SIT uncovers plot to kill writer Bhagawan, nabs four men

DHNS

May 30, 2018

Bengaluru, May 30: Four associates of the only suspect to be arrested for the murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh have been taken into custody for conspiring to kill rationalist and Kannada writer, K S Bhagawan.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) picked up the four near the Davangere bus station around 10.15 am on May 21 but made the formal arrests only now. It identified them as Sujith Kumar alias Praveen (37), from Kappanahalli near Shikaripur, Shivamogga district; Amol Kale alias Bhaisaab, from Maharashtra; Amit Degwekar alias Pradeep (38) and Manohar Dundappa Yadave alias Manoj (29), both from Ratnapura village, Vijayapura district.

They are close associates of K T Naveen Kumar, who has been arrested for Gauri’s murder. The men are also suspects in that case and will be in police custody for 10 days. The SIT is also hunting for another man named Dada alias Nihal.

How police caught them

SIT sleuths stumbled upon the plot to kill Bhagawan after obtaining Naveen’s call detail record (CDR) while investigating Gauri’s murder. The phone conversations suggested Naveen and Sujith were tasked with the job by right-wing organisations. Sujith went into hiding after police arrested Naveen. But police caught him in Mangaluru, an officer of the SIT said.

Sujith was brought to the Cottonpet police station in Bengaluru and subjected to intense grilling. Spilling the beans on the plot to kill Bhagawan, he said they had bought a pistol and bullets in Belagavi for the purpose and kept them in his grandmother’s home in Davangere. He, however, claimed innocence in Gauri’s killing. He also revealed his accomplices’ visit to Davanagere on May 21 to attend some event. SIT officials took him to Davangere and arrested the three others when they were travelling in a car.

The seizure

The SIT has seized copies of two newspapers from Mangaluru, two black bags, four mobile phone batteries, a map of Bengaluru, four mobile phones, a diary of phone numbers and Rs 22,931 in cash.

Gauri charge sheet today

The SIT is likely to file the charge sheet in the Gauri murder case on Wednesday. The charge sheet will likely mention that K T Naveen Kumar didn’t reveal anything during the interrogation and refused to undergo a narcoanalysis test after initially agreeing to it. In short, the investigation has reached a dead end.

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India and specially Karnatka not required these TUGS or their God fathers, shoot them or hang them in public and finish the matter for ever. Delay the verdict will cost more and it is missue of tax payers money.

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Had detailed discussions with Amit Shah on cabinet expansion; B S Yediyurappa

News Network

January 19,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 19: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Sunday said he has had detailed discussions with BJP National President Amit Shah on the cabinet expansion and that the exercise would be carried out after his return from Davos.

The Chief Minister told reporters before leaving for Davos to attend the World Economic Forum meet that he hoped his visit would help bring in large-scale investments to the state. "On cabinet expansion, I had detailed discussions for about half-an-hour (with Amit Shah on Saturday), got a good response... one or two days after I come from Davos, I will expand the cabinet. There are no stumbling blocks for it", Yediyurappa said.

He also rubbished media reports about a lack of clarity on the Ministry expansion. "It is not right... there are no issues", he said.

Asked whether he would travel to Delhi to meet Shah after returning from Davos, Yediyurappa merely said, "It is natural for me to meet Amit Shah." According to the Chief Minister's tour programme, he will be back in the city on January 24.

Yediyurappa, along with Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Mansukh Mandaviya, as well as Chief Ministers Amarinder Singh of Punjab and Kamal Nath of Madhya Pradesh, are among those expected to join over 100 Indian CEOs at Davos in the coming days for the WEF's 50th annual meeting.

Stating that he was leaving on a four day trip for Davos with an aim to bring investments to the state, he said interactions have been fixed with 38 industrialists and investors. "There is a large possibility of investments coming to the state from meetings during the WEF meet. I will assure industrialists and investors that the government will give all necessary facilities within our limits and also clear all the doubts that they have," the Chief Minister said. He said employment opportunities in Karnataka would increase due to all these efforts.

Claiming that the economic situation in Karnataka was stable despite the global economic slowdown, he said the state was also organising the Global Investors Meet in November to attract industries and create employment opportunities.

The delegation led by Yediyurappa includes Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar, Chief Secretary T M Vijaya Bhaskar and top officials of the state government. The Chief Minister, who was anxiously waiting for the high command's nod to expand his ministry amid intense lobbying by the aspirants, was keen on getting approval for it from Shah, but was asked to visit Delhi after returning from Davos, party sources said.

They also said that with J P Nadda all set to take over as BJP National President, he would have final discussions with Yediyurappa on the Ministry expansion exercise. S R Vishwanath, Political Secretary to the Chief Minister too said that Yediyurappa would go to Delhi after his return from Davos and immediately expand the Ministry.

He said the Chief Minister has been asked to hold discussions with Nadda, who is currently BJPs National Working President and finalise things.

As the Chief Minister has already made it clear that 11 of the disqualified JDS-Congress MLAs who got re-elected in the bypolls on BJP tickets will be made ministers, lobbying has been on in the party for the remaining ministerial berths. Currently, there are 18 Ministers, including the Chief Minister in the cabinet that has a sanctioned strength of 34.

However, with some reports that the high command may not be keen on making all the 11 re-elected legislators, whom Yediyurappa has given assurance, as Ministers, it remains to be seen how things turn out. Cabinet expansion will not be an easy task for the Chief Minister as he will have to strike a balance by accommodating the victorious disqualified legislators as promised and also make a place for old guards, upset at being "neglected" in the first round of the induction exercise.

He also has to give adequate representation to various castes and regions in his cabinet and also deal with the allocation of key portfolios. Also, disqualified legislators who lost on a BJP ticket during the bypolls like A H Vishwanath (Hunsur) openly expressing their ministerial aspirations has added to the Chief Minister's worry.

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Section 144 imposed in parts of Karnataka ahead of Ram temple bhoomi pujan

News Network

August 4,2020

Bengaluru, Aug 4: Police barricades, yellow banners, walls with a fresh coat of paint and the sounds of bhajan mark parts of Ayodhya as the city awaits its big day Wednesday, when the first brick will be laid for the Ram temple.

Ayodhya is decked up for the bhoomi pujan that will be attended at the Ram Janmabhoomi by 175 people, who figure in a select guest list of seers and politicians topped by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Concerned over the spread of coronavirus, the authorities are encouraging others not to come to the temple town, asking them to mark the occasion by celebrating at their homes. The groundbreaking ceremony will be telecast live.

Roads leading to Ayodhya display hoardings with the picture of the proposed Ram temple and of Ram Lalla, the infant Ram, the deity now housed in a makeshift temple.

Around the town’s Hanumangarhi area – named after a well-known temple which Modi will visit on Wednesday – both police sirens and ‘bhajans’ in praise of Ram are heard.

Most of the shops in the locality wear a new look, with their fronts painted in bright yellow. A large number of policemen were deployed there on Tuesday. Some sat in the sweet shops, waiting for their next instructions.

Roads leading into the area are barricaded. Yards of yellow cloth and marigold garlands were being hung on poles.

Even on the day before the event, security checks on vehicles heading to Ayodhya begin from adjoining Barabanki district itself on the Lucknow-Ayodhya road. Policemen take down details, including mobile numbers of the travellers.

Senior Superintendent of Police Deepak Kumar said the focus of the force is on maintaining the Covid-19 protocol.

“So we are not going to allow any outsider to enter Ayodhya city,” he said. Prohibitory orders are also in force and not more than four people will be allowed to gather.

“The markets and shops will remain open but with strict adherence to the Covid protocol,” he said. Outsiders will be stopped from entering the city, but Ayodhya residents will be allowed in if they produce any identification document.

“We are also carrying out random checks on people living in Ayodhya to ensure that no outsiders are staying here,” he said.

The city’s temples and mosques will remain open, but no other religious event – except for the bhoomi pujan – will take place on Wednesday.

Pickets have been set up at sensitive points in the city.

Sub-inspector Ram Chandra Yadav and constables Avnish Kumar and Ankit Chaudhary man the Terhi Bazar Chauraha picket near the Ram Janmabhoomi site.

"We are here for the past some days, and were on duty on the Rakshabandhan day. Duty comes first and only after that come other things in life, like festivals," Yadav said.

Mayank Gupta, who runs a restaurant, was handing out food packets to policemen, his customers.

"For the last two months, I have been providing tiffin to them twice a day. There are around 100 policemen to whom I supply tiffin," Gupta said.

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Reopening of mosques in Turkey creates spectacular scenes

News Network

May 30,2020

Istanbul: Mosques in Turkey reopened on Friday for mass prayers after more than two months as the government further eased strict restrictions to stop the spread of the new coronavirus.

Turkey has been shifting since May to a "new normal" by easing lockdown measures and opening shopping malls, barbershops and hair salons.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said many other sites -- restaurants and cafes as well as libraries, parks and beaches -- will reopen from Monday.

Hundreds of worshippers wearing protective masks performed mass prayers outside Istanbul's historic Blue Mosque for the first time since mosques were shut down in March.

In the Ottoman-era Fatih mosque, worshippers prayed both inside and outside, with the municipality handing out disinfectants and disposable carpets.

"I have waited a lot for this, I have prayed a lot. I can say it's like a new birth, thanks to God, he has brought us back here," he said.

Another worshipper, Asum Tekif, 50, said: "It has a been a long time... we missed the mosques."

Turkey, a country of 83 million, has so far recorded 4,489 coronavirus-related deaths and 162,120 confirmed cases.

Prayers in Hagia Sophia

Muslim clerics on Friday recited prayers in the Hagia Sophia, the world famous Istanbul landmark which is now a museum after serving as a church and a mosque.

The prayers were held to celebrate the anniversary of the conquest of Constantinople, today's Istanbul, by the Ottomans in 1453.

"It is very important to commemorate the 567th anniversary of the conquest ... through prayers in the Hagia Sophia," said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who attended the ceremony via videoconference.

The stunning edifice was first built as a church in the sixth century under the Byzantine Empire as the centrepiece of its capital Constantinople.

After the Ottoman conquest, it was converted into a mosque before being turned into a museum during the rule of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, in the 1930s.

But there have been hints about reconverting the Hagia Sophia into a mosque. Last year, Erdogan himself mooted the possibility of turning Hagia Sofia museum into a mosque.

Such calls have sparked anger among Christians and raised tensions with neighbouring Greece.

In 2015, a Muslim cleric recited the Koran in the Hagia Sophia for the first time in 85 years to mark the opening of an exhibition.

After Friday prayers at the Blue Mosque, a small group of Muslim worshippers shouted: "Let the chains break and let the Hagia Sophia open".

The group was later dispersed by the police who stopped them from protesting near Hagia Sophia that sits immediately opposite the Blue Mosque.