Cattle transporter assaulted by Hindutva group amidst Modi's warning

Mangaluru: The sixth Judicial Magistrate of First Class court here today remanded techie-turned-bomber Aditya Rao to 10-day police custody.

36-year-old Rao, the prime accused in planting improvised explosive device at Mangaluru International Airport, was handed over to Mangaluru police by their Bengaluru counterparts yesterday.

He was produced before the magistrate court amidst tight security. The police sought for 15-day custody for interrogating him.

Justice Kishore Kumar, the JMFC court judge inquired Rao if he was subjected to police torture and if he had any lawyer to represent him in the case. Rao is said to have replied in the negative for these questions, it is gathered.

The judge finally decided to send the accused to police custody for 10 days.

Bengaluru, Jan 10: The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST), which met with officials of the Social Welfare Department Thursday, has urged the state government to increase the reservation provided to the ST community.

The Commission's suggestion comes even as a committee headed by Justice Nagamohan Das is currently studying a demand for increase of reservation for the community from the existing 3% to 7.5%.

Addressing mediapersons on Thursday, Commission Chairperson Nand Kumar Sai, said the Commission had discussed the issue with the Social Welfare Department, Karnataka, asking officials to expedite the process.

In response to this suggestion, Social Welfare Department Principal Secretary G Kumar Naik said the government would take a call based on the Nagamohan Das Committee's report.

A meeting was held between members of the National ST Commission and the Social Welfare Department Thursday with regard to various projects taken up by the department.

In June last year, the then Kumaraswamy-led coalition government constituted the Justice Nagamohan Das Committee, after protests from members of the Valmiki community for an increase in reservation to 7.5%. At present, Karnataka provides 15% reservation for SCs, 3% for STs and 32% for other backward classes (OBC).

The national commission also urged the state government to ensure permanent faculty in all the 824 residential institutions run by the department. At present, as much as 50% of the faculty in these institutions have been hired on a contractual basis. "We have assured that the recruitment will be done in a short time," Naik told mediapersons.

Mangaluru, Mar 4: Fifteen Iranian fishermen, arrested for illegally entering Indian waters, were shifted from Mangaluru to Central Prison Bengaluru at Parappana Agrahara recently.

 On October 21, coast guard officials intercepted two fishing vessels near Gayathri island, about 168 nautical miles off Mangaluru Coast and took into custody 15 crew members after they failed to produce necessary documents.

While one of the boats capsized after developing a technical snag, the other boat was brought to Mangalore Port.

On the basis of a written complaint lodged by Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Deputy Commandant Kuldeep Sharma, Karnataka State Coastal Security Police (KSCP) station in Mangaluru filed case against the 15 Iranian fishermen under Maritime Zone of Indian Act 1981.