Mangaluru: Wenlock hospital files complaint against fake Covd-19 video

Bengaluru, Apr 28: A local court in Karnataka on Tuesday granted bail to a CRPF commando who was arrested by state police officials for alleged assault on them during COVID-19 lockdown duty, a charge contested strongly by the paramilitary.

The jawan has been taken to the jungle warfare training school of the paramilitary force in Belagavi district, a senior official said.

Constable Sachin Savant of the 207th CoBRA battalion was granted regular bail by a court located in Chikodi taluka of the district, he said.

A team of CRPF and CoBRA officials were present in the court during the proceeding during which the state police did not oppose the bail, the official said.

The commando was arrested by police on April 23 from Examba village (Belagavi district) when he was washing his bike outside his house without wearing a mask, as required under the coronavirus prevention protocol.

An altercation and physical fight took place between the two sides, following which the trooper was taken to the local police station and arrested.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) had on Monday taken up the case with the Karnataka director general of police (DGP), calling the incident "unpleasant".

The CRPF letter said commando Savant was "manhandled, ill-treated, paraded to the police station barefooted, kept in chains and handcuffs" by police personnel and sought the intervention of state Director General of Police Praveen Sood.

The paramilitary had said that from the scrutiny of a viral video on social media of the incident "it is apparent that the conduct of the police personnel was not citizen-centric".

A police report had said the CoBRA commando "started the altercation" with the beat constable and another policeman accompanying him, and "assaulted" them.

As per the official Twitter handle of the Karnataka DGP's on Monday evening, "IGP (inspector-general of police) Belagavi has been asked to enquire into the incident involving the CRPF constable and action will be taken against guilty after receipt of the report".

The Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) unit of the CRPF specialises in guerrilla tactics and jungle warfare.

Bengaluru, Jun 10: Internet connectivity, provided under the central government's BharatNet initiative, will be improved in rural areas of Karnataka in the next two to three months, said Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan.

After video conferencing with heads of different agencies and officials, on improving the quality of internet in rural areas, Ashwath Narayan said, "I reviewed the progress of the BharatNet implementation and the steps to be taken to improve the quality of internet connectivity in the next two to three months."

"We also discussed the possibility of giving the implementation of BharatNet to a different agency. We will seek permission from the central government and continue the project. We will ease communication with rural people by ensuring quality and high-speed internet to all Gram Panchayats," he added.

When BSNL officials and other agency representatives who attended the video conference shared their problems, the Deputy Chief Minister assured to solve them through proper coordination.

"Through BharatNet, several government schemes are being implemented in rural areas. Civic service centres are issuing birth and death certificates, Aadhaar cards and social security pensions among others. Of the total 6,000 Gram Panchayats in the state, 4,000 have high-speed internet connectivity, and the remaining will be provided with better internet connectivity through a new agency,'' said Ashwath Narayan.

Additional Secretary (e-governance) Rajeev Chawla, Additional Chief Secretary (IT-BT) EV Ramana Reddy, Principal Secretary (RDPR) Uma Mahadevan, Director (IT) Meena Nagaraj, Collegiate Education Director Pradeep and other senior officials were present in the meeting.

Mangaluru, Jun 11: City police on Thursday filed a 700-page chargesheet in connection with the arrest of Aditya Rao, 36, accused of planting an IED at Mangaluru International Airport on January 20.

The chargesheet said the bag placed near MIA entrance had a real bomb, as per the FSL report. The IED in the tin box was made of sulphur, ammonium nitrate, potassium chlorate and charcoal.

Rao, an engineer, who learnt bomb-making through online videos, had also placed a timer along with it and sharp objects such as nails and metals. However, he had not fixed wires to trigger a blast. “His intention was not to cause a blast but only to create a scare,” said sources.

The bomb was made in less than two weeks. However, it had taken Rao several days to procure raw materials. Police had completed the chargesheet process in April.