Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj S Bommai on Friday said the state will start at least five lakh COVID-19 vaccinations everyday from September 1 with the help of the Centre.

“We did five lakh inoculations on a trial basis on Wednesday. Now we will start five lakh vaccinations daily from September 1,” Bommai who returned here on Thursday evening after a visit to Delhi, told reporters.

He said his visit to the national capital was mainly to meet Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and seek the Centre’s support to start five lakh inoculations daily from September onwards.

Mandaviya assured his support and said that the Centre would supply the stock of vaccines based on the consumption of the State, Bommai added.

To a question on COVID restrictions during the Gauri-Ganesha festival next month, he said such issues will be discussed at a meeting of COVID-19 experts on August 30.

On water disputes with neighbouring states, the Chief Minister said he had a detailed discussion with Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat regarding Upper Krishna, Mekedatu and Mahadayi, Ettinahole and Upper Bhadra projects.

He also said that he had a discussion with Advocate General Prabhuling Navadgi, senior lawyers Shyam Divan and Mohan Katarki and senior officials of the water resource department regarding the water disputes and asked them to speed up the cases which are before the Supreme Court.

The chief minister also met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and requested her to continue the GST compensation, as it is ending in 2022. She said that a decision may be taken on this issue in the GST Council meeting, he said.

Regarding his meeting with Union Minister of Commerce and Textiles Piyush Goyal, Bommai said he has sought the Centre’s support to Karnataka’s proposal for a mega textile park in the state.

Goyal asked him to send the proposal and assured to offer all kinds of subsidy from the Centre for the project. The union minister also said that he would help the State in forging tie-ups with national and international textile manufacturers, Bommai said.

Bengaluru: The Narcotics Control Bureau on Friday said it arrested a woman with African connection, carrying synthetic drugs weighing a kilogram here.

According to Zonal Director of the Bengaluru unit of NCB, Amit Ghawate, they intercepted an incoming parcel from Germany containing MDMA crystals at the Electronic City Post Office on Thursday.

The MDMA crystals were found to be cleverly concealed on two sides of a carton box in grey coloured duct tapes. Each packet was found to be weighing 500 gms and thus a total quantity of 1 kg MDMA crystals was seized.

The carton box also contained packets containing sandwich grill, flexible mirror, medicure and pedicure set, two table tennis bats and two pouches of chocolates. “Surveillance was mounted for the woman who was to come and receive the parcel and after prolonged surveillance, one Yogita S, resident of Bengaluru, who received the parcel was apprehended,” the NCB zonal director said in a statement.

He said Yogita confessed to having ordered the contraband from Germany and that it was meant for supply to various individuals in Bengaluru.

The interrogation also revealed that she has been into drug trafficking for the past three years.

Ghawate said she sold drugs to various individuals in other cities of South India also. She is living with an African individual in Bengaluru.

According to him, the inflow of MDMA crystals in courier and speed post parcels booked through darknet channels have gained momentum, especially during the Covid-19 restrictions.

Chamrajnagar: District in-charge minister ST Somashekhar on Friday said that he will talk to Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai about canceling the weekend curfew in the district.

He said he will take the matter up with the CM on Friday evening.

Speaking to reporters on Friday in the district the minister said imposing weekend curfews further was not necessary.

“I will discuss with him if there is a need for imposing the weekend curfew this weekend or not and will take a call about it” he said.

BENGALURU: Former Karnataka Chief Minister and JD-S leader HD Kumaraswamy on Friday advised the Karnataka government to handle the Mysuru gang-rape case “just like Hyderabad police”.

Further criticising the Karnataka government over the incident, Kumaraswamy said that the state government should not allow youngsters to have liquor in open deserted spaces.

Speaking to reporters here yesterday, Kumaraswamy said, “Government must be serious in handling these kinds of incidents while initiating action. Strict action must be taken in such incidents just like the Hyderabad police. The state government is at fault. It should not allow youngsters to have liquor in open deserted spaces.”

The former Karnataka Chief Minister further stated that home ministry is a sensitive portfolio and the state’s Home Minister Araga Jnanendra “must be vigilant all the time.”

Kumaraswamy’s remarks on Jnanendra came a day after the Karnataka Home Minister had on Thursday questioned the timing of the college student’s visit to the deserted site on the outskirts of Mysuru where she was allegedly gang-raped by unidentified men.

Speaking to media persons here Jnanendra had on Thursday said, “First of all, they (the victims) have gone to a deserted spot at 7-7:30 pm. They should not have gone there, but they have gone and we can’t stop anyone from going anywhere. No one goes there because it’s a deserted land. They could have (instead) gone to the park.”

Kumaraswamy also alleged that the state police “targets innocent people” and not the anti-social elements, adding that the police department “has become inept” and claimed that the existing system “encouraged the criminals”.

Kumaraswamy’s remarks came after a girl student was allegedly gang-raped at Lalithadripura layout, Mysuru on August 24. As per the complaint, six men committed the crime and also beat up the girl’s male friend.

MYSURU/TUMAKURU: Two separate incidents of rape in Tumakuru and Mysuru, where one of the victims was also murdered, shocked Karnataka on Wednesday.

When she did not return home for a long time, her husband went in search and found her strangled to death. As the mangalsutra was missing, the police have initially suspected it to be a case of murder for gain.

In Mysuru, a girl college student was allegedly gangraped by five to six men on the foothills of Chamundi. The victim, who is an MBA student at a private college, and her male friend had gone near the hills and were returning home late evening when they were waylaid by the gang on a lonely stretch near Lalithadripura.

The criminals threw stones and injured the girl’s friend, dragged her from the spot and raped her, sources in the police department revealed.

The victim’s friend managed to take her to a private hospital for treatment and filed a complaint at the Alanahalli police station on Wednesday morning.

Soon after the crime came to their notice, the police conducted a spot mahazar and searched areas around Lalithadripura for clues. 

The victim is currently being treated at the hospital, and is yet to give a statement to the police.

Police Commissioner Dr Chandragupta confirmed that a complaint of sexual assault has been registered, but refused to reveal further details, saying the case is sensitive and the investigation is still on.

The Mysuru Police Commissioner said a special team has been formed to crack the case. ADGP Pratap Reddy has been given the task of supervising the investigation.

Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said in Bengaluru that a team of senior officials has been sent to Mysuru to assist the local police in the investigation.

As netizens raised a hue and cry over the rape, Jnanendra has scheduled a visit to Mysuru on Thursday and is holding a meeting with top police officials.

District in-charge minister ST Somashekhar, who was in the city, held an emergency meeting with police officials to discuss a spurt in crimes that were unheard of in Mysuru.

Just two days ago, armed criminals shot dead a passerby after robbing a jewellery store.

Pramesh Jain

Five women foreign nationals who are housed among others in the highly secured Santhwana Kendra in Siddapura escaped in the wee hours of Tuesday.

While the five women managed to flee,the sixth one lost balance while scaling the wall to jump  escape in which sustained fractured on her leg.

Senior officer told media persons,While two of them are said to be from Congo the remaining three are Nigerian nationals.

The five are among the 15 women foreign nationals who were detained by East division police for visa violations and over staying in the city. 

The detained women were housed in Santwana centre while the police along with the FRRO are processing for their deportation.

It was at around 2.30 am,the women asked the security staff for water to drink and when they left the room to fetch water,the women escaped .

The centre has a tight secure wall along with police and private security.But they used a metal bar and ladder to put across the fenced wire to walk over,a senior police officer said .

Soon after the incident came to light,a high alert sounded and Siddapura police stepped up search operations to track down the women group .

The police are verifying the CCTV footage to trace down the escaped women while security stepped up to secure others who are housed in the centre he added.

Pramesh Jain

In a tragic incident,a 39-year-old woman was killed came under a speeding car in front of the hospital minutes after her son who ended life and declared dead by doctors.The incident took place in Vijayanagar police station limits on Tuesday.

The deceased have been identified as Leelavathi and her son Mohan Gowda,18, a first year BCom student.

His father Lokesh runs a ration shop and the family lived in MC Layout in Vijayanagar.

Senior officer told media persons,Few posts on social media said that the youth had committed suicide on Tuesday after the police had summoned him for an investigation.

The police though clarified on Wednesday that they had never called the boy to the police station.

Mohan had been to college to write exam and after returning home he fought with his friends over a bike he had reportedly taken from them.

Mohan was arguing with his friends when his father intervened and had to take the brunt of his agitated friends.

Upset over this,he went inside the house and locked himself in a room.Though his parents knocked repeatedly, he did not open the door.

The parents with the help of two policemen,who were on patrolling duty near-by rushed to the help and broke open the door to find their son hanging using a saree.

He was brought down and rushed to a hospital located on West of Chord Road,where he was declared brought dead at around 12.30 pm.

Shocked by knowing that her son had passed away, Leelavathi ran towards the road but was stopped and brought back by her family members.

While they were consoling her,Leelavathi again ran towards the road to cross and came under a speeding car.She was rushed to the same hospital where doctors declared her dead at 1 pm,the police said.

Mohan Gowda,a first year BCom student,had committed suicide by hanging himself at his residence,following which a complaint was lodged with the Vijayanagar police station by his father.

In the complaint,he had mentioned that Mohan Gowda had fallen in a bad company of boys.On Tuesday,Mohan Gowda returned to the house after exams and locked the door of his room before taking the extreme step.

The case took a twist after posts surfaced on social media alleging that Mohan Gowda had committed suicide as he was called by the police for an investigation into a bike theft case and he took the extreme step fearing the police probe.

However, DCP West, Dr Sanjeev M Patil, denied this angle and said,When Mohan Gowda had locked up his room,few boys were quarrelling with his father over a bike issue.

The father had sought the help of two policemen who were on duty in the area then.The policemen went to their house and along with the parents, they broke open the door of the room to find Mohan Gowda hanging from the ceiling.

Patil also clarified that the youth was not called for any investigation by the police and no case of bike theft is registered against him.

While the Vijayanagar police have registered an unnatural death case in connection with the death of Mohan Gowda,the Vijayanagar traffic police have registered a case regarding Leelavathi’s death and have arrested the car driver.

Parmesh jain

Three including two women arrested,New born baby selling racket busted by Wilson Garden police

The Central Division police of Wilson Garden police arrested a group of three including two women involved in newborn baby selling racket.

The accused has been identified as,Tarannum Babu,resident of Audugodi,Sawood, 51,and his relative Nishath Kousar

Senior officer told reporters,The racket came to light when PSI,Priyadarshini Bandivaddar,from Wilson Garden police station based on a tip off rushed near Agadi hospital and found a couple  fighting on the road over financial row.

On noticing the police in uniform approaching them,the man escaped and the police caught the woman later identified as Tarannum Babu,  resident of Audugodi.

Inquiry revealed that Tarannum babu has taken a 38 days baby boy born to her domestic help Shirin and sold it to her relative K Sawood from HBR Layout.

Further inquiries revealed that the baby was born to Shirin out of wedlock and the father of the boy Mubarak Pasha sold the baby to Tarannum for Rs 1.3 lakh.

Tarannum in turn sold the baby to her relative Sawood who did not have children and taken Rs. 50,000 as advance.However the money was not paid to Mubarak .

Meanwhile mother of the baby Shirin started demanding that she wanted her baby and Mubarak was frustrated that even though he sold the baby,money was not paid to him.

On Monday,he called Tarannum Babu near Agadi hospital and started fighting with her for not paying the money and demanded the child back .

Based on the confession of Tarannum,the Wilson Garden police arrested Sawood,51,and his relative Nishath Kousar who facilitated the deal .

The police rescued the baby and efforts are on to track down Mubarak Pasha who is on the run and further investigation is on.

Finally Bengaluru Police Commissioner,Kamal Pant,Addl CP West,Soumendhu Mukherjee,DCP Central,MN Anucheth,ACP,Halasurgate sub-division,Smt.Nazma Farooq,has appreciated PI,Shankaracharya,PSI,Priyadarshini Bandivaddar and her team who has successfully nabbed all the trio and rescued the newly born safely and reunited to their parents and family and for the exemplary work by the PSI who acted swiftly and timely action helped in busting the racket and a suitable reward will be given to the team he added.

Pramesh Jain

The North Division police of Rajajinagar police have arrested a Kannada film director who cheated the bank by pledging one kilo of gold plated ornaments to avail loan of Rs 42 lakh from a private bank in Rajajinagar on Tuesday.

The accused has been identified as Karamala Balu Ravindranath,and Shivkumar,goldsmith who assisted him in the fraud.

Senior officer told reporters,Bharat,manager of  federal bank filed a complaint in Rajajinagar police station stating that a film director have pledged 1.05 kg of gold jewellery in federal Bank and taken 42 lakhs as gold loan.

From past one year, the film director has not paid EMI on gold loan taken.When federal bank auctioning the gold it was found that the pledged gold is partially fake.

Preliminary inspection appraiser couldn’t find as it has 40 percent gold coating over other material.

During auction when pledged gold was cut,it came to light that inside it was other material.

Acting on the complaint Rajajinagar police inspector RP Ashok and his team swung into action and picked up the movie maker as film director for questioning and during questioning the team found suspicious on his statement and took him into custody for further questioning.

During interrogation in the police style the director confessed the crime and revealed that he conspired with his friend Shivakumar a Goldsmith to make fake gold.

And based on his statement the crime team arrested the gold Smith and a detailed Investigation it was revealed that the accused had directed a movie in the year 2016 and incurred huge loss.In order to recover the loss , he hatched a plan to cheat the banks and avail gold loan.

As per the plan, he roped in Shivakumar to design artificial ornaments made out of alloy and coated four layers of gold on them.

He availed gold loan from Federal bank, Rajajinagar branch last year.The bank got the gold tested from its valuer since it was multilayered gold plated ornaments,even he failed to notice and gave his consent.

The cheated came to light as accused defaulted repayment of loan and did not responded to repeated notice and reminders from the bank .

After the due date the bank decided to auction the ornaments to recover the gold and upon checking the valuables turned out to be fake.

Based on the complaint filed by Bharath, bank manager , the police arrested the duo on the charges of cheating and remanded them to judicial custody and investigation is on he added.

Finally Bengaluru Police Commissioner,Kamal Pant has appreciated Addl CP West,Soumendhu Mukherjee,DCP North,Dharmendra Kumar Meena, ACP,Malleswaram sub-division,KS Venkatesh Naidu,PI, RP Ashok and his team as,Jagadeesh,Dayal Kumar,and other staff for the good piece of investigation and nabbing the duo who has cheated a bank and pledged a fake gold and for the commendable job done by the team who acted swiftly and arrested the duo a suitable reward will be given to the team he added.