Kathua rape: Youngsters with saffron links were masterminds behind undeclared hartal in Kerala

coastaldigest.com web desk

April 22, 2018

Kasaragod, Apr 22: The police in Kerala have arrested five youngsters in connection with the undeclared hartal of April 16 in the state over the rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in a temple at Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir.

The arrested have been identified as Amarnath (20), from Urukunnu in Kollam, Sudheesh (22), Akhil (23), Gokul Shekhar (21), and Cyril from Thiruvananthapuram. Interestingly all of them allegedly have links with saffron outifits. Amarnath was a prominent member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh till last year.

The police have charged the accused of inciting enmity between groups on the grounds of religion and remanded them in judicial custody. Senior police officers Debesh Kumar Behera and Jaleel Thottathil supervised the probe.

According to police, Amarnath was responsible for the online mobilisation for the flash hartal that put communities on edge and disrupted life in different parts of Kerala including Kasaragod district.

A Plus Two open university student, Amarnath deserted the RSS along with 30 others in his locality, including his father, last year.

Subsequently, he emerged as an influential leader among his friends and started criticising both RSS and Muslim groups. Others who had abandoned the RSS similarly formed the bulk of his followers on Facebook and WhatsApp.

Perinthalmanna DySP M P Mohanachandran, who probed the case, said that Kathua incident provided these youngsters an opportunity to became popular.

Encouraged by the swelling number of followers on the social media, he created two exclusive WhatsApp groups ‘Voice for Youth’ and ‘Justice for Sisters’. More people started joining the group and started condemning Sangh Parivar for its purported role in defending the accused in the brutal rape and murder.

SDPI denies role

According to police, Amarnath instigated the people to take to the streets rather than confining their agitation to social media. His message resonated strongly among netizens, including Muslim groups such as SDPI and PFI.

“The SDPI subsequently weaponised Amarnath’s posts about the Kathua incident and used its exclusive online messaging groups to invigorate its cadres and prompt them to unleash direct action in the physical realm”, a police officer was quoted as saying by local media.

However, SDPI leaders has denied the allegation of the police. Meanwhile, another Muslim party, Welfare Party of India, said that it had opposed the flash hartal.

Comments

Police did good job by uncovering the links. Should ban many saffron political wings.. under modi rule it wont happen..

I didnt understand how muslims became this much fools. Why they staged protest by a whatsapp msg that also faked by some cheddis.. People should be some more careful

Saffrons wanted to ban SDPI. That's why they planned and moved like this with a fake hartal. But atlast police revealed everything.. Hats off for the unbiased probe

True.. Modi ji did many good things, but media always highlighting negative things. And in Kathua rape issue, media making unwanted sensationalism to tarnish BJP image

Indian media highlighting only negativity and spreading their own assumptions.. Everything paid prestitutes.

As usual RSS is the mastermind of all violences. not only in Kerala, everywhere in India same condition

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No earthquake in Bengaluru; source of loud 'boom' yet unknown

coastaldigest.com news network

May 20,2020

Bengaluru, May 20: A mysterious "boom" heard in large parts of Bengaluru this afternoon left residents of the city and social media users puzzled. While the source of the sound is being investigated, the Indian Air Force (IAF) indicated that it could be the result of "routine test flights that necessitate going supersonic a times".

The sound was heard from as far as the Bengaluru airport in Devanahalli to the IT hub of Electronic City 54 km away. It was also heard in Kalyan Nagar in east Bengaluru, central Bengaluru's MG Road and areas such as Marathahalli, Whitefield, Sarjapur and Hebbagodi.

IAF said no aircraft of training command was flying in the area. "However, ASTE (Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment) and HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) could have been undertaking their routine test flying, which necessitates going supersonic at times. These are done well beyond the city limits in specified sectors. However, considering the atmospheric conditions and reduced noise levels in the city during these times, the aircraft sound may become clearly audible even if it happened way out from the city," said the air force statement.

Many people had speculated that the sound could have been caused by a fighter jet such as a Mirage 2000.

"We have also asked the Air Force Control Room to check if it was a jet or supersonic sound. Bengaluru police are awaiting confirmation from the Air Force," Bengaluru police commissioner Bhaskar Rao said in a statement.

It was not an earthquake, Karnataka's state disaster monitoring centre had tweeted earlier.

"Earthquake activity will not be restricted to one area and will be widespread. We have checked our sensors and there is no earthquake activity recorded today," the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre said, quoting its director Srinivas Reddy.

"The activity reported in Bengaluru is not due to an earthquake. The seismometers did not capture any ground vibration as generally happens during a mild Tremor. The activity is purely a loud unknown noise," the agency tweeted.

#Bangalore and #BangaloreBoom was among the top trends on Twitter this afternoon.

"We are trying to ascertain the source of the noise," a senior police officer said. "In Whitefield area, we have searched on the ground and so far, there is no damage to any property," he added. There were no calls to the police control room reporting any damage.

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Mumbai returnee dies of covid in Udupi

coastaldigest.com news network

June 19,2020

Udupi, June 19: The coronavirus has claimed second life in the coastal district of Udupi. The victim is a 54-year-old person who had returned from Mumbai.

A resident of Tekkatte in Kundapur taluk of Udupi district, the person was among four travellers that returned together from Maharashtra on June 18.

Even though all four were asymptomatic they were home quarantined separately as per norms. According to sources, all of a sudden he collapsed at home and died. His throat swabs tested positive for the coronavirus, according to deputy commissioner G Jagadish.

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