Prof. B Shaikh Ali

Mysuru: Renowned historian and former Vice Chancellor of Mangalore and Goa Universities, Prof. B Shaikh Ali passed away on Thursday September 1, here in Mysuru. He was 98.

He was admitted to a private hospital in Mysuru after complaining of ill health where he breathed his last on Thursday.

He is survived by a son and a daughter.

The funeral rites of Prof. B Shaikh Ali will be held at Muslim Hostel Mosque inside the Complex, followed by Burial at Main Khabrasthan (Graveyard) behind Mysore Jail Tipu Circle, in Mysuru.

Sagar: Three security guards were murdered in different incidents here in the last 72 hours, creating a panic in the Madhya Pradesh city, and police suspect two of them might have been killed by the same person.

The pattern of killings led to the suspicion of involvement of a serial killer, but Sagar police officials on Thursday said it was a matter of investigation and too early to jump to any conclusion.

Police have also issued a sketch of the suspected killer.

Security guard Kalyan Lodhi, who was in his 50s and deployed in a factory, was killed on the intervening night of August 28-29 under Cantt police station limits. His head was smashed with a hammer, Additional Superintendent of Police Vikram Singh Kushwaha said.

Another security guard, Shambhu Narayan Dube (60), who was on duty at an arts and commerce college, was killed on the intervening night of August 29-30 under Civil Lines police station limits. His head was smashed with a stone, the official said.

In the third incident, watchman Mangal Ahirwar, who guarded a house, was killed in Moti Nagar area on the intervening night of August 30-31 after being attacked with a stick, he said.

Though it seems Lodhi and Dube were apparently killed by the same person, the number of culprits may be more, Kushwaha said.

Police have issued a sketch of the suspected killer, the official said, adding that they are hopeful of nabbing him soon.

Superintendent of Police Tarun Nayak said the killings in Cantt and Civil Lines police station areas were similar in nature and appeared to have been executed by the same person.

Based on the CCTV footage and scientific evidence collected, the police were working to nab the killer soon, he said.

Nayak said it was too early to say the culprit was a psycho or serial killer”.

Police have got some definite leads about the culprit and special teams have been constituted to nab him, the official said.

In 2018, police had arrested ‘serial killer’ Aadesh Khamra from Mandideep in MP’s Raisen district for allegedly killing 34 truck drivers and cleaners in a decade.

He is currently lodged in a jail in state capital Bhopal and the case trial is underway, Assistant Commissioner of Police (crime) Bittu Sharma said.

New Delhi: The price of commercial LPG used in hotels and restaurants on Thursday was slashed by Rs 91.5 per cylinder on softening international prices, but oil companies have made no changes in rates of domestic cooking gas and rather began imposing limits on refills a user can order in a fortnight.

The price of a 19-kg commercial LPG cylinder was cut to Rs 1,885 per cylinder in the national capital from Rs 1,976.50, according to a price notification from state-owned fuel retailers.

This is in line with softening international prices. However, rates of LPG used in household kitchens for cooking purposes remained unchanged at Rs 1,053 per 14.2-kg cylinder.

This because the rates of domestic cooking gas were way lower than cost and now with a drop in international prices they are at breakeven, industry sources said.

Commercial LPG rates on the other hand have largely been aligned with cost and so they have moved in tandem with rise and fall in international rates.

And this difference between a market-priced commercial LPG and below-cost household cooking gas had led to diversion of cylinders meant for kitchens into commercial establishments.

To check this, the state-owned oil firms have now started imposing limits on a 14.2-kg refill a household can order, they said.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has limited one refill in 15 days from August 26, and other retailers Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) are likely to follow suit.

Simultaneously, the rates of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) were cut marginally by 0.7 per cent.

Jet fuel price was cut by Rs 874.13 per kilolitre, or 0.7 per cent, to Rs 121,041.44 per kl in the national capital.

Rates differ from state to state depending on incidence of local taxes.

Mumbai: The National Investigation Agency has announced a cash reward of Rs 25 lakh for any information leading to the arrest of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, a key accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, an official said on Thursday.

The probe agency has also announced a cash reward of Rs 20 lakh on Ibrahim’s close aide Shakeel Shaikh alias Chhota Shakeel, and Rs 15 lakh each on associates Haji Anees alias Anees Ibrahim Shaikh, Javed Patel alias Javed Chikna and Ibrahim Mushtaq Abdul Razzak Memon alias Tiger Memon, he said.

All of them are wanted accused in the case of 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts. The official said the NIA has sought information about them which could lead to their arrest.

The agency had in February registered a case against the ‘D company’.

Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar is designated a global terrorist by the United Nation runs an international terrorist network, namely D-Company, with his close associates like Anees Ibrahim Shaikh, Chhota Shakeel, Javed Chikhna and Tiger Memon, among others, the NIA said in a statement.

They are involved in various terrorism-criminal activities such as arms smuggling, narco terrorism, underworld criminal syndicate, money laundering, circulation of FICN, unauthorised possession/ acquisition of key assets for raising terror funds and working in active collaboration with international terrorist organisations including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Al Qaeda (AQ), the statement said.

Parmesh S Jain

DRI officials of Bengaluru unit busted a major drug haul and arested a 45 year old man from Telangana and recovered 14 kgs of heroin concealed under false case of a bag he was carrying .

The value of the seized drugs estimated to be Rs.100 crore.

DRI officials said,as from July we are keeping surveillance on passengers coming from Adisababa and based on tip off we checked a passengers luggage and his Carrier we found huge quantity of drugs in his possession immediately he was detained.

The accused was pinned down as soon as he was landed at the Kempegowda International airport from Adisababa.

The accused had gone to Adisababa to search job and suspected to be roped in by international drug cartel offering him the job of carrier .

The accused was offered money along with tickets and stay in star hotel with an assignment to hand over the parcel to a contact in Delhi.

The accused soon after landing in KIA supposed to take a flight to Delhi,where he was supposed to meet his contact and hand over the consignment soon after getting out of Airport.

This is the 8th case the DRI busted since july 15 this year.

Senior officers in the DRI said that special operations against Narcotics has been launched since July as the drugs smuggling linked to Adisababa are on the rise.

The total values of the seized drugs from all the 8 cases estimated to be Rs.250 crores.

The officials suspected that same international drug racket is operating and they are enrolling new faces as mules to smuggle drugs..

Parmesh S Jain

Shyam Singh,Divisional Railway Manager, Bengaluru Division of South Western Railway today held a meeting with various stake holders at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) to improve the patronage of the trains plying via Kempegowda International Airport Railway (Halt) Station.

The division team along with Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) officials took a shuttle bus service to Airport to have a first-hand experience of the last mile connectivity.

Currently,South Western Railway (SWR) is operating seven pairs of trains daily via Kempegowda International Airport Railway (Halt) Station and occupancy is poor.

About 40 Human Resources Managers of different Companies operating at the Kempegowda International Airport Limited attended the interactive meeting with the South Western Railway Officials to benefit the operations of the trains to the employees and public in large.

Shanmugam V,Jothibasu SP,Nagaraj G,Mohan M represented on behalf of BIAL and representatives of other Companies like, Menzies,Aviation Bobba,Air India SATS,TAJSATS, Spicejet Airline,Globe Ground India,Celebi,Plaza Premium Group,SLV Groups,Indian Oil Skytanking, Windmills etc.were present.

Railway officials gave a presentation to highlight the system facilities and current operations of trains via Kempegowda International Airport Railway (Halt) Station.

Suggestions were given during the discussion like, Scheduling the time table of trains in accordance with the shift schedule of major Companies, additional stoppages at more en-route stations, etc.,

Shyam Singh,Divisional Railway Manager suggested BIAL to conduct an in-house survey to know the requirement of train services and stoppages from employees and send the clear proposal to Railways with a required time table convenient with their work shifts and an estimate of number of employees likely to utilize the services to enable Railways to exercise operational feasibility.

Parmesh S Jain

Nine persons killed and 14 others injured when the goods vehicle they were travelling collided with a truck in the wee hours in kallambella cross in the outskirts bof tumakuru on Thursday.

The deceased are migrants labourer from Raichur heading to Bengaluru in search of jobs.

The impact of the accident was so high that the vehicle was mangled and the driver among the three children killed.

Nine persons,including two children,were killed and over 14 injured in a road accident near Kallembella in Sira taluk of Tumakuru district, around 110 km from Bengaluru early on Thursday.

Senior officer along with DC visited the spot and after meeting the victims at hospital,he said that the accident occurred when a cruiser tried to overtake a lorry and in the process collided with the latter around 4.30 a.mon NH 48.

The impact of the collision was such that the cruiser overturned.Other travellers rushed to the spot and dragged out people from the severely mangled remains of the vehicle.

The cruiser,which was coming from Raichur to Bengaluru,was overloaded mostly with labourers and their children.

As against a capacity of 12,the cruiser had 24 people in it,said Tumakuru Deputy Commissioner Y. S. Patil.

One of the survivors,Shivaraju,16, told media persons that he was sitting next to the driver and felt a jerk and before he could realise what had happened,the vehicle overturned.

All the deceased and injured in the accident are residents of Manvi,Deodurg and other parts of Raichur and were migrating to Bengaluru in search of work. 

The dead include four women,four men,and a three-year-old child.

This includes the cruiser driver Krishnappa,a mother-son duo,Sujatha, 25,and Vinod,3,Lakshmi, Basamma,Prabhu,and three others, the police said.

The injured Durgamma,52,Balaji,6,Sandeep,5, Umesh,28,Yallamma,25,Anil, 8,Devaraj,8,Lalitha, 30,Virupaksha,30,Nagamma,55,Vaishali, 32, Vasanta,40,Nagappa,65 and Shivaraju,16,were shifted to Sira taluk Hospital,Tumakuru district hospital,and two of them who suffered head injuries have been shifted to NIMHANS, Bengaluru.

Mr. Patil said at least 14 were injured and they were being treated at various hospitals.

 Tumakuru SP Rahul kumar shahpurwad who rushed to the spot and supervised the investigation , suspected driver was drunk and this could be the reason.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced an ex gratia payment of Rs.5 lakh each to the families of the deceased and said that the State government would bear the expenses towards treatment of the injured.

Meanwhile,Prime Minister Narendra Modi has termed the accident heart-rending and offered condolences to the families who lost their dear ones.

He also announced an ex gratia payment of Rs.2 lakh each to the families of the deceased and Rs.50,000 each to the injured from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund.