BENGALURU: Explosion at The Rameshwaram Cafe: Peace in the bustling Brookfield area of Bangalore’s Whitefield was shattered when a low-intensity ‘Improvised Explosive Device’(IED) went off on the afternoon of March 1 in Rameshwaram Cafe, driving customers helter skelter.
The image of the suspect who placed the IED in a corner of the restaurant was captured on CCTV. The case had internal security ramifications and was rightly handed over to the National Investigation Agency. After the investigation, a chargesheet was filed against Abdul Matheen Ahmed Tahaa, Mussafir Husein Shazib, Maaz Munir Ahmed and Muzammil Shariff. Fortunately, no one died but nine persons were injured.
Alleged serial molestation and rape: In April, several pen drives were distributed in Hassan district and made available at random public places, containing videos of molestation and rape of women. The accused in the rape and molestation is Prajwal Revanna, scion of the Deve Gowda clan and former MP.
The state government constituted a Special Investigation Team to investigate two rape cases and a case of kidnapping. Earlier, he flew to Germany immediately after the elections, but was arrested on his arrival at the Bangalore airport and he has since been under judicial custody. There are uncorroborated reports that serial rape and molestation under duress were committed at various locations against different women, young and not so young, some of them married with children.
Murder most foul: The alleged gruesome murder preceded by kidnapping and unspeakable torture of Renukaswamy by Kannada film star Darshan, his friend Pavithra Gowda and their henchmen came as a shocker.
The crime came to light when an unidentified dead body was discovered by a security guard near a storm water drain on June 9 at Sumanahalli, Bengaluru. As many as 17 accused, including Darshan and Pavithra, were arrested and sent to judicial custody. The High Court granted bail to seven accused, including Darshan and Pavithra, on December 13.
Valmiki Corporation scam: The Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation is meant for the development of Scheduled Tribes community in Karnataka. The scam came to light from the suicide note left behind by its Superintendent P Chandrashekhar where he exposed corruption involving several officials.
Project funds aggregating to Rs 8.8 crore were transferred to an unauthorised account in the Union Bank, MG Road branch, Bengaluru. On February 26, 2024, the bank transferred Rs 88 crore from the corporation’s account to different bank accounts with signatures of the Corporation’s managing director and accountants. It is believed that the money was transferred to the First Finance Credit Cooperative Society and later transferred online to different accounts.
The funds were illegally transferred from the corporation’s accounts at the Union Bank of India to multiple accounts, some of which were linked to fictitious entities. The suicide note disclosed embezzlement of Rs 85 crore, naming the MD of the corporation and others.
CBI has stepped in to investigate the case. The minister for ST welfare B Nagendra resigned. The houses of Nagendra were raided by the Enforcement Directorate. He was also arrested. The scam amount is said to be of the order of Rs 94.73 crore. Nagendra used to be a close associate of Janardhan Reddy and Sriramulu of BJP who were involved in the infamous mining scam of Ballari.
Dismembered body: The bone-chilling murder of a Nepali girl, Mahalakshmi, in her house in Vyalikaval, Bengaluru bore an eerie resemblance to the Shraddha Walkar case of New Delhi, two years ago. Unable to live with the burden of guilt, the accused Mukti Ray died by suicide in his Odisha village.
Both the deceased were colleagues in a factory and the accused murdered Mahalakshmi in cold blood, cut her body into 59 pieces and stuffed them in her own refrigerator, claiming he could not put up with her harassment. His suicide brings about a closure of sorts to this sordid murder.
Cyber crime: The year 2024 witnessed a frighteningly steep rise in cyber crimes. Many gullible citizens lost their hard-earned money to conmen who would threaten citizens citing fictitious cases against them and empty their bank accounts.
The modus operandi included calling random citizens under the guise of tax, enforcement, RBI and telecom regulatory officials. No citizen feels safe from such scams in a world where mobile telephony is omnipresent and omniscient. It is time that the entire Government machinery and the police take proactive steps on a war footing to stop these crimes which have become commonplace. The onus lies particularly on the departments whose names are freely used by fake callers. Making digital space safe for the common person should be a priority.