Free eye check-up and treatment camp held

Bengaluru, Feb 6: A 33 -year-old techie who was on the run after allegedly bludgeoning her mother to death and attempting to murder her brother at their house near KR Puram early on Sunday was arrested along with her friend from a hotel in Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, on Wednesday morning.

C Amruta and Sridhar Rao were produced before a court in Port Blair to get a transit warrant, deputy commissioner of police (Whitefield) MN Anuchet said. Police initially thought she had committed the crime as she was unable to repay a loan of Rs 15 lakh and feared being humiliated by the lenders.

"But now we strongly suspect that Amruta and Rao were in a relationship, which was opposed by her mother and brother. We don't see any other reason for her to attack her family members. We can get more details only after questioning the duo," another police officer said, adding, "The most important question is: Did Rao know Amruta was going to kill her mother? Or he got to know about it only later? He'd booked their air tickets to Port Blair on January 31 itself."

Rao and Amruta worked together in a software company in Whitefield till 2017. "Then they joined different firms and were in constant touch," police said.

Preliminary probe revealed the duo flew to Port Blair by catching a flight from Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) at 6.30am on Sunday. CCTV footage had shown Rao - wearing a full-face helmet and carrying a backpack - waiting near Amruta's house on a gearless scooter on Sunday morning. After she arrived, they chatted for a while before riding away. They arrived at KIA on the same bike, police said.

"We checked the passengers' list at KIA for that day and found Amruta's name. With the help of Port Blair police, we traced the duo to a hotel," an investigating officer said.

On Sunday morning, Amruta hit her 54-year-old mother C Nirmala on the head with a digging bar. She later stabbed her younger brother C Harish in the neck. Harish collapsed and thinking that he was dead, she left the house.

In his statement to police, Harish stated, "Around 4.30am, Amruta entered my room and stabbed me. I asked her what was wrong. She said she had a debt of Rs 15 lakh and didn't want the debtors to harass me and our mother."

Madikeri, Apr 22: The quality of water in the River Cauvery in Kodagu district has improved significantly following the nationwide Lockdown.

The discharge of effluents from home stays and resorts situated on the banks of the river in the district has stopped due to lack of visitors. The discharge of waste water had made the river impure all these years.

The suspension of boat ride in Dubare has reduced the pollution from diesel motorboats in the river. For the last few years, the water quality of the river had reached 'C' category from 'B' category during the summer.