Dalits warned against misuse of atrocity law, false complaints

Bengaluru, Feb 24: Fugitive underworld don Ravi Poojary, with more than 90 criminal charges pending against him, was brought to the city in the wee hours of Monday after he was arrested from Senegal in South Africa.

Police said that he was wanted in more than 92 criminal cases. In Bengaluru alone, he was involved in more than 39 cases, including double murder of Ravi and Shobana in 2007, an attempt to murder attack on Mantri developers 2009, extortion and other crimes etc. He had committed crimes in various parts of the state including Myusuru, Hubballi, he had involved in extortion, threatening builders, politicians, etc.

"Though Senegal police had nabbed him about six months back to get him to India it took more than six months since there was no agreement to deport criminals from that state to us. However, now all legal hurdles have been removed and we have succeeded in bringing him", a top police official told media.

A team of Bengaluru Police headed by Additional Director General of Police Amar Kumar Pandey, Joint Police Commissioner Sandeep Patil reached Senegal on Saturday and brought him to the city by Air France flight.

Ravi Poojari was wanted in cases of extortion and murder and was active in the Mumbai underworld. He was part of the underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's gang and later is said to have worked with 'Chota Rajan' for some time. Claiming to be an enemy of Dawood, Poojari reportedly finished off all his associates and anti-India elements in the country. His men were involved in a shootout on the Shabanam Developers office in Bengaluru in which a woman staffer was killed.

He is also said have been involved in the shootout case of Shahid Azmi, an advocate from Mumbai. There are cases against him in Kerala, Gujarat, and Maharashtra.

Bengaluru, Jun 3: Lack of awareness on rail travel norms led to a tense situation on a Karnataka train as a female passenger was forced to disembark midway after her fellow passengers raised a hue and cry on seeing her knuckle stamped, mistaking it for a quarantine stamp, an official said on Tuesday.

"Many passengers on the train with the woman raised a hue and cry on seeing her stamped and complained to the TTE. She was later disembarked at Tumkur," a South Western Railway (SWR) zone official said.

The woman was travelling from Bengaluru to Belagavi as a transit passenger. Her status as such a passenger was stamped on her knuckle.

However, after some time, her fellow passengers observed her stamped hand and misunderstood that she was violating the quarantine norms.

Without realising that she was just a transit passenger who will be quarantined on reaching her destination, they created pandemonium and complained to the travelling ticket inspector.

"Following the public pressure, she was forcibly disembarked in Tumkur station," said the official.

Incidentally, the railways allows transit passengers to travel.

The official said the TTE would not have been aware of the rules and must have yielded to the passengers' pressure.

Later, the woman was allowed to board another train and reach her destination, the official said.

Madikeri, Apr 22: The quality of water in the River Cauvery in Kodagu district has improved significantly following the nationwide Lockdown.

The discharge of effluents from home stays and resorts situated on the banks of the river in the district has stopped due to lack of visitors. The discharge of waste water had made the river impure all these years.

The suspension of boat ride in Dubare has reduced the pollution from diesel motorboats in the river. For the last few years, the water quality of the river had reached 'C' category from 'B' category during the summer.