'Mangalore nurse criticised hospital staff in suicide note'

December 14, 2012

nurse

London, December 14: A Mangalore-origin nurse, found dead after a hoax call to the hospital treating Princess Kate, has criticised her senior colleagues in one of the three emotional suicide notes she left behind, a media report said today.

Jacintha Saldanha, 46, wrote three emotional notes revealing the anguish that led to her suicide after she was duped by two Australian DJs into believing they were royalty, the Daily Mirror reported.

In one, the distraught mum-of-two outlines how she struggled to come to terms with the prank call by Australian DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian to the hospital where a pregnant Kate was being treated for severe morning sickness.

But in another she criticises senior colleagues at the King Edward VII hospital over her treatment after the pair had pretended to be the Queen and Prince Charles asking about the duchess's condition.

It is believed the nurse's suicide note has left her grieving family furious, with husband Ben Barboza understood to want an inquiry into the hospital.

A source close to Saldanha's family was quoted by the paper as saying: "One of the letters, which is the longest, deals with the hospital and is critical in its tone. Needless to say, Ben wants a full inquiry into what happened, and he wants to make sure the truth comes out. Within the letter Jacintha calls into question some of the treatment she received at the hospital."

Scotland Yard detectives are examining the notes, as well as interviewing Saldanha's friends, family and colleagues at the hospital. The family have been provided with

transcripts of all three notes.

Saldanha's third suicide letter is more of a practical one which deals with her funeral arrangements.

Senior Labour MP Keith Vaz, who is working on behalf of her relatives, said last night: "The truth of this matter has to come out for the sake of her family".

Saldanha, from Bristol, was found hanged last Friday at the nurses' home where she was staying, the opening of her inquest at Westminster coroner's court was told yesterday.

The contents of the letters were not read out at the inquest, however the family source insisted they want the truth to be made public about what happened.

Detective Chief Inspector James Harman of the Metropolitan police told the hearing: "Jacintha Saldanha was found by a colleague and a member of security hanging from a scarf attached to a wardrobe. There were also some injuries to her wrists."

"At this time there are no suspicious circumstances. Two notes were found at the scene and another note recovered from her belongings," Harman told the hearing.


Coroner's officer Linda Martin said unsuccessful attempts were made to resuscitate Jacintha, who had a daughter, Lisha, 14, and 16-year-old son Junal.


Her body was identified by Ben, 49, and a postmortem was carried out on Tuesday.

Harman said police in New South Wales had been asked to obtain statements from Greig and Christian. Friends and family of the victim were being interviewed and emails and any phone calls made investigated.

Coroner Fiona Wilcox fixed a provisional date for a full inquest on March 26 next year, which would have been Saldanha's 47th birthday.

Wilcox told relatives in court: "I would like to pass on my sympathy to you and her family and all those who have been touched by this terribly tragic death."


Vaz said Saldanha's relatives will hold a memorial service for her in London. He did not reveal the venue but said the event would be for "family and friends all over the country" to celebrate her life.

It is understood the service will be at Westminster Cathedral.

Meanwhile, the King Edward VII hospital pledged to carry on helping Ben and other relatives.

"The hospital has met with the family and will continue to support them for as long as is required," a spokeswoman said.

She added that a senior member of staff has been assigned to "comfort" them.



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News Network
May 2,2020

Udupi, May 2: During the lockdown period the Department of Public Library digitised more books to the Karnataka Digital Public Library (KDPL).

According to the data released by the KDPL issued here on Saturday , as on April 29, 89,239 people from the State have already registered for the digital library.  From these 1,807 are from Dakshina Kannada district and 605 from the Udupi district.

The digital library already has a repository of 35,500 e-books, 4,800 videos, 59,980 e-journals and 1,112 items for children.

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News Network
January 14,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 14: Assuring depositors that their money was "100 per cent safe" with the bank, Sri Guru Raghavendra Sahakara Bank Chairman K Ramakrishna in Bengaluru on Monday said 62 loans had locked up Rs 300 crore of deposit.

"Your money is 100 per cent safe with Sri Guru Raghavendra Sahakara Bank. It's my responsibility," Ramakrishna said at Sri Guru Narasimha Kalyanamandira auditorium, to assure depositors.

He was addressing angry customers of the bank at a public hearing. Due to the 62 dud loans, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had restricted the lender from executing business, Ramakrishna said amid shouting by depositors. The RBI has limited withdrawals by depositors to Rs 35,000.

"The bank is saying I can't withdraw more than Rs 35,000. In case of our fixed deposit maturing, we will have to renew it as we can't encash it, " said Nagaraj M, 49, who has been dealing with the bank for the past six years.

To assuage customers, the call to an assistant commissioner of police by Bengaluru South MP Tejaswi Surya -- not present -- was relayed on loudspeaker live and the MP claimed that he had spoken to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to help the customers.

Ramakrishna said he would meet customers again on January 19 with all the details and numbers. Dramatic scenes and pandemonium ruled the auditorium before his arrival. Thousands of bank customers threatened to go en masse to the police station and file a case against Ramakrishna.

As he addressed the gathering in Kannada, hundreds of depositors shouted back at him seeking clarifications. At the auditorium, thousands of depositors earlier demanded the bank chairman's presence to clarify the matter.

The lender had invited depositors to the auditorium at 6 p.m. to update them on the bank's status, following a RBI directive restricting the bank from doing business with immediate effect.

"We want the bank's directors here," shouted a depositor from the stage. A handful of policemen were trying to control the crowd and bring order to the assembly. Many elderly and retired persons had arrived to know the fate of their savings. Several women were also present at the meeting.

"It was a good bank with only 0.5 per cent NPAs. Now we can't trust any bank. See what happened with the PMC Bank," said another customer.

Shankar Sharma, 38, an employee of a private company, said majority of depositors were senior citizens and retirees. "I don't have an account with the bank, but my mother, uncle, aunt have deposited money in it. I came for them, " said Sharma. He said many of the bank's 35,000 clientele deposited more than Rs 5 lakh, which had total deposits of Rs 1,600 crore. The bank started operations in 1999.

Ramakrishna was escorted away to safety by the police after his speech even as the depositors were screaming and agitating for justice.

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News Network
January 17,2020

New Delhi, Jan 17: The Supreme Court on Friday closed the monitoring of the killing of rationalist M M Kalburgi in 2015 in Dharwad.

A bench of Justices R F Nariman and S Ravindra Bhat noted that the charge sheet has already been filed and the matter was assigned to the sessions court. The court, however, noted two accused had absconded and could not be arrested till date, according to reports.

Senior advocate Devadatt Kamat, appearing for the Karnataka government, submitted that the High Court had also stopped monitoring of the matter.

The top court had in early last year directed that the Karnataka High Court's Dharwad bench to monitor the probe. The Karnataka police SIT, which investigated Gauri Lankesh case and filed the charge sheet, was allowed to take over the Kalburgi case.

Umadevi, in her 2017 plea, drew a parallel between Kalburgi's murder and killings of Narendra Dabholkar and Comrade Govind Pansare in Maharashtra and sought an SIT probe by a retired Supreme Court or a High Court judge. She urged the top court to monitor the probe till it reached its logical conclusion as there was no progress in the investigation conducted so far by the Karnataka police.

The court had earlier sought to know if there was a "common thread" in murder cases of Communist leader Pansare and rationalist Dabholkar in Maharashtra, and Kannada writer Kalburgi and journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh in Karnataka.

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