Chopper carrying Karnataka Congress chief seized

The police has seized a private helicopter carrying Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President M Mallikarjun Kharge for landing at the Police Parade Grounds helipad in Gulbarga without obtaining permission from appropriate authorities.

The police also arrested the pilot of the helicopter and booked a case of criminal trespass. However, he was let off on bail later.

Though the helicopter, owned by Faridabad-based Escorts Ltd., was seized late on Friday night, the matter came to light only on Saturday as Kharge, who was scheduled to fly in the same chopper to Hyderabad to catch a flight to New Delhi, was forced to proceed by road.

Earlier on Friday, Kharge in the midst of hectic electioneering, had to rush from Bangalore to his native Gulbarga to quell the unrest among Congress workers over allocation of party tickets to contest the assembly polls scheduled to be held next month.

Accompanied by his son and Secretary of Karnataka Youth Congress Committee Priyank Kharge and Gulbarga MP Iqbal Ahmed Saradgi landed at the Police Parade Grounds in Gulbarga in the helicopter and left to Chittapur to address a party meeting.

The district administration was taken by surprise as they had neither received any prior intimation nor issued approval for landing of the helicopter. Late on Friday night, Deputy Commissioner of Gulbarga Pankaj Kumar Pandey and Superintendent of Police Manish Kharbikar visited the Police Parade Grounds and recorded the presence of the helicopter.

Pandey said he had reported the matter to the Chief Electoral Officer M N Vidyashankar and was awaiting instructions from him whether the incident amounted to violation of poll code.