Harassed by teachers and friends, Class 10 girl jumps to death from school building

Bengaluru, Jun 18: The Karnataka police has arrested a German national wanted for kidnapping and causing bodily harm to a person in his home country, an official said on Wednesday. The person was also found to be overstaying on an expired visa, which police said that it appeared that the visa had been tampered with to look more current.

"On receipt of credible information by the CID Interpol Division officers, the Red Corner Notice subject, the German national Alexander Bruno Wehnelt, was traced at Hulimangala village," a police official told media persons.

Hulimangala is on the outskirts of Bengaluru city.

Alexander, 55, escaped from Germany and took shelter in Bengaluru.

The Interpol Division of CBI NCB (Central Bureau of Intelligence, Narcotics Control Bureau) in New Delhi had communicated to the Interpol liaison officer in Karnataka's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) about Alexander, directing extensive search measures to trace the criminal at large.

The Narcotics Control Bureau of Wiesbaden in Germany was on the hunt for Wehnelt for the crimes he committed in 2015, and have finally found him five years later.

"A special team of officers was constituted by the CID - Interpol division under the supervision of ADGP (Additional Director General of Police) B. Dayananda and the Interpol liaison officer and efforts were made to trace the subject," said the official.

On Monday, the police received credible information leading to his arrest.

"It was learnt that his visa had expired in 2016 and he tried to show a visa which was issued in December 2019 which had expired on Saturday, June 13," said the official.

Prima facie, it appeared that Alexander had tampered with his visa and the police are probing on that front as well.

He was handed over to Hebbagodi Police Station in Bengaluru Urban, for his overstay and a criminal case has been registered against him, under the Foreigners Act.

Mangalore University has been participating in the campus bird count a sub-event of ‘Great backyard bird count’ (GBBC) organized by Bird Count India for the past 5 years. This year, CBC was held from 14th to 17th February of 2020 across various campuses in India.

This year the four days event was successfully ended up with the sightings of 103 species of birds from various locations across the campus spread on 300 acres. In this Black Drongo, Black Kite, Brahminy Kite, Common Iora, Green Wabler, Purple-rumed Sunbird, Red-whiskered Bulbul, White-cheeked Barbet, Jungle Babbler and Plum headed parakeets were the common birds, and also observed House Crow with nest and nestlings, Indian Robin nest with eggs, Bronzed Drongo constructing the nest and Shikra mating and carrying nesting materials.  Whereas Yellow-billed Babbler is rare in the campus, Ashy Drongo, Barn Swallow, Booted Eagle, Grey Wagtail, Indian Pitta etc. were migratory birds, Grey-headed Bulbul (Near Threatened bird), Rufous Babbler and Grey-headed Bulbul were Western Ghats Endemics  and Brown Wood Owl, Barn Owl, Spotted Owlet, Nightjars (Savanna, Indian and Jerdon’s) and Sri Lanka Frogmouth were nocturnal birds. Blue-eared Kingfisher Grey-bellied Cuckoo which was very rare and new additions to avian list of the campus.

In the first year (2016) of Mangalore University’s CBC recorded 77 species, in 2017 recorded 95 species, in 2018 recorded 110 species and in 2019 recorded 107 species of birds. However some of the common species like Rose ringed parakeets, Blue tailed bee-eater, Nilgiri Flowerpecker and Indian roller etc., sighted last year were not seen this year. But with 2 new additions from this CBC, the checklist of Mangalore University Campus has been updated with a total of 141 species.

This event was coordinated by Vivek Hasyagar from the Department of Applied Zoology and Maxim Rodrigues from the Department of Marine Geology. Survey trails were led by more than 60 students and research scholars from various Departments of Mangalore University includes Applied Zoology, Biosciences, Microbiology, Botany, Physics, Chemistry and Material Science.  In addition, some enthusiastic participants from St. Aloysius College had involved in identifying the birds around the campus.

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Wild/planned fire affects negatively on the existing ecologically sensitive areas in and around the campus especially in lateritic grasslands. Because many insectivorous birds are dependent on these lateritic grassland habitats for their food and breeding grounds for many ground dwelling birds like Yellow wattled lapwing, Red wattled lapwing, Indian Robin and Barred buttonquails. Conserving these habitats will be helpful in protecting these birds.

Quotes from the participants: “The Campus Bird Count 2020 at Mangalore University was an experience of its own kind. Observing birds in their natural habitat gave me new perspective of viewing them not only as another living being, but as equals, or even of higher intelligence. The Campus Bird Count is an important step towards documenting bird life year after year, and creating awareness amongst youngsters, so that proper conservation steps can be taken to protect them from human interference”.

-Jyotsna Dessai ( 1 M.Sc Zoology)

Bengaluru, Jul 16: Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday hit out at state Health Minister B Sriramulu for stating that "only God can save Karnataka" from COVID-19 and asked him to resign from his post.

Speaking to media here in Bengaluru, Siddaramaiah said, "The government cannot say that we are helpless. Why is the government in power? You have power and you have money. It is your primary duty to serve the citizens of the state."

On being asked about Karnataka Health Minister's statement, the Congress leader said: "Let him resign and go out. God will help you only if you will put all your efforts."

Meanwhile, President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee DK Shivakumar tweeted "Karnataka's Health Minister saying 'Only God can save Karnataka' reflects poorly on @BSYBJP govt's ability to handle the Covid crisis. Why do we need such a government if they cannot tackle the pandemic?"

Sriramulu had said on Wednesday that either people should inculcate awareness or only God can save them from COVID-19.

"Who can save us at this time? It's either God or people should inculcate awareness in them. Congress leaders are involved in political mudslinging at this time. This is not fine and it will not help them in any way," the Minister had said.

"It is a crucial time, in the interest of the general public. I request all the Congress leaders not to indulge in loose talk regarding the issue, it leads to more panic situation among the general public. We are ready to adhere to any punishment if we did any wrong thing," he had added.