Shia Muslims across Karnataka mourn martyrdom of Imam Hussain

Mangaluru, Jul 10: The new team of office bearers of Mangalore Toastmasters Club for the year 2020-21 was installed in an online ceremony themed “Unlockdownable MTM” on 04th July, 2020. The new team will be led by Shraddha S Pai as President and her team consisting of Dr. Sapna Ramaraj as Vice President-Education, Ranjani Vittaldas as Vice President-Membership, Fiona Pinto as Vice President-Public Relations, Aashitha Shetty as Treasurer, Chandrashekar Palekar as Secretary and Oliver Lobo as Sergeant-at-arms. Dr. Ananth Prabhu, motivational speaker and cyber law investigator was the chief guest for the occasion.

In his speech, Dr. Ananth Prabhu emphasized the necessity for a paradigm shift towards cyber security with the rampant increase in digitization. He mentioned three out of fifteen skills that are absolutely necessary for anyone to be successful - how to impress people, independent living and surviving skills and how to bounce back when you fall. The remaining 15 can be found detailed in his book - The Samurai who sold his Suzuki which he presented to the outgoing and incoming Presidents.

Aashitha Shetty was the anchor for the program. Chandrashekar Palekar rendered the invocation and Benzita Ferrao welcomed the gathering. Outgoing President Kavitha Kamath thanked her entire team, mentors and the club members for their support during her tenure. Outgoing Vice President-Education Mareena Seema presented the Toastmaster of the year award to Distinguished Toastmaster M. N. Pai. Jyothi Hebbar presented an elaborate Secretary’s report highlighting the club’s happenings, events and achievements during the past year 2019-20.

Sunitha Periera introduced the 11 new members of the club who were then inducted by Division F Director Molly Chaudhuri. The Oath-taking of the new office bearers was presided over by Area F3 Director Sapna Shenoy. In her acceptance speech, Shraddha S Pai thanked the club members for putting their confidence in her and electing her to the new position. She spoke of her sense of debt and duty to those who held the office before her and promised to do her best in meeting the challenges in the coming year.

17 Representatives and leaders from different clubs of Division F including Club Growth Director Savitha Salian, Division Director Molly Chaudhuri and veteran toastmasters Malini Hebbar and Phyllis D’Costa felicitated the outgoing and incoming office bearers. Isha S Pai, daughter of newly sworn-in President Shraddha S Pai and Mrs. Vijaya Kudva, mother of outgoing President Kavitha Kamath also felicitated the new team. The vote of thanks was proposed by Princita Ferrao. Technical support was handled by Praveen M.N. and Yvonil D’Souza.

Mangalore Toastmasters club is built on 17 glorious years of support and encouragement of a healthy mix of veteran as well as rookie toastmasters. Bagging 93 educational awards, the club has placed 11th worldwide in the past year, upholding Toastmasters International’s core values of integrity, dedication to excellence, service to the member and respect for the individual.

Hassan, Feb 19: A 19-year-old boy, in a bid to impress his girlfriend, stole a sports bike from an OLX seller but cops managed to reach him through her on Tuesday.

The accused, Pramod, who works at a bakery, had been involved in a bike-lifting case two years ago too.

On February 9, Pramod saw an advertisement on online marketing platform OLX from Puneeth, a farmer from Shravanabelagola town, who wanted to sell his sports bike for Rs 1.4 lakh. Pramod called him up and the two agreed to meet around 6pm that evening at Shravanabelagola town bus stand.

Once there, Pramod, a college dropout, assured Puneeth that he would buy the bike but wanted to take it for a test drive. The seller agreed. A few minutes passed and when there was no sign of the bike or Pramod, Puneeth tried calling him. The phone was switched off and could not be contacted since. Puneeth immediately filed a cheating case with the Shravanabelagola police.

SP R Srinivas Gowda and ASP BN Nandini put together a team and began tracing Pramod's call detail records. Maximum calls were made to a single number and it turned out to be his girlfriend's.

Cops called the girlfriend and on Tuesday, asked her to contact him and ascertain his location. They traced him near Hassan city's railway station and nabbed him along with the bike. On interrogation, Pramod confessed that he wanted to impress his girlfriend and take her on long drives on the sports bike.

Police said Pramod, who belongs to Bandithimmanahalli village of Alur taluk, dropped out of college two years ago and has been working at a bakery in Sahyadri Circle.

While working, he has been involved in several incidents of bike-lifting. Cops said he appeared to have strained relations with his family and had taken to crime to make a quick buck.

Chikkamagaluru, Jan 19: A Chikkamagaluru court on Saturday were sentenced to death two persons convicted of rape and murder 18-year-old girl in 2016.

Pradeep M, 32, and Santhosh, 24, of Vykuntapura in Sringeri taluk raped a 18-year-old girl while she was returning home from college on Februrary 16, 2016.

The crime in which a first year B.Com student who was walking towards her home in a footway was stopped, raped and murdered by the duo. The killers then had dumped her body in a discarded well.