1. Bengaluru on High Alert, Cops Say it's Only a Security Preparedness Drill
The Bengaluru police has issued an advisory to all its personnel to remain on high alert across the city on Saturday, 17 August.
“This has been issued just to keep my force on high alert and see how they respond," Bhaskar Rao, Bengaluru city police commissioner said, downplaying the advisory.
He said that this was an exercise to see how well prepared the city’s police would be in the face of such threats. However, the tone and tenor of the advisory points towards a more serious issue for a city that is home to strategic establishments that include Indian Space Research Organisation, Defence Research and Development Organisation, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and Bharat Electronics Limited among several other defence set ups.
(Source: Livemint)
2. Family of 5 Found Dead, Debt-Driven Murder-Suicide Pact Suspected
Five members of a family, including a 4-year-old, were found dead in the outskirts of Gundlupet, in Mysore’s Chamarajanagar, early on Friday, 16 August, in what police believe to be a planned murder-suicide pact.
Om Prakash, 38, is believed to have shot dead his entire family, including his parents Nagaraja Bhattacharya (65), Hema Raju (60), wife Nikitha (30) and their son Arya Krishna (4) at an abandoned farm house near the Bandipur road in the wee hours of Friday.
Chamarajnagar SP Anand Kumar told The Quint that the family appeared to have been shot dead ‘with their consent’, as there was no sign of resistance.
(Read the full story here)
3. Yediyurappa Meets PM Modi, Seeks Rs 10,000 Crore Relief
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday assured Karnataka Chief Minister of central aid to speed up relief works in its flood-hit districts, an official said.
"Modi assured state Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa of soon releasing central funds for relief works in the state at the earliest and rushing a central team to assess the damage caused by heavy rains and floods across the state," an official of the Chief Minister's office told IANS in Bengaluru.
"During the 40-minute meeting, the chief minister briefed Modi on the extensive damage caused by the heavy monsoon rains and floods in the coastal, central, south and northwest regions of the state for over a fortnight," said the official.
(Source: The News Minute)
4. 6 Deaths, 8070 Dengue Cases in State Since January
The death toll due to dengue this year has gone up to six in Karnataka.
The state health and family welfare department on Friday said the disease claimed six persons since 1 January – two each in Bengaluru Urban and Dakshina Kannada and one each in Ramanagara and Chitradurga districts.
The total number of dengue-positive cases increased to 8,070 as on 16 August. Only three days ago, the number was 7,315, which shows 755 fresh cases were reported in three days.
As per health department data, the highest number of cases has been reported from BBMP limits. In the last three days, 615 cases were confirmed in the city. “One reason for the sudden rise is intermittent rainfall,” said department officials
(Source: The Times of India)
5. J&K Bank's Rs 353 Crore Scam Busted in Bengaluru Branch
A new fraud worth Rs 353 crore has been detected in the Bengaluru branch of Jammu & Kashmir Bank (JKB).
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Jammu & Kashmir on Friday registered a case against the management and the officials of the J&K Bank, along with Anish Rawther of Rawther Spices after raids in Bengaluru.
The anti-graft body was investigating the case since June this year. “Anti-Corruption Bureau, J&K registered a case against the management, officials of the J&K bank along with beneficiary involved in loan fraud worth Rs 352.72 crore,” the ACB said in a statement.
(Source: Deccan Herald)
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