night.

The deceased has been identified as Pooja,a resident of Bhuvaneshwarinagar was studying class 10 at a private school.

Senior officer told media persons,around 9:30,the victim Pooja was last seen watching TV while her parents went to their relative’s house in the same locality.

After sometime they returned home and found that her room was locked from inside and repeatedly knocked the door.

When there was response they broke open the door and found her hanging to the ceiling and alerted the police.

The KP Agrahara police inspector and staff rushed to the spot conducted spot mahazar. There was no suicide note and the police are awaiting to question the family members to ascertain the cause of extreme step.

Father of the deceased,works as a security guard in a private company told that she was under depression from the last few days and not talking with anyone properly.

However, the exact reason which led her to take this extreme step is yet to be ascertained, the police added.

Parmesh S Jain

The Nandini Layout police have arrested a 34-year-old auto driver for sexually assaulting a minor girl from the neighbourhood while she was alone at her house on Saturday evening.

Senior officer told reporters,the victim is eight-years-old was alone at the house while her mother had gone to work at a garment factory .

The incident occurred at around 6.30pm the accused who noticed the girl was alone,barged into the house assaulted her and escaped.

The incident came to light when the mother returned from work and found the girl was crying. Upon questioning she narrated the ordeal.

The mother took the girl to a nearby hospital and also alerted the police.Based on a complaint the police swung into action and tracked down the accused few hours later.

The accused has been booked under POCSO Act and police are questioning him in the custody. The accused is married and have two children said a senior officer.

Bengaluru: After fresh infections dropped over the past two days, the number of discharges overtook new coronavirus cases in Karnataka on Tuesday, which further declined to 41,400, taking the tally to 36,05,508.

According to a health department bulletin, 52 deaths were recorded, pushing the death toll to 38,666.

The state had recorded 46,426 fresh infections on Monday as against 50,210 on Sunday.

There were 53,093 discharges, taking the total number of recoveries to 32,16,070, a bulletin said.

Of the new cases, 19,105 were from Bengaluru Urban that saw 33,011 people being discharged and 19 virus-related deaths.

The total number of active cases across the state is now at 3,50,742.

While the positivity rate for the day stood at 26.70 per cent, the case fatality rate (CFR) was 0.12 per cent.

After Bengaluru Urban, Kalaburagi accounted for the second highest number of deaths with 5, Dakshina Kannada and Belagavi (4 each), Bengaluru Rural (3) followed by Chikkaballapura, Chitradurga, Hassan, Mysuru and Tumakuru (2 each).

Apart from Bengaluru Urban, Kolar recorded the second highest with 2,185 new cases, Tumakuru 2,026, Dharwad 1,511, Mandya 1,495, Mysuru 1,494, followed by others.

Bengaluru Urban district now has a total of 16,26,331 cases, followed by Mysuru 2,08,629 and Tumakuru 1,45,578.

According to the bulletin, Bengaluru Urban tops the list among discharges with 13,97,344, followed by Mysuru 1,88,584 and Tumakuru 1,28,041.

Cumulatively, a total of 6,08,50,911 samples have been test of which 1,55,054 were on Tuesday alone

Bengaluru: With the Congress leadership in Karnataka claiming that some legislators and leaders from the ruling BJP are in touch with them, a saffron party MLA on Tuesday claimed that at least 16 legislators from the grand old party are in contact with him and may jump ship, ahead of assembly polls, if the high command approves.

The claims and counter claims between the ruling and the principal opposition party in the state has gained momentum, even as the assembly polls in the state are more than a year away.

As Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah today reiterated his claims that few BJP and JD(S) leaders are in touch with him and he would not reveal their names, BJP MLA and former Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi hit back and claimed that at least 16 legislators from Congress are in contact with him.

“A total of 36 MLAs were in touch with me, from the coalition government days, out of that 17 of us came out (to join BJP), among the remaining 19, three are from JD(S), I’m not going to touch them because of my good bonding with H D Kumaraswamy (JDS leader)…rest of them, who could not come with us then due to technical reasons are still in touch with me,” Jarkiholi said.

Speaking to reporters here, he questioned why Siddaramaiah, who had declared in the assembly that the Congress will not take back any of those who had quit the party then and called them betrayers, is now claiming that some of them are in contact with him.

“….I will not take the names of 16 people who are in touch with me, I will speak truth not for publicity, let’s see if high command (BJP) agrees to induct them. I hope they will make good decisions. Congress is sinking across the country, in the days to come, they will not have people to seek tickets at some places…,” he added.

Jarkiholi is credited for his key role in the collapse of the coalition government in 2019, as he is said to have led 17 Congress-JD(S) MLAs, who quit their parties and subsequently joined BJP.

However, countering his claims, Siddaramaiah said, Jarkiholi has been making such claims for many days now, and there was no need to give much importance to it. “According to me no one will go……BJP is now a sinking ship,” he said.

Earlier today, Siddaramaiah had reiterated his claim that few BJP and JD(S) leaders are in touch with him and he would not reveal their names.

State Congress president D K Shivakumar too had made similar claims on Monday, as senior BJP legislator Basanagouda Patil Yatnal stated that some MLAs and Ministers, especially those who joined the saffron party from other parties, are in touch with the Congress leadership, and will jump ship, once the 2023 assembly poll schedule is announced.

However, reacting to these claims, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said, there is no question of anyone leaving the BJP.

“It shows the amount of insecurity the Congress is facing, there is a fight between two leaders (Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah) there, there is a series coming out every month claiming who is with whom in their own party, as a result of it, they are making such claims,” he said.

“There is no question of anyone going from the BJP, they (few leaders who are now Ministers in BJP govt) have come here stating that they don’t want Congress, so there is no question of going there…..I don’t want to comment on certain political developments that are taking place, but you will see things, wait for few days, you will see how BJP will get strengthened politically,” he added.

Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday said there is no discontent among his cabinet colleagues following the appointment of district in-charge Ministers, and that he has spoken to all of them before and after carrying out the exercise.

The Chief Minister’s statement came even as few Ministers stopped short of openly expressing their displeasures over them not being assigned their home districts.

“I have spoken to everyone (Ministers) before appointing them as district in-charge Ministers and after that as well. It is our party’s national policy that Ministers should be made in-charge of other districts, not their own,” Bommai said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said the appointments have been made after detailed discussions with every one.

“No one expressed any kind of disgruntlement, there is no such thing….. I have spoken to all Ministers, there is no question of discontent. We are all together as one and have decided to work for the people and we are working towards it…. the talks about disgruntlement or discontent is far from truth,” he added.

Almost six months into his government coming to office, Bommai on Monday had allocated districts among the Ministers of his Cabinet, of which they will be in-charge, while keeping the key Bengaluru urban district with himself.

Effecting a complete change from the previous B S Yediyurappa-led BJP government, the Chief Minister has not assigned any minister their home districts under which their Assembly constituency comes.

While at least two senior ministers- Revenue Minister R Ashoka and Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Madhuswamy have not been assigned any districts; three Ministers- B C Patil, K Gopalaiah and Shankar B Patil Munenakoppa have been allocated two districts each.

Noting that he would have been happy if he was made in-charge of Tumakuru, his home district, Law Minister Madhuswamy said, he himself has opted out of being Minister in-charge of any other district.

“When it is the party’s decision that home districts should not be allocated to any Minister, there is no question of discontent, but I’m not in a position to work in any other district which I don’t know, just ahead of election…..I decided to stay away from it,” he said.

Another Minister MTB Nagaraj, who is made in-charge of Chikkaballapura district said, as he has represented a constituency that comes under Bengaluru rural district and understands the pulse there, it would have been better he was made in-charge there, but as it is the decision of CM and party leadership, he will abide by it.

Meanwhile, responding to Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and D K Shivaumar’s claims that several leaders from other parties, especially from BJP are in touch with them, Bommai said, there is no question of anyone going out from the saffron party.

“It shows the amount of insecurity the Congress is facing, there is a fight between two leaders (Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah) there, there is a series coming out every month claiming who is with whom in their party, as a result of it they are making such claims,” he said.

“There is no question of anyone going from the BJP, they (few leaders who are now Ministers in BJP govt) have come here stating that they don’t want Congress, so there is no question of going there…..I don’t want to comment on certain political developments that are taking place, but you will see things, wait for few days, you will see how BJP will get strengthen politically,” he added.

Siddaramaiah today reiterated that few BJP and JD(S) leaders are in touch with him and he would not reveal their names.

Senior BJP legislator Basanagouda Patil Yatnal too on Monday had claimed that some MLAs and Ministers, especially those who joined the saffron party from other parties, are in touch with the Congress leadership, and will jump ship, once the 2023 assembly poll schedule is announced.