JD (S) plans rallies in Karnataka to counter VHP

Determined to resurrect the secular image of the JD (S), party supremo and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda deplored the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)-sponsored rallies taking place across Karnataka and declared that the JD (S) would organize parallel rallies to uphold secularism.

Addressing the party’s national executive meeting in Bangalore, Gowda said the parallel rallies of the JD (S) would begin after the on-going Virata Hindu Samaveshas conclude on February 12. “We will take this as a challenge and organize rallies. We too can organize such rallies to ensure communal harmony”, Gowda told the party delegates

Sending a strong signal to the delegates that the party had not compromised on its secular ideology despite forging an alliance with the BJP in Karnataka, Gowda sought to make it clear that the BJP must remain committed to the common minimum programme of the coalition Government if the saffron party wishes to take over the post of Chief Minister after the incumbent H D Kumaraswamy’s term comes to an end during October this year.

“The BJP has every right to propagate Hindutva or Ram Temple issue at the national level. But, in Karnataka this Government should be committed to the framework of the common minimum programme”, he said.

Cautioning the BJP against peddling Hindutva in Karnataka while being a partner in the coalition Government, Gowda said the common minimum programme should be the BJP’s “Bible, Quran and Bhagavadgita” in Karnataka.

Gowda dedicated a major part of his address at the party’s national executive to deploring the Sangh Parivar’s efforts to misinterpret Hindutva. He quoted extensively passages of Rabindranath Tagore, Tulsidas, S Radhakrishnan, Vivekananda and Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel among others to buttress his argument.

Gowda’s tirade against the Sangh Parivar and the rider he set for transfer of power from the JD (S) to the BJP has touched a raw nerve in the BJP with Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, who is tipped to take over from Kumaraswamy during October this year, openly expressing his resentment.

Speaking to reporters after participating in a function at Arasikere in Karnataka, Yediyurappa said Gowda’s statement had created unnecessary confusion and sought a clarification in the regard from Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy.

Suspected militant’s father pleads for fair trial

Suspected militant Imran Jalaluddin’s 59-year-old father Shamsuddin Kota has appealed for a fair trial to his son, who is facing charges for his involvement in the terrorist strike at Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore.

Kota, who had arrived in Bangalore from his native Hazratbal in Jammu and Kashmir, met City Police Commissioner Neelam Achyuta Rao before interacting with reporters informally.

“No Indian is above the law. All I am asking for is a fair trial for my son”, he said. “I don’t want my son to be convicted by the people and the police without being given a fair chance to tell his side of the story in a transparent manner”, he added.

Expressing concern for his son, Kota said the police had subjected him to narco-analysis thrice and each time they claim that he has confessed something new. However, the police have given Kota permission to meet his son, who is presently in police custody.

Kota’s version of the events that led to Imran’s arrest contradict the police claims of the police. While police claim that Imran was arrested from a Bangalore-bound bus from Hampi on January 5, Kota quoted Imran’s friend in Hampi and stated that some unidentified persons in Hampi had picked up his son on December 28.

However, Kota admitted that his son had been to Muzaffarabad in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) for six months during 1989. “It was the beginning of the militancy in the valley and the security forces were regularly raiding his house those days”, he said.

Kota said he sent Imran to Bangalore in 1991 to do a diploma course in a private polytechnic. “But on his return to Kashmir in 1994, my son was arrested again and kept in custody for 40 days. He was released after a screening committee was convinced that he had completely dissociated from the militants. He was trying to carve out a new life in Hampi”, Kota claimed.

46 juveniles escape from remand home in Bangalore

In a major security lapse, a total of 46 children made good their escape from the Juvenile Remand Home in Bangalore on Sunday evening.

Police said the juvenile delinquents who escaped from the Remand Home situated at Madivala in Bangalore were below 16 years of age and were facing charges ranging from rape, murder and robbery.

The children had escaped from a hole they had dug in one of the bathrooms by removing the hollow blocks. After sneaking out of the hole, the children scaled a tree and jumped across the tall compound walls of the Remand Home to freedom.

The hole was apparently made over the last several days and kept covered by old clothes so that the authorities do not smell a rat.

The Remand Home authorities discovered the escape of the juveniles when they carried out a head-count late on Sunday evening. Apparently, all the 71 inmates were kept in a large room after serving them lunch. When one of the guards went inside in the evening, he found a large number of children missing. A head count showed that as many as 46 children were missing.

The police was immediately informed and a message was flashed across the City to trace the escapees. Police wireless sets began crackling with the message asking police personnel to look out for the escaped juveniles, who were wearing white shirts and grey shorts with roll numbers.

The City police swung into action and managed to catch six of them late on Sunday night and bring them back to the Remand Home. Out of the six, who were caught, four of them were found loitering near Forum Mall in Koramangala a few kilometers away from the Remand Home. One of them had returned home, but was brought back to the Remand Home by his brother.

But, forty children are still at large. Bangalore City Police Commissioner Neelam Achyuta Rao told reporters that the Railway Station and Bus stands in Bangalore had been kept on high alert.

The escape of the juvenile delinquents has exposed the glaring loopholes in the security system at the Remand Home, which is managed by the State Government’s Department for Women and Child Welfare.

At the time of the escape on Sunday evening, the Remand Home was guarded by just one private security guard, besides two staff members, instead of the mandatory seven security personnel at any given time. Even the Superintendent of the Remand Home Kamalamma was away on official duty at the time of the incident.

The Government has ordered an inquiry into the escapade and the Director of Women and Child Welfare Department has been asked to submit a report. Sunday evening’s escape is the third such incident reported from the Remand Home in Madiwala during the last one year. During December 2005, a total of 18 inmates had escaped after hitting the security guard. Only five of them had been traced so far.

Businessman kidnaps daughter, demands Rs 10 million ransom from wife

A 35-year-old businessman from Mysore near here is cooling his heels in the jail after unsuccessfully trying to orchestrate the abduction of his own daughter and demanding a ransom of Rs 10 million from his wife.

Police said A S Prashanth Kumar Jain kidnapped his five-year-old daughter Ichcha Jain about ten days ago, when his wife was out of station. Prashanth Kumar’s wife Abhinetri had left Mysore for Chennagiri in Shimoga to attend a wedding earlier this month, leaving the daughter behind with her husband.

When she returned to Mysore on January 19, she was shocked to find both her husband and daughter missing. After her attempts to trace them became futile, she lodged a complaint with the police that her husband and daughter were missing.

Police said Prashanth Kumar had taken his daughter to Bangalore and Hubli before checking into a lodge in Kolhapur in neighbouring Maharashtra. Two days after lodging a complaint with the police, Abhinetri received a phone call on her mobile. Prashanth Kumar disguised his voice as the kidnapper and demanded a ransom of Rs 10 million from his wife for the five-year-old’s release.

The ransom calls were repeated twice later. But, the police managed to trace the call to Kolhapur and raided the lodge, where Prashanth Kumar was staying with his daughter. The police arrested Prashanth Kumar and re-united the daughter with her mother.

Prashanth Kumar, who confessed to the crime, said he was in neck-deep in debt. It has also been learnt that Prashanth Kumar had pawned all the jewellery and valuables in the house during his wife’s absence. He went into hiding on learning that his wife was returning on January 19.

Prashanth Kumar was brought to Mysore, produced before the court and remanded to judicial custody.

Mono rail to supplement Metro in Bangalore

In addition to Metro rail for Bangalore, the work on which has already begun, the City will also have a mono rail to cover the areas left out by Metro rail.

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy told reporters that the State Government had recently approved a proposal for mono rail for Bangalore and directed the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC) to prepare a project report in the regard.

Metro Rail, which is seen as a solution to the traffic-choked roads of Bangalore, will pass through 40 kms of the City, leaving many parts of the City unattended. Hence, the State Government had approved mono rail in areas essentially located on the outskirts of Bangalore.

Mono rail has been approved for four corridors – Bannerghatta Road to Mysore Road, Mysore Road to Tumkur Road, Tumkur Road to Bellary Road and Magadi Road to Bannerghatta Road.

According to Managing Director of BMRC V Madhu, a comprehensive transport and traffic survey report on mono rail for Bangalore had already been prepared and submitted to the State Government. The BMRC will not appoint a consultant to prepare a detailed project report for mono rail, he added.

As mono rail had not been implement anywhere in India, BMRC will be calling a global tender for appointment of a consultant. “In all probability, the tender will be awarded by March 2007”, he added.

Greater Bangalore to spread across 741 square kms

The Karnataka Government will soon bring in a piece of legislation to redefine the boundaries of Bangalore City by amalgamating seven City Municipal Councils, one Town Panchayat and over a hundred urbanized villages on its outskirts.

The amalgamation of these City Municipal Councils, Town Panchayat and a total of 109 villages with Bangalore will mark the formation of Greater Bangalore, which will spread across a total of 741 square kilometers, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy announced at an interactive seminar “Bangalore Today and Tomorrow” attended by representatives of various civic agencies, non governmental organizations and residents welfare associations.

Kumaraswamy said the formation of Greater Bangalore was aimed at bringing the City and its suburbs under a single administrative entity that would take up all infrastructure development works like roads and drinking water supply.

The Chief Minister promised the citizens of Bangalore a good network of roads between various townships, some allowing motorists to zip at a speed of 150 kms per hour, besides 200,000 budget houses for the poor and economically weaker sections of Bangalore.

A poor infrastructure of roads and inadequate housing had become the bane of Bangalore, which saw a huge influx of people from various parts of the country ever since the City became a hotspot for Information Technology (IT) industry.

The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), which acquires land and develops residential layouts, will not focus on the vertical growth of the City. Twenty per cent of the area earmarked for distribution of residential sites will be reserved for high-rise apartments, he said.

Kumaraswamy also promised to convert Bangalore into a slum-free City by taking up an integrated housing project, envisaging construction of apartments across 31 slums at a cost of Rs 2 billion.

Ten killed in road mishap in Chitradurga in Karnataka

Ten persons died on the spot and fifteen others were injured when the bus they were travelling in collided with a parked vehicle near Challakere in Karnataka’s Chitradurga district in the early hours of yesterday.

Police said the ill-fated bus, which was proceeding to Gulbarga from Bangalore, was overturned due to the impact of its collision with a vehicle parked by the roadside around 2 am on Saturday.

Out of the injured persons, the condition of two of them, who had sufferred head injuries is critical. They have been admitted to Nimhans Hospital in Bangalore for treatment. The rest of them are undergoing treatment at various hospitals in Challakere and Chitradurga, police said.

A majority of the accident victims are natives of Gulbarga, police added. According to the injured persons undergoing treatment at a hospital in Chitradurga, the bus belonging to state-owned Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) left Bangalore around 9 pm on Friday.

Soon after the bus left Bangalore, a dispute arose between the driver and conductor of the bus. Arguments and counter-arguments between the driver and the conductor of the bus had been continuing throughout the journey, which was aborted due to the accident.

Seven members of debt-ridden family found dead in Hassan

In a tragic incident, seven members of a debt-ridden family in Karnataka’s Hassan district were found dead in their house.

Police said the family of Keerthi Shetty, 40, a hardware businessman, had been driven to bankruptcy, forcing him to kill his father, mother, wife and three children before committing suicide.

In a suicide note recovered from the house, Keerthi Shetty said he had to kill his family members and commit suicide, as they were unable to bear the harassment of moneylenders. Police also recovered a bottle of cyanide and chloroform from the spot.

Police suspect Keerthi Shetty had first fed the poison to his aged father Vishwanath Gupta, 67, and mother Prabha Gupta, 63, whose bodies were found in the first floor of the house. Later, he has administered the poison to his wife Supraja, 35, and daughters Manoghna, 10, Amoghna, 8, and Tamoghna, 5, while they were asleep in the ground floor.

Before committing suicide, Keerthi Shetty had sent SMS messages from his mobile to a few relatives in Hyderabad and some close friends in Hassan, informing them about their decision to end their lives, unable to bear the atrocities of the moneylenders.

Keerthi Shetty had borrowed a loan of about Rs 6 million from Kannika Parameshwari Bank in Hassan. In addition, he also had a loan of about Rs 5 million borrowed from private moneylenders and was facing a tough time paying the interest. His only steady source of income was Rs 15,000 from a Hospital in Bangalore for which he was one of the Directors.
In the suicide note, Keerthi Shetty had claimed that his borrowings were not larger than his assets. He said he had to take the extreme step as the moneylenders, whom he had named, were insisting on instant repayment and he had no liquid cash for the purpose. He had named five moneylenders including a jeweler, two financiers, a medical shop owner and a contractor. “If they want me to return the money, let them come to the place where we are going”, Shetty had said in the suicide note

Karnataka Ministry expanded

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy expanded his coalition Ministry by inducting five new Ministers, taking its total strength to 34.

Three Ministers from the JD (S) and two from the BJP were inducted at the swearing-in ceremony held at the Banquet Hall of Raj Bhavan yesterday. Governor T N Chaturvedi administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new Ministers.

The new Ministers include H S Mahadev Prasad, Alangur Srinivas and G T Deve Gowda from the JD (S) and S Shivanna and Appu Pattanashetty from the BJP. The induction of the five new Ministers marked the third expansion of the H D Kumaraswamy-led coalition Government, which assumed power during February 2006.

Speaking to reporters after the simple and brief swearing-in-ceremony, Kumaraswamy regretted that the coalition Government had not been able to accommodate a woman in the Ministry. “I am pained that I have not been able to accommodate a woman in the Ministry on account of the restrictions on the size of the Ministry. Though we have not given any representation to any woman in the Ministry, the Government has chalked out a lot of programmes for the welfare of women”, he said.

When asked why he had not inducted a Minister from the minority community to the ministerial berth vacated by Zameer Ahmed Khan recently, Kumaraswamy said a member from the minority community will be given a prominent post in the party. He said Labour Minister Iqbal Ansari was already representing the minority community in the coalition cabinet.

The portfolios for the newly inducted ministers will be announced shortly, Kumaraswamy said. To a question, the Chief Minister did not rule out a reshuffle of portfolios among the Ministers.

Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, who was also present on the occasion, promised to provide representation to women during the reconstitution of the Ministry after he takes over as Chief Minister from Kumaraswamy eight months later. “As I have already declared, about six to seven Ministers will be roped in for party work during the reconstitution, providing scope for induction of new faces including women”, he said.

Thursday’s cabinet expansion had also triggered dissension among BJP MLAs aspiring for ministerial berths. BJP MLA from Mysore H S Shankarlinge Gowda told reporters that he was thoroughly dissatisfied with the party leadership for ignoring him during the expansion exercise. “I have been with the party for twenty years. This is my third term as MLA. Yet, I have been ignored”, he lamented.

Shankarlinge Gowda said the party had offered him the post of Chairperson of a state-run Board. “But, I have decided to reject the offer”, he said.

Similiarly, another three-time MLA from the BJP Araga Jnanendra has also decided to reject the offer to head a state-run Board. Party sources said Jnanendra, a three-time MLA from Shimoga, had declined to accept the offer to become the chairperson of a state-run Board.

Whistleblower returns “paltry” cash reward to Government

A resident of Khanapur in Karnataka’s Belgaum district, who blew the whistle on the multi-billion rupee stamp paper scam by helping the police nab its alleged kingpin Abdul Karim Telgi, has rejected the cash reward of Rs 2,000 announced by the Government for his act.

Slighted by the left-handed compliment, the whistleblower Jayant Tinaikar has decided to return the cheque worth Rs 2,000 sent to him by the Government.

Tinaikur, who had tipped off the police, which led to his arrest in Ajmer during November 2001, said he had exposed Telgi and his misdeeds though his life was in danger. “The government’s response is shameful. I am not a beggar”, he told reporters.

Pointing out that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed a case against Telgi for cheating the government to the tune of Rs 320 billion, Tinaikar said the Government’s attitude shows how serious it is about the fake stamp paper scam. “My life was in danger. But, I did not hesitate to expose Telgi”, he said.

Tinaikar’s outbursts came after he received a letter from the Director General of Karnataka Police K R Srinivasan recently that the Government had sanctioned him Rs 2,000 as reward for helping the police by providing information leading to the arrest of the scamster Abdul Karim Telgi.

Kumaraswamy stays in HIV positive couple’s house

As promised, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy spent a night at the house of a HIV positive couple at Ingalgi village in northern Karnataka’s Bagalkot district.

Rudraiah and his wife Shobha Mathapathi hosted the Chief Minister’s overnight stay at their modest two-room house, which had been whitewashed for the momentous occasion. The district administration had built a toilet in the house of the HIV positive couple for the Chief Minister’s visit, which was aimed at dispelling the stigma attached to the disease.

After a bumpy ride through the muddy roads of rural Bagalkot, Kumaraswamy reached Rudraiah’s house around midnight and stayed there till the wee hours of yesterday. Hundreds of residents of the village stayed awake to receive the Chief Minister and hail his gesture to instill confidence and courage among the affected people.

Ingalgi, a village with a population of more than 3,500 people, has about 100 people sufferring from the dreaded HIV/AIDS. The Chief Minister also addressed affected people and the village health community members yesterday.

Mohan H L, Director of Karnataka Health Promotion Trust, an initiative of the State Government’s Health Ministry, said the Chief Minister’s decision to stay overnight at the house of a couple, who had diagnosed positive for HIV, will help “open the minds the people in the State and outside”.

Pointing out that no Chief Minister in India had ever taken such a step, Mohan hoped Kumaraswamy’s gesture would help dispelling discrimination and increase social acceptance.

The young hosts of the Chief Minister – Rudraiah, 26, and Shobha Mathapathi, 20, - had discovered their HIV status when Shobha consulted a doctor to find out why she was not conceiving. During the blood test, the doctor found that she was HIV positive. Without disclosing her status to her, the doctor advised her to send her husband to the hospital. Rudraiah also tested positive.

Rudraiah, who was earlier a truck driver before taking to running a flour mill, is presently not in a position to earn for the family. His parents, who hold a small piece of land, are working in the fields of others to look after the sick couple.

Shobha had delivered a baby boy a little over a year ago. As the child has to be at least eighteen months old to conduct a test for HIV, the couple is keeping their fingers crossed and praying that he tests negative.

Karnataka Cabinet to be expanded on January 25

The Karnataka cabinet will be expanded on January 25 with the induction of two members each from coalition partners JD (S) and BJP, taking the total strength of the coalition Ministry to 34 from the existing 30.

Speaking to reporters, Chief Minister Kumaraswamy said the swearing-in ceremony has been scheduled for January 25, before the start of the legislature session the same day. “We will have a full-fledged Ministry after the expansion”, Kumaraswamy said.

Though each of the coalition partners is entitled to having 17 members in the ministry, the JD (S) and BJP have only fifteen members each. The expansion of the coalition ministry into full-fledged one had been delayed on various counts. “There will be no further delay”, Kumaraswamy assured reporters yesterday.

However, the Chief Minister indicated that there might be no room yet for a woman in the coalition cabinet. “We have given women prominence in various government schemes like distribution of cycles for girl child and Stree Shakti programmes”, Kumaraswamy said when asked whether there was any proposal to induct a woman in the coalition cabinet.

The H D Kumaraswamy-led JD (S)-BJP coalition has already come under fire from the Opposition and women’s groups for its failure to give representation to women in its ministry.

Meanwhile, Kumaraswamy said the Government will also set into motion the process of making appointments to posts of members and chairpersons to various state-run boards and corporations, which has been hanging fire for a long time. “The process of making appointments to boards and corporations will also start from January 25”, he said.

Bangalore limping back to normalcy, Government to curb rallies

Even as communal riot-hit parts of Bangalore showed signs of returning to normality yesterday, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy took serious note of the violence and announced that the Government would soon bring in a piece of legislation to curb processions in densely populated areas.

Speaking to reporters after convening a high-level meeting to review the situation in Bangalore, Kumaraswamy said the processions will be kept out of the limits of the City. “The Government may even ban such processions in the City. Specific open fields will be identified for the purpose on the outskirts of the City and such rallies will be allowed only in these grounds”, he said.

The Chief Minister said the proposed law would hold the leaders of the organizations taking out rallies for violent incidents. “The violence was triggered after the Friday rally organized to condemn the hanging of deposed Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein. It worsened during a counter rally by the rival community. The piece of legislation will hold the leaders who organize such rallies in future responsible for violence”, he said.

Kumaraswamy said the Intelligence Department was studying the recording of the provocative speeches made at the rallies organized by Virata Hindu Samavesha and the People’s Front, which had taken out a procession to condemn Saddam’s execution. Appropriate action will be taken if anybody is found guilty of inciting communal passions, Kumaraswamy said.

Meanwhile, the police decided to withdraw night curfew in the affected areas of Bangalore, but prohibitory orders under section 144 remained force. Though people were found leaving their homes to attend work, there was heavy police presence in most of the riot-hit areas.

The Government has announced a compensation of Rs 100,000 to the next of kin of the twelve-year-old boy, who had died in the police firing. Persons, who had sufferred bullet injuries, will receive Rs 25,000 each and the Government will bear the cost of the treatment.

Police said the dead boy had been identified as Fazil, a resident of Thimmaiah road in Bangalore. Police said Fazil, who had died after a bullet pierced his chest, was an orphan. He stayed with his uncle and worked as an assistant of a carpenter.

Bowring Hospital in Bangalore, where a large number of persons injured are undergoing treatment, witnessed a steady arrival of VVIPs including former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, former Federal Minister C K Jaffer Sharief and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President M Mallikarjun Kharge, besides Muslim legislators like Zameer Ahmed Khan, R Roshan Baig and Abdul Azeem.

Bangalore limping back to normalcy, Government to curb rallies

Even as communal riot-hit parts of Bangalore showed signs of returning to normality yesterday, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy took serious note of the violence and announced that the Government would soon bring in a piece of legislation to curb processions in densely populated areas.

Speaking to reporters after convening a high-level meeting to review the situation in Bangalore, Kumaraswamy said the processions will be kept out of the limits of the City. “The Government may even ban such processions in the City. Specific open fields will be identified for the purpose on the outskirts of the City and such rallies will be allowed only in these grounds”, he said.

The Chief Minister said the proposed law would hold the leaders of the organizations taking out rallies for violent incidents. “The violence was triggered after the Friday rally organized to condemn the hanging of deposed Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein. It worsened during a counter rally by the rival community. The piece of legislation will hold the leaders who organize such rallies in future responsible for violence”, he said.

Kumaraswamy said the Intelligence Department was studying the recording of the provocative speeches made at the rallies organized by Virata Hindu Samavesha and the People’s Front, which had taken out a procession to condemn Saddam’s execution. Appropriate action will be taken if anybody is found guilty of inciting communal passions, Kumaraswamy said.

Meanwhile, the police decided to withdraw night curfew in the affected areas of Bangalore, but prohibitory orders under section 144 remained force. Though people were found leaving their homes to attend work, there was heavy police presence in most of the riot-hit areas.

The Government has announced a compensation of Rs 100,000 to the next of kin of the twelve-year-old boy, who had died in the police firing. Persons, who had sufferred bullet injuries, will receive Rs 25,000 each and the Government will bear the cost of the treatment.

Police said the dead boy had been identified as Fazil, a resident of Thimmaiah road in Bangalore. Police said Fazil, who had died after a bullet pierced his chest, was an orphan. He stayed with his uncle and worked as an assistant of a carpenter.

Bowring Hospital in Bangalore, where a large number of persons injured are undergoing treatment, witnessed a steady arrival of VVIPs including former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, former Federal Minister C K Jaffer Sharief and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President M Mallikarjun Kharge, besides Muslim legislators like Zameer Ahmed Khan, R Roshan Baig and Abdul Azeem.

Riot police patrol riot-hit areas of Bangalore, 12-year-old dies

Armed policemen patrolled the communally sensitive areas of Bangalore yesterday in a bid to restore calm in the City after a flare-up of religious frenzy on Sunday evening left a twelve-year-old boy dead and three others injured in police firing.

Commandos from the elite Rapid Action Force (RAF) were deployed in Bharathinagar and Shivajinagar areas of Bangalore, which had been caught in communal frenzy after a procession organized as part of Virat Hindu Samavesha on Sunday turned violent, leading to arson, looting and stabbing.

Though the situation remained calm yesterday, simmering tension forced the police to remain on their toes. Flag marches were also staged in the riot-hit areas yesterday to instill a sense of confidence in the people and the authorities expressed confidence of peace returning to the City.

Police confirmed the death of a twelve-year-old boy in the police firing at Russel Market area of Bangalore. The dead body of the boy, who had received three bullet wounds, is lying at the mortuary at Bowring Hospital in Bangalore. The identity of the boy is yet to be ascertained as nobody had come to claim the dead body, police said.

Three others, who had received bullet injuries, were recovering at the Hospital. “The bullets have been removed and they are recovering” according to doctors at Bowring Hospital.

More than a hundred persons including eight policemen sufferred injuries in the communal violence that erupted in communally sensitive areas of Bangalore on Sunday evening when a splinter group of the procession organized as part of the Virat Hindu Samavesha turned violent.

Several people with fractures and head injuries were undergoing treatment at various hospitals in Bangalore. A constable, whose throat had been slashed by a sharp weapon, was also reported to be recovering at Bowring Hospital.

Karnataka’s Home Minister M P Prakash visited Bowring Hospital yesterday, where several persons injured in the communal violence were undergoing treatment. Speaking to reporters, Prakash appealed for calm and warned trouble-makers with exemplary punishment.

The night curfew imposed in eight police station limits of Bangalore including the worst-hit areas of Shivajinagar, Bharathinagar and Ulsoor was withdrawn from yesterday morning till 7 pm. Police officials said night curfew will be re-imposed in the affected areas.

Schools and Colleges in the communal riot-torn areas of Bangalore remained closed yesterday. Prohibitory orders banning the assembly of four or more persons remained in force. Movement of traffic even on the arterial roads of the area had been reduced to a trickle.

Soon after trouble was started by the groups of persons on the way to Virata Hindu Samavesha on Sunday evening, apparently in retaliation to Friday’s incidents in the same area when youths on the way to attend a demonstration to condemn the hanging of ousted Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein, pitched battles were fought between rival groups in Shivajinagar, Seppings Road, Thimmaiah Road and Bamboo Bazaar.

More than 50 shops and business establishments in the areas were either burnt down or damaged. At least eleven Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) buses, twenty two-wheelers, twelve cars and six autorickshaws were burnt down during the violence.

Rampaging mobs were found flagging down vehicles and setting them afire after inquiring about the religious identity of the driver. Many vehicle drivers were even assaulted during the violence.

Fresh violence rocks Bangalore

Fresh violence broke out in Bangalore yesterday afternoon with angry mobs going on a rampage in sensitive localities, burning down vehicles and pelting stones at shops and business establishments.

While one private bus was burnt down in Bamboo Bazaar area near communally sensitive Shivajinagar, three autorickshaws were damaged at Ulsoor, where the Sangh Parivar was holding its Virata Hindu Samavesha. Several two-wheelers and four-wheelers were reportedly stoned and damaged in other parts of the City.

Mob violence and stone pelting have also been reported from Bharathi Nagar and Old Madras Road. Tension came to grip many parts of Bangalore after trouble broke out right outside the Hindu Virata Samavesha venue in Ulsoor.

An unspecified number of people have been taken into custody by the police, which has also clamped prohibitory orders under section 144 in the City. Several platoons of reserve police force have been deployed in sensitive areas in addition to the local police in a bid to keep the situation under control.

Stray incidents of arson were also reported from Bharathi Nagar in the City, where police had to use to the baton to disperse youths and prevent them from gathering. Rioters had ransacked the shop of a tailor and made attempts to loot valuables from three other shops.
It may be recalled that at least 50 persons including eight police personnel were injured when a protest demonstration to condemn the execution of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein turned violent in Bangalore and took a communal turn

Karnataka drops eggs from mid-day meals menu, instead milk will be provided

Instead of eggs, Karnataka Government has decided to supply milk to the children of Government schools across the State along with mid-day meals.

Announcing the Government’s decision to drop eggs from the menu for mid-day meals, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said the farmers, who owned cows in the State, would benefit from the Government’s decision to provide milk to the students.

Kumaraswamy also pointed out that there was a surplus production of milk in the State, which is the second highest producer of milk in the country. The Government’s decision to provide milk to the students will create an additional market for the dairy farmers, he said.

The Chief Minister’s announcement to drop eggs from the mid-day meals menu and instead provide milk was made soon after the Pontiff of Suttur Math Sri Shivarathri Deshikendra Swamiji appealed to the Government to withdraw its move to provide eggs to students.

However, a few hours before the Chief Minister’s announcement, a Cabinet meeting was held in Bangalore to discuss the raging controversy over supply of eggs with mid-day meals. The Cabinet decided to entrust Primary and Secondary Education Minister Basavaraj Horatti to find a final solution to the controversy.

Horatti will study the menus of mid-day meal scheme in various parts of the country, besides holding talks with parents and teachers and come to a final decision before January 26. Till then, Horatti said, the Government had issued a circular to suspend the supply of eggs to the children.

The Chief Minister’s announcement on supplying of milk instead of eggs has been welcomed by Jain Sangha, vegetarian groups and animal rights outfits. But, a host of other organizations like Karnataka State Backward Classes Welfare Forum and Dalit Sangharsha Samithi have criticized Kumaraswamy’s decision and accused him of succumbing to minority opinion.

Quoting the findings of a recent survey carried out by the Education Department in Karnataka, the Karnataka State Backward Classes Welfare Forum and Dalit Sangharsha Samithi said more than 5 million students out of 5.3 million students in the State had favoured eggs with mid-day meals.

The Government should not succumb to the views of “upper class” Hindus, who have traditionally questioned the “eating habits” of lower classes, said President of the Forum Shivaramu.

Progress slow in Karnataka – World Bank

Karnataka has come in for criticism from the World Bank for its failure to live up to its image as a “boom state”.

“Somewhat at odds with its image as a boom state, Karnataka’s overall economic and social development has been average and the state has a long way to go to catch up with neighbours like Tamil Nadu and Kerala”, said the World Bank’s Table Calendar 2007 that gives a brief snapshot of Karnataka.

The World Bank has, however, appreciated the decline in poverty in Karnataka while pointing at backward regions in northern parts of the State. But, the state was roundly criticized for its delay in addressing the problems of regional imbalances, besides the slow progress on the socio-economic front in comparison with its neighbours.

On Karnataka’s neighbours, the World Bank described Kerala as a “trailblazer” in social development for its success in achieving almost total literacy, curtailing population growth and reducing maternal and infant mortality.

The World Bank has also lauded Tamil Nadu for achieving substantial reduction of child malnutrition, raising elementary school enrollment and reducing child and maternal mortality.

Andhra Pradesh came in for praise in the World Bank’s table calendar for the sound systems of governance and political consensus around development agenda. The innovative interventions in Andhra Pradesh had also helped reduce the number of poor people over the 1990s, the World Bank calendar said.

Violence rocks Bangalore, cops among fifty injured

A protest demonstration to condemn the execution of deposed Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein turned violent in Bangalore on Friday evening, leaving at least fifty persons including policemen injured in the clashes, which continued till late in the night.

Several vehicles were torched and shops were ransacked by unruly mobs in the communally sensitive Shivajinagar area of Bangalore. Eight policemen including an Assistant Commissioner of Police were injured when angry mobs turned their ire on the cops.

The protestors also threw stones at shops and religious places, besides looting a couple of homes, forcing the police to fire in the air to disperse the violent mobs. Pitched battles between youths belonging to rival communities continued till late on Friday evening.

The police managed to bring the situation under control by deploying more than 30 platoons of Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) force in the affected areas. An uneasy calm prevailed in Shivajinagar and adjoining areas on Saturday with hundreds of policemen patrolling the lanes and narrow by-lanes of the locality.

Trouble began on Friday evening when youth belonging to the Muslim community were marching towards Shivajinagar stadium to attend the rally organized by the newly formed People’s Front to protest the hanging of Saddam Hussein. The youths carrying placards bearing Saddam’s photograph even burnt an effigy of US President George Bush.

The protest took a communal turn when the flames from the burning effigies also burnt the flags put up by the Sangh Parivar for the Hindu Virata Samavesha scheduled to be held in Bangalore on Sunday. When rival groups objected to the burning of flags put up by the Sangh Parivar, violence erupted with mobs beginning to burn down parked vehicles and pelting stones at shops and business establishments.

Police said the arsonists barged into a web-designing centre in the locality, damaged the computers and set them on fire. The mobs barged into several shops and houses and ransacked them.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Puttathimme Gowda, who rushed to the spot, was attacked by the mob with stones. He was rushed to a nearby hospital along with other injured policemen.

Police have stepped up security in the City in view of the Virata Hindu Samavesha convened by the Sangh Parivar to condemn religious conversions.Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has sought to pin the blame for Friday’s violence on the organizers. “The organizers, who wanted to protest over the issue, should take full responsibility of the unsavoury incidents”, he said.

CITU to make its foray into the IT sector

Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), a Marxist trade union representing more than three million workers across the country, has decided to venture into the hitherto uncharted territory of Information Technology (IT) sector and fight for the rights of techies.

CITU President M K Pandhe told reporters at the All India Conference of CITU in Bangalore that their organization would soon begin its activities in the IT sector, where many instances of harassment to employees have been reported. “There are more than one million employees in the IT sector across the country. Though the pay is relatively better than other sectors, the working conditions are poor and the employees are severely exploited. We will fight for their rights”, he declared.

Pointing out that a majority of the complaints were emanating from the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, Pandhe said higher salary and better financial benefits had forced the employees to suffer such harassment meted out by the managements silently.

CITU would like to begin its activities in the IT sector from Bangalore, which is the IT hub of the country, he added. “There are about one million employees in the IT sector presently. This number is expected to double soon”, he said and added that CITU had planned a three-tier approach including organizing the software professionals.

He pointed out that IT employees are made to work for more than ten hours a day under tremendous pressure. Many companies had only two shifts and the managements follow the “hire and fire” system vigorously.
Pandhe said CITU will also urge the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government to bring in a federal legislation to regulate the working conditions in the IT sector

Suspected terrorist confesses to role in IISc attack during narco analysis

Suspected militant from Jammu and Kashmir Imran Jalal, who was arrested by the Bangalore City Police earlier this month, is reported to have confessed to playing a role in the terror strike at Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore during December 25.

During a narco-analysis and brain-mapping test conducted on him at Bowring Hospital in Bangalore, Imran Jalal is said to have revealed that he had accompanied three other terrorists, who had executed the attack on IISc in Bangalore, which claimed the life of one scientist and injured a few others.

Though Imran identified the terrorists to be from Jammu and Kashmir, he did not divulge any other detail of the incident or the people he had accompanied.

According to police sources, Imran had denied any link in the attack on IISc during police investigation. “We suspected his link because the rexin bag that he was carrying when he was arrested here and the one found in his house in Hampi resembles the one police recovered from the site of the IISc attack”, a police official said.

During the narco analysis test, which is conducted after administering chemicals to make the subject chattier, Imran had also confessed that he was acting on the instructions of a person named “Bada Bhai”, whom the police identified as second in command in the Lakshkar E Tayyaba (LeT).

Police suspect that the Bada Bhai, who had masterminded the attack on IISc in Bangalore could be the same person, who had assigned Imran the task of attacking the airport and top IT establishments in Bangalore.

Another significant confession Imran is reported to have made during the narco analysis and brain mapping test is his “friendship” with Tareeq Dar, the main accused in the Sarojini Nagar Market terrorist attack in Delhi during October 2005. Imran revealed that Tareeq Dar was also in touch with “Bada Bhai”.

Imran had admitted to receiving a sum of Rs 300,000 to Rs 400,000 from Tareeq Dar through hawala network, while the arms and ammunition had reached him through a person named Rajesh from Pune.

Karnataka Government to waive farmers’ loans

The Karnataka Government has decided to waive off agricultural loans obtained by farmers from co-operative banks in the State.

Speaking to reporters in Bangalore, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said the Government would auction the encroached Government land in Bangalore and utilize the proceeds to repay the loans farmers had obtained from co-operative banks.

“I am not cracking a joke or making a statement to please the farmers or confuse the Opposition. I have taken a decision on waiver of farm loans after lengthy discussions with bureaucrats and officials”, Kumaraswamy said.

Pointing out that the loan waiver will apply only to farmers, who had obtained agricultural loans from co-operative banks, Kumaraswamy dared the Opposition Congress to bring pressure on the Congress-led Federal Government to issue a similar directive to nationalized banks on loan waiver.

However, Kumaraswamy refused to set a time-frame for beginning the exercise, raising doubts in the minds of the Opposition Congress leaders. He merely told reporters that the farmers will have to wait till the ensuing financial year ends in April 2007 so that the Government can work out the modalities.

But, Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, who is also the Finance Minister, appealed to the farmers to continue repaying their loans till the Government comes out with a clear-cut order in the matter.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President M Mallikarjun Kharge dubbed the Chief Minister’s announcement on loan waiver as a “gimmick”. He referred to Yediyurappa’s call to the farmers to continue repaying their loans and appealed to the Government to remove the confusion in the minds of the farmers.

Brown backs India’s bid for UN Security Council seat

Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, who is widely tipped to succeed Tony Blair as the Prime Minister, has backed India’s bid for a permanent seat in the expanded United Nation’s Security Council.

“Let me say Britain strongly supports India’s bid for a permanent place with others on a larger Security Council”, Brown said while delivering the key-note address at the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) Partnership Summit in Bangalore.

Making out a case for fast-growing countries like India to be given a far bigger role in world affairs, Brown said the G 7 comprising US, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan should be expanded. Beginning with the UK Presidency of the G 7 in 2005, Brown pointed out “India has been in attendance at meetings of G 7 Finance Ministers and as part of the G 8 plus 5 Group has attended the G 8. It is time to formally recognize on a more consistent and regular basis the reality of this emerging new world order”

Lavishly praising India’s achievements on the economic front, Brown said India’s growth rate of eight percent would fill every “Finance Minister with envy”.

Though UK was the fifth largest investor in India and India the third largest investor in Britain, the British Chancellor of Exchequer said there was much scope to further improve bilateral ties.

Noting that India was one of the engines of global growth, Brown said Britain should be a full participant and a partner of choice for India. He said the UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) in India would increase its support to fully fund the Indo-British Partnership Network with the aim of doubling Britian’s exports to India by 2010 and quadrupling it by 2020.

Asserting that Britain stands “full square” against terrorism, Brown said India and his country would continue to work together in a global effort to combat terrorism. He observed that India and Britain had both sufferred due to terrorist activities and asserted that his country was rightly investing in its military, security forces, police and intelligence services both at home and abroad to root out terrorism

Eggs to go off mid-day meals menu in Karnataka schools

The Karnataka Government’s move to serve boiled eggs along with the mid-day meals in Government primary and secondary schools across the State has been temporarily kept in abeyance in the wake of vehement opposition from Jain pontiffs, who have threatened to launch a hunger strike.

A day after the pontiffs threatened to launch a hunger strike in front of the Parliament over the issue, Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediurappa called up the Education Department officials and asked them not to go ahead with plans to serve eggs with mid-day meals to the students.

The Government’s scheme of supplying eggs to non-vegetarian students and bananas to vegetarian students along with mid-day meals was scheduled to be formally kicked off by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy in Mandya on January 23.

According to the latest decision, the Government will neither serve eggs nor bananas to students along with mid-day meals till the issue is amicably resolved.

Out of the 5.35 million students studying in various classes from standard I to VII in Government primary and secondary schools in Karnataka, as many as 4.98 million students had opted for eggs while the remaining 371,000 odd students had preferred bananas.

Though the opposition is only against serving of boiled eggs, Education Department officials are understood to have convinced the Government against serving bananas as well. “How could one section of students be served bananas while the rest go without anything except for the regular mid-day meals?”, an Education Department official is believed to have reasoned.

The Government had decided to include eggs and bananas in the mid-day meals to supplement the nutrition. But, the state-wide protests against the move by pontiffs, Jain community leaders and pontiffs forced the Government to keep the proposal in abeyance for the time being.

Though there was a proposal to provide students with milk, the idea was dropped in view of the high costs involved in procurement of milk, heating and adding sugar, besides the possibility of adulteration.

But, Education Department officials have cited the example of Tamil Nadu, where the Government provides two eggs a week to students under the MGR Nutritious Meal Scheme.
Though the proposal to provide eggs in mid-day meals had met with a similar uproar in Tamil Nadu during 2002, the Government temporarily replaced eggs with potatoes, but reintroduced eggs later.

Kumaraswamy rushed to hospital after his chopper makes emergency landing

Speculation was rife over Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s safety after he was rushed to a hospital immediately after the helicopter carrying him to Bijapur was forced to return to Bangalore within minutes after take-off.

Though the Chief Minister’s office clarified that Kumaraswamy had to return to Bangalore as the HAL helicopter carrying him developed mid-air technical snags, the manner in which the Chief Minister was rushed to Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology soon after the emergency landing added grist to the rumour mills.

The Chief Minister took off in the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv from HAL’s helicopter division at Bangalore airport on Tuesday to participate in a series of programmes to be held in Bijapur. But, within minutes after take-off and flying for a distance of about 25 kilometres, the helicopter developed a technical snag.

According senior officials from HAL, the helicopter developed vibrations and the pilot chose to safely return to Bangalore and make an emergency landing at Jakkur airfield on the outskirts of Bangalore. Three crewmembers and an official from the Chief Minister’s office were on board the helicopter.

Soon after the forced landing, the Chief Minister is understood to have developed chest pain and complained of giddiness. He was rushed to Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology, where his brother-in-law and cardiologist Dr Manjunath attended on him. “It was a routine check-up at the hospital and there is nothing serious”, officials from the Chief Minister’s Secretariat told reporters.

With speculation over the real cause for his sudden return continuing in the media and political circles, Kumaraswamy himself attributed the emergency landing to a technical snag in the helicopter. “It was a providential escape. I am thankful to God”, he said. Chief Minister’s office corroborated Kumaraswamy’s statement by adding that the helicopter was unstable giving the Chief Minister some tense moments until it landed.

A technical team from HAL has already initiated a probe into the reasons that forced the pilot to immediately ground the chopper.

A section of the media has quoted hospital sources and claimed that the Chief Minister felt uneasy during the flight and the staff accompanying him suggested cancellation of the visit to Bijapur.

Teachers turn up in schools in a tipsy condition

Two teachers of a Government primary school in north Karnataka’s Raichur district were suspended from service after they turned up for taking classes in a tipsy state.

The two teachers, including a lady, have been accused of not only misbehaving with their colleagues and students in an inebriated condition, but also pouring liquor into the vessel containing food to be served for the children as part of the mid-day meal scheme.

A few staff members of the school and members of the School Development and Monitoring Committee (SDMC) learnt about the incident and prevented the meals from being served to the children.

Soon after the matter was brought to the notice of the senior officials of the Education Department, a preliminary inquiry was conducted and the two teachers Narasimhalu and Usha were kept under suspension.

The incident took place in Mailapur Government primary school in Raichur district. The Deputy Director of Public Instruction Amrut Bettad said a high level inquiry will be conducted into the shocking incident and disciplinary action would be taken against the two teachers on receipt of the report.

The Mailapur incident comes close on the heels of a similar episode in a school in Raichur’s Battur village in Shratti taluk, where a woman physical education teacher turned up in school in a drunken state and kicked up a ruckus.

The frequent reports of teachers turning up in schools in a tipsy state has alarmed the Education Department authorities, who are planning to give exemplary punishment to the teachers when they are found guilty.

Six-year-old girl witnesses murder of mother by father

A six-year-old girl has turned out be the only witness to the murder of her mother by her father in Bangalore.

Police said Brijlatha, a computer professional, who had fled from her home in New Delhi and arrived in Bangalore along with her six-year-old daughter, was tracked down by her husband and murdered.

“The six-year-old daughter is the only witness to the murder”, a senior police official told reporters in Bangalore. The Chief Metropolitan magistrate in Bangalore has asked the police to record the statement of the child in a lower court.

Police said Brijlatha had escaped from New Delhi after eight years of traumatic relationship with her husband, whose name was given by the child as Ashish Malhotra.

A diploma holder in computer applications, Brijlatha arrived in Bangalore last Wednesday in the hope of securing a job and starting a new life. She and her child were put up in a house in Frazer Town in Bangalore.

The murder came to light when the child called up the police control room in Bangalore late on Friday night, pleading for help. The police arrived at their Frazer Town residence only to find Brijlatha’s dead body. “The child informed the police that her mother had been killed apparently by her father”, Inspector of Police, Bangalore, Srinidhi told reporters.

Brijlatha’s dead body has been sent for post-mortem and the child has been kept at Baalamandira, a Children’s Home.

Initial investigations have revealed that Brijlatha had married a man from New Delhi against her the wishes of her parents, who live in Canada. Inquiries with Brijlatha’s relatives in New Delhi had revealed that her husband used to torment her. “We are given to understand that he used to hit her a lot. The couple’s marriage was in trouble”, police said.

But, the police said they had also learnt that the name of Brijlatha’s husband was Mohammed Nazeer and not Ashish Malhothra as told by the child, giving a complex twist to the crime. “We are on the look-out for the husband”, police added

Prime accused in BJP leader’s murder shot dead in police encounter

Less than 30 hours after his sensational escape from custody, forty-year-old Mulki Rafique, who had reportedly masterminded the murder of BJP leader Sukhananda Shetty, was shot dead in an encounter with the police near the Udupi railway station.

Inspector General of Police (Western Range) Sathyanarayana Rao said Rafique has escaped from the clutches of the police when he was being taken to Mysore jail from Mangalore late on Saturday night. But, on Sunday, he surfaced near the Udupi railway station, pillion riding a motorcycle. On seeing the police, Rafique got down from the motorcycle and began running away while the motorcycle rider fled the scene.

Rafique shot at the police with a country-made revolver, forcing the police to return fire, Satyanarayana Rao told reporters. While Rafique fired two rounds, the policemen fired five rounds and critically injured him. He breathed his last on the way to the hospital.

Earlier, the police, acting on a tip-off that Rafique was using a particular mobile phone, the police began tracking the number, which was finally traced to the Manipal tower in Udupi. The police launched a manhunt and Rafique was finally spotted near the Udupi railway station early on Sunday.

After the shoot-out, police recovered a railway ticket and cash of Rs 1,200, besides a revolver from Rafique’s body. They also seized an abandoned motorcycle that was lying about half a kilometer from the spot.

Rafique’s was the second police encounter in the last one month. On December 19, Athik alias Sudhir, another accused in BJP leader Sukhananda Shetty’s murder was also killed by the police in an encounter near Baindnoor in coastal Karnataka.

Rafique had escaped from police custody near Devarkolli in the midst of a forest range in the dead of the night late on Saturday when he was being taken to Mysore jail in an open jeep. A handcuffed Rafique had reportedly pushed the police constable seated next to him, jumped off the jeep and escaped in the forests under a cover of darkness.

Rafique, had been arrested on December 29 on charges of conspiring to murder Sukhananda Shetty in Mangalore recently. Police said Rafique is involved in a total of eighteen criminal cases so far, including five cases related to murder and four attempts to murder.

Gere lauds Kumaraswamy for planning to stay overnight with HIV afflicted family

Hollywood star Richard Gere lauded Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s plan to spend a night at the house of a HIV afflicted family later this month.

The Pretty woman actor, who paid a visit to the Tibetan settlement at Bylakuppe in Mysore district near here, called on the Chief Minister at his residence in Bangalore. Gere told reporters that he dropped by when he heard about the Chief Minister’s initiative to spend a night at the home of HIV-infected patients.

“I was on my way to Bylakuppe and I saw this extraordinary article in a newspaper about the Chief Minister’s statements about dispelling myths on AIDS and spending the evening with a HIV afflicted family”, Gere told reporters.

“This is extraordinary and this doesn’t happen in most countries. That someone undertakes this responsibility. This symbolism will do so much to lower the stigma”, he said.

Gere even praised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his commitment to fight the scourge of AIDS. “And here we have a Chief Minister, who is committed from his heart and mind in a very skillful way. If you have leadership like that you can do anything. If there is no leadership, there will be no success in the fight”, Gere said.

Earlier, Gere and his wife Carey Lowell had paid a rather unexpected visit to the Tibetan settlement at Bylakuppe, catching the Buddhist monks by surprise. The Hollywood star mingled freely with the monks, shaking hands and posing for photographs with them.

Gere’s visit to Bylakuppe coincided with the arrival of Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama for the foundation stone laying ceremony for a new building.

Gere had reached the Panchen Lama monastery in Bylakuppe before the Dalai Lama’s arrival. When Dalai Lama’s convoy reached the venue, Gere positioned himself to take photographs of the Tibetan spiritual leader in his digital camera.

Later, he followed Dalai Lama inside the monastery and took a seat along with the other monks and participated in a prayer meeting. On his way out of the monastery, Dalai Lama waved at Gere acknowledging his presence.

Chatting with reporters, Gere described himself as an “old friend of Tibet”. He said Dalai Lama was “his friend and teacher”. Gere had started the Gere Foundation whose mission is to assist the cultural survival of Tibetan people through health, technological and educational projects.

Prime accused in BJP leader’s murder escapes from police custody

Forty-year-old Mulki Rafique, the prime accused in the murder of BJP leader Sukhananda Shetty in Mangalore recently, has escaped from the clutches of the police when he was being taken to Mysore jail from Mangalore.

Superintendent of Dakshina Kannada district police B Dayanand told reporters that a five-member team of policemen was escorting Rafique to Mysore in an open police jeep after producing him in a Mangalore court. “When the jeep reached Devarkolli in the midst of a forest range in the dead of the night, the handcuffed Rafique pushed the police constable seated next to him, jumped off the jeep and escaped in the forests under the cover of darkness”.

Dayanand said the Rafique escaped when the jeep had to slow down due to a bad stretch of road. He ran into the adjoining forests with handcuffs intact. “Though policemen pursued him, they could not trace him”, he added. All the five policemen have been placed under suspension.

The escort policemen found it difficult to requisition additional forces to hunt down Rafique as they could not manage to contact senior police officials due to absence of wireless connectivity in the forest areas. The news about Rafique’s sensational escape reached the senior police officials more than an hour after the incident.

However, police teams from nearby Madikeri town reached the spot and began combing operations, but to no avail.

Rafique, who had been nabbed by the police on December 29, had been arrested on charges of conspiring to murder Sukhananda Shetty. He had been lodged at Mysore jail. He was brought to Mangalore from Mysore jail on Wednesday. He was produced before the Mangalore court on Friday.

Meanwhile, combing operations were continuing in the region with police personnel checking all vehicles passing through the area. “We don’t have any clue if he is still hiding in the dense forests of Devarkolli”, Dayanand said.

According police sources, a private vehicle was spotted trailing the police jeep carrying Rafique. “It is still not clear whether Rafique had managed to escape in the private car or is still hiding in the forests”, police officials said. It has been learnt that the police officials have been instructed to shoot the fugitive if he puts any resistance or tries to escape again in case he is found during search operations.

Police said Rafique is involved in a total of eighteen criminal cases so far, including five cases related to murder and four attempts to murder.

Three Kashmiris arrested in Raichur for suspected links with ultras

The police have picked up three youths from Mudgal town in north Karnataka’s Raichur district for their suspected links with terrorist outfits from Kashmir.

Police said Gulam Nabi, Mohammed Shakeel and Meer Hussain were going around Mudgal town in the guise of beggars. Finding their movements suspicious, the police took them into custody.

During interrogation, the youths initially claimed that they were from Andhra Pradesh and later admitted that they were natives of Kashmir. The said they were engaged in collecting donations for construction of a shrine in Kashmir.
They were produced before the judicial magistrate and remanded to police custody till January 16. Additional Superintendent of Raichur district police V B Kittali told reporters that the veracity of the information given by the arrested youths would be studied. The police is also exploring their possible links with Imran, the suspected terrorist from Kashmir, who was arrested in Bangalore recently with a cache of arms

Karnataka legislators to receive laptops as mementoes

Legislators in Karnataka will soon receive laptops from the Government as a memento marking the fiftieth year of the State’s formation.

In keeping with Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s promise in the matter, the Karnataka Legislature Secretariat has given its approval for supply of 300 laptops, each costing about Rs 55,000. The mementoes will cost the Government about Rs 16.5 million.

The contract for supply of laptops to the legislators was bagged by Acer, which edged out Wipro, HCL and Keltron in the competition. The laptops enjoying a three-year warranty possess 80 GB hard disk, 1.83 GHz processer, besides CDMA and blue tooth technology, which provide the user with wireless connectivity.

Though the Assembly Speaker Krishna has asked Acer to supply the laptops before the conclusion of the coming Legislature session starting on January 25, officials in the State Secretariat are circumspect about the ability of the legislators to operate computers.

“Though there is a provision for the legislators to e-mail the questions they wish to raise during the proceedings of the legislature, they still write and either post the questions to us or drop them in the box kept in the State Secretariat”, according to a senior official.

Besides, this is not the first time the legislators had been given computers by the Government. During 98-99, when late Chief Minister J H Patel was at the helm in the State, each legislator was given Rs 50,000 to purchase computers. Though the Legislature Secretariat had asked the legislators to submit the receipts for the purchase, not even 50 per cent of them complied with the directions.

Even during the tenure of former Chief Minister S M Krishna, the members of the Legislative Assembly, who were not members of the Assembly during the previous tenure, were given Rs 50,000 to purchase computers. “Less than 40 per cent of them submitted bills for the purchase”, an officer said.

Even when Kumaraswamy announced that laptops would be given to the legislators as a gift on the occasion of the fiftieth year of the State’s formation, a section of the legislators suggested that they be given cash so that notebooks of their choice could be purchased.

But, Governor T N Chaturvedi is understood to have intervened and write to the Chief Minister against providing cash to the legislators. The Governor insisted on supplying computers in view of the failure of a majority of legislators to comply with the direction on submitted bills for the purchase on the previous occasion.

Ten-year-old boy run over by state-run bus

In a tragic incident, a ten-year-old student of Kendriya Vidyalaya in Bangalore died on the spot when a state-run Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus ran over him near the school on Thursday.

Police said Akshay Kumar, a student of fourth standard in Kendriya Vidyalaya at Yeshwanthpur, fell down on the road soon after he had alighted from the bus on Thursday morning as commuters accidentally pushed him while rushing towards the bus at the bus stop. Before he could get up, another BMTC bus ran over him.

Akshay was the only son of Pramila, the widow of Indian Air Force (IAF) serviceman Krishnamurthy, who had died about three years ago. He used to board the same bus to reach his school in Yeshwanthpur everyday from his house at Chikkasandra.

The mishap has left Akshay’s mother grief-stricken. “Everyday Akshay himself used to take a bath and get ready for school. But, on the fateful day, Akshay’s mother said she had given him a bath, dressed him and saw him off at the bus stand.

The Traffic police in Bangalore have arrested the driver of the BMTC bus and registered a case.

Kumaraswamy to stay overnight with HIV affected family

Demonstrating a political commitment to dispel the stigma surrounding persons sufferring from HIV/AIDS, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has vowed to stay overnight with a HIV positive family in a village in north Karnataka’s Bagalkot district.

“I will spend a night in the house of a family afflicted with HIV during my visit to Bagalkot on January 23. This way I would like to contribute against the stigma and discrimination faced by HIV positive persons”, he said at a function organized in Bangalore to launch the Samastha Project, a comprehensive HIV prevention and care programme.

Claiming that his Government recognizes the challenges posed by the scourge of AIDS, Kumaraswamy said “We are not only fighting the HIV epidemic, but also the social stigma and untouchability attached to it. Our efforts should be aimed at collectively overcoming this pandemic”, the Chief Minister said.

Kumaraswamy said the scourge of AIDS in Karnataka was threatening to undercut some commendable performance in other development indices and export economy.

During the last three months, Kumaraswamy has been staying overnight at modest houses belonging to poor farmers and Dalits during his visits to rural parts of the State. He received a round of applause from the gathering at the function when he announced that his next village sojourn would be with a HIV positive family in Bagalkot.

The Samastha Project is a $ 22 million scheme sponsored by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for enhanced intervention in prevention of HIV/AIDS in rural areas of Karnataka.

At the launch of the Samastha Project, Mission Director of USAID George Deikum said several districts in north Karnataka had a high-prevalence of HIV/AIDS at almost 2.5 per cent of the total population. He pointed out that Karnataka was the only state with rural prevalence of HIV/AIDS exceeding that of urban areas.

Availability of condoms and the stigma attached to them remain key challenges in rural Karnataka. As condoms are not widely used for family planning, efforts to maintain free supplies through fair price shops and anganwadis have met with resistance earlier. Increasing the acceptance of condoms for high risk-encounters and targeting behaviour change and communication are among the issues envisaged in Samastha Project.

Opposition to eggs in mid-day meals gathering steam in Karnataka

A fresh controversy is brewing in Karnataka over the Government’s recent proposal to include eggs in the menu for mid-day meals supplied to children studying in Government primary schools across the State.

Several vegetarian groups, who are up in arms against the Government’s decision to provide eggs in mid-day meals, have secured support from not only the Jain community, but also Pontiffs of various religious Maths. Already protest demonstrations have been held in various parts of the State urging the Government to drop the proposal on supplying egg from the coming academic year.

Three pontiffs – Sri Dayananda Swamiji, co-ordinator of Karnataka Prani Daya Sangha, Sri Vishweshwa Thirtha Swamiji of Pejawar Math and Sri Gurusidda Rajayogindra Swamiji of Mooru Savira Math – addressed a joint press conference in Bangalore to condemn the Government’s proposal to provide eggs to children during mid-day meals.

They have termed the move as an “onslaught” on vegetarians. “It amounted to a conspiracy against the basic rights of people, who believed in vegetarianism”, Sri Dayananda Swamiji said.

“When vegetarian food is rich in protein and nutrition, there is no need for the Government to supply eggs to school children”, Sri Vishweshwa Thirtha Swamiji said.

Several women from the Padmashree Jain Mahila Samaj, who have taken out a protest march in various parts of the State, contend that inclusion of eggs in the mid-day meals would offend the feelings of vegetarians and people, who believe in non-violence.

A representative of the Padmashree Jain Mahila Samaj Sheela Anantharaj told reporters that segregation of students as vegetarian and non-vegetarian would amount to sowing the seeds of discrimination in young minds. “Many people in the state were not non-vegetarians. It would be unwise to thrust upon them its decision to supply eggs in mid-day meals”, she said.

Vegetarian groups have also begun bringing pressure on the Government to supply milk and fruits instead of eggs. The supply of eggs during mid-day meals would also lead to creation of a large amount of waste comprising shells of egg, which attracts stray dog menace, Sheela Anantharaj argued.

The vegetarian groups also suspect that the Government had chosen to include egg in the mid-day meal menu under pressure from the poultry industry. “The supply of eggs may just be the beginning. Who knows, the Government may even begin serving chicken and mutton in mid-day meals”, a woman from the Jain community feared

Karnataka sets up Diaspora Cell to foster investment

The Karnataka Government has set up a Diaspora Cell to foster investment by Non Resident Indians (NRIs) and People of Karnataka Origin (PKO) in the State.

According to Karnataka’s Minister for Industries Katta Subramanya Naidu the “Karnataka Diaspora Cell” will not only help forge a relationship between the Karnataka Government and its Diaspora, but also facilitate investors among NRIs and PKOs in setting up ventures in the State.

The Karnataka Diaspora Cell will have an interactive website for accessing information of interest to NRIs and PKOs and provide links to websites of various Government departments and information on investments taking place across different sectors. The website was in an advanced stage of creation and would be available online shortly.

The Diaspora Cell will also come out with a Newsletter, besides maintaining a databse on NRI/PKO associations and individuals. “It will also contain information on all Indian diplomatic missions, related departments of State and Union Government”, Naidu said.

Based on requests from the Diaspora, Naidu said the Diaspora Cell would facilitate interactive meetings with persons of eminence in various fields. “It will undertake activities to promote exchange of ideas on rural development, industry and enterprise, health care, culture, language, philanthropy and communal harmony”, he added.
The Government has appointed Sai Prakash as the chief co-ordinator of the Karnataka Diaspora Cell. Interested persons can contact the Cell on e-mail: info@karnatakadiaspora.org or Ph: 0091-80-22278690

Jail inmates in Bangalore to have phone facilities soon

Inmates of the Central Jail in Bangalore will soon have access to telephone facility.

Revealing this to reporters in Bangalore, Karnataka’s Minister for Home M P Prakash said the Government had decided to set up eight telephone booths inside the Central Jail premises at Parappana Agrahara in Bangalore that will facilitate the inmates to receive only incoming calls.

“All the calls will be monitored and recorded. A warden will man each booth. The calls will not be allowed to last longer than two minutes”, Prakash said.

The telephone facility at the Central Jail in Bangalore will be started on an experimental basis. Based on the feedback, the Government will decide on extending the facility to other jails in the State.

“The facility is to help inmates keep in touch with their families. Though there is a proposal to even allow inmates to make restricted outgoing calls, it will be some time before a final decision is taken”, he said.

The telephone facility at the Central Jail, which has been taken up as a prison reform process, will be costing about Rs 228,000. A metal cabinet will be installed for each telephone booth to facilitate the monitoring and recording process. Public sector telecommunication giant Bharath Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Airtel, a private telecommunication company, had been approached to set up the telephone kiosks, Prakash added.

Karnataka cabinet to be expanded by January end

The much-awaited expansion of the JD (S)-BJP coalition Ministry in Karnataka will take place before January end, according to Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy.

Kumaraswamy’s announcement on the expansion of the coalition Cabinet came after the conclusion of a three-day brainstorming session at Amby Valley in Lonavala in neighbouring Maharashtra attended by more than 60 party legislators.

Kumaraswamy said the Cabinet will be expanded with the induction of two members each from the coalition partner, taking the total strength of the Ministry to 34. The Chief Minister has also hinted at a reshuffle of the Ministry to accommodate new faces so that party veterans can assume charge of the party organization matters.

The Chief Minister maintained that there was no threat to his Government, which will complete its full term.

When queried about the resignation of Zameer Ahmed Khan as the Minister for Haj and Wakf over his failure to attend Eid prayer meetings, Kumaraswamy said it was a “closed chapter” now. Zameer Ahmed Khan too had joined the other party legislators at Amby Valley.

He said he had chosen to convene a meeting of party legislators at a resort outside the State to discuss the steps to be taken for strengthening the Government as well as deliberating on development issues.

The group of JD (S) legislators returned to Bangalore on Sunday night after the three-day trip.

Gowda rules out JD (S) joining NDA

Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda has categorically ruled out the possibility of JD (S) associating itself with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Gowda’s statement has come as a clarification to the publication of an interview he gave to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) mouthpiece - Organiser – in which he had been quoted as saying that his party is willing to extend issue-based support to the NDA at the Centre.

Gowda said there was no question of JD (S) straying away from the party ideology spelt out at the time of its formation in 1999. “Just because the party has associated itself with the BJP in Karnataka, it does not mean that the JD (S) has conveniently changed its party ideology and is now shifting in favour of fundamentalist forces”, Gowda said.

Gowda said he had merely said the JD (S) was open to extending issue-based support to any political party that agrees with its ideology and programmes aimed at protecting, farmers, minorities and the rural sector.

When asked whether JD (S) would enter into an alliance with the BJP in the next Legislative Assembly elections in Karnataka, Gowda said “we will think about it when the time comes”.

But, Gowda said the JD (S), which is heading the coalition Government in Karnataka, would hand over charge to the BJP as per the power-sharing agreement if the latter stuck to the common minimum programme called the Karnataka Development Programme. “Should the BJP agree on these programmes, his party will not hesitate to extend support. If the BJP raises the contentious issues of Hindutva and Ram Temple, the JD (S) would keep away from it”, he warned.

Gowda’s son and Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy is scheduled to step down as Chief Minister during October 2007 after the end of the twenty month period.

Stray dogs to be put to sleep in Bangalore

Shaken out of its stupor after a pack of dogs mauled a nine-year-old girl to death, the Bangalore City Corporation has begun an elaborate exercise to eliminate violent, rabid and sick dogs in the City.

Virtually declaring a war against stray dogs, Karnataka’s Health Minister R Ashok told reporters that the Bangalore City Corporation officials have been instructed to round up violent and rabid stray dogs in the City and put them to sleep.

The operation began with the civic body deploying personnel and dog-catching vans in Chandra Layout in Bangalore, where nine-year-old Sreedevi was killed on Friday, and rounding up 30 dogs and eliminating them.

Ashok said Bangalore was home to an estimated 71,000 stray dogs. Out of the 13,419 cases of dog bites reported in Bangalore during the nine-month period from April 1, 2006 to December 31, 2006, as many as 7,875 had been attributed to stray dog. The rest were due to bites by domesticated dogs, he said.

“We are going all out against stray dogs. We will eliminate the violent and sick dogs. But, we have to leave out the healthy ones otherwise it will attract the wrath of animal rights’ activists”, he said.

However, Ashok expressed displeasure over the animal rights’ activists for doing little in the matter of dealing stray dog menace in Bangalore. Though the Bangalore City Corporation gave the animal rights’ NGOs the contract to deal with the stray dog menace, little progress has been made in the direction.

Alongside the operation to eliminate violent and sick stray dogs, the civic authorities have begun closing down illegal meat shops in different parts of the City for dumping waste in the open that was attracting stray dogs to flesh.

But an association called Stray Dog- Free Bangalore came down heavily on the Bangalore City Corporation for making meat stalls as the scapegoat for Friday’s horrendous incident. “The civic officials are neglecting their duties. Garbage lying around will not kill anybody unless dogs are allowed to roam freely”, said Vatsala Dhananjaya of the organization.

Stray dogs maul a nine-year-old girl in Bangalore

In a horrendous incident, a pack of stray dogs mauled a nine-year-old girl in Bangalore to death in Chandra Layout in Bangalore on Friday.

The victim Sreedevi was on her way to fetch her father Shivalingaiah from a nearby construction site when nearly fifteen stray dogs pounced on her, bit her and dragged her along the road.

By the time neighbours and passersby could respond to her screams and reach the spot to shoo the dogs, Sreedevi’s mangled body was lying motionless. According to doctors at Victoria Hospital, where her body was taken to, the girl had sufferred multiple dog bites including a fatal one near the neck. “The scalp had been peeled off, leading to excessive bleeding”, a doctor said.

Eye-witnesses said the ferocious dogs just would not let go the girl even after stones were hurled at them. “The dogs attacked her so badly that she had been bitten from head to toe. She died on the spot within ten minutes. It was like a tug of war between the dogs to have the young girl’s body. Our efforts to shoo away the dogs went in vain and it was too late by then”, a resident of the area said.

A number of residents of the locality have complained to the civic authorities against the rampant stray dog menace. “This is not the first time. Dogs have been regularly biting people in the area for the last several months and the authorities have turned a blind eye”, said Nagash in front of whose house the incident occurred.

The dumping of waste from the large number of mutton stalls in the area has been attributed to the stray dog menace in Chandra Layout.

Sreedevi’s father Shivalinga and mother Shivanagamma were shell-shocked to see their daughter mauled to death by a pack of stray dogs. The Bangalore City Corporation has announced a compensation of Rs 100,000 to the family of Sreedevi.

Sreedevi’s death under such gruesome circumstances has spread a wave of shock among the residents of Bangalore, who have begun bringing pressure on the civic authorities to wake up to the stray dog menace.

MLA Vatal Nagaraj staged a demonstration in front of the Bangalore City Corporation offices yesterday demanding the resignation of the State Government for the horrific incident. “Had such an incident happened in the civilized world, the Government would have resigned”, he said and urged the authorities to immediately take action against the stray dog menace.

More arms seized, suspected militant taken to Hampi

The police yesterday have recovered a cache of arms and ammunition from the Hampi residence of suspected militant Imran alias Bilal, who was caught by the Bangalore police on Friday.

According to sources, a team of policemen searched Imran’s residence as well shop in Hampi yesterday and seized arms and ammunition including hand-grenades. “The seizures were made on the basis of information provided by the suspected terrorist”, a senior police official said.

Meanwhile, Imran was produced before the court in Bangalore and remanded to police custody for two days. Soon after securing his police custody, a team of policemen left for Hampi, about 350 kms from Bangalore, for further investigation into the Imran’s activities.

A team of policemen in Bangalore had caught Imran early on Friday while he was alighting from a private bus, carrying an AK 47 rifle and several rounds of live cartridges, besides a satellite phone.

According to police sources, Imran is a resident of Kolipora in Khayanar police station limits in Srinagar, had had moved into the Hampi about three years ago. He was running a handicrafts shop by name “Rising Sun Arts and Crafts” to sell decorative stones and art pieces in front of the Virupaksha Temple at the world heritage site of Hampi.

The owner of the shop Shivappa told reporters that Imran was prompt in paying the rent while Imran’s assistant at the shop Aslam Pasha, a native of Gadag in Karnataka, said he had not reason to suspect that his boss had links with terrorists. “I have been working for three years and never suspected that my boss could have links with terrorists”, he said.
Imran used to stay at Hampi with his wife, who has now gone to the her mother’s place for delivery of a baby

Indian Navy’s new warship commissioned

Defence Minister A K Antony dedicated to the nation INS Shardul, Indian Navy’s new warship equipped with the latest electronic warfare system.

The indigenously built INS Shardul is a Landing Ship Tank with the primary role of transporting troops, vehicles and armaments for amphibious operations. Built by Garden Reach Ship Builders and Engineers, Kolkata, the auxiliary warship is capable of carrying 11 armoured tanks, 10 army vehicles, about 500 troops, helicopters, two rocket launchers, two anti-aircraft guns and shoulder launcher surface-to-air missiles, besides the crew.

Commissioning the new warship into service at the Karwar naval base in coastal Karnataka, Antony said the amphibious operation capability of the Indian Navy was being augmented to safeguard the country’s maritime interests. Two much warships of a similar kind will be inducted into the Indian Navy by December 2007, he added.

Antony said modernization of the Indian Navy was an on-going process with the Government of India’s emphasis on adoption of indigenous technology in building warships and their spare parts. The public sector and the private sector had joined hands in building INS Shardul, he pointed out and complimented Garden Reach Ship Builders and Engineers for their efforts.

Construction of four anti-submarine corvettes and 10 fast attack aircraft was also in progress, he said. “We have to use the sea surrounding the country to our advantage and our warships are capable of doing the work for us”, he said and added that the induction of more warships with advanced technology would help enhance the Navy’s ability to conduct operational manoeuvres and assault operations from the sea.

Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Suresh Mehta said INS Shardul would be playing a key role in wars fought from the sea.

According to naval officers, INS Shardul stands for the Royal Bengal Tiger, symbolizing agility, strength and valour. The ship has an expansive acomodation and storage, life facility, ability to operate in shallow waters and beaching capability. “It can act as a hospital ship and a modified fleet tanker for stern fuelling during a limited mission”, the naval officer said.

The ship is also capable of performing a wide range of missions from providing humanitarian assistance and disaster management to peacekeeping and major combat operations.

Suspected terrorist nabbed near Bangalore with arms

The Bangalore police have arrested a suspected terrorist on the outskirts of the City early on Friday morning.

According to police, the 32-year-old man identified as Bilal alias Imran was carrying an AK-47 rifle, live cartridges, hand grenades and a satellite phone when he alighted from a bus at Jalahalli on the outskirts of Bangalore. The bus was heading to Bangalore from Hospet in Bellary district.

Additional Commissioner of Bangalore City Police Bipin Gopalakrishna told reporters that the arrest was made on the basis of a tip-off and the police officials were interrogating the suspect.

The suspected militant was carrying 300 rounds of AK 47 cartridges, four magazines, five hand grenades, besides the AK 47 rifle and a satellite phone. Though the police is yet to ascertain the terrorist organization to which he belongs, senior police officials suspect the militant, a native of Kashmir, could belong to the Lashkar E Tayyaba.

Preliminary investigation revealed that he had been staying in Hospet, about 350 kms from Bangalore, for the last one month in the guise of a handicraft vendor from Kashmir. Hospet is a tourist town, where a large number of Kashmiri refugees sell handicraft items to people visiting the nearby heritage site of Hampi.

The Bangalore police, which had apprehended the suspected terrorist on the basis of a tip-off from Central intelligence agencies, was working in co-ordination with the State Police and Central intelligence agencies, besides the Anti-Terrorist Cell.

The arrest of Bilal alias Imran soon after his arrival in Bangalore by a private bus from Hospet comes weeks after the Mysore police caught two suspected terrorists belonging to Al Badr outfit in the last week of October 2006.

Zameer Ahmed quits coalition Ministry in Karnataka

Karnataka’s Minister for Haj and Wakf B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan has resigned from the coalitionMinistry in the State in protest against Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s failure to participate inthe Eid prayer meeting in Bangalore.

Submitting his resignation to Governor T N Chaturvediin Bangalore yesterday, Zameer Ahmed Khan toldreporters that his continuation in the JD (S)-BJPcoalition Ministry had become untenable after theChief Minister “disrespect” to the Muslim community bystaying away from the Eid prayer meeting atChamarajapet Eidgah on Monday after promising toattend the meeting.

Zameer Ahmed Khan, however, said he would remain inthe JD (S) and would work for the welfare of thepeople of his constituency as an ordinary MLA.A copy of his resignation letter has also been sent tothe offices of the Chief Minister and AssemblySpeaker.“I had invited the Chief Minister to participate inthe Bakrid prayers eight days in advance. I canunderstand if he was on a tour or had a busy schedule.But, he was free on Monday. I had even reminded himabout the occasion the previous day”, a visibly hurtZameer Ahmed Khan.

The Chamarajapet JD (S) MLA said he was personallyhurt when he went to the Chief Minister’s homeAnugraha on Monday morning to escort him to the Eidprayer meeting. “He did not even show the courtesy ofmeeting me. I waited for almost two hours andreturned. I cannot swallow this insult”, he said.

A one-time confidante of Kumaraswamy, Zameer AhmedKhan said he would not have felt offended had theChief Minister cancelled his visit to ChamarajpetEidgah to attend some other Eid meeting. “But, he didnot attend any meeting. He just chose to stay athome”, Zameer Ahmed Khan.

Questioning the Chief Minister’s commitment to Muslimcommunity, Zameer Ahmed Khan said Kumaraswamy hasclearly demonstrated his lack of concern for thewelfare of the Muslim community.He accused the Chief Minister of “insulting” even theChristian community by not visiting any Church onChristmas day. “He is only shedding crocodile tearsfor the minorities. He has no real concern for them”,he added.

Zameer Ahmed Khan, however, said he would withdraw hisresignation if the Chief Minister publicly apologizedto the Muslim community. “There is no point in himapologizing to me. He should apologize to the Muslimcommunity, whose sentiments he has hurt”, he said.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said therewas no threat to the JD (S)-BJP coalition from theresignation of Zameer Ahmed Khan. “Everybody knowsthat the coalition Government is committed to thewelfare of the Muslim community. My Government hassanctioned 5 acres of land in Bangalore forconstruction of a Haj House, which no other Governmenthas done”, he said.

It may be mentioned here that Zameer Ahmed Khan, atransport magnate, had won the by-polls toChamarajapet assembly constituency in Bangalore during2005. It was at his guest house in Sadashivanagar inBangalore, where Kumaraswamy had convened meetings ofJD (S) MLAs to plan a coup against the erstwhileDharam Singh Government. So close was Zameer AhmedKhan to Kumaraswamy that he took oath in the name ofthe Chief Minister at the time of his swearing into the coalition Ministry last year.

Bangalore police solve software engineer’s murder

The recent murder of software engineer Adhip Lahiri, which has sent shock waves in the Information Technology (IT) sector of Bangalore, was solved by the police with the arrest of two former employees of Information Technology Park Limited (ITPL) in the City.

The accused Raju, 23, and Venkatesh, 28, who had worked as transport supervisor and security guard respectively at ITPL, were caught by the police after they went on a purchase-spree from the credit and debit cards belonging to Lahiri.

Commissioner of Bangalore City police N Achyutha Rao told reporters that Raju and Venkatesh, both of whom had been thrown out of their jobs, saw Lahiri getting into his car at ITPL with his laptop on the fateful December 22 night. Immediately, the duo got into a borrowed car, overtook him on a deserted stretch of road and managed to create an accident-like situation, forcing Lahiri to slow down his car.

As Lahiri peeped out of out the car, the duo sprayed pepper into his eyes. When the car ground to a halt, Raju and Venkatesh forced themselves into Lahiri’s car and pushed him into the navigator’s seat. Raju occupied the driving seat after tying up Lahiri’s hands and legs, besides gagging him an adhesive tape.

On the move, they snatched Lahiri’s laptop, mobile phone and a wedding, besides the wallet, which contained his credit and debit cards. They tortured Lahiri and forced him to reveal the passwords and personal identification numbers of the credit and debit cards.

Meanwhile, when the car reached Whitefield railway crossing, which was closed to facilitate a train to pass by, the duo were forced to stop the vehicle. When Lahiri tried to neck himself out and shout for help, the culprits smothered him to death. Later, Lahiri’s body was shifted to the car’s luggage compartment. They proceeded to Garudacharapalya lake on the outskirts of Bangalore and threw Lahiri’s dead body.

With the police having put up checks on all roads leading out of Bangalore after receiving a missing complaint from Lahiri’s wife, the duo abandoned the car at Yeshwanthpur, hired an auto and returned to the “accident spot” to pick up their borrowed car.

With Lahiri’s credit and debit cards in their possession, Raju and Venkatesh had managed to draw a total of 100,000 in Kolar and Bangalore. When they purchased a mobile phone and a SIM card, the police were firmly on their trail.

Appointment of new Chief Secretary triggers fresh rift in Karnataka coalition

The appointment of P B Mahishi as the new Chief Secretary of Karnataka to succeed Malati Das, who retired from duty on yesterday, has triggered a fresh rift in the ruling JD (S)-BJP coalition in Karnataka.

Taking serious exception to the manner in which the Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy overlooked the seniority of four other officials and appointed Mahishi as the new Chief Secretary of the State, the BJP’s Karnataka unit President Sadananda Gowda expressed “shock” over the unexpected development.

“The news of Mahishi’s appointment ignoring the seniority of other officials is shocking. The BJP was given to understand that no out-out-of turn posting will be made to the Chief Secretary’s post. We expected A K Agarwal, who is the senior-most IAS officer in the State, to succeed Malati Das”, Sadananda Gowda said.

“What has prompted the Chief Minister to decide in favour of Mahishi is a puzzle to us”, he said.

Barely three months ago at the time of the retirement of B K Das as the Chief Secretary of Karnataka, BJP was firm on Government sticking to the seniority of officials while making appointments to coveted posts like the Chief Secretary. “Even though Malati Das had only three months of service left, she appointed as Chief Secretary. There is no reason for the Chief Minister to bypass seniority”, Sadananda Gowda said.

But, a section of the BJP sees former Prime Minister and JD (S) supremo H D Deve Gowda’s hand behind the appointment of P B Mahishi as the new chief secretary. With a view to iron out the differences among the coalition partners over the appointment of the Chief Secretary, the BJP is seeking a co-ordination committee meeting of the coalition partners. The co-ordination committee meeting is also expected to discuss the public rejection of a pre-poll tie-up between JD (S) and BJP by Deve Gowda, sources in the BJP said.