Reckless truck knows down two-wheeler; father killed, two daughters critical

Bengaluru, Jan 30: A kidnap case in Bengaluru has proved that crime-based series on TV channels can inspire youth to commit crimes. 21-year-old Chirag R Mehta, who kidnapped a schoolboy and got arrested within an hour after demanding Rs 5 lakh ransom, has told police that he thought of abducting the boy after watching Crime Patrol, a popular Hindi crime anthology series created by Subramanian S. lyer for Sony TV. The kidnapped schoolboy was rescued by the police and reunited with his parents. Son of a gift shop owner from Basavanagudi area in Bengaluru, Chirag has reportedly told police that decided to make some quick money to spend on cricket betting and gambling after learning kidnap tricks from the ‘Crime Patrol’. According to police, Chirag reached a private school around 3pm on Tuesday on a Bounce rental bike and zeroed in on a fourth standard student who was walking out of school. He told the boy he was his father's friend and that he required help to search for a relative who had gone missing. The boy believed Chirag and rode pillion on the bike. Chirag then engaged the boy in conversation and learnt about his father's business and got his mobile phone number. He then made a call to the boy's father, demanded Rs 5 lakh and warned him against approaching cops. However, the boy's father alerted Cottonpet police and special teams were formed to crack the case. While Cottonpet inspector Venkatesh TC's squad verified CCTV footage in and around the school, Chamarajpet inspector BG Kumaraswamy's team started tracking the suspect's mobile phone movements. An hour later, the suspect's location was traced to a hotel on the Lavelle Road-St Mark's Road stretch. Police rushed there, rescued the boy and arrested Chirag.

Mysuru/Chamarajanagara, Apr 3: In order to prevent the transmission of Novel Coronavirus though overcrowding, the central jails in Mysuru and Chamarajanagar have begun releasing some of their inmates.

As many as 55 undertrials and convicts were released from Mysuru jail since the last two days, while 18 were released from the prison in Chamarajanagar. The jail inmates had been released on interim bail, for a period of two months.

While the undertrials were facing charges that involved a maximum prison term of seven years, the convicts were facing criminal miscellaneous cases of the family court. Most of the convicts released were prisoners who had not paid the maintenance costs ordered by the family courts in divorce cases.

Bengaluru, Jul 11: The Bharatiya Janata Party led government of Karnataka is planning to ban cow slaughter as well as the sale and consumption of beef in the state by bringing Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Preservation Bill, 2012.

"Many states have passed the Anti-Cow Slaughter Bill. We are preparing to implement it in Karnataka as well. The state government will soon implement a ban on cow slaughter, sale and consumption of beef on the lines of many other states," said Prabhu Chauhan, the state's Animal Husbandry Minister.

The Anti-Cow Slaughter Act is already in place in several states like Gujarat, Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh among others.

Last month, the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government passed a draft ordinance to prevent cow slaughter, providing maximum rigorous imprisonment of 10 years and a fine up to Rs 5 lakh.
The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Cow Slaughter Prevention (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 aims at making the existing Uttar Pradesh Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1955 more effective towards cow safety.

In Karnataka, the BJP-led government had promised to ban cow slaughter in its manifesto for 2018 state assembly election.

"The government will form a team of experts to look into once the current pandemic situation eases," Chauhan stated, adding that if necessary, the team of experts will visit states like Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat.

The then BS Yediyurappa-led BJP government had passed the Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Protection Bill in 2010 but it failed to get presidential approval. Three years later, the Bill was withdrawn by the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government.

"I will discuss this matter with Chief Minister and if this pandemic situation eases, by next session, if not by upcoming assembly session, we will try to bring Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill," Chauhan added.