Udupi: Attacks on minorities, dalits condemned at PFI campaign

Bengaluru, Feb 16: Radhakrishnan V Nair embarked on a journey of exploring complex subjects and opening up the cocoon of existence that puts people in a zone of comfort. One sole mission of the book is to encourage the readers to break out of that comfort zone.

The architect by profession has a novel to his credit, 'The Cave of Freedom' that had earned him critical acclaim from Jnanpith Awardee UR Ananthamurthy. On February 13, a discussion and the reading of his book had the audience riveted to their seats.

The launch of the book on February 13 at Bangalore International Centre was presided over by Bhaskar Rao, Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru, along with Vasudev Murthy, Technology Management Consultant, leadership trainer and author and Ramessh RK, an industrial designer and choir singer who read out passages from the book.

'Radhakrishnan is trying to inspire you to discover the pleasure of breaking the glass barrier along with the protagonist Dr Prateek. The story 'burst out'", said Radhakrishnan when it could not be contained any longer.

The glass ceiling saw a lot of interest from the audience present. The book includes Dr Prateek who is obsessed with saving lives in the Emergency Room (ER) as the world slept. Then on an eerie rainy night, he is kidnapped.

He struggles to come to terms with the improbability of waking up somewhere in Europe and making his serendipitous escape and being back at work the next morning - all physically impossible from the point of view of time and locality.

The glass ceiling challenges you to see tragedies and their impact on a person's mental well-being from a different perspective.

Radhakrishnan V Nair is an architect by profession and runs his Bengaluru-based firm - Archaid, the tagline of which is 'Architecture in Collaboration with Nature'.

New Delhi, May 14: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing the Al-Hind Islamic State (IS) Bengaluru module case has announced a cash reward of Rs three lakh for wanted absconder Abdul Mateen Taahaa.

An NIA spokesperson in Delhi said, "We have declared a cash reward of Rs three lakh for providing any information leading to arrest of Taahaa." The spokesperson said that Taahaa, 26, a resident of Shimoga in Karnataka is wanted in Al-Hind ISIS Bengaluru module case that the agency registered this year. The NIA had taken over the probe from the Karnataka Police.

According to the NIA officials, the case relates to ISIS-linked terror group formed by arrested accused Mehboob Pasha, along with accused Khaja Moideen aka Jalal and his associates involved in the murder of a Hindu leader in Tamil Nadu. The official said that Pasha conducted several meetings in 2019 at his residence in Bengaluru to hatch the conspiracy, by radicalising and recruiting other co-accused to carry out terror activities and join ISIS in Afghanistan or Syria.

The NIA has arrested 12 accused namely Pasha, Imran aka Imran Khan, Mohammed Haneef Khan, Mohammed Mansoor Ali Khan, Saleem Khan aka Kolar Saleem, Hussain Sharieff, Ejaz Pasha aka Azaz Pasha, Zabiulla, Syed Azmathulla, Syed Fasiur Rehman, Mohammed Zaid and Sadiq Basha.

The official said that Taahaa is a friend of arrested accused Saleem and Zaid, through whom he contacted arrested accused Pasha of Al-Hind Trust and was also associated with his online foreign handler.

Bengaluru, Jul 1: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief DK Shivakumar on Wednesday said that the state Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa should apologise to the nation for the Ballari incident.

"It is shocking to see the Ballari incident. The way the dead bodies of the corona victims have been treated is very unfortunate. The entire country witnessed it. I request the Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa to apologise to the nation. India is known for its values and traditions," Shivakumar told reporters here.

Earlier, Shivakumar had posted a video which allegedly showed officials 'inhumanly' dumping bodies of those patients who die of COVID into a pit in Ballari, the district administration confirmed it and said that the entire field team involved in the incident has been disbanded.

"It's disturbing to see bodies of COVID patients who have died being dumped inhumanly into a pit in Ballari. Is this civility? This is a reflection of how the government has handled this Corona crisis. I urge the govt to take immediate action and ensure that this doesn't happen again," Shivakumar's tweet, which also had a video of the incident embedded, read.

The Deputy Commissioner, Ballari issued a press note which stated that it had conducted an enquiry after the video surfaced and it was found that the video belonged to the district and "comprises of burial of eight people who passed away after succumbing to COVID-19."

Although, according to the DC, all protocols and SOPs were followed by the team during the burial process, however, the "disrespectful handling of the bodies while being lowered on to the ground by the field staff" led to the entire field team involved being disbanded and will be replaced by a new team trained by the HOD, Forensic, VIMS.

The district administration also issued an unconditional apology to the families of the deceased and to others who were hurt by the incident.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa also termed the behaviour of the staff "very inhuman and very painful" and urged the staff to tread cautiously with humanity in handling the funeral of those affected by the disease, and added, "Let's walk with humanity, and realize that there is no greater religion than humanity."