Cops thwart cattle smuggling bid; four arrested; animals rescued

Mumbai, Apr 15: A 35-year-old man, who worked as a priest in suburban Kandivali, allegedly committed suicide on Tuesday afternoon, hours after learning that lockdown to contain coronavirus has been extended.

The deceased was identified as Krishna Pujari, native of Udupi in Karnataka, who was attached to Durga Mata temple in Iraniwadi area of Sanjay Nagar.

Pujari, who lived with three other priests, was waiting for the lockdown to end as he wanted to go back to his hometown, a police official said.

When he learnt that the lockdown has been extended till May 3, he was terribly depressed and allegedly hanged himself in kitchen, the official added.

No suicide note has been found, he said.

Bengaluru, Apr 21: The Karnataka Government may spare its employees from salary cuts this month despite severe resources crunch it faces following steep fall in revenue collection due to the ongoing lockdown to fight the coronavirus, official sources said on Tuesday.

As of now, there is no problem with April salary and we can manage. But if May also turns out to be a wash-out (in terms of revenue collection), then the situation is going to be very tough, a senior Minister said.

Ministers and members of Karnataka Legislature are taking a 30 per cent pay-cut for a year from April 1 this year. Opposition Congress in the state has vehemently opposed any possible move to cut salaries of government employees.

You just cant even imagine, the Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa had told news agency in an interview earlier this month on the economic impact of the lock-down on the state's finances. Yediyurappa had also said that the government is now not in a position to implement Budget proposals, barring important ones, with all kinds of revenue collections having completely stopped following the lockdown.

The government recently said it proposes to regularise unauthorised properties in the state by imposing penalty, and also auction more than 12,000 corner sites belonging to the Bengaluru Development Authority, as part of resource mobilisation drive.

Bengaluru, May 12: Last week, a 28-year-old, eight-months pregnant woman, was found murdered at her house, in Diburahalli. The woman was hacked to death with a machete during the day and was discovered only after her family members returned home, later in the day. After the alleged murder, the accused tried to destroy the evidence, by cleaning the crime scene, and wiping the bloodstains off the walls and floors.

The victim was a homemaker and her husband is employed in the railway department. The police suspected that the murder was a result of someone known to the woman and family, and were soon proved right. The woman was murdered by her own brother-in-law, frustrated with her for allegedly not taking care of his mother and other family members properly.

The victim has been identified as Jyothi, and the accused is her husband’s brother Hareesh Babu, 38. “Jyothi and the accused are alleged to have had differences for the past few years. Their fights kept escalating over the years. She had also informed her family and her husband about the regular fights with the brother-in-law. The accused had been advised by the family, to back off from Jyothi. Owing to his violent streak, Babu’s wife had deserted him and their son. Since his wife’s departure, he had started troubling his brother’s wife and was regularly picked a fight with her.

He complained that Jyothi neglected to take care of his mother and other family members. Investigations reveal these as false allegations, and in fact, Babu’s son was being raised by Jyothi,” said an officer on part of investigations.

Last week, when the victim was resting at home, the accused returned home at around 10.30 am and picked up a fight with her. The fight escalated and Babu ended up hacking her to death with a machete. The victim’s father Nagaraj, at the time of filing a complaint, mentioned Babu’s regular fights with Jyothi and suspected his role in the murder of his pregnant daughter.

The accused, after killing her, had gone to the farm and pretended to not knowing about the the happenings back home. Based on the complainant’s suspicion, the police picked up Babu. After a thorough interrogation, Babu reportedly confessed to the murder of his sister-in-law. The machete, which was used for Jyothi’s murder, was also recovered by the police team.

A case of murder under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered and further investigations are underway.