BENGALURU: With Unlock 3.0 kicking in from Monday, more restrictions have been eased and normal life resumed in the state as shops, restaurants, malls, private offices and religious places opened up.

To meet passenger demand and learning from Unlock 2.0 experience, the BMTC rolled out 4,500 buses on Monday to cater to passengers and 2,000 buses were stationed at depots on Sunday night itself. According to records, last week 13 lakh people travelled in BMTC bus and this week they are expecting 15 lakh passengers. The buses will run from 5 am to 9 pm with all precautionary measures. Based on demand, services will be increased, the corporation said.

The KSRTC also resumed its inter-district and inter-state services adhering to all Covid-1 norms. By 8.30 pm, it had run 4,500 schedules. Operations to Goa will start from Tuesday while operations to Telangana and Andhara Pradesh have already started. . 

Many commercial and business establishments were open till 9 pm and restaurants saw a good crowd with dine-in being allowed. Bars have also been allowed to open from Monday, but not pubs, theatres and cinema halls. Swimming pools, sports complexes and stadia have been permitted to open for training and practice purposes. 

While night curfew will continue between 9 pm and 5 am, the weekend curfew has been lifted. 
Though many people in urban areas preferred to remain indoors, villagers, mainly farmers thronged the markets in large numbers to purchase essentials for agricultural activities. Basanagouda Patil, a farmer from Sarwad village in Vijayapura district, pointed that, “The monsoon has arrived and there have already been a few good spells of rain. 

Agricultural activities, mainly sowing, has picked up and hence, I came to Vijayapura city to purchase seeds and other materials.

”At the Tumakuru market, the prices of vegetables dropped with more produce arriving from neighbouring districts such as Chikkaballapur and Hassan.

Places of worship including the Sharanabasaveshwara temple and Khwaja Bande Nawaz Dargah in Kalaburagi, the Dattatreya temple in Deval Ganagapur, Chandralamba temple at Sannati, Bhagamma temple at Ghattarga in Kalaburagi district, Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala and Kukke Subrahmanya temples in Dakshina Kannada district opened to devotees for darshan with Covid-19 norms in place. The Unlock 3.0 guidelines will be in force up to 6 am on July 19 and all social, political, sports, entertainment, academic, cultural, religious functions, other gatherings and large congregations, will continue to be prohibited till then.

PROHIBITORY ORDERS IN B’LURU TILL JULY 19
Bengaluru: Following the easing of restrictions, Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Kamal Pant on Monday issued prohibitory orders under Section 144(1) of the CrPC which will be in effect till midnight on July 19. Accordingly, assembly of more than four persons in public places, except for the purposes which are exempted by the state government, is prohibited.Though the number of Covid-19 cases in Bengaluru city has come down substantially, it is considered appropriate to impose certain restrictions to prevent any spurt of fresh cases, the order stated.

Mask discipline must, insists Palike chief
Bengaluru: Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta on Monday said the rise and fall in cases depends on how people follow mask discipline. Speaking to the media he said, some relaxations have been given as the number of cases have come down, and curbs can be eased even further if people follow Covid-appropriate behaviour.

“It all depends on mask compliance and vaccination along with social distancing being followed. Then, there will be complete unlock,” he said. He pointed that citizens should not let their guard down and special marshals committees and the police will be keeping a check. All those violating norms will be dealt with sternly.

On the issue of vaccination, Gupta said, so far 50 per cent of the adult population in Bengaluru has taken the first dose. The number can be increased to even 80-85 per cent, provided there is sufficient stock available.  

All facilities and infrastructure are in place to ramp up the vaccination drive, but it depends upon availability of doses. Further decisions on increasing vaccination coverage and who to vaccinate will be decided by the government based on the suggestions of the experts, he said.

BAGALKOT: A 58-year-old man died after reportedly after his two-wheeler was hit by deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi’s eldest son’s car in the late evening on Monday.

According to sources, “DCM Savadi’s eldest son Chidananda Savadi and eleven others were returning to Athani via Vijayapura in two cars. The accident happened when the quinquagenarian was heading back to home from his farmland in his two-wheeler and was hit by a speeding car. Chidanand was in the same car that hit the bike rider,” claimed sources.

The rider suffered severe injuries to his head and was rushed to a private hospital, however, he failed to respond to the treatment and succumbed within an hour of being admitted to the hospital, said sources.

A case has been registered at the Hunagund Police Station and police have seized the car. However, no one has been taken into custody.  

Relatives of the deceased accused the police department that, “the cops have registered a case against driver Hanumanth Singh instead of DCM’s son Chidanand. He was also allowed to travel without any inquiry about the accident.” Eyewitness also alleged that Chidanand damaged his vehicle number plate and tried to flee from the spot, however, the people didn’t allow him to escape until police arrived.

Speaking to reporters, Chidanand said that, “I agree that the car that hit the rider belongs to me but it was driven by my driver. I was with my friends in another car, which was 30 kms ahead from my car. As soon as I was alerted to the incident, I rushed to the spot and helped the 58-year-old man to shift to hospital. I have neither threatened any person nor made an attempt to escape from the accident spot. On humanitarian grounds I will also help the deceased family,” said Chidanand.

Pramesh Jain

The Special squad of Kengeri sub division police on Monday busted one more Inter-state drug racket and caught two persons transporting 110 kgs of marijuana into the city from VIshakhapatnam.

Senior officer,told reporters,as war on drugs a special operation is being conducted in across city in which based on the instructions by senior officers a special Anti-Narcotics drugs squad team has been set up in each division to curb the drug abuse in the city.

The Kengeri Sub-Division Special Squad team headed by ACP,UD Krishna Kumar received a credible information that a SUV carrying huge quantity of drugs will pass from nagarbhavi area.

Based on  specific inputs,a team of police led by ACP,UD Krishnakumar intercepted a SUV near Nagarabhavi BDA complex and found Narcotics stuffed in gunny bags and were dumped at the backseats of the SUV based on which the team arrested both of them.

During investigation the accused confessed the crime and we have recovered the narcotics stuffed in gunny bags.The total value of the seized Marijuna estimated to be around Rs 50 lakh,the officer said .

Initial probe revealed that the accused Appanna and Subramani are drug peddlers in and around Bengaluru.

The accused earlier used to get the consignment from their contacts in Andhra Pradesh but due to the lock down and increasing patrolling, the supply was affected.

Unable to get the consignments from their regular links,the duo approached the sellers in VIsakhapatnam and got the consignment by road .

However the police received credible information that the accused had gone to Andhra Pradesh to get the supply and returned to the city in an SUV.

Meanwhile the Govnidapura police arrested two African nationals and recovered 55 grams of cocaine worth Rs 4.7 lakh from them.

The accused ( name and identity withheld ) were caught red handed while they were waiting for their customers to deliver the drugs.

The police found that the duo did not have travel documents with them and were staying illegally a case under NDPS and Foreigners Act has been registered and further investigation is on he added.

Finally Bengaluru Police Commissioner,Kamal Pant has appreciated Addl CP East,S Murugan, DCP East,Dr SD Sharanappa,DCP West,Dr Sanjeev M Patil,ACP,UD Krishna Kumar PIS,as,Lohit Gowda,Prakash,and their whole special squad team who has done a good piece of investigation and nabbed the notorious drug peddlers including Nigerian National and a suitable reward will be given to the team he added

Pramesh Jain

In an effort to improve the overall efficiency and improve prosecution rates in cyber crime cases, the State Police chief, Praveen Sood on Saturday issued a circular directing the investigating officers (IO) to take extreme care while handling digital evidence.

This is to ensure integrity and authenticity while taking the cases to their logical end,

According to the State Police chief,Mr.Praveen Sood,Instead of relying on private players,Mr. Sood asked the IOs to use the support and guidance of staff from Cybercrime,Economic Offence and Narcotics (CEN),Station or the staff of Cyber Forensic units of CID, or the State Forensic Science Lab for the professional touch and care.

While releasing a set of standard operation procedures (SOPs)and guidelines,Mr.Sood stated that the purpose is to provide police and prosecution systematic guidance to help them understand the technical and legal issues that may arise while handling electronic evidence at the crime scene investigations.

Investigation of any criminal case involves identification,collection and preservation of evidence to support the theory taken by the IO.

However,in the wake of significant rise in gathering electronic evidence including desktops, laptops,mobile phones,handheld devices and DVRs and CDRs,the IOs have to exercise special care while handling procedural,technical and digital aspects,the circular added.

Admissibility of digital evidence in the court heavily depends upon how it was handled and taken into possession,Mr.Sood reiterated.

According to a senior officer, there are two important factors while visiting any cyber crime scene. This includes quick recovery of evidence for preservation, and secondly containing the area to gather more details.

Quick recovery is important as the evidence is volatile and fragile.Mishandling the evidence leads to destruction of evidence permanently and losing the case eventually.

As per statistics,the conviction rate in cyber crime cases in the state are low, and a leading cause for dismissal of cases is the way the evidence is handled.

Pramesh Jain

Fire and emergency service personnel rescued a  farmer,who entered a pipeline to connect a water pipe to his land,was stuck inside the pipeline for over two hours at singribovidoddi village in Ramanagar on Sunday.

The farmer Govindaraju Rajanna owned a piece of land located on both sides of the bypass road constructed as part of the ongoing works of Expressway between Bengaluru and Mysuru.

Senior officials said,water linking pipelines were laid on Rajanna’s land.To get a water connection to his land from the pipeline,Rajanna had entered the pipeline at around 11 am and crawled about 200 feet.

As a heap of mud had blocked the pipeline, he tried to pass through it but got stuck inside.His son Venugopal,who was monitoring this from outside sensed danger,when there was no movement and called fire control room for help.

The rescue team with police officials rushed to the spot and managed to contact Rajanna to ascertain his exact location.

He was finding it difficult to breathe and the arrangement was made to supply oxygen into the pipeline.

It was not possible for our men to enter the pipeline to pull him out.It was decided to break open the pipeline.An earthmover vehicle was brought to the spot and it dug up the ground and broke the pipeline,enabling us to get close to Rajanna.

The officials removed the heap of mud and rescued Rajanna within one and a half hours of the operation.

The entire village camped at the spot to witness the rescue operations and cheered when Rajanna was pulled out.

Minutes after the rescue he told people that he had gone to install a water pipe through the pipeline to his land and got stuck in the mud inside.I shouted and able to tell my son what happened and that helped me to get rescued,he said.

Pramesh Jain

The South Division police of Jayanagar police who were on lookout for the seven member gang who hacked the financier in broad daylight near Banashankari metro station.

The incident shocked the people as the assailants who were armed with long and sharp weapons attacked the financier when he was parking the car and sped away.

High drama prevailed at the city court complex premises for sometime on Monday when a group of seven assailants involved in gruesome murder of a 44-year-old financier near Banashankari metro station in broad day light on Friday.

Senior officer said,the accused,who are associates of Wilson garden rowdy Nagaraj alias Naga,tried to surrender before the 37th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate through their advocate,but the magistrate refused to hear their plea.

The accused were later seen sitting in the corridor before the police came and picked them up .

The accused were on the run since the murder and realized that the police are closing in on them.Realizing that they have no option left,they tried to surrender minutes before the police take them into custody.

The accused associates of rowdy from Shanti Nagar Lingaraj alias Linga who was eliminated by his rival wilson garden rowdy Nagaraj alias Naga.

Naga who was arrested and lodged in parappana Agarahara executed the murder from sitting inside the prison in December last year.

The deceased Madan,though did not have any criminal cases against him,was earlier associated with Linga till he was murdered.

He reportedly changed his loyalty and became friends with Naga to save himself and his business .

The accused realized that Madan had betrayed and killed him to avenge,a police officer part of the special team said . 

The accused have been taken into custody and the police are now questioning to ascertain the details of the murder.

Madan,N,resident of Lakksandra running a finance and real estate business was under the radar of the accused .

On Friday the accused followed Madan in three bikes and hacked him to death before fleeing.

The gruesome incident was recorded on CCTV and the police pieced together the evidence and tracked them down to the magistrate court where they came to surrender on Monday he added.

Pramesh Jain

The south division police stepped up red alert following a gruesome murder of a 44 year old financier by an armed gang near Banashankari metro station in broad daylight on Friday.

The deceased has been identified as Madan N,resident of Lakkasandra,and hailing from Doddaballapura.

Senior officer told media persons,after visiting the spot and collecting information from the Jayanagar police inspector and passer by.

He said the victim had gone to buy vegetables at Banashankari market and was returning home in his car when the assailants intercepted him at around 11.45 am.

Madan was former employee with a private firm who quit the job to start finance and real estate business eight years ago.Before he could react,the gang attacked him with lethal weapons and escaped.

It is alleged that the assailants had followed him on bikes carrying lethal weapons wrapped in plastic covers and escaped in different directions.

The murder was shocked people who was passing by and witnessed the attack as mute spectators .

The attack was recorded in a CCTV installed at a nearby area.

Based on the complaint filed by Mohan N,former gram panchayath member and elder brother of the deceased,the Jayanagar police have registered a case of murder and are investigating .

We suspect that old rivalry could be the reason behind the murder as few associates of a rowdies who were murdered in gang war assumed that Madan had provided financial assistant to eliminate their gang leaders in the area.

We have some clues on the assailants and trying to track them down he added.

Pramesh Jain

C k achukattu police fitness and  physical training by Gymnastics to boost staff

Residents in and around CK Acchukattu police station notice the police staff gather outside the station every day not for the usual “roll call period but to perform a few sets of stretches, burpees and crunches as Fitness training by Gymnasts.

A half hour quick exercise under the supervision from a team of gymnasts from Sports Authority of India,aims to keep them fit and fine so that they can take on any eventuality without any excuses,PR,Janardhan,Inspector,CK Achakattu told media persons.

When asked when this idea came in their mind,A senior officer said the idea kick-started during the lockdown period when the staff used to assemble at the station for the dinner meeting and to get next day assignments .

Mr.Janardhan,having a sports background, noticed that many of the staff looked exhausted and lacked motivation.

Considering that they needed some kind of renunciation and team building exercise,our inspector Janardhan started a quick half hour physical fitness regime and led the team to get them back in shape.

Initially the exercise regime was voluntary but soon all the staff,consisting of men and women joined to test their mettle and improve their performance on ground duty.

Soon a team of sports personalities volunteered to teach us and after one month of daily we started on June 9th training the physical appearance of many policemen changed.

Due to the popularity we have enhanced the routine from running by carrying policemen and how to tackle armed and unarmed opponents during arrest and self defence.

Policing requires physical endurance and lot of physical and mental energy.The policemen should be fit to run far distances,carrying people on carrying themselves while wearing armed vets. 

While keeping them fit all the time it is also important to get trained on how to stay fit and alert at any eventuality without getting injured.

This kind of exercise we used to have at the police training college and after joining duty due to unscheduled work hours it’s not possible for such work outs.

However, with a quick training session at the station everyday with everyone we are  getting us back to shape and bonding better says staff at the Chennammanakere achukkattu police station and thanked the inspector for his need of the hour initiative to boost whole staff during the pandemic period said a senior officer.

Another Senior officer said by giving fitness and physical training to staff is need of the hour as everytime round the clock they will busy in performing duty they even work overtime more than 12 hours when they will be deployed on special duty.

Many times they go to catch criminals so it is very necessary to get in shape and trained to resist themselves from any untoward incident.

A initiative by the Inspector Janardhan PR of Chennammanakere achukkattu police all the staff are happy as they are getting motivated with physical training and fitness as such activities motivates the staff to maintain their shape to be alert at any eventually without getting injured he added.

Pramesh Jain

The CCB officials are on the lookout for the secretary of an educational institution in Davanagere who,posing as KPSC members, cheated many unemployed youth and made away with Rs.1.6 Crores promising sub inspector Jobs in the state excise department .

Senior officer said,In his complaint,Jayadeva said that the accused runs a school in Kundoor in Davanagere and claimed that he has been appointed as KPSC member by the Governor and has high level contacts.  

Jayadeva’s two friends Lakshmappa Chandragiri and Chandrappa had applied for sub inspectors posts in the excise department .

Since he is from the same area Jayadeva was acquitted and assured to help Jayadeva’s two friends to get them posting in excise department.

Jayadeva along with his two friends met Arun Kumar in January last year who assured to get the job done and demanded Rs.70 lakh from them.

The duo paid the money in installments and as the word spread many of Jayadeva’s friends approached him seeking help for getting the post .

As per their request Jayadeva introduced 10 of his friends to Arun Kumar who took Rs a total of Rs 1.6 crore from them on different dates till September 2020.

The accused even called Jayadeva to MS building to meet him and to give updates.He even demanded Rs 10 lakh more and issued fake appointment letters signed by the Governor .

The cheating came to light when Jayadeva got the appointment letter checked with the department concerned and tried to reach Arun Kumar.

But it was too late Arun Kumar switched off his phone and it was not reachable.

Based on the complaint filed by HB Jayadeva,a civil contractor and resident of Davanagere,the Vidhana Soudha police registered an FIR against Arun Kumar KH,charging him under a cheating case on Thursday.

Since it has inter-city ramification,the case has been referred to CCB for a detailed investigation and a manhunt is on to nab the culprit who has duped many job aspirants and investigation is on he added.

Pramesh Jain

A 35-year-old labourer was hacked to death by armed men near his house in Kavalbhairasandra in DJ Halli on FRiday.

The deceased has been identified as Krishnamurthy, native of Tamilnadu and a tiles worker by profession,

As soon as the murder reported DJ Halli police inspector with Sniffer dog and finger print experts rushed to spot and inspected the whole area and collected evidence.

Senior officer as DCP,East, Dr SD Sharanappa with other officers and staff visited the spot and after inspecting the spot and collecting information he said,we have identified the victim as, Krishnamurthy is a tiles worker by profession.

As per preliminary investigation the murder has taken place in the last night at around 10-10:30 pm and we suspect 2-3 miscreants has killed him by attacking with machete and sharp weapons.

And it is found that the victim used to have regular fights with his wife over domestic row and the police have counselled the couple twice before.

We suspect this could be the reason behind the murder and his wife is missing after the murder took place we suspect to get rid from the regular fights his wife would have hired Supari killers to kill her husband.

The DJ Halli police are searching for the wife to question her while initiated inquiry to identify the person who had seen Krishnamurthy last time while he was alive a special team is pressed into action and the assailants will be nabbed soon as we have identified the accused and they will be nabbed soon he added.