The way the year began, it looked like 2020 would go down as a year of protests and dissent. Between December 12 and January 14, Bengaluru alone witnessed 82 protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register for Citizenship (NRC).The mounting protests in the City — with Bilal Bagh in East Bengaluru doing a Shaheen Bagh in Delhi — caught the world’s attention after 19-year-old journalism student Amulya Leona Noronha was arrested for sedition under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code, when she shouted “Pakistan zindabad” at an anti-CAA protest in the City. There was countrywide anger and uproar against archaic sedition laws. Leona became the face of dissent.
But soon the rallies came to a grinding halt with the first pandemic lockdown on March 25. The police had a new role — of ensuring people stayed at home and that the supply and delivery of essential services was not disturbed.The lockdown did bring petty crime down, but it changed the nature of crime; from chain-snatching and mobile theft to cybercrime to regrouping and resurgence of the underworld. The opportunity for the outlaws was aplenty and the soil germane after notorious don Ravi Pujari was extradited and brought to Bengaluru from Senegal on February 24, and on May 15, Muthappa Rai — the last gang lord to rule Bengaluru’s underworld — died of cancer.
Police officers speak of the turmoil among the rowdies, who are “re-aligning their loyalties” to Rai and Pujari’s henchmen to take control of Bengaluru. The murder of gangster-cum-bar owner Manish Shetty in Bengaluru, allegedly by his former associate turned rival Vicky Shetty on October 15, had the top police officers sit up and rummage through the DNA of the mafia, which had links rooted in Mangaluru and Bengaluru.
Manish’s murder was related to Kishan Hegde’s murder on September 24 in Udupi and Surendra Bantwal murder on October 21. The common link in the three murders was Vicky Shetty, who had fallen out with Pujari some years ago when the latter had chosen Manish over him over some financial matters.As if these murders were not enough for the police, former minister Varthur Prakash was kidnapped for ransom on November 25 from his farmhouse in Kolar by Pujari’s man Kaviraj and his associates.
Meanwhile, just four days before Independence Day, a violent mob of more than 2,000 men took to the streets, damaged DJ Halli and KG Halli police stations, and set ablaze the house of Congress MLA from Pulikeshi Nagar constituency Akhand Srinivasamurthy in a violent protest against his nephew Naveen’s blasphemous social media post. Three people lost their lives to police firing that night. The National Investigation Agency arrested 17 members of the PFI and its political outfit SDPI.
Followed the smell of a drug scandal. In August, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested three drug accused Mohammed Anoop, Rejish Ravindran and Anikha D, who had the Page 3 celebrities as their customers. These arrests opened a can of worms and filmmaker Indrajeet Lankesh alleged that many in the Sandalwood are in the contraband drug racket. The CCB made the first arrests and took in Sandalwood actress Ragini Dwivedi and Sanjannaa Galrani under the NDPS Act. On October 29, Bineesh Kodiyeri, son of former CPI(M) secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, was arrested by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) for money laundering. Bineesh is said to have financed Anoop’s drug business.
What came out of the police investigation was the use of Darknet and cryptocurrency to buy banned drugs. There was a case of kidnap of a minor in Dakshina Kannada district for ransom in bitcoins, which was detected and the child was released unhurt. One of the kidnappers is from Bengaluru. And cybercrime thrived during the year.
One of the major ones is the widespread instant loan taking apps scam, which has led to huge amounts of data theft. The trails of the data security breach led to China as the apps are of Chinese origin and are being reportedly run by Chinese. These loan apps companies would give hand loans at an exorbitant interest and harass and threaten the loanees. In Karnataka, the CID is investigating the cases. Now, the Indian Intelligence agencies have stepped in.Will we see fewer crimes in the new year? Over to 2021.
A2020 year to remember forget
keeping the cops busy
While 2020
will forever be etched as the ‘year of the pandemic’, which brought life to a screeching halt, the dark world of crime was active even through the lockdowns. Several high-profile cases were witnessed through the year:
Feb 24
Gangster Ravi Pujari, who was deported to Senegal last year, was arrested in South Africa and later brought to India by a team of officers, including senior IPS officers from Karnataka
Feb 22
Amulya Leona, a 19-year-old student, was arrested on charges of sedition by the Upparpet police for shouting ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ at an anti-CAA protest
Aug 11
A 3,000-strong mob went on the rampage in DJ Halli and KG Halli police station limits in East Bengaluru in protest against a blasphemous social media post, allegedly put out by MLA Akhanda Srinivasamurthy’s nephew Navin. He was arrested a day later. Three people died in police firing on the night of the riots, which continued till the early hours of the following day
Sept 7
CCB police busted a major drug racket and arrested Sandalwood actors Sanjjanaa Galrani and Ragini Dwivedi. Several others, including sons of politicians and celebrities, were interrogated in the case
Oct 15
Manish Shetty, a bar owner, was shot dead by unidentified bike-borne assailants in full public view in front of his bar in Bengaluru’s Central Business District
Oct 17
The CBI filed charges against two IPS officers in the IMA scam case. The probe revealed that thousands had lost crores of rupees to IMA’s illegal schemes. The CBI had registered four cases and filed several chargesheets. Former minister Roshan Baig was arrested, and Bengaluru Urban DC Vijay Shankar, whose name appeared a chargesheet, committed suicide.
Nov 9
A 25-year-old hacker, Srikrishna alias Sriki, was caught for stealing Rs 11 crore from the government’s e-procurement portal in August 2019. He is known to hack into online poker sites to win money and bitcoins, and use it to buy drugs from the dark net. Srikrishna graduated in computer science from a college in Amsterdam in 2017.
Nov 25
Former Karnataka minister Varthur Prakash alleged that he and his driver were abducted near his farmhouse. The investigation revealed that the former Kolar MLA was kidnapped for a ransom of Rs 30 crore and not for any other reason
Nov 28
Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa’s secretary and relative N R Santhosh allegedly attempted suicide by consuming sleeping pills at his house in Dollars Colony in Sadashivanagar police station limits. It was said the incident occurred around 7.30 pm when he was alone in his room, and he swallowed 12 pills.
Dec 29
Legislative Council Deputy Chairman S L Dharme Gowda allegedly committed suicide by throwing himself before a running train at Gunasagar village in Chikkamagaluru district. Gowda set out with his driver, whom he asked to wait near Gunasagar. When he did not return, his family members informed the police. His body was found near the track around 10 pm.