1. Journalist Belagere Held for Bid to Murder His Former Employee
Barely a couple of days after he was handed a breather in a case of breach of privilege, Ravi Belagere, editor of a Kannada tabloid, found himself in the custody of the police. Central Crime Branch (CCB) officers on Friday, 8 December, arrested Belagere for allegedly attempting and conspiring to murder one of his former employees. Belagere claimed he is innocent.
Earlier this year, Belagere and another journalist had been handed one year in prison for breach of privilege by the legislative assembly. Two days ago, the Karnataka high court had ordered the chief secretary not to arrest them. Belagere, who was produced before a magistrate at his Koramangala residence in the night, was remanded in police custody for four days.
The editor was arrested around 1.30pm at his officecum-home in Padmanabhanagar, south Bengaluru. Another person, Shashidhar Ramachandra Mundewadi, allegedly hired by Belagere to carry out the killing, was arrested late Thursday.
(Source: The Times of India)
2. Karnataka Highways Get ADB's Rs 2,200-Cr Infra Push
Asian Development Bank (ADB) will fund the highway upgradation project in Karnataka for which it has approved a loan of $346 million (approximately Rs 2,234 crore). The project involves improvement of 419 km of state highways, upgrading them to two and four lanes with paved shoulders and improving culverts and bridges.
The project will see construction of planned pedestrian, installation of women-friendly elements, including bus shelters, marked crossings, footpaths and proper signage, among others.
The total cost of the project is $655 million, of which Karnataka will provide $202 million and the remaining $107 million will be raised through hybrid annuity contracts.
(Source: Bangalore Mirror)
3. Former Lokayukta's Assets Attached by ED
The Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth Rs 5.3 crore belonging to former Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in a corruption case.
The agency has provisionally attached six commercial and residential properties in various prime locations across the city.
The attached properties have a present guidance value of Rs 2.6 crore and deposits worth Rs 2.75 crores in various banks, under the provisions of PMLA. The total attachment in the case now stands at Rs 11.5 crore, read a press release from the ED. The money laundering case followed an SIT investigation into allegations of corruption and extortion in the Lokayukta's office.
(Source: Deccan Herald)
4. Woman Ends Life After Neighbours' 'Prostitute Taunt'
A 37-year-old woman killed herself after her neighbours purportedly called her a ‘prostitute,’ police said.
Parvathi, a garment factory worker, hanged herself at her home in Ashrayanagar, North Bengaluru, on Thursday, 7 December. She was living with her 15-year-old daughter and her husband had deserted her a few years ago. The suicide emerged when her daughter came home. She found her mother hanging from the ceiling fan.
The daughter and neighbours took Parvathi to a hospital where she was declared brought dead. A preliminary investigation showed Parvathi had an altercation with her neighbours hours before the suicide, and they reportedly called her names. Police, however, said it was unclear if the altercation drove Parvathi to suicide as they had not yet found any death note.
(Source: Deccan Herald)
5. Prakash Raj Slams BJP Minister on Twitter
Actor Prakash Raj has taken to Twitter to slam Union Minister for Skill Development Ananthkumar Hegde for equating nationalism with ‘Hindutva’. In a Twitter post, Raj asked the Karnataka BJP leader to clarify what he meant when he said “nationalism and Hindutva” are one and mean the same.
“You said, “nationalism and Hindutva are not two different things but are one and mean the same. Why do you bring in a religion into nationalism? Then what about those who are not Hindus, people, who are our country’s pride like Ambedkar, Adbul Kalam, A Rahman, Khuswanth Singh, Amrita Pritam, Dr Varghese Kurien... the list goes on.
(Source: Bangalore Mirror)
6. BBMP yet to Approve Tender for Clearing Construction and Debris Waste
In New Delhi, Bengaluru dons the role of a global leader in a coalition to battle air pollution. In the halls of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) lies a file that has taken a back seat to the squabbling among councillors, and has, perhaps, delayed the possibility of dealing with one of the biggest contributors to air and water pollution: construction and debris waste.
It has been three years since the BBMP first put out a tender to hand over nearly 10 acres at Kannur for the exclusive purpose of dumping and sorting the city’s construction debris. By the civic body’s estimates, between 2,000 to 3,000 tonnes of construction debris is being generated in the city daily, and much of this is being dumped illegally.
While the tender did not elicit any response, a second attempt was made in 2016, before achieving some success in March this year. By June, the tender had almost been finalised, apart from one final step — approval from the BBMP council.
(Source: The Hindu)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)