Karnataka govt mulls ban on cow slaughter, beef consumption

New Delhi, Jun 8: Two civil defence employees have been arrested by the Rajasthan Police today in Jaipur based on Military Intelligence (MI) inputs that they had been passing on sensitive information to Pakistan's spy agency ISI.

The arrested are: Vikas Kumar (29), a civil defence employee at an army ammunition depot near Shri Ganganagar (Rajasthan) and Chiman Lal (22), a civil contractual employee of the army's Mahajan Field Firing Range (MFFR), Bikaner. 

Both were working as espionage agents on behalf of Pakistan's intelligence agency and were giving out details of Ammunition and MFFR, vital military installations in India's Western front. 

The MI Lucknow's operation named Desert Chase assumes great importance as the Shri Ganganagar Ammunition Depot and Bikaner MMFR are strategically important military installations on the western front along the Pakistan border.

The work on the "operation" began in August 2019, when the MI Lucknow, through its sleuths, learnt about an espionage agent near Sri Ganganagar who was passing military information to his handlers in Pakistan. The individual was identified as Vikas Kumar - the civil defence employee at an army ammunition depot near Sri Ganganagar.

The MI Lucknow shared the case with UP ATS in the month of January 2020. Vikas's activities were monitored and analysed by a joint team of MI Lucknow and UP ATS. The operation was code-named 'Desert Chase'.

Based on these, it was learnt that Vikas is acquiring photos of a "water distribution register" at a water point/pump house in MFFR through a contractual civil employee named Chiman Lal. The development of the case was halted due to the start of the lockdown period all across the country.

Finally, the case shared with Rajasthan Police Intelligence in the first week of May 2020. A joint team was formed between Rajasthan Police-Intelligence and MI Lucknow.

Fresh leads were found as new payments were detected along with a trail of sensitive information being passed on to Pakistan by two accused.  

Vikas Kumar confessed to having passed the following information to Pakistan:

•    Details received from Chiman Lal about Army units and their strength coming to MFFR.
•    Details of ammunition coming to his ammunition depot including their type, quantity, mode of transportation, date of arrival on a routine basis (almost every time it came to his notice).
•    Details of ammunition (to include their type, quantity and mode/date of transportation) further distributed/transferred to local army establishments/units (including two local brigades) and elsewhere from his ammunition depot.
•    ORBAT (Order of battle; composition related details) of two local army brigades and all changes in them as they came to his notice.
•    Name, rank and personality traits of some Senior Military Officers in the two army brigades nearby, his ammunition depot and others who visited the military station.
•    Photos of arms, ammunition, tanks other military vehicles (with their tactical numbers) at MFFR whenever he could visit it after April 2019.

Vikas also confessed to having received at least Rs 75,000 in total from his Pakistani handler for the information he has shared during this entire period. He used to receive them mostly on bank accounts of his and his brother, Hemant Kumar. The latter was found to have no links to the espionage case otherwise. Out of this sum, he had paid approximately Rs 9,000 in total to Chiman Lal for his assistance in lots of Rs 1000- Rs 2000 since their first meet.

Mangaluru, June 21: The first ever repatriation flight from Saudi Arabia’s Dammam Karnataka’s Mangaluru under Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) today brought home around 165 stranded passengers. 

The IndiGo flight took off from Dammam International Airport at 11 a.m. (Saudi time) and landed at Mangaluru International Airport at 6:30 p.m.

The stranded passengers included pregnant women, senior citizens and those who are in need of emergency medical treatment are on board.

The passengers were screened at the Airport before being despatched for institutional quarantine in special buses. 

Even though a few charter flights arranged by a couple of NRI entrepreneurs have already repatriated hundreds of stranded people from Dammam to Mangaluru, the government of India had not operated any repatriation flight under VBM on this sector so far. 

Saudi Kannadigas Humanity Forum (SKHF), an NGO which came into existence to help the stranded Kannadigas in Saudi Arabia during covid-19 lockdown had been successful in persuading the government of India operate a flight on Dammam-Mangaluru sector under VBM. 

SKHF has also set up an online portal for those who were in need of emergency repatriation. In today’s flight around 100 passengers have obtained seats through SKHF.

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Bengaluru, July 15: The family members of a 67-year-old man, who had developed some symptoms of Covid-19, was in for a rude shock when a “reputed” private hospital in Bengaluru’s Whitefield quoted estimated bill of Rs 9.09 lakh for 10 days.

The elderly man was rushed to Columbia Asia Hospital even before receiving his covid-19 test report. But after a look at the estimated bill, the family chose not to admit him there.

The break-up of the estimated bill included Rs 1.40 lakh for ventilator, Rs 3 lakh for medicines, medical supplies and consumables, Rs 2 lakh for laboratory investigations, Rs 75,000 for room rent, Rs 75,000 towards professional fee, Rs 58,500 for nursing charges, Rs 35,000 for radiology investigations and physiotherapy, and Rs 25,000 for equipment and surgical items.

The hospital authorities reportedly told the family members that the actual bill could be higher in the event of complications, unanticipated extension of stay and comorbidities.

“He was tested on Sunday and we were waiting for the result. On Monday, he started gasping for breath. Columbia Asia Hospital told us they had an ICU bed and we rushed him to the emergency care. When they showed us the estimate, we were shocked,” said Abdul Bashir, a nephew of the patient.

“We then contacted Dr Taha Mateen of HBS Hospital through an NGO ‘Mercy Mission’. We got him admitted there for just Rs 25,000,” he said adding that Hospitals should not take advantage when emotions are running high.