Black-magic continues to haunt Karnataka polls; Rs 32 lakh owl sacrifice averted

Mohan and Harsha Raj Gatty
May 11, 2018

Pegged at Rs 32 lakh, an innocent owl was on the verge of being a sacrificial object on-behest of a political aspirant, if not for the timely intervention by the Kollegal Regional Forest officer (RFO). In the last two-months, around Chamarajanagara district, the forest officials have booked seven cases of poaching and arrested at-least four-people in this connection. In their statement, the arrested admitted to the officials that they were procuring the animals on behest of unknown middlemen for ‘Vamachara’ or black magic practitioners to ensure candidates victory.

While Vamachara or the invoking of supernatural forces among political aspirants in Karnataka is not an unknown phenomenon in Karnataka election, but for officials at Kollegal, Doddaballapur and Chickballapur district are flooded with series of hits and misses of suspected transport of animals for sacrificial purposes. Moreover, it is the scale and the modus operandi that has baffled the officials. "At the instant case this week, poacher Rangawamy and Madesha both were paid-off at Rs. 3 lakh by a middleman to procure the owl, it was just that we had received a timely tip-off that we able to arrest the duo at Odeyarpalya-Kannur bus stand at Chamarajanagar. But frankly, we don't know how many other animals we lost to such mindless practice" a forest official said.

The bird whose legs were tied and held casually in a confined manner within a grocery bag weighed nearly 2.5 Kilogram. Handed over to the Kollegal police, the duo confessed that they were specifically told by the middleman to get a heavy and healthy bird as it was meant for sacrificial purpose. "We just received about 10 percent of the total amount, the tantrik bills the politician not less than Rs. 30 lakh," he told police officials in a statement.

According to the official there is a nexus of political-middlemen-poachers-tantriks. "Usually, the procurer of the animal does know who is the final receiver, the animal passes at least five to six middlemen, subsequently every broker adds their price. Most of the operation is carried our via mobile phone or Whatsapp, the moment a person in the chain is caught. The others simply discard him and switch to new sim and the case goes blind," a Kollegal police official said.

Explaining the Vamachara method, 47-year old former practitioner Shanmukhappa from Chamrajnagara district says that traditionally it was a 48 days old step-by-step process to ensure path to victory. "The bird is taken to the candidates home, initial rituals are performed and the bird is buried alive for 48 days, the candidate is supposed to sit over the burial spot, perform ritual and eat prasada meals while seated over it. After the 48th day, the skeleton is retrieved and black-magic is performed. This would ensure 100 percent victory," he says.

Earlier, they used to catch fox and detain it in their home. "Seeing a fox on daily basis was considered to bring good luck. However, the flip-side of domestication of a fox was at night they used to howl and their neighbours used to confront the home-owner for performing black-magic. Therefore the believers have given-up on fox and taken owl as a supplement," the forest official adds.

Officials said, the tantriks use poorly literate, unemployed members of the local tribal community for poaching of animals and abetting superstitious practice. “In couple of instances, members of Devanga and Budbudke community have been repeatedly arrested for performing black magic. However the case was not watertight and merely based on allegation, so they were let-off," the official adds.

Not to be mistaken that only the locals at Chamarajanagara were involved in superstitious practices, bordering to Tamil Nadu, there are several interstate personalities who lay claim of performing miracles and they find easy prey in the form of businessmen and politicians, on whom the stakes of money and power are always high. "It is just that black magic materials and tantriks are easily available here that they visit this place. We have reports of several clandestine visits by politicians, film personalities and businessmen at remote places and wee hours spending close to Rs 50 lakhs on superstitious practices," the official added.

In fact, the Karnataka politics is often synonym for its association with black-magic, in fact on Wednesday, a BJP candidate Niranjan Kumar's photo was found at an intersection road at Gundlupet. Recently, Narendra Nayak the President of Federation of Indian Rationalist (FIRA) stamped over a voodoo doll at a cremation ground in Mangaluru - the small chit inside the doll had the name written of sitting MLA and Congress candidate from Mangaluru City South J R Lobo.

Meanwhile, similar to the owl which has been released into the wildlife, Rangawamy and Madesha have also been granted bail and are tentatively free. "Locally, they say it’s just the bird what’s the big deal. But given the fact that owl is protected under 1972 Wildlife Protection Act, we expected some stringent action against the suspects, because we are sure in about a day or two they will get back to their old ways," the forest official says.

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jj
 - 
Saturday, 12 May 2018

IDIOTIC.... FOOLISH ..PRACTICE

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 15,2020

Mangaluru, May 15: Mohammed Kana, son of late Ismail Kana and grandson of late Dr M S Bapanad Mulki passed away in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia due to heart attack on Thursday. He was 57.

Hailing from Mangaluru, Mohammed Kana was working in Saudi Arabia for past 30 years. He is survived by his wife, son and a daughter.

He was involved in various social and welfare activities in India and Saudi Arabia. His tragic demise has left huge vacuum in his family and community at large.

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Ahmed Ali Kulai
 - 
Sunday, 17 May 2020

Inna Lillahi Wa Inna Ilaihi Rajihoon

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News Network
May 2,2020

Udupi, May 2: During the lockdown period the Department of Public Library digitised more books to the Karnataka Digital Public Library (KDPL).

According to the data released by the KDPL issued here on Saturday , as on April 29, 89,239 people from the State have already registered for the digital library.  From these 1,807 are from Dakshina Kannada district and 605 from the Udupi district.

The digital library already has a repository of 35,500 e-books, 4,800 videos, 59,980 e-journals and 1,112 items for children.

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coastaldigest.com news network
March 2,2020

Abu Dhabi: Yogish Prabhu K is the newly elected president of Abu Dhabi’s prestigious India Social & Cultural Centre (ISC) and he will serve for the period 2020-2021. ISC’s annual general body meeting and Election for 2020 were held on Thursday, February 27 and the election results of the election were announced during the early hours of Friday, February 28th morning.

In the keenly contested election, Yogish Prabhu emerged victorious. Humble origin and hailing from a small town of Karkala from Udupi district of Karnataka state has never deterred him from setting challenging goals. He belongs to a well-known Gouda Saraswat Brahmin family of K.V.Prabhu Coconut oil mill in Karkala. He is the eldest son of Late Rtn. Krishna Prabhu and Rtn. Bharati Prabhu.  His father and grandfather were freedom fighters who left a profound impression on him and their ideology “serving people is like worshiping God” (Jana seveye Janardhana seve) inspired and guided his life ever since. Prabhu has been a privilege member of ISC since 2003 and has been actively involved in ISC activities throughout. His relationship with ISC spans over 2 decades during which he has immensely contributed in many ways to ISC and the Indian community at large. A banker by profession, Yogish Prabhu is currently working as Vice President, Group Finance & Treasury, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB).

With some new initiatives in his mind, Prabhu wants to creatively improve the quality of ISC’s services, its humanitarian impact as well as the diversity of its membership. His intentions are always to help everyone irrespective of caste, creed, religion, language or status. As a new elected President of ISC, Prabhu’s main objective is to strategically plan and implement his vision through his ABC 5 Year Plan i.e.,

A-    Accountability & Transparency,

B-    Build a Sound Financial Plan and

C-    Compassion & Affection for the needy

so that ISC is recognized not just in UAE, but worldwide as a mascot of the great Indian community.

Prabhu thinks “as individuals, we can do only so much but with the support of Elected ISC Committee members and all the ISC members together, there is no limit to what we can achieve, and in the process, we can truly transform the ISC”. He proudly says, “I have a strong treasury management experience in ISC as well as in the bank which we need now more than ever”.

With his dynamic leadership, sheer dedication and ambition, ISC will definitely be scaling new heights of glory and prestige in Abu Dhabi and beyond. His humble nature, leadership qualities coupled with his rich administrative experience will surely help boost ISC’s popularity and meet its challenging goals and can serve people in a better way and contribute to the Indian community at large.

Yogish Prabhu has been married for 28years. His wife Chethana Prabhu Kasaragod too has been equally active in ISC and continuously supporting and participating in various sports, entertainment and literary committees throughout these years. She became ISC Women’s Forum Convener in 2016-2017. Their daughter, Aarti Prabhu is an IT Engineer from NITK Suratkal, working in Bangalore. Son, Ajith Prabhu finished his Masters in Mechanical Engineering and Management in Industrial Design in Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK and at present doing his internship there. Both Aarti and Ajith are alumni of Abu Dhabi Indian School and both have represented National level CBSE Badminton meet. Also, Aarti was a Gold medalist in the school for scoring 100 in Mathematics in SSLC.

Following are few of his contributions and achievements:

•          Hon. Asst. Treasurer of ISC for consecutive years from 2005 till 2007

•          Hon. Treasurer of ISC in 2011.

•          Member of Finance Committee of ISC new infrastructure and premises from approval till completion.

•          In 2016, initiated the participation of ISC members as officials for International Yoga Day organized by Indian Embassy

•          In 2017, initiated the participation of children as officials to help the organizers so that children could learn their social responsibility and become good citizens.

•          In 2012, initiated ladies throw ball tournament in ISC and now it is extended to men too.

•          Member of IPEF since its inception in 2014. Also served as its Governing board member in the same year.

•          Founder member of ‘UAE GSB group’ since its formation in 2004

•          Committee member of ‘Gandhi Sahitya Vedi’ Abu Dhabi

•                    Treasurer of Abu Dhabi Karnataka Sangha

•          Head of Finance and member of other committees of ‘World Tulu Convention’ held in Dubai - 2018

 

Election was held for other Posts too. The other office bearers elected to the present committee are:

Vice-President: George Varghese.

General Secretary: Jojo J Ambooken

Asst.Gen.Secretary: C. George Varghese

Treasurer: Shijil Kumar N K

Entertainment Secretary: Jayapradeep K P

Literary Secretary: Elias Padavetty

Sports Secretary: Freddi J. Fernandes

Secretary Southern Region: Raja Srinivasa Rao Aita

Auditor: G.N.Sasikumar

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