Woman crushed to death by bus in front of husband, kids

Mangaluru, June 21: A local court has held notorious serial killer Cyanide Mohan Kumar guilty in the murder of a 25-year-old woman from Kasargod. This is the 20th and the last case of Cyanide Mohan to be tried in the sixth additional district and sessions court. 

According to public prosecutor Jayarama Shetty, the victim was working as a cook in a ladies hostel and got in touch with Mohan Kumar, a teacher. He visited her house thrice and promised to marry her. On July 8, 2009, on the pretext of visiting a temple in Sullia, she left home, never to return. 

They had travelled to Bengaluru and three days later, when her family tried to reach her on phone, he told them that she had gone for a bath and that they were married and would be returning back home soon.

The next day Ramakrishna, a constable from Upparpete police station, found a lady lying unconscious outside the bathroom and he immediately rushed her to a local hospital, where she was declared dead on arrival. Like in all other cases, after staying in a lodge and having sex with the victim, he took her to the KSRTC bus stand and asked her to consume a cyanide laced tablet, stating it was a contraceptive pill. 

He asked her to leave behind the jewellery that she was wearing at the hotel room. An unnatural death report was registered and since none of her relatives had turned up for identification of the body, on July 15,2009 the body was buried.

The moment the Dakshina Kannada district police arrested the serial killer on October 21, 2009 and his pictures were all over the media, the family recognised him and the victim’s younger sister filed a missing complaint. The police had also recovered the victim’s jewellery from the house of Mohan’s second wife and the jeweller from whom he had purchased cyanide had also identified him. Meanwhile, the CID had taken over the case and a charge sheet was filed.

"The report from the Forensic Science Laboratory is crucial in this case as cyanide was found in the victim’s viscera. Mohan over the years has become a legal expert and in this case, he had sought two adjournments," said Jayaram Shetty. Mohan is currently lodged in the Hindalga central jail.
 

Bengaluru, Apr 18: With 12 fresh cases of the COVID-19 infection, including one woman, the total number of novel coronavirus cases in Karnataka surged to 371 on Saturday.

The sources said that as many as three new positive cases were reported from Mysuru district, followed by two each from Kalaburagi, Bhagalkote, one each case from Vijayapura, Belagavi, Dharwad, Gadag and Mandya, districts on Saturday.

New Delhi, Jul 9: The Central Board of Secondary Education has strongly defended its decision to drop topics like democratic rights, citizenship, federalism, secularism etc in the name of reducing the syllabus for Classes 9 to 12 due to COVID-19 pandemic. 

The board has claimed that the dropped lessons "are either being covered by the rationalised syllabus or in the Alternative Academic Calendar of NCERT".

The CBSE said it had to come up with the clarification after realizing its decision was "interpreted differently".

"The rationalisation of syllabus up to 30 per cent has been undertaken by the Board for nearly 190 subjects of class 9 to 12 for the academic session 2020-21 as a one-time measure only. The objective is to reduce the exam stress of students due to the prevailing health emergency situation and prevent learning gaps," it said.

While it has said that no questions can be asked from the reduced syllabus in the next board exams, the CBSE has also directed schools to follow alternative calendars prepared by the NCERT.

"Therefore each of the topics that have been wrongly mentioned in media as deleted have been covered under Alternative Academic Calendar of NCERT which is already in force for all the affiliated schools of the Board," it clarified.

On Wednesday, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee tweeted: "Shocked to know that the central Government has dropped topics like citizenship, federalism, secularism and partisan in the name of reducing CBSE course during the COVID crisis."

"We strongly object to this and appeal the HRD Ministry to ensure these vital lessons aren't curtailed at any cost," Banerjee added.