Archives for 2024

Belur: A man was seriously injured after an elephant attacked him while he was riding a two-wheeler near Anthony Estate of Arehalli Hobli in Belur taluk on Friday morning.

The victim, Jerome D’Souza, 54, who works as a security guard at a Rotary school in Arehalli town, was on his way to pick up his wife, Jacinta D’Souza, from her native house in Bakravalli, Arehalli Hobli. During his journey, he encountered elephants standing by the roadside at Kallugandi. The elephants attacked him, causing severe injuries.

Jerome D’Souza suffered a fractured right hand and multiple injuries on his body. He is currently receiving treatment in the Intensive Care Unit of Hassan District Hospital.

Gurdaspur: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday attacked the Congress over the 1984-anti Sikh riots, alleging that while it allowed the “massacre of Sikhs” and its governments at the Centre protected the rioters, he ensured the guilty were punished.

Canvassing for BJP Lok Sabha poll candidates in Punjab, he also alleged that Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann cannot take any decision on his own and had to go to the Tihar Jail in Delhi to take orders.

“‘Delhi ke darbari’ are running Punjab. The Punjab CM cannot take any decision on his own. His ‘maalik’ went to jail and the Punjab government started shutting down,” the prime minister said, referring to the arrest and incarceration of Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejrwal in the excise policy-linked money laundering case.

Kejriwal, whose AAP is in power in Punjab, was released after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail on May 10. He has to surrender on June 2.

“To take new orders and run the government, the CM (Mann) had to go to the Tihar jail” and “he had to present his report card to him (Kejriwal)”, Modi said at a rally here to seek support for BJP candidates Dinesh Babbu (Gurdaspur), Taranjit Singh Sandhu (Amritsar) and Anita Som Parkash (Hoshiarpur).

He said after June 1, “kattar bhrahistachari (the corrupt Kejriwal)” will again go to jail.

“Will the Punjab government again be run from jail. Do you want such a government?” he asked the gathering and asserted that the state’s development was his priority.

Targeting the Congress and the INDIA bloc, of which the party is a member, Modi said nobody knows the real face of this alliance better than Punjab.

He said it was the same alliance that inflicted the “maximum wounds” on Punjab. After India’s freedom, it gave the wound of Partition and then the wound of instability for self interest and a long period of unrest, the prime minister said.

“They fuelled separatism in Punjab. Then they got the massacre of Sikhs done in Delhi. Till the time, the Congress remained in power at the Centre, it used to protect the rioters,” he said and added that “it was Modi who got files of the anti-Sikh riots opened.”

“It was Modi who ensured punishment to the guilty,” the prime minister said and added that the Congress and the “jharoowali party” — referring to the AAP — have a problem about this. “Therefore, they abuse Modi day and night,” he said.

Referring to the role of Sikhs in the Ram temple movement, Modi said the first person to fight for building the Ram mandir was a Sikh. “He fought for the Ram temple. And, when the consecration ceremony took place (in January), his descendants attended the event,” he said.

Modi said when Amarinder Singh headed the Congress government in Punjab, the party wanted to run his government through “remote control”.

“But Captain Amarinder Singh refused to obey the orders from ‘Delhi ke shehzade’ (Rahul Gandhi),” he said.

Singh was a patriot and he gave priority to national security because Punjab is a border state, and refused to take the “anti-national orders”, Modi said.

“What was the result? ‘Congress ke shahi parivar (the first family of the party)’ and the ‘shehzade’ removed him (Singh) from the post of Punjab chief minister,” he said.

Singh was unceremoniously removed from the CM post by the Congress in 2021. He later quit the party and joined the BJP.

Attacking the AAP, Modi said, “Unfortunately, today also an attempt is being made to run (the Punjab government) through remote control.”

Terming the INDIA bloc, of which the AAP is also a member, as the “biggest threat” to the country’s national security, Modi said it is talking about enforcing Article 370 again.

“They again want terrorism in Kashmir. They want to hand over Kashmir to separatists. They will again send the message of friendship to Pakistan. And, Pakistan will carry out bomb blasts, and terror attacks will take place in the country,” he said.

Slamming the Congress, Modi said its problem is that it does not have “aastha (faith) in Bharat”.

“The shehzada goes overseas and defames the country. He says ‘Bharat toh rashtra he nahi hai’. That is why they want to change the nation’s identity,” he said.

Prime Minister Modi also lashed out at the Congress for rejecting the invitation for the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. INDIA bloc leaders are dubbing the Ram temple as “apavitra (impure)” and “bekar (useless)”, he said.

Alleging that the Congress and the AAP are putting Punjab’s future at stake, Modi said drug menace is growing, criminals are getting the patronage of the state government, development is at a standstill and farmers are worried.

Modi said that the 2024 election is an election of giving leadership to the country. On one side there is the BJP and the NDA that have a clear vision of ‘Viksit Bharat’ and on the other is the INDIA bloc that is extremely “communal, casteist and nepotist”, he said.

Modi also said that the two INDIA bloc parties are trying different ways to fool people. “They show themselves as friends in Delhi, while abuse each other in Punjab,” he said.

The Congress and the AAP are contesting the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi in an alliance. In Punjab they are fighting the elections separately.

“People have understood that these two shops have one shutter,” Modi said.

Recalling the late Gurdaspur MP and actor Vinod Khanna, the prime minister said he was his very good friend. “We worked together for a long time. He (Khanna) was always attached to the ground,” Modi said.

Srinagar: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday claimed that outgoing calls on her mobile number have been suspended without any explanation.

“I am not able to make any calls since morning. There is no explanation for this sudden suspension of services on the day of polling in the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency,” Mehbooba told PTI.

The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency, where voting is currently underway.

The PDP also flagged the issue in a post on X.

“Just ahead of the polls, Ms. Mehbooba Mufti’s @MehboobaMufti cellular phone service has been abruptly snapped. Yesterday evening and in the early hours today, scores of PDP workers and polling agents were detained across polling belt,” it said.

On Friday, Mehbooba had written to the Election Commission claiming that PDP workers and polling agents were detained by police.

“Many of our PDP polling agents & workers are being detained just before voting. When the families went to the police stations they are being told that it’s being done at the behest of SSP Anantnag & DIG South Kashmir

Davanagere, Karnataka: A police station was vandalised in Channagiri town in the district and several vehicles were set on fire by a violent mob over an alleged custodial death, during the small hours of Saturday.

Adil (30) was detained on May 24 for his alleged involvement in gambling activities in the district, police said adding his health condition deteriorated and he died last night.

As the news of the man’s death spread, his relatives along with a large group of people went on a rampage, damaging police vehicles and hurling stones at the police station, alleging that he died in custody.

Davanagere Superintendent of Police Uma Prashanth said the body has been shifted to the government hospital and it will be handed over to the family members after postmortem.

According to the SP, police are patrolling the area and additional forces have been deployed in Channagiri. Action will be taken based on the postmortem report.

The autopsy will be conducted in the presence of a Magistrate, she said. The police claimed that the accused died within six to seven minutes after being brought to the station.

“His parents are also aware of it and they have been convinced,” Prashanth said.

Kochi: The Kerala High Court has directed the state government to ensure no trees on roadsides are felled merely because they obstruct commercial activities.

The High Court said that trees can be cut and removed only if they are in damaged condition and as a result pose a danger to public safety.

A decision regarding that should be taken by a committee constituted in accordance with a 2010 government order regulating the felling and disposal of trees growing on government lands, Justice P V Kunhikrishnan said.

“Without such a decision, no trees on the roadside of the State shall be cut and removed by any authorities. The Chief Secretary of the State shall issue necessary orders to that effect. “…the State of Kerala should see that no request to cut and remove trees on the roadsides of the State can be permitted without sufficient reasons. Trees give cool shades, pure oxygen and shelter to birds and animals,” the court said in its order of May 22.

The court’s ruling came while dismissing a plea challenging the Forest department’s decision to reject an application to fell trees blocking the view to a commercial property built adjacent to the Palakkad-Ponnani road.

The petitioners had approached the Public Works Department for felling the trees by claiming that they posed a danger to their building as well as the public. The PWD officials were convinced by the petitioners’ claim and had forwarded their application to the Forest Department.

However, after inspecting the area, the Assistant Conservator of Forests in Palakkad gave a report stating that the trees were not a danger to anyone, gave shelter to many birds and the local public was opposed to cutting them. The court termed it “surprising” that merely because some branches were hanging dangerously, the PWD recommended cutting and removing the trees itself.

It said that the state government should consider the matter seriously and take action against the officers concerned if there was any dereliction of duty from their side when they approved the petitioners’ request to cut and remove the trees.

Even if the branches of the trees are dangerously leaning, at the maximum, the recommendation can only be to cut and remove those branches. The duty of PWD is to protect the trees standing on the roadside and not to destroy them.

“To protect a building or to protect a commercial activity of a citizen, the trees cannot be cut and removed,” the court observed.

Pune: The grandfather of the 17-year-old minor who allegedly fatally knocked down two persons with his Porsche in Pune city has been arrested for “wrongful confinement” of their family driver, an official said on Saturday.

The teenager’s father Vishal Agarwal has also been named in this case, he said.

A day earlier, Pune police chief Amitesh Kumar had said that an attempt was made to establish that the high-end car was not driven by the minor.

On a complaint by the family driver of the juvenile, the Yerawada police have registered a separate offence against the teen’s grandfather and father under IPC sections 365 (kidnapping with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine a person) and 368 (wrongfully concealing or keeping in confinement), he said.

“Post the accident, the teen’s grandfather and father allegedly took the driver’s phone, put him in confinement in his house on the premises of their bungalow from May 19 to May 20. The driver was freed by his wife,” said the official from the crime branch.

A Porsche, allegedly driven by the teenager, who the police claim was drunk at the time, killed two motorbike-borne software engineers in Kalyani Nagar area of the city in the early hours of Sunday.

A local court in Pune on Friday remanded the six accused arrested in the case, including the teenager’s father, in judicial custody. The teenager is in an observation home till June 5.

Bengaluru: The Central Crime Branch sleuths, probing the rave party hosted at a farmhouse here, have apprehended one more person, taking the total arrests so far to six.

The sixth accused hailing from Hyderabad was among the organisers of the event, police sources said on Saturday.

The CCB raided the dusk-to-dawn party on May 19, which 103 people had attended, including a Telugu film actress.

The blood samples collected from those who attended the rave party at a farmhouse have tested positive for narcotics.

MDMA (Ecstacy) pills, MDMA crystals, hydro cannabis, cocaine, high-end cars, DJ equipment, including sound and lighting worth Rs 1.5 crore were seized by the police.

New Delhi: Noted election strategist Prashant Kishor found himself in the hot seat during an interview with Karan Thapar for The Wire. The conversation took a tense turn as Kishor was reminded about his past predictions in Himachal Pradesh and Telangana.

Kishor, renowned for his role in designing election campaigns for Prime Minister Modi and the BJP in 2014, has since worked with various political parties across the country. Now embarking on a Jana Swaraj Yatra in Bihar, he aims to establish “Jana Swaraj” as a political entity for the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections.

During the interview, Kishor confidently forecasted that the BJP would secure over 300 seats in the next election. Despite potential losses in the North, he believed gains in the South and East would offset any shortfall. However, contrary reports and surveys suggest a different result, hinting at potential setbacks for the BJP.

Tensions rose when Thapar questioned Kishor about his earlier prediction regarding the Congress’s performance in the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha elections. Kishor, visibly irked, was seen asking Thapar to either show a video of him saying so or apologise.

Karan Thapar asked Prashant who looked very upset, “Do you want to continue the interview or do you want to stop?”, which made him even more annoyed. “I can face not one but four like you, I know how to deal with you well. I will not get up.” he is seen saying.

As the interview progressed, Kishor’s frustration mounted, leading to heated exchanges and even comparisons to Narendra Modi’s infamous 2007 interview with Thapar.

Kishor had previously predicted a rout for the Congress in Himachal Pradesh and Telangana in May 2022 and September 2023 respectively. But the Congress won the Assembly polls in both states., contrary to Kishor’s predictions.