Aishwarya Rai is my mom, she should live with me in Mangaluru: 30-year-old man

Bengaluru, Apr 26: Three new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Karnataka in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases in the state to 503 as per Karnataka government.

There are 302 active COVID-19 cases in Karnataka presently, while 182 patients have been discharged, 19 deaths have been reported, state government informed.

The total number of positive coronavirus cases across the country are 26,917, including 20,177 active cases of the virus. So far, 5,913 patients have either been cured or discharged while 826 deaths have been recorded in the country, as per data provided by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Mangaluru, June 13:  The Central Crime Branch of Bengaluru City Police, which is digging up old cases involving underworld gangster Ravi Pujari, has now launched a fresh probe into the murder of human rights lawyer Naushad Kashimji.

Kashimji was gunned down on April 9, 2009 at the basement of his apartment in Falnir in Mangaluru. Ravi Pujari had allegedly ordered the hit. 

As part of investigation, a team from Benglauru CCB has come to Mangaluru. CCB sleuths, who obtained Pujari’s police custody in connection with this case, are tying up the loose ends pertaining to the murder of Kashimji who was representing D-Company hitman Abdul Rashid Hassan Malbari aka Malbari. 

Pujari was said to be unhappy over Kashimji representing Malbari. Pujari had also allegedly issued life threats, directing him to desist from doing so.

Kashimji had reportedly received more than 10 international threat calls from March 30 to April 9 (the day he was murdered). According to a senior police officer, the advocate had not informed the police or his then senior Purushottam Poojary about receiving the threat calls. “This came to light when police went through his call records later,” the officer explained.

“CCB team is primarily focusing on Pujari’s role in the advocate’s sensational murder,” a senior CCB officer handling the investigating said. 

“We have also lined up other cases in which Pujari is allegedly involved, but had filed the chargesheet against him in absentia as he was then a fugitive,” the officer added. The team is now picking up threads of Pujari’s involvement cases in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Chikkamagaluru districts.

Pujari, currently in police custody in Bengaluru, is accused in more than 30 cases reported in Mangaluru from 2007 to 2018. Majority of the cases against Pujari pertain to extortion and extending death threats, one relating to murder, three to shootings/ abduction and one where he supplied money to his henchmen in prison. Police have filed ‘C’ report in 17 out of 28 threat call cases and ‘B’ report in one case. Rest are in different stages of trial.

Jaipur, Jan 24: Actor Sonali Bendre has said that she came into the movies to make money but fell in love with the profession where she discovered herself and found her family and friends. The 45-year-old actor said she owed a lot to Bollywood which is the most wonderful place to be, both mentally as well as creatively.

"I came into movies to make money and I fell in love with the profession. It was the most wonderful place to be, mentally and creatively," she said.

"I found myself there, found my friends and family over there. I owe a lot to Bollywood. It was one of the most wonderful things that happened to me," Sonali said here on Thursday.

The actor said her entry into movies by purely because she happened to be at the right place and at the right time.

Sonali added when acting offers came her way she knew that in no other field could she have made as much money, and as quickly, as she did in movies.

"Basically, I got into this because it was great money," she said.

The actor was speaking at the Jaipur Literature Festival and also talked about books and how her book club named ‘Sonali's Book Club' came into being.

Sonali, who has been convalescing after undergoing treatment for cancer in the US, said that books gave her strength and kept her afloat while she was going through one of the toughest phases of her life.

The actor was diagnosed with high grade cancer in July 2018 and underwent treatment for it in New York.

"Books were my friends other than my sisters while I was growing up. I'm nowhere remotely connected to movies. I have a very middle class Maharashtrian upbringing. When I got into movies, it was like being on another planet. Again in this world where it was easy to feel the peer pressure and do certain things or not do certain things, or look a certain way, books kept me grounded," she said.

"'A Gentleman in Moscow' (a 2016 novel by Amor Towles) was uplifting and I got so much strength from that book during my treatment in New York," Sonali said.

The actor, who often shares posts about books and authors on social media, said one should stop feeling guilty about not completing a book.

"Sometimes you start judging yourself by not completing a book, but I have reached a stage where I understand that I'm a book-lover, but that doesn't mean I will like all the books. It's okay if you don't like a book," she said.

Sonali also said that nobody wanted to know about the intellectual capacity of Bollywood stars as it was not "entertainment enough or gossipy enough".

Earlier before her session, Sonali launched author Ashwin Sanghi's latest book ‘The Vault of Vishnu', the sixth book in the Bharat series, at the 13th edition of the festival.