Parmesh Jain

MLA SR Vishwanath,along with BBMP Chief Commissioner,Gaurav Gupta held a review meeting about Yelahanka road conditions and to instruct the authorities to work on priority and fill all potholes and other civic amenities in the area.

In the meeting,Zonal Commissioner,Dayanand, Joint commissioner PV Poornima,Chief Engineer Ranganath,Prahallad,Suguna, BWSSB, BESCOM and other officials were present

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Yelahanka Zone in the Mini Vidhana Soudha pothole and road repair work,rain damage work,waste segregation,street lights, Covid and other related works were discussed.

MLA SR Vishwanath said, in city’s Yelahanka limits,UGD line,water line,BESCOM UG work,gas line,OFC cable laying should be completed immediately and road repair with need to be taken up as soon as possible.

In the 110 villages,UGD line and water line work is going slow.This is the reason why road repair work is not been able to execute. In this regard the BWSSB should complete their work immediately.

The work completed reports should be submitted to the BBMP,and then the Palike will take up the road repair work and make easy for commuters, he said.

Chief commissioner,Gaurav Gupta said, Yelahanka zone should not suffer during the rainy time and officials need to take up works as and when necessary.

Water entering the houses,water clogging on the roads and these issues should be immediately fixed and rain water should be channelized to Rajakaluve where water will flow smoothly, he instructed the officials.

Ward and Engineer officers along with the BWSSB should work together and there is no water clogging and water should flow in the Rajakaluve during the rainy season.

In the pathway drains which connect to the kaluve,dirt should be removed and smooth flow of water should be ensured.On either sides of the road, shoulder drains need to be kept clean,he instructed the officials.

In the 110 villages,16 villages come under Yelahanka zone and water work,UGD work,Water lane,Cauvery 5th phase pipeline work should be completed as soon possible and a report list should be submitted to the Palike.Post that, the Palike will take up revamping work.

Take up main roads repair work:

In the Yelahanka zone, all main roads need to be completely repaired.Near the Thanisandra Rashtrothana flyover KPTCL to 66 KV work and Cauvery 5th phase water lane is still not completed and due to which everyone is taking the service road which is totally damaged.Due to this immediately road repair work needs to be completed .

Sandeep Unnikrishnan road,Vidyaranyapura road, GKVK double road,MS Palya main road and other main roads where potholes are there immediately repair work should be taken up,he instructed the officials.Along with this important road revamping work should be taken up,he instructed the engineers.

Keep a check on Waste segregation :

Respective officials should keep a tab on waste segregation in the Yelahanka zone.Dry waste, Wet waste and segregation of the same should be followed.

Black spot should be identified and immediately it should be cleaned and ensure there are no black spots,he instructed the officials.

Lake revamping should be done :

In the Yelahanka zone all lake should be revamped and developed properly. The rain water should flow smoothly in the Rajakaluves and should flow to the lakes.

Fixing Street lights :

Fixing the street lights should be done properly. Respective officials should check where there is no Street light and damaged and it should be fixed.

Details of Covid cases:

In the Yelahanka zone there are 11 PHCs and all health centers should conduct Covid testing through teams which should be monitored by the medical supervisors. If there are any Covid cases that are found, immediately contact tracing should be done. Along with this, the vaccination process should be ramped up, he instructed the officials.

Parmesh Jain

A police constable working with central control room ended life at a lodge in Upparpet on Tuesday.

The deceased has been identified as,Ranganath Kumar R was in gauribidanur transferred to Central range control room on official duty.

Senior officer told media persons,on monday he checked in into Sanman lodge and taken the extreme step .

The incident came to light when the staff checked on him on tuesday afternoon and alerted the police .

The Upparpet police rushed to the spot and shifted the body for post-mortem.

Initial probe revealed that he was upset with the domestic feud and this could be the reason behind his extreme step.

Ranganath wife told the police that the couple used to have frequent fights over trivial issues but it was shocked about his extreme step.

The Upparpet police have taken up a case of unnatural death and investigating to ascertain the cause of death.

This is the second incident of suicide as 38-year-old head constable Kumar R ended life by hanging to a tree near his house in Jnanabharathi on May 9,allegedly due to financial problems.

The West Division police of Annapoorneshwari Nagar police have arrested a 34 year old security guard and recovered two stolen mobile phones and three diamond rings worth Rs 22.3 lakh from him.

The accused identified as Manjunath E , resident of Sultanpet on Nandi Hill road was arrested while he was trying to sell the stolen mobile phones which he had stolen from a mobile shop in July this year.

Senior officer told media persons,a mobile repair shop was robbed in the month of July by miscreant in which 2 mobile phones and cash was robbed by unknown person and complaint was registered in Annapoorneshwari Nagar police station.

Based on complaint a special team was formed by PI, Annapoorneshwari Nagar, Lohith to nab the offender and the team swung into action and after analysing CCTV footage the team got vital clues and while the crime staff was on rounds in the area they noticed one person who was trying to sell the mobile phone.

The team on suspect basis questioned him about the mobile phone and while questioning the suspect dint answer to their question the team got suspicious on the persons and took him to station for questioning.

During investigation it was found that he was trying to sell the stolen mobile phone to the shopkeeper in lesser price the team grilled who confessed the crime and revealed that he has commited a theft in mobile shop the team checked the mobile phone and after confirming the team arrested the accused.

The accused has been identified as,Manjunath E,a security guard by profession the crime team conducted a detailed questioning which led him to reveal the theft of three diamond rings from the house of a villa owned by a football player in prestige golf villa three months ago where he worked as security guard.

Accused told the police that he had stolen the diamond ring from the drawer of the villa,three months ago.

The team who were probing mobile theft case has got a breakthrough in solving diamond ring theft case reported in Vishwanathapura police station.

We are verifying his claim and checking with the jurisdictional Vishwanathapura police about any complaint of theft filed by the owner of the house and further investigation is on.

Finally Bengaluru Police Commissioner,Kamal Pant has appreciated Addl CP West,Soumendhu Mukherjee,DCP West,Dr Sanjeev M Patil,ACPs,UD Krishna Kumar,Kodandarama,PI,Lohith and his whole team who has nabbed the security guard turned into notorious HBT offender and recovered 3 diamond rings and 2 mobile phones from him a suitable reward will be given to the team for the exemplary and meticulous investigation done by them in detecting the case he added.

Parmesh Jain

Union Home Minister,Amit Shah chaired the meeting.Karnataka Chief Minister, Basavaraj Bommai,Andhra Pradesh,CM,Jaganmohan Reddy, Lakshadweep Administrator,Praful Patel, Puducherry Lieutenant Governor,Dr.Tamilisai Sounderajan,Puducherry Chief Minister,N Rangaswamy participated in the meeting.

Karnataka Chief Secretary,P Ravikumar, Development Commissioner,Vandita Sharma,Water Resources,Additional Chief Secretary,Rakesh Singh,N Manjunath Prasad,and other senior officials too were present.

29th Southern Zonal Council Meeting:
Strong Centre and strong States needed to build a strong nation :

Strong Centre and Strong States are needed to build a strong nation.Many issues which have eluded a solution for many years could be resolved if we work with a spirit of cooperation.

Chief Minister,Basavaraja Bommai said in his address at the 29th meeting of the Southern Zonal Council held in Tirupati on Sunday which was chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

It was inevitable for the southern states to work with the true spirit of cooperative federalism as enunciated by Prime Minister,Narendra Modi as the states were geographically inter connected.

The states need to come together and work together.Then only the country could develop, Bommai said.

Prime Minister’s principle of Cooperative federalism should be the basic principle for working together and it is the responsibility of the states to implement it,Bommai added.

He expressed his happiness about the functioning of Southern Zonal Council and said, it offered a very good forum for resolving many issues related to inter state water sharing, transport connectivity, health etc in a spirit of consensus.

The Chief Minister raised the following issues of Karnataka that needed coordination with other states at the meeting.

Karnataka has already conveyed its stand on river linking projects in Godavari,Cauvery and other river basins to union government.

Karnataka should get its share of surplus water in the Cauvery,Krishna and Pennar river basins, the Chief Minister stressed.

Taking exception to Tamil Nadu for taking up the Cauvery-Vaigai-Gundar link works even before allocation of the share of surplus waters for other states which have a share in the basin, Bommai said it had no legal sanction.He urged the union government not to approve the project.

He reiterated Karnataka’s demand to centre not to accord legal clearance for major permanent irrigation projects taken up by neighboring states in violation of the verdict of Water Disputes Tribunals.

Telangana had no right to take up Palamaru Ranga Reddy and Nakkalagandi lift irrigation projects from Srisailam reservoir in Krishna basin to draw huge quantum of surplus waters, Bommai said.

Bommai also opposed construction of Rajiv Gandhi Sangam Banda barrage by Telangana.Such a permanent project to draw surplus waters would deprive Karnataka of its rightful share of water ,he said and expressed Karnataka’s readiness for a joint survey in this regard.

Joiint Survey should be conducted on the impending submergence of villages in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh due to construction of Gundravulu reservoir by Andhra Pradesh across Tungabhadra river.

Andhra should share the details it has submitted to the Tribunal and the clearances it has obtained from the centre regarding the project, he said.

As far as sharing of Krishna waters is concerned Andhra and Telangana had no clearance for any projects other than the ones approved for utilising the already adjudicated quantum of waters.

He appealed for speedy response on concluding an agreement with Telangana, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala on boosting interstate transport services.

Bommai stressed the need for better coordination among Home Departments of southern states to effectively prevent and combat crime,strengthen communication networks at border areas.

Karnataka is in the forefront in harnessing renewable energy sources. It is the only state which has met the targets set by the centre in this domain. He appealed to centre to remove the inter state tariff disparities in the interest of drawing investment.

State government has created Core DBT Forum to ascertain the identity of the beneficiaries. Karnataka has already announced in its budget about linking all centrally sponsored schemes to DBT Forum to prevent use of fake documents and eliminate fake beneficiaries he said.

Parmesh Jain

The Bengaluru Police refuted the charges of foul play in the investigation and cover-up exercises.

Meanwhile,the Bengaluru police issued a statement to clear the air and said that the investigation was conducted by the Central Crime Branch in a fair and professional manner.

It is emphatically stated that such misleading versions are being floated based on incomplete/distorted facts.All such versions are vehemently denied,the police said.

Based on the credible information on November 4, 2020 on a drug consignment procured through the darknet,CCB Police secured one accused and seized 500 grams of Hydro Ganja.

During further investigation,10 other accused persons,including Srikrishna,alias Sriki were secured and arrested.

During interrogation,Srikrishna confessed before the Investigating Officer about his involvement in alleged hacking of many Crypto-currency websites.

It is stated that neither were any Bitcoins transferred from the account of hacker Srikrishna nor was any Bitcoin lost.

It is a fact that for the purpose of investigation of Crypto Currency,it was felt necessary to open a Bitcoin account,the police said.

It added that on December 8, 2020,government permission was obtained to open a Bitcoin account.

During the process of identifying and seizure of bitcoins,accused Srikrishna showed a BTC wallet, which contained 31.8 BTC.The wallet password was changed in the presence of cyber experts, Government panchas and the entire procedure was recorded under mahazer and submitted to the court,the police said.

Further, the Court’s permission was obtained to use password to transfer the said Bitcoins to the police wallet account.

Upon reaching the said wallet shown by Srikrishna, it showed 186.811 Bitcoins,police said, adding that the Cyber experts opined that the said account claimed by the accused as his personal account was in fact a live wallet of an exchange and the accused did not have private key for this.

Hence, the said account was left untouched and as a result,no BITCOINS were transferred to Police wallet.

The case has been chargesheeted along with the above facts and related documents and is now subjudice,” police said.They said that at no stage was anything done which could jeopardise a fair investigation and the process of law.

They claimed that investigation was done by a team of professional officers under close supervision and in continuous consultation and in the presence of reputed and external experts, without any external influence or interference.

On the claim made on Whale Alert’s Twitter handle that 14,682 stolen bitfinex bitcoins were transferred, police said they were completely unsubstantiated.

There is nothing to suggest that it had originated from Bengaluru. The law enforcement system and investigating agencies work on certain procedures laid down by law of the land,the statement read.

It further said that till date no foreign law enforcement agencies or any foreign companies have approached Bengaluru police about any hacking.

Even representatives of Bitfinex company have neither shared any details of the alleged hack nor sought any information so far,police said.

On the claims of Srikrishna about high volume hacking of websites, police said the careful examination of digital evidence by the cyber experts revealed that majority of his claims were unsubstantiated.

It also said that Bengaluru police have informed CBI,Enforcement Directorate and Interpol through proper channels this year.

Regarding the charge that Srikrishna was allegedly forced to consume Alprazolam during police custody, police said that on the direction of the court, his blood and urine samples were collected at Bowring Hospital and submitted to the Forensic Science Laboratory for scientific examination.

After examination,the FSL gave a negative report, stating that there was no presence of drugs, police said in their statement.

Parmesh Jain

The SIT team probing into criminal cases have stumbled on a racket involved in creating pre-dated land and property documents using fake stamp papers and fake seals operating in the city.

The team received a credible information that still the fake stamp papers are being supplied in market the SIT team taking the matter seriously approached court for search warrant.

After getting the court’s permission on Friday,the East Division cops conducted raids in the wee hours of Saturday and have picked up five suspects who are in custody and being questioned.

Senior officer told reporters,The HAL and the Halasurugate police were recently investigating on an unnatural death case and a murder case where they stumbled on this racket involved fake stamp papers and fake seals,while they were verifying documents pertaining to the crime.

Meanwhile, the city police also received directions from the High Court stating a lot of forgery cases have been on the rise off late that had come to the court and the police need to take a look at it.

Based on this direction,Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Division,Dr SD Sharanappa formed a Special Investigating Team (SIT) at the HAL police station who started collecting information about a gang involved in fake stamp papers and seals and managed to get credible information about them operating in the city.

Based on this information,and after taking the court’s permission,the SIT teams in the wee hours of Saturday,conducted raids at four places in Byatarayanapura and Vivek Nagar and picked up five suspects for questioning.

During the searches, the SIT teams seized numerous fake stamp papers,seals and other related materials and a detailed mahajar is being conducted and detailed investigation is underway he added.

Finally Bengaluru Police Commissioner,Kamal Pant,Addl CP East,S Murugan,has appreciated DCP East,Dr SD Sharanappa and his special investigation team who has successfully nabbed five suspects who were involved in supplying fake stamp papers and seal and a suitable reward will be given to the team he added.

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday said the state will soon have an anti-religious conversion law.

Speaking to reporters here, Bommai said, “The state government is studying related laws enacted by other states and soon an anti-conversion legislation will be formulated.” He was replying to a query on the meeting with a group of seers, seeking a ban on religious conversion, on Friday.

According to the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti convener Mohana Gowda, under whose aegis the event was organised, over 50 seers of various Hindu religious orders met Bommai and stressed on the need for a law banning religious conversion.

The Chief Minister categorically stated that the constitution does not permit forced conversion, including by allurement.

Later, Gowda said in a statement that Sriram Sena chief Pramod Muthalik, Santhosh Guruji, Siddalinga Swami and Pranavananda Swami were among the delegates.

Muthalik was quoted as saying that the schools and hospitals are being used for religious conversion. Many illegal churches were also coming up in the state, he said.

The delegates demanded that the converts be denied special benefits meant for the scheduled caste and other backward class.

Bengaluru: Continuing its tirade against the ruling BJP in Karnataka over the alleged bitcoin scam, the opposition Congress on Friday sought a probe under a sitting Supreme Court judge, into the case.

As Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and Priyank Kharge alleging attempts to cover-up, demanded that the government come out clean in connection with the cases, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai asserted that nobody from his government was involved in the bitcoin scam and termed statements that his position was in danger, as “political”.

“I don’t want to react on this issue on a day-to-day basis, I have already made an appeal to whom ever it is, to please tell us, what is the scam and who are involved, so that it can be probed. As far as the government is concerned it is very clear that the matter was handed over to the ED about 8-9 months back, which has registered the case and probe is on,” Bommai told reporters.

Noting that the government is open minded with respect to the case, in response to a question he said, “we need not protect anybody, none of our people are involved. Therefore, whatever little information they (Congress) have, they should hand it over to investigating agencies, let the probe happen and truth come out.”

Claiming that the bitcoin scam was probably the first and biggest cryptocurrency scam in India , Congress legislator and former IT Minister Priyank Kharge listed out chronology of events concerning the case and said the documents suggest that the prime accused, Srikrishna alias Sriki was allegedly drugged in police custody.

He also questioned the delay by the police and state government in reporting the case to the central agencies, while expressing apprehensions about some kind of a cover-up.

Addressing a press conference at the KPCC office here, Kharge said Sriki’s father had in January filed an application in court claiming that his son had been administered “mind-altering drugs” by the police in their custody, especially Alprazolam, and that Sriki had also made similar claims before the magistrate, when asked.

Seeking to know why the accused was administered drugs while in police custody, citing documents, he further noted that the magistrate had sought a test of his blood and urine samples, which seems to have not been done.

Alleging that new cases were slapped on Sriki each time his police custody ended, Kharge sought an explanation from police officials in this connection.

Finding lapses in the panchnama’s done with regards to the recovery of 31 bitcoins worth about Rs 9 crore, he said during the third panchnama, for transferring bitcoins to the police wallet from Sriki’s wallet, cyber experts and people from Unocoin were called. “When the wallet (of Sriki) was opened, it had 186 bitcoins.”

Then the process of transferring bitcoins to police wallet was initiated, the MLA said.

“On verifying, they (police, experts and those from Unicoin) found that the transaction ID never existed.

Kharge also raised questions about the whereabouts of the 186 bitcoins now.

In response to a query on allegations that the bitcoins have now disappeared, Bommai told reporters that all these charges have to be proved with documents. “there is lot of hear say.. but the real scam and facts of the case have to come out through probe . ED is probing, we have also referred (the case) to CBI Interpol branch, as there is international ramification,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Senior Congress leader and leader of opposition Siddaramaiah in a series of tweets sought to know if it was ‘correct’ on part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in telling Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to ignore the charges regarding the bitcoin scam in the state.

“Instead of asking the CM of Karnataka to investigate and prove the innocence, how is it correct for the Prime Minister to tell him to ignore the allegations? Can the Prime Minister unilaterally decide what he wants?” Siddaramaiah asked.

Bommai after meeting Modi in New Delhi on Thursday had said the Prime Minister advised him not to bother about the issue, and instead work for the people with dedication and honesty.

There have been speculations for some time now about involvement of politically influential people in the scam after CCB officials seized bitcoins worth Rs 9 crore from a city-based hacker Sriki, who is also accused of hacking into government portals, sourcing drugs through the dark net, and paying for it through cryptocurrency.

While Congress leaders alleging involvement of senior BJP leaders, their family members and senior officials in the scam, have accused the government of trying to cover up; the ruling party too in its counter has alleged involvement of leaders from the grand old party.

BENGALURU: Even as the Union health ministry is “working” on a policy for the third dose of Covid-19 jab, anxious healthcare workers and doctors in Karnataka are jumping the gun and silently taking booster shots.  

They said they are “anxious” as they are seeing breakthrough infections, ICU admissions, fatalities and waning antibodies among those immunised with both doses. 

“Not just government, even private hospital doctors are doing this. We are educated and are following research that’s out,” said a doctor from a Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute hospital.

Dr CN Manjunath, member of Covid-19 Technical Advisory Committee and Director of Jayadeva Hospital, said he is aware of this trend.

Many are taking the third jab out of fear — they are checking antibody levels, and if there is an indication of waning, they are opting for the jab.

However, there is no protocol announced yet.

“With people hesitating to take the second dose, healthcare workers feel they are at risk. Especially with reports of breakthrough infections, ICU admissions and some minute population succumbing to it, doctors are worried. Taking a booster is not dangerous but there’s no policy yet so it’s better to refrain,” he said. 

A head nurse from a private hospital on Bannerghatta Road said, “I was told to check my antibody level. It had waned, so I got my third jab,” she said.

However, a senior doctor explained that waning of antibodies is not the same as absence of immune response.

“Antibodies will taper off. When an antigen hits again, the antibodies will mount and can even come out strongly to protect the individual if he/she is young, and not immuno-compromised,” he said.

Epidemiologist Dr Giridhara Babu, who is also a member of TAC, said that flu shots are given every year as the virus keeps changing.

“In case of Covid-19, it is gamma variant which is infectious and after that, no variant has been more infectious. So we don’t know yet whether annual boosters are needed,” he said.

Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar quoted Dr NK Arora, co-chair of INSACOG, as saying that they have been working on a policy document regarding administering a booster dose for the past three weeks, which will be made public soon.  

It was a long struggle for Gowda to reach the chief minister’s position in 1994 and he was at the peak of his political career in 1996 when the Prime Minister’s post came knocking. His party, the Janata Dal, was in a formidable position, having won 16 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state, propelling him to the national stage after Atal Behari Vajpayee resigned as Prime Minister.

Gowda was shocked when United Front leaders proposed his name to the post. Given his political acumen, Gowda was sceptical of Congress continuing its support to the coalition government for long. His hunch proved right.  

‘Basu’s decision to put Gowda in PM’s chair’

Congress did withdraw support 11 months later, cutting short Gowda’s run as Prime Minister. The book captures Gowda’s thinking before he accepted the PM’s post. “Don’t we all know what Congress did to Charan Singh, VP Singh and Chandrashekar? Will they spare me? Please, change your mind. I also have no felicity in Hindi and have not travelled the length and breadth of this country. You are our elder, I beg you,” Gowda is said to have appealed to Basu.

“When I saw he was unwilling to listen, I touched his feet and requested him to accept my argument,” Gowda is quoted as saying in the book. So much so, Basu told him, “Mr Gowda, do I go out and tell the people of India that we have no secular alternative to Vajpayee? Can we put out an advertisement in the newspaper for a secular Prime Minister?”

Author Srinivasaraju, who has been tracking political developments in the country for decades, told The New Indian Express that it was the conscious decision of Basu and then General Secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist) Harkishan Singh Surjit to put Gowda in the PM’s chair, and it was their acknowledgement of Gowda’s administrative capabilities.

He travelled in an open jeep in J&K

The book highlights Gowda’s desire and intent to resolve India-Pakistan issues and how he had established a diplomatic back channel with then Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif through Dr LH Hiranandani, an ENT Surgeon from Mumbai who had treated Gowda and was a friend of Sharif ’s father.

During his second visit to Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 1996, Gowda wanted to go in an open-top jeep from the Rajouri airport to the town, but Army Commander Lt Gen Dhillon was concerned. He told Gowda, “If I do something like this, the country will hang me, sir.” Gowda replied, “Nothing will happen, don’t worry. You drive and I’ll sit next to you. Assume somebody lobs a grenade; both of us will die. Where is the question of you being hanged?”

Lt Gen Dhillon, during his interview with the author on December 4, 2019, said he was surprised by Gowda’s request for an openjeep ride.

“Prime Ministers don’t do this. They want to be protected all the time. Vehicles are flown in for them. But Gowda saab always moved around with minimal protection. He was a brave chap. The Valley would have changed if he had been around longer.”

The book highlights how he intervened in the budget presented by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, his letters to Vajpayee expressing strong views on violence in Gujarat in 2002, secret files about prominent political personalities that were kept by PV Narasimha Rao and passed on to Gowda’s PMO and his equation with senior Congress leaders as well as with current Prime Minister Narendra Modi.