CID launches probe into alleged rape and murder of engineering student

Bengaluru, Mar 31: Bengaluru Central Crime Branch on Tuesday seized as many as 1,000 fake N95 masks amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

However, the police are yet to make arrests in the case.

Investigation in the case is underway and more details in this regard are awaited.

Recently, Noida Sub-Divisional Magistrate with a team from the Health department busted a fake sanitiser and mask factory.

Notably, the Central government recently had brought masks and hand sanitisers under the Essential Commodities Act up to June 30 as the novel coronavirus pandemic led to shortages and black marketing of these items.

Any person found guilty under the Act may be punished with imprisonment up to seven years or fine or both and can be detained for a maximum of six months.

Bengaluru, Feb 17: Leader of Opposition in Karnataka Assembly Siddaramaiah on Monday demanded that forest minister Anand Singh should either be expelled from the Cabinet or assigned a different portfolio.

This comes amid a number of cases, pending against Singh, including those under the Karnataka Forest Act.

"How can we expect justice from Anand Singh who has been made forest minister and is accused of (illegal mining)? We demand that he should either be dropped out of the state Cabinet or at least his portfolio be changed," Siddaramaiah told media.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa allocated portfolios to the 10 newly inducted ministers in his Cabinet.

As part of state Cabinet's expansion, 10 MLAs including Ramesh Jarkiholi, Anand Singh, K Sudhakar, and BA Basavaraja took oath as ministers at Raj Bhawan in Bengaluru on February 6.

Bengaluru, Feb 29: Dreaded underworld don Ravi Poojary's lawyer Dilraj has allegedly been kept out of hearing distance and as a mute spectator during interrogation by the police.

"The lawyer is a mute spectator out of hearing distance from the interrogation. He is not privy to what police ask Pujari," a source told media.

As directed by the court and requested by Poojary, Dilraj is allowed to be present near the interrogation for him to consult on legal issues, but the cops have made sure that he does not hear anything for fear of leaking information.

The court has also ordered the interrogation to be video graphed, which the police are carrying out.

Police sources said that Ravi Poojary is relaxed and cool during the multi-lingual interrogation.

"He is cool, giving frank replies. Poojary is exhibiting confidence in whatever he is telling. Maybe confidently lying, police are not new to him," said the source.

According to source, the gangster knows how to handle police, with sufficient knowledge to reveal how much he wants to, when to stop, when to talk, when to mislead and plant false information.

"Poojary is being interrogated in his mother tongue Kannada, Hindi and English. He is fluent in English," the source said.

However, the source denied speculation gaining currency that Poojary requested police not to send him to Mumbai fearing of being eliminated by the henchmen of dreaded underworld dons Dawood Ibrahim and Chota Rajan.

"Nothing of that sort happened. It doesn't work like that. He has been captured after 25 years, and he is not a king to choose. Wherever the law takes him, he will go there," said the source.

Rajan is serving a life sentence inside a high security cell in Delhi's Tihar jail.

Currently, the probe is focused on Tilknagar Shabnam Developers double murder shootout case. Police are discovering information, verifying it with respect to evidence and building the case.

Taking regular breaks, police are interrogating Poojary from morning till evening.

Of the over 200 cases against Poojary in the southern state, 39 are in Bengaluru, 36 at Mangaluru, 11 in Udupi on the state's west coast and one each at Mysuru, Hubballi-Dharwad, Kolar and Shivamogga in Malnad.

The other cases are in Mumbai (49) and in Gujarat (75) pertaining to extortion, kidnapping, ransom demand and murder threats.

Poojary also extorted huge amounts from popular Bollywood stars and realtors. He was also involved in an attempt to murder case, aimed at killing a prominent lawyer of Mumbai.

A four-member Karnataka police team led by Pandey brought the 52-year-old underworld don to Bengaluru from Dakar in Senegal via Paris in an Air France scheduled flight during the wee hours and kept him at an interrogation centre in the city's south-east suburb.