Bengaluru: Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday said he would be flying to Delhi on February 7 to meet Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Members of Parliament from Karnataka ahead of preparing the state budget.

Bommai’s trip to the national capital has triggered speculations that cabinet expansion may be discussed with the BJP’s central leadership.

“I am going to Delhi tomorrow to meet all the MPs against the backdrop of the union budget and the budget we are preparing. I have sought an appointment with the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman where I want to discuss budget, financial condition and GST,” he told reporters here.

Seeking to downplay the visit, Bommai explained that there had been a convention of Chief Ministers holding discussions with “everyone” ahead of presentation of the budget and he is only following the same tradition.

He said that he has also sought appointment with party seniors and he would get a confirmation this evening or Monday morning. He however, acknowledged that they would be busy with the ongoing Parliamentary proceedings and the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections.

The CM made it clear that he has not sought any appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

To a query whether cabinet expansion would be discussed, Bommai said he cannot speculate how the situation will be when he gets an appointment with the seniors in the party.

Against the permitted strength of 34 ministers in the cabinet, the Bommai government has a team of 30 while four berths are vacant. Many ministerial aspirants have been lobbying for the positions.

Parmesh S Jain

The Whitefield Division police of Maratahalli police on Wednesday arrested a group of three peddlers and recovered 40 kilos of Marijuana worth Rs four lakh from them.

The accused have been identified as Ajaikumar, 21,from Bagepalli,Rajbabu,23,and Ravi, 30 from Chittoor.

Senior officer told media persons,the war on drugs is in action in the city to bring the drug abuse under control,The Marathahalli police sub inspector,Rangesh received a credible information from one of the consumer that 3 persons are waiting near Panathur railway gate to deliver the consignment to their clients.

Based on a tip off, from a consumer a team of police rushed to the spot and surrounded the area and after keeping a close watch on them the team raided the place and they were caught red handed while they were unloading drugs from a vehicle on roadside .

During investigation the accused confessed the crime and a detailed investigation by the team it has revealed that the accused source the drugs from their contact in Vizag in bulk and smuggle it into the city to sell it concealed with vegetables and greens and sell it to the local peddlers in the city using code word.

All the three accused have been booked under NDPS Act and taken into custody for further investigation is on to ascertain the network of the accused.

Finally Bengaluru Police Commissioner,Kamal Pant has appreciated Addl CP East, Subramanyeswara Rao,DCP,Whitefield,S Girish,ACP,Kishore Bharani,PI,SLR Reddy,PSI,as,Rangesh and Ashok Madiyal and crime staff as,Harinath,Allah Bakash,Williams George,Mahesh Nayak,Manjunath Patil, Mehaboob, Arjun Naik has been appreciated for the commendable job done by them in nabbing three notorious drug peddlers who used to sell the drugs using code words are now cooling their heels in jail a suitable reward will be given to the team he added.

Parmesh S Jain

The Northeast Division police of Yelahanka police have rescued kidnapped Civil Enginner within 3 hours and arrested six kidnappers including a contractor.

The accused has been identified as,Nandagopal, 31,Sunil Seenappa,32,Ashok Lingappa,31, Vignesh Ananthram,21,Manoj Srinivas,24 and Shadaab Ahmed, 24.

Senior officer told media persons,a complaint was registered in Yelahanka police station in which vicitm colleague is a complainant who said in his complaint that while passing near Raithare Santhe he noticed that his friend was being forcibly dragged in a SUV by six member gang.

Acting on the information In a swift action,the Yelahanka police inspector,Sathyanarayan and his team on Wednesday rescued a 30-year-old civil engineer and arrested a gang of six who have abducted him for ransom and later decided to kill him after he refused to pay them money .

Team headed by PI,KP Satyanarayna track down the accused to an isolated place on the Kolar Bengaluru highway.

The immediately rushed to the spot with additional force and after getting the location the team surrounded the area and zeroed in on all the six members and arrested Nandagopal,31, Sunil Seenappa,32,Ashok Lingappa,31,Vignesh Ananthram,21,Manoj Srinivas,24 and Shadaab Ahmed, 24.

During investigation it was found that the victim Manas,from Odisha,runs a construction company in Yelahanka bagged a contract to construct a residential apartment .

Manas had given a sub contract to Nandagopal to construct the basement structure and owed him Rs 3 lakh .

When Manas was not dodging to return the money,Nandagopal planned to abduct him and extort the money.

As per the plan,the gang intercepted his SUV near Raitha Santhe road in Yelahanka on Wednesday while Manas was on his way to office with his office staff pawan G.

The accused confronted his SUV dragged Manas out and assaulted him before he was forced into a SUV.

One of the accused also took control of the Manas SUV asking the Pawan to get out and said that they are taking him to the police station.

Instead the accused took him to Kolar highway and tortured him and robbed his gold valuables demanding Rs 33 lakh ransom for his release. When Manas refused to pay they even decided to kill him and dump his body in forest area.

Meanwhile Pawan who suspected something fishy, approached the police and filed a complaint.The police swung into action and track down the accused and rescued Manas hours before he was killed.All the six accused has been arrested and have been taken into custody to ascertain their criminal background.

The entire operation was appreciated by Senior police officer,as, Commissioner of police, Kamal Pant, Addl CP East, Subramanyeswara Rao,DCP, Northeast,Anoop A Shetty,ACP,Manoj Kumar,PI,KP Sathyanarayana,PSIs,as,Sunil Kumar KB,Ms.Shylaja M,and crime staff as,Arun Kumar,Mahaveer, Raghavendra BN,Erresh,and DCP office staff,Babu who helped in technical inputs to nab the kidnappers and rescue the civil engineer within 3 hours for the Excellent and tremendous job done by the team a suitable reward will be given to the team he added.

Parmesh S Jain

Officials of the Central Crime Branch police on Thursday busted a gold biscuit racket and arrested four persons who are making sub standard gold biscuits using osmium sponge and mixture of other alloys and sell it to jewellers after putting the seals of international brands which authenticate the purity of gold.

The accused has been identified as,Rajesh Bhosle,44,Ajay Kanthilal,19,Akshay Bajrang 26, and Hritik Babasab Salunke,19.

Joint CP Crime, Raman Gupta,told reporters,a credible information was received by CCB officers that a shop situated in Mathaji Jewellery market is indulged in cheating jewellery shop owners by putting fake seal of international brand and are making sub standard gold biscuits.

Acting on a tip off,a team of officials under the leadership of DCP,Crime-1,Dr SD Sharanappa,PI,Ravi Patil and his team swung into action and approach the shop as a customer and after getting confirmation the team raided the shop situated in Mathaji jeweler market complex situated on Nagarathpete and caught four gold smiths red handed.

During raid the officials also seized 1.7 kgs of gold,Rs.20,000 cash and seals containing the names Valcambi Suiss 100 g gold 999.0, Matalor Swixerland, 100 g 999.0,All Ethihad Dubai,UAE, 10 tolas 999.0,Agro 100g,999.0,and credit suisse 100g 999.0,seals which they used on the sub standard gold bar to make it look like mark of purity .

Investigations revealed that the accused used to deal with 3 to 5 kilos of gold to make biscuits and distribute on an average per day.

The CCB police have taken all the four accused into custody to ascertain their network and business operations.

Finally Bengaluru Police Commissioner,Kamal Pant has appreciated Joint CP Crime,Raman Gupta,DCP Crime-1,Dr SD Sharanappa,PI,Ravi Patil and other officers who has done a exemplary work in busting the fake gold biscuit racket and arrested four persons who were cheating people by putting fake international brand seals on gold biscuits a special reward will be given to the team he added.

Parmesh S Jain

An Assistant Executive Engineer of BBMP on Friday filed a complaint against Jio company and two of its employee for damaging road to lay cables without required permission in Jalahalli .

The accused employees identified as Kutti Saravana and Suresh were found cutting the railway under bridge road on MES road in Jalahalli using heavy machine without required permission.

The road was busy and due to the roadwork caused inconvenience to the motorists.Mr. Umesh estimated the damage as per the rules to Rs 29.6 lakh.

Based on the complaint by NG Umesh,AEE BBMP, Yeshwanthpura sub division,the Jalahalli police have registered a case against the accused charging them under section 427 (mischief to cause damage) 283 (causes danger, obstruction or injury to any person in any public way or public line of navigation) and also under Prevention of damage to public property and further investigation is on.