BENGALURU: After the tumultuous two years of the pandemic, it was hope that was shining through in Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s budget, which was presented on Friday with no additional burden of taxes and fuel surcharge on the common man. Understanding that the economy still needs crutches to recover from effects of Covid, he allocated Rs 55,657 crore to spur growth. 

With Bengaluru going to the polls anytime soon, the focus was on the capital city, which received Rs 8,409 crore for its comprehensive development, up from Rs 7,795 crore from the previous budget — an increase of Rs 614 crore.

While the state government is yet to get clearance for the Mekedatu project, the chief minister announced Rs 1,000 crore. “There is a reason why the allocation has been made.  We know at what stage the project is in,” he said at a post-budget press conference, asked why the money has been sanctioned when the project has not yet taken off. Experts said it is a reaction to Congress taking out the padayatra from Mekedatu.

He released temples, which were substantial revenue grossers for the government, from the clutches of the Endowments Department that was the long-pending demand of temple administrations. “Though states are allowed to borrow up to 3.5 per cent of GSDP (to help overcome the economic impact of Covid), we are restricting it to 3.26 per cent, showing our commitment to fiscal discipline,” he said. 

Rs 100 crore for Veerashaiva board

THE state is planning to borrow Rs 72,000 crore for the present financial year. Last year, while the government had proposed to borrow Rs 67,100 crore, it was restricted to Rs 63,100 crore, the CM added. Stressing that 3Es — Employment, Education and Empowerment of the backward classes — are at the heart of his budget, Bommai announced an integrated employment policy and allocated Rs 400 crore to implement various schemes for backward classes.

He set aside Rs 100 crore each for Veerashaiva Lingayat and Vokkaliga development corporations. The Maratha Development Corporation too got Rs 50 crore. Bommai announced Pancha Mantra – Comprehensive economic and social development, upliftment of weaker sections, identification of backward regions, achieving higher development in agriculture, industry and service sector and lastly to build Nava Bharathakkagi Nava Karnataka (New Karnataka for New India). The total tax revenue of the state including GST compensation for the year 2022-23 is estimated to be Rs 1.31 lakh crore.

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Friday restrained the Pune police from taking any coercive action against IPS officer Rashmi Shukla till March 25 in connection with the FIR registered against her recently in an alleged phone tapping case.

The bench also noted in its order that the said FIR had been registered against Shukla after a considerable delay.

It took note of Shukla’s counsel and senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani that though the alleged incident of illegal phone tapping had taken place over three years ago, the Pune police’s FIR was registered against Shukla only on February 25 this year.

Jethmalani further said that while several other officers of the Maharashtra police had been involved in obtaining the sanction for putting certain phone numbers under surveillance, the FIR had been registered only against Shukla.

The Maharashtra government’s counsel Y P Yagnik, however, opposed Shukla’s request for interim protection from arrest.

He further sought some time to file a reply to her plea saying that a copy of the petition had been served to him only on Thursday.

Yagnik urged the high court not to pass any interim orders on the plea.

The bench, however, said that Shukla had made a case fit for ad-interim relief and that in passing its order, the high court was merely following the mandate of the Supreme Court.

“We will pass appropriate orders. As per the petitioner’s submissions, you (state police) are filing the FIR after three-and-a-half years of the alleged cause of action,” the HC said.

“Is it not a case of malafide action that while apparently several officers are involved, the FIR is filed against only one officer? She is a serving IPS officer, holding a responsible post in Andhra Pradesh. Where is the scope of her absconding?” it said.

While Yagnik argued that the court was considering “only one side of the case,” Jethmalani argued that Shukla had been singled out and therefore, prayers in the petition deserved consideration.

Jethmalani further said that though a number of officers were involved in the process of alleged surveillance and phone interception on the basis that the said phone holders were supplying narcotics to college students, nobody else had been named in the said FIR.

The senior lawyer also told the HC that none of the phone numbers allegedly intercepted were registered in the name of any politicians.

The HC then said that prima facie, it was “convinced” that Shukla deserved to be granted protection until further orders.

“First of all, there is a delay in registering the FIR. Secondly though other officers were involved in obtaining sanction for the surveillance of certain phone numbers, FIR is only against the petitioner,” the high court said in its order.

“Thirdly, the petitioner is a high-ranking officer and is occupying a responsible post of ADG with the CRPF, Hyderabad. It is unlikely that she will abscond. Therefore, she needs to be given protection,” it said.

The HC bench also recorded in its order that Jethmalani, on the instructions from Shukla, said that she was willing to extend “full cooperation” to the police in its probe in the case.

The HC granted two weeks to the Pune police to file its reply to Shukla’s plea.

It posted the matter for further hearing on March 25 and said that no coercive action must be taken against Shukla in the case until then.

Shukla, who was posted as Pune police commissioner between March 2016 and July 2018, is presently on central deputation and posted as additional director general of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Hyderabad.

The FIR was filed against Shukla under relevant sections of the Indian Telegraph Act for alleged illegal tapping of phones of politicians between 2015 and 2019 during her tenure as the Pune police commissioner.

Seeking to quash the FIR, the IPS officer has said in her plea that she was being “falsely implicated” in the case and that she was a victim of “political vendetta”.

BENGALURU: Hoping to strike the right balance in his maiden budget, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who also holds the Finance portfolio, will look to focus on welfare schemes, ensure economic development and financial discipline without burdening the people. He is due to present the budget on Friday afternoon.

In the past few months, the government has given a lot of emphasis on implementing the Central government’s ambitious Jal Jeevan Mission and announced measures to increase farmers’ income, and its focus on these initiatives is likely to be reflected in the budget, sources said.

In 2021, former CM BS Yediyurappa had, in his budget, allocated Rs 7,795 crore for the development of Bengaluru city. With BBMP polls likely in the next few months, Bommai is likely to announce development works and better infrastructure too. Bengaluru, that has 28 assembly constituencies, plays a major role in any assembly election.

The economy, that suffered a setback for two consecutive years, has been showing signs of recovery. There is also pressure on the CM not to hike taxes on fuel and liquor, and the CM is unlikely to announce additional tax/cess, sources said. B T Manohar, Chairman, GST Committee, FKCCI, said, “The government might not take the risk of announcing additional taxes as everyone, including industries and commoners, suffered during the pandemic.

The government’s borrowings are likely to increase.” Karnataka State Government Employment Association President Shadakshari said they are demanding constitution of the Pay Commission to increase state government employees’ salaries on par with that of central government employees.

Make announcement on Pay Panel in budget: BSY
bengaluru: Former CM B S Yediyurappa has urged CM Basavaraj Bommai to constitute a Pay Commission to revise the salaries of State Government employees on par with Central Government employees. Yediyurappa urged Bommai to make the announcement on constituting the Pay Commission in the State Budget. State Government employees are demanding salaries on par with Central Government staff. In the legislative session, the CM had hinted at constituting a Pay Commission. In his letter to the CM, Yediyurappa said the state revises employees’ salaries once every five years and during his tenure as CM, he implemented the recommendations of 5th Pay Commission. “Like many other states, there is a need to bring Karnataka government employees’ salaries on par with central government employees,” he said.

Parmesh S Jain

Kengeri police on Wednesday arrested two persons who had assaulted a private firm employee with a knife and robbed his I-Phone on February 25.

The accused has been identified as,Salman,22 and his associate,Inzamam,23.

Senior officer told media persons,Based on the complaint filed by Manoj TS,31,a software engineer, the Kengeri police inspector,Vasanth C,and his team swung into action and with the help of police investigation skills and technology inputs the team tracked down the accused and arrested Salman, 22 and his associates Inzamam, 23 and recovered robbed mobile phone and bike and a dagger used to commit the robbery from him.

During investigation the accused confessed the crime and it was found that Manoj was waiting outside the metro station for the transport when the duo confronted him and threatened at knife point to handover the mobile .

Manoj tried to resist and was injured in the melee.The duo attacked him with a dagger and escaped with his mobile phone worth Rs 40,000.

The police team analyzed the CCTV footage from in and around the area and arrested the accused.

With their arrest the police have solved another mobile robbery case which is being investigated . 

The accused would move around the city on bike and target people having expensive phones,he said.

Finally Bengaluru police commissioner,Kamal Pant has appreciated Addl CP West,Sandeep Patil,DCP West,Dr Sanjeev M Patil,ACP, Kodandarama,PI,Vasanth C and his crime team who has done a exemplary and commendable job in nabbing the duo and recovered the stolen mobile and a suitable reward will be given to the team he added.

Parmesh S Jain

The East Division police of Ramamurthynagar police on Wednesday arrested a gang of five including a self styled journalist who along with four home guards was running an extortion racket.

The accused has been identified as,Syed Kaleem,28, resident of RT Nagar,Sampangiram, 31, Asif Babujan, 27, Anand Raj, 30 and Vinayaka, 28,working as Home guards.

Senior officer told media persons,A spa owner approached Ramamurthynagar police station after they got some fishy when the gang of five members posing as cops visited their saloon and took 1.6 lakhs from them as the owner got doubt on them as one of the member of the gang got transferred money through online.

The owner approached Ramamurthynagar police inspector, Melwin Francis,and explained about the incident and stated that they run a spa and saloon situated on Jayanthi Nagar main road a five member gang posing as cops raided his spa accused him of running prostitution racket and extorted Rs 1.6 lakh on Feb 26.

As soon as the complaint was filed inspector Melwin Francis passed information to his senior officers as ACP, Ningappa B Sakkiri,DCP, Bheemashankar S Guled,after seeking a detailed report,a special team was formed under the leadership of ACP Ningappa B Sakkiri team headed by PI, Melwin Francis and his crime team swung into action.

The team visited the spa and after verifying the CCTV footage the team got a vital clues on the gang the team identified four persons as they were working as Home guards.

The team secured all the five member gang and during investigation all the five member confessed the crime.

During the investigation the accused were identified as Syed Kaleem,28,from RT Nagar who claimed to be reporter for “Custom and Excise news” reporter of Newsportal along with Sampangiram,31,Asif Babujan,27,Anand Raj,30 and Vinayaka, 28.

The team recovered Rs.60,000 cash and Rs.1 lakh from the bank account which Kaleem had forced the spa owner to transfer online.

A detailed investigation by the team who grilled the accused and he spilled the beans and it has revealed that the prime accused is Kaleem posing as journalist would visit the spa and small commercial establishments threatened them for being involved in illegal business and extort money after carrying out fake raids with the help of his associates who were working as home guards .

We suspect that the accused might have cheated many people and taken them into custody for further investigations.

Finally Bengaluru Police Commissioner,Kamal Pant has appreciated Addl CP,East,A Subramanyeswara Rao,DCP,East,Dr Bheemashankar S Guled,ACP,Ningappa B Sakkiri, PI,Melwin Francis,PSI,Shivaraj Gharsangi,and crime staff as,Aneesh,Ashwin Kumar,Sunil Kumar,Dilip Kumar,has been appreciated for the exemplary and excellent work done by them in tracking all the five accused and unearthing their Extortion business and landing them in police net a special reward will be given to the team he added.

Parmesh S Jain

The Hennur police on Wednesday arrested two persons who were stealing cars from service stations and selling them after fabricating the documents.

The accused has been identified as, Manjunath,27,Sheikh Nawaz,22.

Senior officer told media persons,the service station owner approached to Hennur police station and registered complaint stating two persons posing as customer came to their show room on February 21 and stole the SUV after hoodwinking the security guard .

Following the complaint the police flashed the message around the city alerting their counterparts to keep an eye on the stolen SUV.

Inspector,M Vasanth flashed the message across city and swung into action .The accused were caught while they were driving the stolen SUV in Ashoknagar involved in a self accident and the police on duty caught them and alerted the Hennur police,who had circulated the details of the stolen car.

The duo identified as Manjunath,27 and Sheikh Nawaz, 22, was brought to station along with the stolen car.

During investigation the duo confessed the crime A detailed questioning led them to confess one more vehicle theft case which is reported in Mahadevapura police station limits.

Based on their confession the police recovered two cars worth RS 6.9 lakh from them.

Manjunath and Nawaz are part of the gang led by Salman,a habitual offender who is now on the run.Efforts are on to track him down and further investigation is on.

Finally Bengaluru Police Commissioner,Kamal Pant has appreciated Addl CP,East, A Subramanyeswara Rao,DCP,East,Dr Bheemashankar Guled,ACP, Ningappa B Sakkiri,PI,Vasanth M,PSIs,as,Basavaraj J,Ningaraj,Pratap,ASIs,as,Askar Mirja,Althaf and crime staff as,Purshottam,Bheemappa,Muniraj,Umesh,Ambanna Kattimani,Santhosh,Ghouse P,Kasim Sab and alert police personnel of Ashoknagar traffic has been appreciated and a suitable reward will be given to the whole team who has nabbed the duo car thieves and solved the case within 48hours and a suitable reward will be given to the whole team he added.