'Fake news specialist' Mahesh Vikram Hegde taken into custody over provocative letter; BJP stands with him

News Network
April 25, 2019

Bengaluru, Apr 25: Mahesh Vikram Hegde, the editor of Post Card News, which is notorious for producing fake news to promote BJP and to spread communal hatred, was taken into custody by the Karnataka police yesterday for circulating a fake and inciting letter that was falsely attributed to Karnataka home minister and Congress leader M B Patil to defame him and his party during Lok Sabha polls.

According to senior police officials, Mr Hegde, who was picked up from Virajpet in Kodagu, was only taken in for inquiry and was not arrested. 

Mr Patil had filed a complaint against former BJP MP Vijay Sankeshwar-owned Kannada daily Vijayavani, for carrying a copy of the fake letter with the former’s signature on 16 April.

The fake letter was in fact first carried by Mr Hegde’s portal just before the Karnataka Assembly elections last year. Though Mr Patil did not follow through with a complaint last year, he had taken it up after it appeared in the Kannada newspapers earlier this month, in which he named the role of Post Card News as well. The portal has since taken down the article fearing legal action.

The letter that has since been ruled as fake, was addressed to senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, which stated that the Congress had hatched a plan to unite the minority communities under faith and divide the Hindus based on caste and sect to help the party win the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. The letter referred to capitalising on the “prevailing differences between the Veerashaiva-Lingayat" community to break up Hindu voters

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had alluded to the contents of the letter in an election rally in Bagalkot earlier this month, stating how the Congress had tried to divide the Lingayat community.

“This is done with the intention to polarise the votes," Patil had said at the time of filing a complaint with the police and Election Commission earlier this month.

BJP stands with him

The action by the police sparking off bitter reactions by state leaders of the BJP who accused H D Kumaraswamy-led Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress coalition government of misusing the police to carry out vendetta politics. The BJP IT cell even trended the hashtag #IStandWithMaheshHegde and encouraged him to continue such work. 

“Karnataka govt again arrested @mvmeet today! The only crime of Mahesh Vikram Hegde is that, he has been exposing the lies of Gandhi family. Height of Vendetta politics, Coalition govt is imposing real emergency. Shame!!," tweeted Shobha Karandlaje, the member of Parliament from Udupi-Chikkamagaluru.

C T Ravi, BJP leader and MLA of Chikkamagaluru tweeted: Realizing that their Unholy Alliance Government is on the death bed, CM @hd_kumaraswamy and @siddaramaiah have let loose State Police on Nationalists. I urge them to stop playing "Neech Politics" & do something good for the People in the remaining days. #IStandWithMaheshHegde

It can be recalled that Mr Hegde was arrested in March last year for spreading a fake news that a Jain monk was attacked by Muslims in Bengaluru. In reality, the monk was injured in a bike accident. He had used an image of the accident to paint a picture of attack by Muslims.

Comments

harsha vardan
 - 
Thursday, 25 Apr 2019

These type of Hegde are curse to humanity....let him begg and fill his family stomach instead of divide and fake news spreading...

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News Network
January 6,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 6: Students and teachers from various colleges in Bengaluru gathered at the Town Hall in the city to protest against the violence which broke out at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus in New Delhi on January 5.

The students raised slogans against Home Minister Amit Shah and Delhi Police.

Placards that read 'The more you attack, the stronger we become', 'Take off your masks terrorist', 'With JNU' were seen during the protest.

"We are here to protest against the incident that took place at JNU with our brothers and sisters. What Delhi Police did was shameful and they should have taken charge of the situation long before and not waited for three hours. We stand with JNU," Nisha, a protestor told ANI.

Professors present at the protest expressed regret over the incident and said attacks on the universities is a sick situation in the country.

"This is sick, where have we come to -- violence in the universities? I was so safe when I was studying in college; what we are giving to our students is horrible," said Sangeeta, a professor present at the protest.

Politicians, cutting across party lines, have condemned the attack on students in JNU and demanded strict action against those found guilty.

More than 18 students were taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre after a masked mob entered the JNU campus and attacked them and some professors with sticks and rods.

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coastaldigest.com news network
July 10,2020

Mangaluru, Jul 10: A 58-year-old official of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has died due to the coronavirus infection, taking the death toll in the paramilitary force because of the disease to nine, officials said on Friday.

Assistant Sub Inspector K B Premsha, posted in the CISF unit that guards the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL), passed away at a local hospital on Thursday, they said.

He was admitted to the hospital on July 5 with fever. His COVID-19 test report arrived on July 7 and it was positive. Premsha breathed his last on Thursday, officials said. He was a resident of Kodagu in Karnataka.

This is the ninth COVID-19 death in the force that has recorded 1,137 cases till now, according to an official data.

Of the total cases reported in the force so far, 410 are under treatment across the country, nine have died and the rest have recovered, officials said.

They said that 20 personnel tested COVID-19 positive on Friday while 22 have recovered over the last 24 hours.

The about 1.62-lakh strong CISF is the national aviation security force guarding 63 airports at present and it is also tasked to guard vital installations in the aerospace and nuclear domain.

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coastaldigest.com news network
July 15,2020

Mangaluru, Jul 15: Amidst mounting coronavirus cases, the district administration has finalised 80 covid care centres (CCC) in Dakshina Kannada.

Sindhu B Rupesh, deputy commissioner of DK, said that as many as 80 premises that were functioning as quarantine centres have now been identified as CCCs in the district.

People in the district have been demanding that CCCs should be opened for asymptomatic cases in the district too. 

A majority of around 1,500 active cases in Dakshina Kannada are asymptomatic, and the CCCs will help those planning to go to private hospitals to reduce their treatment costs.

Additional deputy commissioner M J Roopa said that the 80 CCCs identified throughout the district will work as care centres for asymptomatic Covid-19 patients.

A medical team will attend to the centres, and supply of food and water will be taken care of by the government. In case of any health issues, the patient will be shifted to the Covid hospital, she said.

“All asymptotic Covid-19 patients, who are unable to opt for home isolation, are being kept in CCCs. A designated health team will monitor each CCC in the district. Meanwhile, the nearest public health centre (PHC) will have an ambulance on standby in case of an emergency,” she added.

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