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Bengaluru, Jan 2: Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "neglecting" Karnataka ahead of his visit on Thursday, the state Congress questioned why he did not give adequate relief and pay a visit to the state, when most of its parts were affected by severe floods last year.

Modi will begin his two-day visit to the state on Thursday afternoon.

The Congress' Karnataka unit in a series of tweets also questioned the Prime Minister about not conferring the "Bharat Ratna" on Shivakumara Swamiji of Siddaganga Math, who passed away last year at the age of 111 years.

"Why you did not visit the state, when it was affected by floods? Despite the damage of over Rs 1 lakh crore why you did not declare it as a national disaster? Why you did not give interim relief? When the state government has given a report that the damage caused was to the tune of Rs 35,300 crore why did you sit quiet by giving just Rs 1,200 crore," the state Congress tweeted.

As many as 103 taluks in 22 districts of Karnataka were affected due to unprecedented floods in August, in which over 80 people were killed.

Around seven lakh people were shifted to safe areas during the deluge and thousands of houses were damaged.

In October, various parts of the state faced a deluge for the second time in two months, killing over 13 people and damaging thousands of houses.

Asking as to why the Centre was not giving the state's share of GST amount adequately, the Congress questioned as to why dues under MNREGA programme were not paid so far, and why Karnataka was being neglected while allocating grants.

Questioning Modi as to why he did not visit Tumakuru when Shivakumara Swamiji of Siddaganga Math passed away, the principal opposition party in the state Assembly, also sought to know why the seer was not conferred with the Bharat Ratna yet.

It also pointed out that former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had written a letter in this regard in January 2018.

The Congress has also hit out at the BJP-led Central government over imposition of Hindi language by neglecting regional languages and mother tongue.

The Prime Minister will kickstart his visit to the state by paying tributes to the late pontiff's 'Gadduge' (final resting place) at the Math premises near Tumakuru.

Later, he will attend an event organised to give away Krishi Karman awards and to distribute fishing equipment at the government college ground in Tumakuru, before leaving for Bengaluru where he will be attending a DRDO event.

On Friday he will be inaugurating 107th Indian Science Congress here.

Kollam, Mar 27: A young IAS officer in Kerala has been booked by police after he left the state violating instructions to remain under home quarantine following his recent return from honeymoon abroad, officials said on Friday.

A First Information Report has been registered against Kollam sub-collector Anupam Mishra, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, based on a report from the Health department about the violation, Kollam Superintendent of Police T Narayanan said.

Describing the action of the officer as a “serious matter”, District Collector B. Abdul Nasser said Mishra had returned to Kerala on March 19 from his Malaysia-Singapore trip and was advised to remain under quarantine, as per the protocol for overseas returnees in the backdrop of coronavirus outbreak.

On his return to Kerala from the foreign trip, Mishra had undergone medical examination and did not show symptoms. His personal staff, including gunman, have also been kept under observation.

However, the officer had left for his brother’s place in Bengaluru without informing anyone, Nasser said.

When the Collector got in touch with him, Mishra informed him that he was in Bengaluru.

“He was on leave after his marriage and took permission to travel to Malaysia and Singapore. On his return I advised him to remain under home quarantine. Seems like he left to be with his family at Bengaluru,” Nasser told PTI.

However, police said Mishra’s mobile tower location shows Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Authorities came to know on Thursday that Mishra, who had been staying alone in his quarters at Kollam, was not there after health department staff, who regularly visit people in quarantine, found the lights in his house switched off, police sources said.

“The officer has gone without prior permission or leave. He did not have any symptoms of the virus. Without informing us, he left. It is a serious matter, the collector said adding Mishra has been asked to provide his current address and travel details to Bengaluru.”

When an officer leaves his jurisdiction, he is supposed to inform the government, which Mishra did not do. He has also not taken prior permission for leaving the state, the later told reporters.

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The state government has sought an explanation from the officer in this regard.

A case has been registered against him under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 269 (Negligent Act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 271 (disobedience to quarantine rule), police said.

Kollam, is the only district in the state, which has not reported any positive case of COVID-19 so far. A total of 176 positive cases have been reported in the state so far.

Bengaluru, Feb 14: Bengaluru Police on Friday said that it has busted a gang engaged in e-commerce fraud over the online marketplace who were involved in 200 of the 316 cheating cases registered last year.

"We registered 316 cases for cheating through online marketplaces last year. We have busted a gang operating from Rajasthan's Bharatpur and arrested 5 people. They are responsible for 200 out of 316 cases. We are questioning the accused," Bhaskar Rao, Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru told reporters here.

Explaining their modus operandi, the Police Commissioner said, "There were fictitious buyers and sellers on the online marketplace. These people used to call up prospective buyers and sellers. The products that were shown were two-wheelers, four-wheelers, electronic items and furniture."

"People used to send their money to these fraudsters using their QR code. The fraudsters were operating from Bharatpur in Rajasthan. A police team of 15 was sent to the place from where they were operating. Rajasthan police gave us full cooperation and we were able to arrest five persons," he added.

Rao said that these fraudsters had an idea about the loopholes in the e-commerce sector and exploited them.
"Some of those arrested were employed in the e-commerce and banking business and they had an idea about the loopholes in this sector," he said.

"We warn the citizens to ensure that they verify the antecedents of the buyers and sellers in this sector before spending money on these platforms," he added.