1. Congress Govt Responsible for Impending Water Crisis in Bengaluru: Javadekar
Union minister Prakash Javadekar on Monday put the blame squarely on the ruling Congress party, if Bengaluru, as predicted by foreign media journals, moves towards a serious drinking water crisis.
Speaking to the media, and reacting to the reports by BBC, which has predicted that Bengaluru will go the Cape Town way in South Africa, Javadekar said: “When the state government is not providing a proper drainage line for all the sewerage to flow, you will obviously see a lot of unwanted waste going into the natural water bodies across the city.”
Javadekar said as former union minister for environment and forests he had provided funds of up to Rs 890 crore towards the cleaning of the lakes in the city previously, including that for the Bellandur lake which was frothing at that point of time.
(Source: Times of India)
2. Missing Techie Case: Jio, Vendor and Agent Charged With Cheating
Reliance Jio, one of its vendors and an agent have been charged with cheating in connection with the case of a missing techie. Kumar Ajitabh, a software engineer, went missing two months ago along with his Maruthi Ciaz. Ajitabh wanted to sell the car on OLX, an online portal.
The investigation has so far revealed that the SIM card, used by the suspects to contact Ajitabh, was issued by using the Aadhaar details of a woman from Kolar. The woman, Shabana (45), told the police that she had bought an Aircel SIM from Anand, the vendor, some days ago and it stopped working within two weeks.
When she went back to Anand, he took a copy of her Aadhaar card and her biometric details without her notice. The problem was later rectified. Anand used Shabana's details to activate the Jio SIM card used by the suspects.
(Source: Deccan Herald)
3. Modi Set Up A Good Start-Up for Jay Shah: Rahul Gandhi in K’taka
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set up a good start-up for BJP president Amit Shah’s son, even while failing to provide opportunities for the youth in country, said Congress President Rahul Gandhi, on the third day of his North Karnataka rally.
While addressing a tribal rally in Devadurga, in Raichur district, Gandhi said several small businesses have been shut down because of demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) while one business has grown exponentially from Rs 50,000 to Rs 80 crore – that of Amit Shah’s son, Jay Shah’s company.
“Modi ji, if you are talking about corruption, you should talk about Amit Shah’s son’s business as well. You ask the youth to be entrepreneurs, but you don’t give them opportunities. But, for your friend Amit Shah’s son, you have set up a good start-up,” said Gandhi.
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4. I-T Sleuths Bust Hawala Racket in Fish Processing Industry
Income tax sleuths said they've unearthed a hawala racket during searches they conducted on three major fish processing firms based out of Mangaluru and Udupi.
The investigation wing of the I-T department, Karnataka & Goa region, carried out searches on the firms from 8 February for suspected tax violation. The three-day searches were conducted on 20 premises across five states, including Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra. Surveys were conducted at 23 properties belonging to the companies.
A communique issued by the income tax department said the investigators stumbled on instances wherein a Chinese company paid commission to Indian middlemen outside the country, and the same was routed through hawala channels to Dubai, Oman, Mauritius, West Asia and African countries. Multiple foreign accounts and investments made in violation of Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act were found during the searches.
(Source: Times of India)
5. ‘Nurse’ Jaya Faces Road Rage, Abuse
Jayalakshmi, alias ‘Nurse’ Jayalakshmi, who was in the limelight after having released photographs of her kissing former excise minister MP Renukacharya, is once again in the limelight. She has approached the police after a youth allegedly abused her in public in a road rage incident.
The 44-year-old, who has also acted in few movies and was a contestant in the Kannada version of Bigg Boss, was driving near RGUHS at Thilaknagar when the man, Kundan, who was driving a Tamil Nadu-registered SUV behind her car rammed into her vehicle. After that he is said to have started abusing Jayalakshmi, accusing her of having caused the accident.
Jayalakshmi took pictures of the car and the accused and approached the police and filed a complaint.
(Source: Bangalore Mirror)
6. Murder Witness Gets Threat From Prisoner via FB
A prosecution witness has allegedly received threat from a prisoner through Facebook, prompting police to register a case of criminal intimidation, late on Friday. The prisoner is lodged at Central Prison, Parappana Agrahara.
Vijay Kumar, a Kengeri resident and witness in his father’s murder case, has identified the prisoner as Srinivas alias Robbery Kitty. Kumar’s father, Mara Hanumaiah, was murdered in Kengeri on 27 June 2016.
Kumar recently received a court summons for being a witness in his father’s case and days later, the accused, lodged in jail, sent threatening messages through Facebook. “I received a friend request from a person named Srinivas, which I accepted. He then started sending messages threatening me not to say anything incriminating against his friends (arrested for murder),” he told police.
(Source: Times of India)
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