Pramesh Jain

The North Division police of Sanjayanagar police have arrested a gang of three persons who were selling fake Remdesivir injection vials to the kin of Covid-19 patients by charging exhobirant price.

The accused has been identified as,Muniraju,30, resident of Nagawara,Ravikumar N,36,year old resident of Mysuru road,Krishna,31,resident of kamakshipalya.

Senior officer,told Media persons,our Sanjaynagar police station sub inspector Lokesh,received a credible information that a gang of three persons are waiting near Hopcoms in 80 feet road and are indulged in selling the antiviral drug by charging exhobirant price.

Based on information,PSI,Lokesh and team swung into action and rushed to the spot and after reaching the spot the team kept a close watch on their movements and when the suspects were seen fixing a deal with customer to sell the Remdesivir vials.

The team apprehended them for detailed questioning during the interrogation the accused confessed the crime and under the able guidance of ACP JC Nagar Sub-Division,Smt Reena Suvarna,PI,Smt.Kathyayini Alva and her team grilled the accused who revealed that it was a fake Remdesivir vials.

A detailed investigation by Sanjayanagar police have succeeded in seizing 9 Vials and the two-wheeler,and when the accused were further interrogated,the accused were taken to the Sri Venkateswara Hospital on Hosur Road to collect more information and Krishna,a housekeeping manager at the Mathru Hospital.

The three accused revealed how they used to cheat people as they used to collect the empty vials from hospitals,fill it with NS/Saline solution and stick the cap with transparent glue.They used to scout for attendant of patients and sale it for 24K-30K each.

A detailed investigation by the team it has revealed that the accused,Ravikumar,has previously worked as a ward boy at Victoria, Apolo,Ramakrishna Hospital and Sri Venkateswara Hospital.Krishna,has worked as a wardboy at Apollo,Ramakrishna,Lilavati,Victoria and Sri Venkateswara hospitals and currently works as a housekeeping manager at Mathru Hospital so he used to collect the empty bottles.

The team has seized 9 bottles of Remdesivir which is a fake Remdesivir injection vials, mobile phones and vehicle too has been seized from their possession to investigate further all the accused has been booked under Drug control Act and cheating and forgery act and further investigation is on.

Covid Must be crazy so as these miscreants Remdesivir Blackmarketing nailed and Fake Remdesivir being sold for 25 to 30k.Be aware.Your ignorance is their Asset.Don’t panic. All that is in vial are not Remdesivir.With the guidance of our DCP North Dharmendra Sir.and my Sanjaynagar PI Kathyayini Alva and team.
My Police My Pride.Humanity triumphs.@DCPNorthBCP @CPBlr @BlrCityPolice @sanjayanagarps @BSBommai tweeted by ACP, JC Nagar Sub-Division,Smt Reena Suvarna.

Finally Bengaluru Police Commissioner,Kamal Pant, has appreciated,Addl CP West,Soumendhu Mukherjee,DCP North,Dharmendra Kumar Meena ACP,JC Nagar,Sub-Division,Smt.Reena Suvarna PI,Smt.Kathyayini S Alva,PSIs,as,Raghupathi and Lokesh and with whole crime staff who has successfully nabbed the gang who were selling Fake Remdesivir spurious remdesivir vials to public and  the team successfully seized 9 fake Remdesivir vials from them for the exemplary work and commendable job done by them a suitable reward will be given to the team he added.

The BJP has failed to protect the interests of the people, Opposition Leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah said here on Monday. Addressing Congress workers in KGF, Bangarpet and Malur, where the party distributed provision kits to the needy, he said although experts alerted the government regarding the second wave, the government did not take any action. Siddaramaiah said the government should have increased ventilators, beds and oxygen facilities, but had completely failed in all respects, leading to hundreds of deaths every day.

There are no beds in any hospitals in Bengaluru or any city in Karnataka, and the State government should take responsibility for this failure, he added.

KPCC President DK Shivakumar said it is unfortuante that there is a scam in bed allotment, besides differences of opinion among BJP leaders, but in this time of crisis, the government should take up work on a war footing.

Chaos at meet

There was some confusion at the Congress meeting, where the leaders had insisted on following Covid norms like social distancing, and limited the number of participants at KGF City Municipality Ground. Former KUDA chairman, Congress leader Jayapal attempted to enter the ground with his supporters. Though police did not allow him, he managed to come in later and showed his displeasure to senior leaders.

Mangaluru: Two persons have died and three crew members have gone missing in the tug boat-capsize in the sea, said Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) on Sunday.

The boat ‘Alliance’ capsized on Saturday.

Three people out of eight on board the boat have reached the shore and been put under the care of the authorities, said general manager (corporate communications) of MRPL, which had contracted the boat, Rudolph Noronha said in a statement.

Also, he clarified that another tug vessel Coromandel, which came under distress off the Kaup coast in Udupi district also on Saturday, does not belong to MRPL and it does not have any contract with the company.

Alliance belonged to Underwater Service Company Limited.

The company assists us under a contract to facilitate SPM (single- point mooring) operations whenever our crude cargo comes there through ships. On Friday, it had unloaded the cargo from one such ship and was supposed to return by the end of the day.

However, it started to move towards the port after due clearance on Saturday and underwent distress, the statement said.

MRPL has received information that there were eight people on board at the time of the mishap.

While three have survived by reaching shore, two have died and their bodies been recovered, the statement said.

The remaining three crew members are missing and details of communication with port and rescue operations shall be updated, Noronha said in the statement.

Bengaluru: Karnataka has reported 31,531 new cases of COVID-19 and 403 fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 22,03,462 and deaths to 21,837 so far, the Health Department said here on Sunday.

The day also saw 36,475 patients getting discharged.

Out of the 31,531 fresh cases, 8,344 were from Bengaluru Urban alone.

As of May 16 evening, cumulatively 22,03,462 positive cases have been confirmed in the State, which include 21,837 deaths and 15,81,457 who got discharged, the department said in its bulletin.

The total number of active cases stood at 6,00,147.

While the positivity rate for the day stood at 27.84 per cent, case fatality rate (CFR) was at 1.27 per cent.

Of the 403 deaths, 143 were from Bengaluru Urban. Ballari saw 26, Uttara Kannada (24), Hassan (18), Bengaluru Rural (17), Mandya (15), Shivamogga (14) followed by others.

Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Bengaluru Urban accounted for 8,344, Tumakuru 2,138, Mysuru 1,811, Belagavi 1,762, Ballari 1,729, Hassan 1,182 and Davangere 1,155 followed by others.

Bengaluru Urban district tops the list of positive cases with a total of 10,51,058 followed by Mysuru 1,12,127 and Tumakuru 81,479.

Among those discharged, Bengaluru Urban topped with 6,80,194, Mysuru 96,281 and Ballari 54,991.

A total of over 2,78,79,697 samples have been tested so far out of which 1,13,219 were tested today.

Bengaluru, : With Cyclone Tauktae wreaking havoc in the coastal districts of the state, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Sunday asked district in-charge Ministers and Deputy Commissioners to visit affected areas and carry out rescue and relief works.

Yediyurappa on Sunday called Ministers incharge of coastal districts and Deputy Commissioners there and took stock of the situation there, his office said in a statement.

It said, the chief minister asked them to visit and carry out relief and rescue works in the areas affected by the cyclone which has come amidst the COVID pandemic.

The Chief Minister has directed the officials to call the Ministers concerned or him directly if in need of any emergency assistance from the state government, it added.

According to the Karnataka Disaster Management Authority heavy to extremely heavy rainfall was observed over the state mainly, in coastal and Malnad districts during last night.

More than 64.5 mm (heavy) rainfall was observed in 286 locations from 08:30 AM on May 15 to 6:45 AM on May 16 in the state, it said.

Widespread heavy to extremely heavy rains were observed in 8 districts including Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada, Shivamogga, Kodagu, Chikkamagaluru, it added.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned light to moderate rainfall at most places, with heavy to very heavy falls at isolated places in the coastal and adjoining ghat districts of the state on Sunday.

State’s Revenue Minister R Ashoka on Saturday had said the effect of the cyclone is likely to be there till May 18 and had warned fishermen not to venture into the sea till then.

District administrations have been ordered to shift people from low lying areas, he had said, eight relief camps have been set up in three districts that can accommodate about 10,000 people where food and other basic amenities will be made available.

Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai had said, around 1,000 trained personnel from fire force, police, coastal police, home guards, SDRF have been deployed in the three coastal districts and they will work with coordination in rescue and relief operations, also NDRF teams have also been roped in.

BENGALURU : Over 55 lakh farmers across Karnataka received Rs 985.61 crore directly into their bank accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi  (PM-KISAN) scheme on Friday. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the 8th instalment of financial benefit under PM-KISAN.

The PM-KISAN scheme was implemented in Karnataka from February 1, 2019. From March 2019 to March 2021, 55.06 lakh farmers received a financial assistance of Rs 6,936 crore from the Centre,  a statement issued by the government stated. Under the scheme, Rs 6,000 is givien to farmers in three installments of Rs 2,000 each.

The state government provides an additional Rs 4,000 as financial assistance to farmers, given in two installments of Rs 2,000 each.  The state government has provided Rs 2891.70 crore to farmers under the scheme so far. Karnataka has done the highest percentage of Aadhaar enabled transactions under the scheme, the statement said.

On Friday, the PM released over 19,000 crore to over 9.5 crore farmers in different states. Under the scheme Rs 1.15 lakh crore has been released to farmers till date, the statement added.

BENGALURU: Hospitals and medical centres across Karnataka are consuming a little over 800 metric tonnes of medical oxygen daily while the requirement is about 1,700 MT. The acute shortfall is to the extent of 850-900 MT daily, requiring immediate supply of at least 1,200 MT of medical oxygen to prevent any catastrophe like the Chamarajanagar hospital tragedy.

The shortfall on May 9 was 874 metric tonnes (1 kilo litre of oxygen is 1.1417 metric tonne) to reach the consumption requirement of 1,700 MT daily, and it continues daily in that range, he pointed out.

The data collected manually from each deputy commissioner and zone, does not fluctuate much on a daily basis. The highest consumption is in Bengaluru Urban at about 296 KL on May 6 and May 9 each. This is followed by Mysuru with usage of about 49 KL on May 9, Dharwad with 45 KL, Belagavi 28.5 KL, Ballari 27 KL, Bagalkot and Vijayapura with 25 KL each.

In some districts such as Ballari, Bengaluru Rural, Chikkamagaluru, Kalaburagi, Raichur, Ramanagara, Tumakuru, Udupi and Yadgir, the consumption reduced on May 9 from what was used on May 6. Moudgil attributed this decrease to oxygen audit being done by districts and all Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike zone nodal officers for each and every hospital.

“We have put in place an elaborate system with every district and BBMP zone having dedicated oxygen nodal officers and camp officers who camp full time at the 57 refilling stations and manufacturers’ units. Information is obtained from each hospital, and once a week, an oxygen audit of each and every hospital in the state is done. So far, two rounds have been completed,” Moudgil said.

Daily monitoring of oxygen consumption of each district, BBMP zones and hospitals is done and buffer oxygen stocks are being created to handle unforeseen shortages.

Oxygen plant s have stopped filling cylinders individually brought by people following government orders. This has become a challenge for COVID-19 patients who need oxygen. “On one hand, there are COVID-19 patients who need a cylinder for the next 8 to 12 hours until they find a bed. On the other hand, hospitals are forcing patients into early discharge due to scarcity of beds and advise continuing medication at home along with oxygen support. These people run for cylinders, which plants are not refilling anymore,” said Sabeel Nazir, trustee, Naasih Foundation.

Hospitals entertain patients’ families for 1-2 days, giving a letter on the letterhead, which can be shown at the refilling stations for oxygen. However, they do not do it every day, leaving the patients in a lurch. “NGOs like ours running oxygen banks are not given oxygen supply. After the Chamarajanagar incident, they prioritise refills only for patients in hospital,” Nazir added.

Pramesh Jain

The Jeeevanbhimanagar police have registered FIR against six staffer including duty doctor and patient coordinator of Manipal hospital charging them under negligence which led to the death of a covid patient.

The accused has been identified  as,Muskan,patient,co-ordinator,Dr.Sudha,Sanjay,Nurse,Smt.Hanna,in-charge nurse,Vinayaka Murthy, billing coordinator and Roy Mendons,staff of the Manipal hospital  .

Senior officer said,East Nodal officers incharge of Private Hospitals headed by ADGP KSRP,Alok Kumar along with,IAS,Captain Manivannan,BWSSB,EE,Ravindra Kumar and team visited Manipal hospital after receiving complaint by patient relative about the medical negligence showed by the hospital staff which led to a Covid patient death.

The team visited the hospital and conducted a Inquiry regarding the allegations made by the kin of deceased the team after collecting information about the deceased patient found a medical negligence done by hospital staff and patient coordinator and duty doctor.

A complaint was filed by EE, Ravindra Kumar of BWSSB the Jeeevanbhimanagar police on Tuesday registered an FIR against Muskan, patient coordinator,Dr.Sudha,Sanjay,Nurse, Hanna,in-charge nurse,Vinayaka Murthy,billing coordinator and Roy Mendons,staff of the Manipal hospital.

Mr.Kumar said that a patient by name Sudha was referred by BBMP for admission for Covid19 treatment on April 29.

The patient was brought in the ambulance and admitted in the emergency ward.After providing treatment the hospital discharged the patient the next day.

The family took the patient back home and two days later the patient succumbed due to non availability of treatment .

Though she was allotted bed from the BBMP, the staff concerned discharged her without giving proper treatment leading to their suspicious behaviour and hence needed a detailed investigations in the case to ascertain what led to the death of patient and what made them to discharge the patient next day only a detailed investigation will be done in the case he added.

ADGP KSRP,Alok Kumar,reacted by tweeting from his official Twitter handle,Quest for justice for the  hapless Covid victim.After admission at the hospital,she was turned away within two hours and died at home after two days due to Covid.FIR  registered for death due to negligence against staff,including one doctor.Need to stop such incidents Alok Kumar said in his tweet.

Parmesh jain

The West Division police of Upparpet police busted a fake RT-PCR certificate racket and arrested a 35-year-old travel agent who was selling fake covid negative certificates which are mandatory for the people to travel to other states as per the travel guidelines issued by the state government .

The accused has been identified as, Sampathlal,35,Resident of Manavarthipet.

DCP West,Dr Sanjeev M Patil,told Media persons on Wednesday our upparpet police inspector received a credible information that one person is selling fake RT-PCR certificate near chickpet BBMP grounds and is charging around 3000-4000 for each from people to travel to other states.

Based on a tip off,a team of police led by Inspector CB Shivaswamy and swung into action and rushed to the spot and kept a close watch on the suspect and the team after getting confirmation that he is indulged in selling fake RT-PCR Covid negative certificate racket.

The police team apprehended him and took him to station for further questioning during questioning he said that he works as a travel agent in manavarthipet area the team escorted him to his shop and conducted a search and during search the team recovered a letter head of a private Diagnostics centre and three covid negative certificates duly signed by the doctors in the name of three persons were recovered.

During investigation the accused confessed the crime and it was found that the accused was working as a travel agent to get railway and air tickets for his customers.

After travelling restrictions he resorted to creating fake certificates by creating fake letter heads of private Diagnostics centre in the name of fake doctors and duly signed to make extra money from his clients.

Investigations revealed that the accused was charging RS.3000 to Rs 4000 per each certificate.

Inspector and team grilled him a detailed investigation by the team the accused spilled the beans and it has revealed that he has managed to create several certificates using which people have gone to Rajasthan and West Bengal where a Covid negative certificate is mandatory.

We have seized his phone and gathered the data of the people who got the certificates from him. We will be alerting the Rajasthan and West Bengal counterparts to identify them and take further action.

Sampath Lal has been taken into custody to ascertain if there is a possible role of doctor or a diagnostic centre.

The Upparpet Police have booked the accused under Disaster management act and also under fraud,forgery,unlawful and negligent act to spread infection and also under cheating.

The police are also on the lookout for Mukesh Paramar,associate of Sampath Lal who is presently on the run and will be nabbed soon and  further investigation is on.

The racket was catering to people who wanted negative reports to fulfil conditions for travel and work,but did not want to take a test or wait for the report.Several such rackets have been busted across the country in the past two months.We are checking if there are more such rackets operating in the city.

Finally Bengaluru Police Commissioner,Kamal Pant has appreciated Addl CP West,Soumendhu Mukherjee,DCP West,Dr Sanjeev M Patil,ACP,P Ravikumar,PI,CB Shivaswamy,PSI, Umesh,Narayan,and crime staff as,Mahadev,Mahadevaswamy and other staff who has successfully nabbed the travel agent for creating fake RT-PCR Covid certificate and a suitable reward will be given to the team for the exemplary and commendable job done by them he added.