Kerala rain brings bountiful flow to Kabini dam

Ernakulam, May 25: Miscreants belonging to self-proclaimed Hindutva outfits have demolished a church set erected for the shoot of a Malayalam film at Kalady in Kerala’s Ernakulam district.

The set was erected to shoot the climax scene of the super hero film Minnal Murali, directed by Basil Joseph and starring Tovino Thomas and newcomer actor Femina.

The incident took place on Sunday. Members of the Antharashtra Hindu Parishad claimed that with the help of their sister outfit Antarashtra Bajrang Dal, they demolished the church set, erected on an island on the Periyar river in Kalady.

Hari Palode, the General Secretary of AHP, an organisation founded by Praveen Togadia, boasted on Facebook that they were not used to pleading to anyone, and decided to demolish the church set that was constructed near the Adi Sankaracharya mutt. 

“When they built such a structure in front of the Mahadeva shrine in Kalady, we said no. We had also submitted several complaints. We do not have the habit of pleading. We decided to demolish it. Our self respect must be protected at all cost,” AHP’s General Secretary Hari Palode wrote on his Facebook post along with pictures of members demolishing the set. 

The post also credited members of the Anrarashtra Bajrang Dal and its Ernakulam Division President Malayatoor Ratheesh for participating in the ‘service work’ of razing the church set. 

Mini Biju, member of Kalady Town panchayat confirmed that the film unit had indeed secured permission from the department before going ahead with the construction of the set.

“They had submitted a letter seeking permission to raise a temporary set. This was back in February before construction began. The panchayat committee had approved this request,” Mini said.

Bengaluru, Apr 16: In order to bring uniform act for all universities in the state under the Karnataka University Act 2017, the state government formed a committee in this connection.

As per the instruction of deputy chief minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, higher education department has issued an order to form a committee under the chairmanship of R Vasudeva Athre.

The other members are former Bengaluru university Vice-Chancellor Prof B Thimmegoda, IIT Bengaluru director Prof Sadagopan, Srusti institute of arts and design technology Geetha Narayan Srusti, centre of educational and social studies president Dr M K Sridhat and state higher education parishad Executive Director Dr M S Kori, co-member of the committee.

Bengaluru, Feb 14: Bengaluru Police on Friday said that it has busted a gang engaged in e-commerce fraud over the online marketplace who were involved in 200 of the 316 cheating cases registered last year.

"We registered 316 cases for cheating through online marketplaces last year. We have busted a gang operating from Rajasthan's Bharatpur and arrested 5 people. They are responsible for 200 out of 316 cases. We are questioning the accused," Bhaskar Rao, Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru told reporters here.

Explaining their modus operandi, the Police Commissioner said, "There were fictitious buyers and sellers on the online marketplace. These people used to call up prospective buyers and sellers. The products that were shown were two-wheelers, four-wheelers, electronic items and furniture."

"People used to send their money to these fraudsters using their QR code. The fraudsters were operating from Bharatpur in Rajasthan. A police team of 15 was sent to the place from where they were operating. Rajasthan police gave us full cooperation and we were able to arrest five persons," he added.

Rao said that these fraudsters had an idea about the loopholes in the e-commerce sector and exploited them.
"Some of those arrested were employed in the e-commerce and banking business and they had an idea about the loopholes in this sector," he said.

"We warn the citizens to ensure that they verify the antecedents of the buyers and sellers in this sector before spending money on these platforms," he added.