Bengaluru: The Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examination conducted by the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB) for students across the state began at 9.30 am on Thursday, March 30.

Unlike previous years, this year students will be given separate answer booklets so that they can take the question paper with them. 8,77,174 students across the state will answer the SSLC exams in 2,770 centers.

Students will not be allowed to carry any gadgets and books into the exam hall. It is also learnt that students could avail free travel on BMTC and KSRTC buses to the respective exam centers by showing the conductor their hall tickets.

In order to have a smooth conduct of exams, about 40 CCTV cameras have been installed at the KSEEB office, 30 in the district treasuries while four sub-treasuries would be monitored 24×7 from the KSEEB, till the completion of exams on April 12.

Authorities have also instructed all photocopy shops within 200 meters of examination halls to remain shut.

(Agencies)

Abuja/New Delhi: Nigeria has called in the Indian envoy in the country to register its protest over an attack on four Nigerian students in Greater Noida and sought “diligent prosecution” against the perpetrators.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Olushola Enikanolaiye, sought action by the Indian government at a meeting with Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria Nagabushana Reddy in Abuja yesterday, state-run News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported.

The Nigerian students were allegedly attacked by people during a candle-light march for a 17-year-old Indian boy, who died of suspected drug overdose last week in Greater Noida. The boy’s parents alleged that the foreigners had kidnapped him and given him drugs which led to his death.

Enikanolaiye said the call for the prosecution of culprits was necessary to serve as a deterrent to others, the report said today. “We want to see diligent prosecution so that it would serve as a deterrent to those who think they can take laws into their hands and harass students who are going about their studies. That is why we felt we should register our concern to you on this occasion, and to please ask your government to take effective measures that this does not occur again,” he said.

He said the Indian high commissioner was called in to register the Nigerian government’s concern over the incident. He expressed concern that the incident was not the first of its kind as Nigerians had been attacked in the past by Indians.

“It is therefore, a concern to us that Nigerian students in that place were harassed, beaten up and many of them were seriously injured. We think this should not have happened considering the excellent relationship between two of us — the two countries have things in common and have been great friends,” it quoted Enikanolaye as saying.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has said the government was taking immediate action and she had spoken to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who has assured her of a fair and impartial investigation into the “unfortunate” incident.

(Agencies)

Banda (UP): At least 36 passengers were injured, 10 of them seriously, as six bogies of the Jabalpur-Nizamuddin Mahakaushal Express derailed early Wednesday in neighbouring Mahoba.

The incident took place between Mahoba and Kulpahad railway stations near Supa village when the last six bogies derailed, SP (Mahoba) Gaurav Singh said.

Ten of the seriously injured have been admitted to a private hospital in Mahoba, he said.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed state Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh to visit the accident site.

The health minister said he was personally monitoring the rescue and relief efforts.

Thirty doctors and 21 ambulances have been rushed to the accident site, the minister said.

The SP said relief and rescue operations are on in full swing and two helpline numbers have been activated for the help of passengers and their family members.The numbers are 05101072 and 051921072.

The bogies which derailed comprised three AC and three general.

Earlier, the Chief Public Relations Officer, North Central Railway had said that around eight coaches from the rear side of the train have derailed.

Senior administrative and railway officials have reached here and investigations are going on to ascertain the cause of the accident.

(PTI)

Nagpur: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Wednesday dismissed reports that he was in the race for the President of India’s post and asserted that he will not accept even if he was nominated.

“I am not interested in that post. Such a news is only for entertainment. That is never going to happen,” Bhagwat said in Marathi while interacting with media persons here.

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s ally Shiv Sena earlier in the week urged the Narendra Modi government to consider Bhagwat for the post of the President, contending that it would pave the way for India to become a Hindu Rashtra.

But Bhagwat on Wednesday insisted his only priority was the Rashtriya Swayamsevek Sangh (RSS).

“We close all doors before coming here. When we work in the Sangh, we don’t go there (to such high posts). There are many Swayamsevaks up there and they know it well,” he said — obliquely hinting at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a former Swayamsevak who should know about the RSS culture.

“Even if in an impossible situation my name is nominated, we will not accept it,” said Bhagwat and assured his followers not to panic about the news.

“It is an entertaining news and should be looked at that way and left at that,” added Bhagwat.

The presidential election is due in July when President Pranab Mukherjee’s five-year term ends.

(IANS)

Bengaluru: A derogatory remark about minority communities by BJP opposition leader in the legislative council K S Eshwarappa led to uproarious scenes in the House on Tuesday. Though Congress and JD(S) members demanded an apology, Eshwarappa firmly declined.

Following protests by Congress and JD(S) members belonging to the minority community, council chairman D H Shankarmurthy expunged the word from the records.

The issue, triggered during chief minister Siddaramaiah’s reply to the debate on the state budget who said of the Rs 1.86 lakh crore budget for 2017-2018, only Rs 2,000 crore was allocated for the minorities.

While intervening, Eshwarappa said the BJP does not give election tickets to anyone, just because he or she is from a particular community. He said any person who wants to seek a ticket from the party needs to work for the BJP office and then seek a ticket. The BJP has a policy of “no votes, no seat”.

He said, “There are MLCs representing minorities in this House who have secured tickets from other parties due to their, or their families’, influence. In our party, people need to work for the ticket in the office.” He then used a derogatory word against the minorities.

(Agencies)

Bengaluru: Four men were arrested here with demonetised notes of the face value of Rs 3.98 crore, the Bengaluru police said on Tuesday.

“The accused, Nanjunda, 46, Ambrose, 46, and Arif Pasha, 34, from Bengaluru and Felix, 35, from Kerala, were arrested and the old currency notes have been seized from them,” Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) S. Ravi told reporters here.

The four persons were arrested under Section 7 of the Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Act, 2017, which entails six-month imprisonment.

“On tip-off, the City Crime Branch (CCB) police arrested the four men and seized a car parked in front of a lodge in southern suburb. The accused had kept the banned notes in the car to exchange for new notes,” Ravi said.

On March 23, two men were arrested here with demonetised notes of the face value of Rs 1.28 crore which they were attempting to exchange for new notes.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: The Interpol has virtually dealt a death blow to India’s chances of getting a Red Corner Notice issued against former IPL Chairman Lalit Modi in a money laundering probe in the T-20 cricket tournament.

The global police body, officials said, has apparently ruled in favour of Modi who had contested the issuance of such a warrant against him by the Interpol, on the request of the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The ED had first made the request in 2015 to the Interpol.

Modi also tweeted from his official handle a certificate endorsing such a stand by the Interpol which stated that he is not “subject to an Interpol Red Notice or diffusion and is not known in Interpol’s database.”

The cricket administrator, who is said to be in the UK, has maintained that he has not done any wrong in any of the Indian Premier League (IPL) deals.

Meanwhile, official sources said the ED will go through the order issued by the Commission for the Control of Files (CCF) of the Interpol in this regard and take up the matter with the government and the CBI which is the nodal body for Interpol affairs in India.

It is understood that the ED will ask the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the CBI to take up with Interpol past cases where India and other countries have got the RCN issued against their wanted people or criminal by just providing required legal documents.

Sources in the agency called the development to be “fishy” and added that while it will be taken up before authorities, the ED will pursue other legal avenues like getting an extradition request executed against Modi.

The ED had registered a money laundering case against Modi and others based on a Chennai police complaint in 2012 on charges of alleged cheating of BCCI-IPL in granting overseas telecast rights of the T-20 cricket tournament in 2009.

The Interpol has been delaying the ED’s request for a global warrant against him since it was first requested in 2015 and its latest order has reportedly relied on the fact that there is “insufficient judicial data” against him.

Officials said the ED had submitted records of the FIR, statements of other accused and other details to the Interpol multiple times in order to underline the importance of getting an RCN against Modi but to no avail.

They said the agency was surprised to find that non-availability of a charge sheet in the case has been cited as a reason for not notifying the RCN against Modi, a ground that rarely has a precedent in Interpol operations when it comes to issuing RCNs.

An RCN is notified “to seek the location of a wanted person and his/her detention, arrest or restriction of movement for the purpose of extradition, surrender or similar lawful action.”

The ED had also written to the Chennai police a number of times to get the investigation in their FIR expedited but officials confirmed there has been no headway.

The Chennai police FIR was filed in 2010 acting on a complaint by former BCCI chief N Srinivasan against Modi and half-a-dozen others.

The ED subsequently invoked the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) along with sections 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC to probe if BCCI-IPL and the exchequer had been cheated in the award of telecast rights for the T-20 tournament in 2009.

(PTI)