1. CM Siddaramaiah, Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar, other officials get bomb threat email
Close on the heels of the blast at The Rameshwaram Cafe in Bengaluru, Karnataka chief minister, deputy chief minister, home minister and City police commissioner received threat emails on March 2, warning of more attacks. The low-intensity explosion at the restaurant’s Brookefield outlet in east Bengaluru on March 1 left nine injured.
The email warned of attacks on public places and public transport, including the KSRTC’s line of premiere buses. Following the email on Saturday, the cybercrime police stepped up investigations and registered a suo motu case. Efforts are on to track down the source of the mail.
2. Bengaluru prison radicalisation case | NIA raids multiple places across seven States
The National Investigation Agency on March 5, 2024, launched multiple raids across seven States in connection with a case related to radicalisation of prisoners by a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist in Karnataka. “The raids, being conducted in connection with the Bengaluru prison radicalisation case, are under way at 17 places across seven States and further details are awaited,” an official said.
In January, the NIA had filed a charge-sheet against eight people in the case. The charge-sheeted accused included T. Naseer of Kerala’s Kannur, who is serving life sentence in the central prison in Bengaluru since 2013, and Junaid Ahmed alias “JD” and Salman Khan, who are suspected to have fled abroad.
3. SC dismisses money laundering case against Karnataka Deputy CM Shivakumar
The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) proceedings instituted against Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act on the basis of an Income Tax department complaint in 2018.
The Congress leader had moved the top court against the Karnataka High Court order that refused to quash the ED summons issued to him in an alleged case of money laundering.
4. Mandya BJP worker arrested for raising ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogan in 2022
A BJP worker has been arrested for allegedly shouting a pro-Pakistan slogan during a protest held in the town in December 2022. Based on a complaint by Congress worker Kannambadi Kumar, the Mandya West Police station, which registered an FIR, arrested Ravi, a resident of Danayakanapura in the district, and took him into custody on March 4.
The pro-Pakistan slogan was shouted during a protest organised by the BJP in Mandya against derogatory remarks by Pakistan foreign minister. Though BJP workers were shouting “Pakistan Murdabad” and “Hindustan Zindabad”, a BJP worker had allegedly shouted “Pakistan Zindabad”.
5. Media should consider masking names of persons acquitted in criminal case from digital records: Karnataka HC
The High Court of Karnataka wants the media to consider masking, delisting and deleting the names of accused persons from their respective online digital records, and not drive such people to courts to seek directions for deletion of their names.
“If it is allowed to stay on record, the internet will never permit the humans to forget,” Justice M. Nagaprasanna observed while directing the HC’s registry to mask the name and other personal details of a 27-year-old petitioner, who was given a clean chit in a criminal case, from the court’s digital records to honour his right to live with dignity.
