The weekly

VOL­­13­­ISSUE­­16­­­­­­­ Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Observer

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ISRO launchesIndia’s first mission to Mars

Angry brother

attempts to kill

sister

20-year-oldkilled in hit-and-run accident

Kidnapped and murderedTwo­men­have­been­booked­forkidnapping­and­murdering­a­4-year-old­girl­and­later­dumpingher­on­NICE­road.

On January 21, ChanamariGowda, Supervisor Officer, founda body near Lal stands on NICEroad.

According to Girish, an official inByatarayanapura Police Station,the body was completely rottenand the hands and legs were tiedwith a rope. Identifying the genderwas also a problem for the policedue to the condition of the body.During the post mortem, doctorsfound a pair of earrings whichwere identified by Nityashri, thevictim’s mother.

Harshika, the victim, was kid-napped on January 17, while shewas playing in the backyard of herhouse. Her father, Venugopal, fileda missing report soon aer shewent missing.

Investigating Officer T. Kodan-dram said that the two suspects,Umesh, 19, who was a tenant atVenugopal’s house and Chetan, 24,who was a family friend, got toknow about the land deal whichearned Venugopal some money.ey then planned to kidnapHarshika and blackmail them bydemanding two lakh rupees asransom.

Chetan worked as a driver at his

uncle’s place and also had servedas a driver for Venugopal few yearsback. Umesh, an auto rickshawdriver, was staying at Venugopalfor a year.

According to the statement givenby Chetan to the police, hedreamed of buying his own carwhich served as the main reasonfor kidnapping. He knew he could

not do it alone, so on January 16he along with the help of Umeshabducted Harshika by taking heraway on his bike and later hid herin an auto which belonged to

Umesh. He convinced the girl tocome with them by telling her thatthey would take her for a ride onthe bike.

He added that as Venugopal immediately filed a missing report,they did not get a chance of askingfor a ransom. When they cameback to check on the girl on Janu-ary 19, they found her uncon-scious. So they hit her with a rodfollowed by strangling her with asari, aer which the girl died andwas dumped on NICE road.

Police Inspector, Balaraja said,“e final identification was donewith the help of the Forensic Sci-ence Laboratory (FSL) report. Asevidence, a cloth and a rubber matin which the victim was wrapped,which belongs to Umesh, will beproduced in the court by the po-lice.

“A charge sheet has been filed inthe Court where Chetan andUmesh will be produced for theirtrial,” he said.

e accused are currently in thecentral prison and police haveseized the auto and the bike thatwas used for kidnapping the girl.

e first hearing was scheduledfor October 8 but failed to takeplace as the accused could not turnup due to shortage of staff to escortthem. e next hearing is sched-uled to be on November 7.

Sneha Mejari

Umesh­(le)­and­Chetan­(right)­in­the­police­station­aer­being­arrested­for­the­murder­of­Harshika

Ex­­clusive

Notorious gang of dacoits arrested

e Weekly Observer Tuesday, November 5, 2013 2

Smothered while cops patrolled

A sex worker was strangled by aclient as police patrolled nearby.Police are hunting for her killeraer he shoved mud and towels inher mouth so police could nothear her screams.

Ramit D. Shetty, filed a complaintin the Koramangala police stationaer he saw a dead body near Ko-ramangala 3rd Block on 11th Sep-tember, 2013 at 11.30 in themorning.

During the initial investigation

the body was unidentified and butsome days later the police was in-formed that she was Saraswati, a sexworker.

A Police informant said that dur-ing a police raid, the accused gotalert about the patrolling andstuffed Saraswati’s mouth with atowel. But when she continued re-sisting, the man first filled hermouth with mud and then stran-gled her with a cable.

e post mortem details have re-

vealed that it is a clear case of“strangulation ligature”.

Ramit said: “My friend called meup and told that he saw a dead bodylying near the BDA complex, so wecalled up the police and informed.”

According to Koramangala police,a vacant land near BDA complexwhich is quite deserted is used bythe customers to pick up the girls.

A police informant confirmed thebody was that of Saraswati, 32, a sexworker. He also told the police thatthe clients were very ruthless withthe women.

“When the women used to shoutout of pain unable to resist thebeastly act of the customers, theytry shutting their mouths.” headded.

e Koramangala Police has beentrying to find out more about theaccused but hasn’t reached any con-clusion. T.D. Pawar, Deputy Com-missioner of Police, South EastDivision said: “e people involved

in the murder are now alert becausethey know that the police will bevisiting the site again and again.ey have stopped coming to thatplace, so it’s difficult to trace the ac-cused.”

“It’s a physical and mental tortureto these women and they are boundto get into such an occupation be-cause of their poverty and circum-stances”, he added.

Tulana Nayak

Saraswati, who was brutally killed and then le on the road

A young man was killed in a hitand run accident by a speedingbus in a city ward.

Pankesh Kumar, 20, was run overby a speeding bus at 10.40 p.m. inOkalipuram on 10th October .

Pankesh was riding a two wheeler,Honda Activa, when the speedingVRL bus hit him from the rear. Hesuccumbed to his injuries on thespot.

Pankesh’s elder brother, RameshB, 24, an electrician, said: “He wason his way to play dandiya and thatis when the accident happened.”Ramesh lodged an FIR at theMalleshwaram Traffic Police Sta-tion. According to the FIR, the ac-cident took place at K.B. Junctionin Okalipuram.As Pankesh fell offthe vehicle the bus ran over himkilling him right there. e body

sustained many injuries and theActiva was completely crushed.

Goni Basappa, 29, the driver ofthe VRL bus, had been arrested buthas been out on bail. e case is ongoing in the ird Traffic Court.

Traffic Police Constable, Nagaraj,27, said: “We have booked himunder sections 2 and 304 (A) of theIPC.”

Any spokesperson from the VRLbus company could not be con-tacted regarding the accident.

Suchitra Sharma

Goni Basappa, 29, bus driver

20-year-old killed inhit and run accident

A gang of six dacoits was arrestedby Bangalore police.

Chetan alias Chetu (20), GopiVi-jay (22), Rajesh (19), Dhananjay(20), Yogananda (21) andSuryaprasad (22) were arrested onOctober 10, 2013 by Halasuru Po-lice Station at 10:45 pm.

A team led by D.C.Manju, Sub-Inspector of Police arrested thegang aer being informed of theirpresence in Cubbonpet.

e accused have been bookedunder IPC section 399/402. AMaruti Zen car, two-wheelerHonda Activa and weapons wereseized.

Chetan burgled the house of Tim-megowda, a resident of HMT Lay-out on October 2, 2013. Chetan wasinformed by Sandeep, a lawyerabout money and jewels in thehouse. e gang attacked the house

and held a pregnant lady and an oldwoman hostage. ey stole cashworth Rs. 28,000 and jewels worthRs.5 lakh including eight silverglasses, 150 gram gold and a mobilephone.

Chetan sold the chain to a pawnshop. e police have seized thejewels from the pawn broker aswell.

e second burglary occured at

Hebbagodi where Rs. 48 lakh wasstolen from the victim’s residence.

e Police team which was suc-cessful in cornering the gang in-cluded Chandrashekhar, Jagdish,Mruthunjaya, Rajesh, Harish,Raghavendra and Yamunappa.

e accused have been sent toBangalore Central Jail in ParappanaAgrahara and two more from thegang are still absconding.

Vaishnavi Desai

Halasuru Police Station

Koramangala Police Station, where the case was lodged by Ramit

“e post mortemdetails have re-

vealed that it is aclear case of stran-gulation ligature

e Weekly Observer Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Furious brother threatened to stone sister to death

A man infuriated by the barkingof dogs around his house at-tempted to stone his elder sister todeath.

On October 24, Lata, 32, a resi-dent of Chandra Layout was at-tacked by Mahesh, 30, following aheated argument with an acquain-tance on the phone.

At 9.00 pm, the dogs outside thehouse started to howl for food. An

irked Mahesh started to beat themwith a bamboo stick. He furtherwent to throw down one of the dogsfrom the terrace, said KumarSwami, Lata’s husband.

“As I heard loud noises, I ran tosee what had happened. I saw mybrother hitting the dogs very hardon the road so I rushed towardshim to stop him. As I began to yell,he got furious and started to sockme in the middle of the road. He

then, picked a huge piece of rockand tried to smack my face. Myhusband and sister-in-law rushedto my rescue,” said Lata.

Lata got married to KumarSwami, 38, in November 2000. ecouple used to live in Chandra Lay-out. On September 8, 2013, Latamoved in the house next to herbrother, Mahesh, a taxi-driver, withher husband and children.

“Everything was fine until Ma-hesh started to drink regularly. Hewas also facing some glitches inwork life. He started to assault meevery night he returned fromwork,” said Radha, Mahesh’s wife.

She added, “We have been mar-ried for seven years now. Neverhave I seen Mahesh like this be-fore.”

Neighbors called up the policeaer hearing the chaos. “I saw

everything happening. Mahesh wasso furious that he didn’t want to lis-ten to anybody but was firm to killhis sister,” said Nagaraj, a neighbor.

As soon as the police arrived, thematter was resolved yet Maheshhad become difficult to trace. Latawas taken to the nearest hospital fora check-up and was discharged im-mediately.

“For past one month, Lata hadbeen going through medical proce-dures to cure thyroid. Mahesh hasbeen helping her by providing bothfinancial and emotional assistance,”said Sub-Inspector Police of Chan-dra Layout, Sudarshan.

On October 25, 2013, Lata filed anFIR against her brother in ChandraLayout Police Station. “A case wasbooked under sections 504 (Inten-tional insult with intent to provokebreach), 341 (Punishment for vol-

untarily causing hurt), 307 (At-tempt to murder), and 506 (Punish-ment for criminal intimidation) ofIndian Penal Code,” said a crimeconstable.

Saubhagyamma, 52, Lata’s mothersaid, “I want my son to be freedfrom all the charges. We will resolvethe matter within the family.” Ma-hesh was caught by the police onOctober 30 and is under custody.e court hearing will begin in thefirst week of November.

Lata claims her brother Mahesh beat her and tried to stone her

Prutha Bhosle

Duo robs ATM kiosk, kills security guardA security guard was stabbed todeath in a city ward by two mentrying to rob an ATM machine.

Twenty three-year-old Haris-hankar Sharma was from MadhyaPradesh and had recently joined asa security personnel at the Dod-danakundi IDBI ATM centre.

e robbers tried to break in andunlock the ATM machine on 28thOctober at around 3.30 a.m.

When Harishankar tried to stopthe duo from breaking the ma-chine, the two men stabbed theguard repeatedly on his head, rightside of his eye and his stomach.

e two men, Jinto Debnath andNabho Kour have been arrested bythe Mahadevpura Police Stationand are in judicial custody andpresently are in the Central Jail.

Both men are from Assam andhad been working for MunendraKumar Bharati, a businessman inBangalore and a native of Assam.ey took care of his dogs and alsoworked as gardeners at the busi-nessman’s house.

e duo hurt their hands whilestabbing the guard. On being en-

quired about how they injured theirhands, they said that they had fallendown the stairs and were later taken

to the hospital. e two men werealmost immediately caught aerthey killed the guard.

Jinto and Nabho used to work aslabourers in Assam and had cometo Bangalore when Nabho Kourhad received a call from a relative inBangalore. Aer this, he had startedworking at Mr. Kumar’s house. Jintohad joined Nabho a year later. etwo men wanted to make quickmoney and so they decided to robthe ATM machine.

“is was their first offence andthat’s why they were caught. Hadthey done this before, they wouldn’thave been caught,” said Mahade-vpura Police Inspector.

When they both were questioned-about why they had killed the secu-rity guard, Nabho said, “At thattime, our heads were not working.”

On being asked why they attackedthat particular ATM machine, Jintosaid, “We wanted to rob that ma-chine only.”

J. Gautamma, Inspector at theMahadevpura Police Station said,“ey wanted to rob that machinebecause they saw it everyday, it wasclose to where they used to live.”

On being asked if they felt bad orguilty for what they had done,Nabho said, “When we did it, we

did not feel bad but now we arefeeling bad.”

Nabho has two sisters, his parentsand a brother and Jinto has twobrothers and his parents who live inMorigaon, Assam. On being askedif their parents were coming toBangalore, Nabho said: “We don’tknow if they have been informedyet. And they don’t speak Hindi,what will they do here?”

Mr. Kumar, the businessman forwhom Jinto and Nabho worked, hasnot informed the family of the ac-cused.

“ey live in villages. ey don’thave any phone numbers. I reallydon’t want to talk about the inci-dent to anyone,” said Mr. Kumar.

Jinto and Nabho aer being arrested by the Mahadevpura police

Radha, the wife of accused

Tanisha Das

“ey wanted to rob thatmachine because theysaw it everyday, it wasclose to where they usedto live.

- J. Gautamma, In sp e c tor, Ma h a d e -

vpura Police Station

3

Observer Team: Reporters– Soumya Basu, Tanisha Das & Rahul Sadhu Emergency Call Services- Suchitra Sharma News Editors– Prutha Bhosle & Sneha Mejari Chief Sub Editor– SnehaBengani Picture Editor– Sushmita Sen Design Desk–Sreelakshmy Sivaram Sub Editors– Tulana Nayak,Shweta Nair & Raju Peethala Proof Readers-Suresh Kumar Editor– Sneha GhoshEmail- editor@iijnm.org An IIJNM Publication (For Private Circulation)

e Weekly Observer Tuesday, November 5, 2013 4Events

CULTURE

Nrityanidhi Dhwani brings out itsannual festival, ‘Nazakat’ Enchant-ing Kathak to Popular Ghazal &umri. It promises to take oneinto the era of Umrao Jaan with itsmelodious Ghazal compositions.Where: Alliance Francaise de Ban-galoreWhen: Nov 09, 2013, 7.00 p.m.Contact: 99869-84878

THEATRE

Raa Raa is a warm hearted com-edy tale of Indian families livingabroad. Focusing on a newlywedcouple and their family, Raa Raais directed by Tahira Nath &Akarash Khurana. Where: Jagriti eatre, WhitefieldWhen: Nov 10, 2013, 3 p.m. & 6.30p.m.Contact: 08041248298

ARTS

Paint it Pink is an art show to com-memorate the breast cancer monthby HCG Foundation’s Swasti Con-temporary Gallery.When: Up to Nov 30, 2013Where: Swasti Contemporary ArtGallery, Sampangiram NagarContact: 08040206000

Mangalyaan up but official website downe official Indian space

agency website crashed as theMangalyaan orbiter waslaunched.

e Indian Space Research Or-ganisation could not handle thesheer volume of traffic to its web-site on launch-day.

Mangalyaan, a 44.4-metre tallPolar Satellite Launch Vehicle C25 rocket, is only the fourth satel-lite in the world sent to Mars forresearch purposes.

India’s first mission to Mars waslaunched this aernoon from Sri-harikota in Andra Pradesh.

Satish Bhardwaj, a former scien-tist at the Indian Space ResearchOrganization said, “It is a greatevent for the country, a techno-logical leap. Today is only the be-ginning of a long journey. espacecra will enter the Marsorbit on September 24, 2014which is the bigger event. We arewaiting for it.

“We are hoping the entire expe-dition would be successful. ISROhas undertaken all the requiredmeasures. is event would mo-tivate more youngsters to takespace and technology as their ca-reers. e mission is a great ad-vancement in the field of spacescience for the country.”

e Mars orbiter took off at14:38 hours (IST) from SatishDhawan Space Centre in Sri-harikota.

India has joined an elite leagueof countries who have success-fully launched Mars orbiters forscientific experiments.

India is the fourth to launch aMars mission aer the United

States of America, Russia, and theEuropean Space Agency.

e launch was initially sched-uled on October 28 2013 but waspostponed due to technical delaysand bad weather.

While the country is taking thisopportunity to talk about techni-

cal advancement and scientificprogress, there is a large section ofour society that is unaware andfar removed from the entire buzzabout the “Mars Mission.”

Pushpa, a vegetable vendor wholives wth her husband and twosons in Swarnalli, said, “I have not

seen anything about this on TV.Which channel is this comingon?”

Sharanya, a shopkeeper atForum Mall, Kormangala, said, “Isaw about it in the news but Ihave no idea how it will have anyeffect on my life."

Shankar, 50, who paints housesand lives with his four children,was clueless about ISRO or thelaunch.

Akash, a 21-year-old student ofthe geography department inBangalore University, did notknow anything about it. “is isthe first time I am hearing aboutany such endeavour,” he said.

Rohan, another student of Ban-galore University, Departmet ofPhysics, thinks of the event as agreat achievement for the Indianscientific society.

“If this attempt is successful, itwill create a history for ISRO,” hesaid.

e satellite will undertake a300-day, 780 million km journeyto orbit Mars.

e historic event was attendedby Ministers of State in PrimeMinister’s Office, VNarayanaswamy, US Ambassadorto India Nancy Powell and ISROChairman K Radhakrishnan,among other noted dignitories.

Team Observer

ISRO launches its first Mars orbiter, Mangalyaan at Sriharikota

e official website of the Indian Space Research Organisation crashed as the historic rocket soared Pushpa, a resident of Swarnalli