Times of India makes a U-turn on 'Bhatkal RDX dump' report, says sorry

March 26, 2012

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Mangalore, March 26: The Times of India which had carried a sensational report titled 'Bhatkal sits on an RDX dump, warn policemen' has indirectly apologized to the people of Bhatkal insisting, the paper has 'no intention hurt anybody's feelings'.

The climb down in the stand of the prestigious English daily comes after the Uttara Kannada district superintendent of police K.T. Balakrishna denied the newspapers claim that “a dump of explosive material including RDX huge enough to singe major south Indian cities is piled up in an unidentified house in the town”.

Dismissing the paper's report which was believed to be based on “police sources”, Mr. Balakrishna ridiculed the report saying: “Can the explosives be piled up like the fertilizers in a godown?”

The report had quoted Nasir to have revealed about the dump still lying in the Bhatkal house, but failed to lead the police to the house on Thursday, claiming he could not recollect where it was and how it looked, as it was dark when he visited.

The report in TOI also claimed that a joint team comprising personnel from the Anti-Terrorist Squad, Bangalore and Delhi Special police scoured Bhatkal town to identify the house, with the help of four terror suspects including Nasir from Kerala, who is said to be the prime accused in the July 25, 2008 Bangalore serial blasts. The explosives from the Bhatkal dump, the report claimed, are believed to have been used in the Chinnaswamy Stadium blasts in 2010 and Delhi High Court last year, besides several other terror strikes across the country.

A day after the TOI published the local journalists tried to follow up on the 'leads' provided by the paper and were in for a big surprise. The SP clarified that the district police department, central intelligence department and several other departments do not have a clue about such a 'RDX dump' existing in Bhatkal. “I have been to Bhatkal on several occasions. I have never got any clue or information about terrorist activities there. Even the intelligence department has dismissed the report,” he said.

He also dismissed the TOI report as baseless, fictitious and speculative. “Several such reports have flown around in the past. This is the latest,” he added.

Meanwhile, embarrassed by the outright rejection of their 'investigative report' by the police department, TOI has come out with a clarification on Monday with the title “Bhatkal is not a town of culprits.”

Although it insisted that 'the report was based on police sources privy to investigations', the newspaper declared that it had no reason to brand Bhatkal as a town of culprits. If the report paints such a picture of the town, TOI would like to correct the wrong impression and assert it has no intention to hurt anybody's feelings.”

Significantly, the clarification was published on page three (local news page) as a single column item whereas the 'Bhatkal sits on an RDX dump, warn policemen' was displayed prominently on page one across three columns.

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coastaldigest.com web desk
March 2,2020

New Delhi, Mar 2: The bloodthirsty arsonists allegedly hired by pro-CAA politicians in the capital of India to target Muslims, did not spare even the house of a Muslim leader of BJP.

Akhtar Raza, the BJP’s minority cell vice-president for the Delhi Northeast district, is now not in a position to share his pain with anyone. 

Even the police hadn’t come to his rescue, when the mob raising “Jai Sri Ram” slogans burnt down his house at Bhagirathi Vihar Nalla Road in northeast Delhi last week. 

“They were chanting slogans. Around 7pm, they started throwing stones at us. I called for police help. But the police asked me to leave. We managed to flee before they burnt my house and destroyed everything,” Raza, who returned today to witness the destruction, told media persons. 

“Those who attacked us were not locals. They were outsiders. They managed to identify and burn down all the 19 houses belonging to Muslims in this lane,” Raza said.

Apart from all the belongings in the house of Raza, the arsonists also have burnt down six vehicles belonging to his family. 

Raza is sad that no one from BJP contacted him after the violence even though he has been serving the party and promoting its ideology for past five years. “No party leader contacted me. There was no phone call. There was no relief or special treatment or anything,” Raza said.

Interestingly, Raza is still indentifies himself as a BJP leader. “I belonged to BJP. I may continue in the party,” he said.

The locality remained tense on Sunday too. On Monday, several groups distributed relief materials among people who had queued up to collect them. In front of Raza’s house is a lane from which several bodies of innocent Muslims have been recovered.

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Fairman
 - 
Monday, 2 Mar 2020

He deserves it.

How  a Muslim and being a leader can  accept ideologies of such a hat mongers.

 

These people with such a ideolgies can never be the friend of not Muslims and  also good secular Hindus.

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coastaldigest.com news network
July 16,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 16: People volunteering as civil police wardens with the city police department will not receive any remuneration, an official said on Wednesday.

“We wish to clarify the rumours floating on social media and confirm that the volunteers helping local police as civil police wardens in enforcement of anti-Covid measures will not be paid any remuneration,” said an official.

On Tuesday, Bengaluru city police commissioner Bhaskar Rao had urged interested people to volunteer for the department, indicating how strained the department has been amid Covid.

“Inviting physically fit and service minded residents of Bengaluru, both men and women, between the age of 18-45 to volunteer as civil police wardens,” said Rao.

The department is offering a choice of the police division, jurisdiction and the shifts one wants to choose to be a civil police warden.

Additional Commissioner of Police Hemant Nimbalkar said volunteers are a welcome support to the police in their field duty but should not be left alone.

“Volunteers are a support to the police in the field and shall not work standalone. They shall be attached with duty police as assistance. A jacket and a cap should be provided to them,” said Nimbalkar.

He reminded that the safety of the volunteers is the responsibility of the policemen.

Many city policemen have been infected with the virus and quarantined while more than six have succumbed.

“It is a tough time for all policemen irrespective of the rank. Four hundred and fifty active cases across the state and the loss of six lives speak volumes about their involvement in the war against Covid,” said Director General of Police Praveen Sood recently.

He expressed hope that the difficult times will pass, saying all the members of the police department are a family.

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News Network
April 12,2020
Mangaluru, Apr 12: The spread of COVID-19 in the country has been contained through the prompt, effective and timely measures taken by the Centre, BJP Karnataka president and Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel said on Sunday.
 
The Centre brought in stringent regulations including the lockdown at the right time and ensured that the pandemic did not spread rapidly, he told reporters here.
 
Kateel inspected the railway coaches which have been converted into isolation wards for infected patients at the central railway station here.
 
He said 20 out of the 32 railway coaches re-designed into wards by Southern Railway's Palakkad division, will be stationed here.
 
The wards are equipped with necessary medical equipment and facilities for doctors and paramedical staff.
 
Kateel said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown how such difficult situations need to be handled.
 
The lockdown was announced in time so that coronavirus spread was checked and all the central departments carried out their works efficiently to monitor the situation, he said.
 
Mangaluru South MLA D Vedavyas Kamath was also present.

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