BENGALURU: 2024 was one of the busiest years for law enforcing agencies with the Rameshwaram Cafe blast in Whitefield, sensational Renukaswamy murder allegedly involving actor Darshan and alleged sexual exploitation and kidnapping by former minister and JDS MLA HD Revanna and his two sons Prajwal and Suraj.
More high and mighty followed with criminal cases registered against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Union Ministers Niramala Sitharaman and HD Kumaraswamy, former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa, former minister Munirathna and director and professors of the premier IIM-Bangalore.
The year also witnessed some of the worst scams where crores of rupees were reportedly misused. B Nagendra, who was a minister for Scheduled Tribes Welfare, had to resign after his name cropped up in the alleged misappropriation of funds in Valmiki ST Welfare Corporation.
Criminal cases were registered against Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvati and her brother in the MUDA case. Yediyurappa landed in trouble after a POCSO case was registered against him by the Sadashivanagar police. Former minister in the BJP government Munirathna was arrested in an alleged rape case.
The city for the first time witnessed a Delhi type of crime where a 29-year-old woman, Mahalakshmi, was murdered, her body was chopped into 59 pieces and was stuffed inside a refrigerator in Vyalikaval police limits. Her lover Mukti Ray, who was suspected to have committed the crime, died by suicide at his hometown in Odisha before the police could track him down.
The suicide of 34-year-old techie Atul Subhash in Marathahalli police limits grabbed national attention as he had left behind a 24-page death note and also a 90-minute video, alleging harassment by his wife and in-laws. His wife and two others were arrested from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
The number of cyber crimes also increased to over 22,000 cases in the state during the year. So much so that every one in four cases is a cyber crime now.
In a heart-rending incident, a probationary IPS officer, 26-year-old Harsh Bardhan, died in an accident while on his way to Hassan to take charge of his first posting.
Alleged misappropriation of funds during Covid came to haunt the opposition BJP as a first FIR was registered by the Vidhana Soudha police following a complaint by the chief accounts officer of the Directorate of Medical Education.
BJP MLA CT Ravi landed in trouble over his alleged derogatory remark against Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar at Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi during the just-concluded joint legislature session.
A 27-year-old woman from Uzbekistan Zarina Utkirovna was murdered at a hotel by its housekeeping staff on Sankey Road. Murder of 23-year-old Neha Hiremath by her former classmate Fayaz Khondunaik at BVB College of Engineering and Technology in Hubballi shook the state. Gadag town witnessed a ghastly ‘supari’ murder of four family members by a relative and his associates over property.
The tragic death of director and CEO of a software company, 48-year-old Chandram Yegapagol, and five members of his family in Nelamangala traffic limits after a container truck fell on their SUV was one of the major accidents the state witnessed.