BENGALURU: Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday said the government has not taken any decision on handing over the Mangaluru autorickshaw terror blast case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

He said the accused, who was injured in the blast, is being treated. “There is a pipe in his throat and he cannot speak. His family members have confirmed his identity. We have given details to the NIA, but have not taken any decision to hand over the case to the central agency,” he added.

The police have collected personal details of the accused and are probing his connections with various places. “After knowing his identity, the police are collecting more details, including his contacts, and old cases, if any. The police are checking if there is any organisation behind him. Once they get details, they will take further action,”he added.

On Leader of Opposition Siddaramiah blaming the state government’s for failure of law and order, Bomma said, “When Siddaramiah was chief minister, many such cases occurred. He cannot blame law and order for the present incident.”

NIA team visits Mysuru
A five-member team from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) reached Mysuru on Sunday night and began investigation into the Mangaluru bomb blast after it was revealed that the prime suspect identified as H Mohammed Shariq (24) was staying in a rented house in the city. It is also suspected that Shariq, a BCom graduate, underwent training in mobile phone repair in Mysuru.

The NIA team will investigate the antecedents, contacts and places visited by Shariq in Mysuru. The team visited Shariq’s room in Lokanayaknagar which he had taken on rent using fake documents.  The NIA also took information about many incriminating material that were found in his room and other vital clues recovered by the police, bomb disposal squad and forensic teams who raided the room on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Mysuru police continued to question Shariq’s friend who is said to have supplied mobile phones and has found that the former had extensively visited Tamil Nadu since the last couple of months.
Also, intelligence network in Mysuru, including CCB officials and special branch, are collecting information on new tenants and keeping a strict vigil.

KARNATAKA POLICE TEAM VISITS COIMBATORE, DORMITORY SHUT   
 A special team of the Mangaluru Police visited Coimbatore on Monday as part of the investigation into the cooker bomb blast that injured two people, including the main suspect Mohammed Shariq, on Saturday. The five-member team headed by an inspector visited a dormitory in Coimbatore where Shariq had stayed a few days in September. They questioned the dormitory owner and the staff for more than an hour. Also, they visited a mobile shop at Gandhipuram where a SIM card was purchased after producing Aadhaar details of Surendran (28) of Thummanatty in Udhagamandalam in the Nilgiris and questioned the shopkeeper. The Coimbatore police closed the dormitory for investigation purpose on Monday. According to sources, another team from Mangaluru visited the native of Surendran on Monday. Surendran, who worked as a school teacher in a private school in Coimbatore and helped the Shariq for purchasing the SIM card which was used by him, was taken to Mangaluru by a special team of Tamil Nadu police for investigation, sources said.

BENGALURU:  The passenger in the autorickshaw, in which an explosive went off on Saturday in Mangaluru, has been identified as Mohammed Shariq (24), who was earlier involved in the terror graffiti case in Mangaluru in November 2020 and was recently enlarged on bail

Shariq had recently travelled to Coimbatore where on October 23, a car with an LPG cylinder in the boot exploded at Kottaimedu killing the driver — 29-year-old Jamesha Mubeen of Ukkadam.

The police had recovered charred remains of Mubeen near the car, a crushed LPG cylinder, two-inch-long iron nails, tiny glass marbles and a black powder-like substance. The case, which was initially registered and investigated by the TN police, is now being probed by the NIA after the opposition BJP demanded a probe by a central agency, alleging that it was a terror act. 

“Shariq is allegedly a member of the Islamic State of Iraq & Syria module Al Hind, which is active in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. This is his second alleged involvement in a terror activity in Mangaluru,” said sources. Shariq was also allegedly involved in radicalising two youth Maaz Muneer Ahmed and Syed Yasin, who were arrested in Shivamogga stabbing case in September. Shariq had been absconding since then.

MYSURU: In a reprehensible incident, a few villagers belonging to an upper caste drained drinking water from a mini-tank in Heggotara village in Chamarajanagar taluk and cleaned it with gomutra after a Dalit woman drank water from the tank.

The incident came to light after a villager uploaded a video of other residents opening taps and draining water from the tank. After the video went viral, taluk administration officials visited the spot, collected details and submitted a report to the tahsildar.

The incident occurred during a wedding of Dalits at the village on Friday. The bride’s relatives from Sargur in HD Kote taluk had arrived at the village for the ceremony. After consuming food, they were walking towards the bus stand when one of the women drank water from the tank on Lingayat Beedhi. A man from the area called others and they all berated the woman for sullying the water in the tank.

After the woman left the village, the residents of Lingayat Beedhi opened the taps of the tank, released all the water and cleaned it with gomutra. The village accountant and revenue inspector visited the village on Saturday and received a complaint from the SC youth.

Chamarajanagar Tahsildar IE Basavaraj said he has collected details from officers and directed the social welfare department assistant director to conduct a probe and submit a report. Action will be taken against the guilty, he added.

Chandrashekhar

Shivamogga: Former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has said that the death of MLA and chief minister’s political secretary M P Renukacharya’s nephew Chandrashekhar seems to be a case of murder, at the outset, and will be thoroughly investigated.

Chandrashekhar’s body was found in a decomposed state inside his car which was lifted from the Tunga canal near Kadadakatte, Davanagere, on Thursday. The youngster had been missing since October 30.

Addressing reporters here on Friday, Yediyurappa said, “The death of Chandrashekhar will be further investigated. I will also speak to the chief minister and urge to ensure the investigation is conducted urgently.”

Shivamogga MP B Y Raghavendra visited the house of Renukacharya in Honnali and offered his condolences to the family members, said sources.

Raghavendra said, “Chandrashekhar was active in politics and his death is a loss to the BJP,” and concurred that the matter should be investigated, the sources added.

Mangaluru: IAS Officer Ravi Kumar MR will take charge as the Deputy Commissioner of the Dakshina Kannada district, according to an order issued by the state government.

Ravi Kumar was currently serving as the Registrar of the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences.

DK DC Dr. KV Rajendra was transferred last week to Mysuru following which the current CEO of Zilla Panchayath was holding additional charge of the Deputy Commissioner.

Bengaluru: Karnataka on Wednesday reported 82 fresh COVID-19 cases taking the cumulative tally in the state to 40,68,193, the health department said.

There were no COVID-19 fatalities and the death toll due to the virus remained the same at 40,242.

Also, 271 people were discharged, taking the total number of recoveries to 40,25,944, according to a health bulletin. The active cases count stood at 1,953, the bulletin said.

Bengaluru Urban district accounted for the maximum number of 57 cases. Other districts too reported fresh infections.

According to the COVID-19 bulletin issued by the department, 20 districts reported zero infections and zero fatalities.

A total of 4,367 samples were tested in the state including 2,507 using RT-PCR methods, taking the cumulative number of specimens examined across the state to 6.94 crore.

The number of COVID vaccinations administered in the state rose to more than 12 crore, with 372 people being inoculated on Wednesday, it said.

Mangaluru: Local police on Wednesday clarified that the four members of a family who were hospitalized in the city earlier in the afternoon had not attempted suicide but it was a case of food poisoning.

Earlier, reports had suggested four members of a family had attempted suicide and were hospitalized.

Police however, clarified that the victims have claimed that they had not attempted suicide but fell sick after eating food and it was a case of food poisoning. Police also said that a proper medical bulletin from the hospital would give clear picture of the matter and added that they were waiting for it.

Ramanagara: The seer of Kunchagal Bande Mutt here, who was found hanging on Monday morning, allegedly killed himself over “blackmail”, police said.

Police have found a couple of pages of a purported death note by the seer in which he is said to have blamed some people of “harassing and blackmailing” him.

Sri Basavalingeshwara Swami, the head of the Math in Kempupura of Magadi taluk here, which has a history of more than 400 years, was found hanging from a window grill of the puja house at the math’s premises.

The seer, who had taken over the reins of the math in 1997, had celebrated the silver jubilee as the chief priest, a few months ago.

According to sources, alarmed at the puja house door remaining shut till six in the morning, which was unusual as the seer used to be awake by 4 AM for puja and kept the doors open, and him not responding to knocks or phone calls, mutt’s staff checked from the rear and found him hanging. They subsequently informed the police.

Police said they have registered a case of abetment to suicide and investigation is on.

According to police sources, a couple of pages of death note was found in which he has accused some people of harassing and blackmailing him by assassinating his character and has even named them.

Police, however, refused to divulge details and names citing that the investigations are on.

Officials said they will be questioning those named and those who were in close contact with the seer at the mutt and over phone.
The seer’s last rites were performed on Monday evening, after completing due procedures and post-mortem.

In December last year, the head of Chilume Mutt, Basavalinga Swamy, was also found hanging in a similar fashion. He reportedly had died upset over his deteriorating health, and was said to be depressed.

Mangaluru: A 13-year-old boy riding pillion on a two-wheeler in the city died on the spot when a bus collided with the vehicle and ran over the boy on Monday.

The victim of the road accident has been identified as Dhanu, a resident of Neermarga. The rider, a relative of Dhanu, is said to be out of danger.

The boy and his relative were going on the scooter in Mangaluru. When the duo reached Lalbagh, a private bus hit their two-wheeler from behind.

Both the rider and the pillion rider were thrown off the vehicle and fell beside the road. The bus then ran over the leg of Dhanu, who died on the spot, said the police sources.

Mangaluru Traffic Police have registered a case and are investigating.

BALLARI: Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who has been leading the Bharat Jodo Yatra for the last one month, took a break from the yatra on Monday and cast his vote in the AICC presidential election from a make-shift polling booth in a container at Sanganakallu village on the outskirts of Ballari city.  Several Congress MPs, including DK Suresh, cast their votes at the same booth.

Accepting the invitation of families who are into denim manufacturing in Ballari, the Wayanad MP visited the residence of one Hyder Ali who owns a small jeans-making unit at Cowl Bazaar in Ballari. The Ballari jeans industry has its own history in the country having employed thousands of people. Rahul had heard a lot about the industry during his interaction with weavers in Moka village. Earlier, Rahul visited Hazrat Irshad Ali Dargah in Cowl Bazaar. Traffic was hit in central Ballari because of his visit.

“It is the most memorable day for us. During our interaction with Rahul, we had invited him to visit our unit. We are facing a lot of difficulties after the Covid pandemic and GST implementation. He listened to us. Rahul said he would help the sector in Ballari to get back to its good old days. Nearly 200 denim-manufacturing units have shut shop in Ballari in the last two years alone,” Hyder Ali said.

Later in the day, Rahul took to social media condemning the Union government for imposing GST on small units. “I visited a few small units operated by women. They said the machines have to be rented without any help from the government which is an additional burden. Many medium and small trades have been destroyed due to wrong GST. We are raising the voice of every class in Bharat Jodo Yatra. This journey will raise the voice of the rights of businessmen,” he said.