Loot gold, cash & articles worth about Rs. 4 lakh

'You are all alive because of the baby'

Mysore, Feb. 9 (KK&JP)- Four dacoits, three of them wearing monkey caps, dressed decently armed with long swords, barged into the house of Geologist Thammegowda at No. 2027, 3rd Cross, 1st Main, Kanakadasanagar in Dattagalli extension here at 7.10 am today and made away with a long gold chain, a necklace, a pair of bangles, ear rings and earstuds as well Rs. 20,000 in cash and an Olympus camera, all worth about Rs. 4 lakh.

Thammegowda, a geologist who commutes to Hassan everyday, had stayed back in Hassan. His wife Shashikala, her brother's daughter Deepika, 24, Thammegowda's mother Jayamma and Shashikala's daughter Naina's one-year-old baby, were the only inmates. Naina and her husband, Sanjay are Software Engineers, working in Bangalore. Her baby was left with her mother as she was preparing for an exam.

The Thammegowda family also have a dog which did not bark when the four men barged into the house.

The drama unfolded at 7.10 am when Shashikala was in the bathroom. Thammegowda's mother and Deepika heard voices outside saying "Tie the dog up." Then a voice asking, "Is Thammegowda at home?"

Ajji (Jayamma) opened the door even as Shashikala came out of the bathroom to see what was happening. She saw four men with long swords, all decently dressed, with three of them wearing monkey caps.

The men threatened the inmates — "Keep quiet if you do not want to get hurt." "Who else is in the house?" asked another.

Shashikala heard another say, "We are prepared for anything."

Deepika with the baby and Jayamma were herded into the kitchen, their hands tied behind their backs and locked up with a warning. One of the men who was guarding the kitchen told them "Stay cool, do not get frightened."

Meanwhile, Shashikala was asked where she kept her gold ornaments etc. Then one of the men touched her neck with a sword and mentioned that she should take him upstairs. She was then made to open the main cupboard, from where the man picked one long gold chain, a necklace, a pair of bangles, ear rings and nose studs, all weighing around 250 grams. He also took Rs. 20,000, Thammegowda's salary, which he had kept there the previous day. On seeing an Olympus camera, the man picked that too.

Downstairs, the women and the baby in the kitchen were herded into the living room. The man then cut the landline cables and made the two women hand over their mobile phones.

The dacoits then made their getaway with a warning: "Don't call out. You can do what you like after we have gone. You are all alive because of the baby." The entire operation took only 20 minutes, says Shashikala.

Shashikala first called her husband in Hassan, then the Kuvempunagar Police Station. Inspector Dhananjay and his team came to the house and a dog squad was brought in.

The Police dog, after going round the house, went up to main road before losing the scent.

Meanwhile ACP Vishnuvardhan and the finger print squad arrived and began investigations. The Police have also put a tracer on the two mobile phones and the exit points from the city are being watched.

Loss estimated Rs. 1.5 lakh

Mysore, Feb. 9 (RK&SH)- In an act of suspected revenge, an ice cream parlour was forcibly entered and its showcases smashed by unknown miscreants last night.

Dolphin Ice Cream Parlour, next to Sushrutha Eye Clinic on Dewan's Road, was the scene of crime, in which four showcases were completely destroyed. The loss is estimated to be Rs. 1.5 lakh.

Proprietor of the shop Moham-mad Nasir is learnt to have gone out of station. The damage to the showcases was discovered when Kumar, one of the workers, came to the spot at about 6 am today. He informed the cashier Sameer, who called the Police.

Devaraja Police Inspector Shanthamallappa and staff visited the scene of crime. Dog squad and finger print experts also were called in.

Police have suspected the hand of three employees, who were removed from service in the shop about a month ago, as the crime did not involve any theft of cash. The criminals gained entry into the shop by breaking open the back door.

It may be recalled that the same shop had been vandalised by a five-member gang of youth about six months ago following a dispute over payment of money for the eats purchased. They were arrested and later released on bail. Police conducted mahazar, registered a case and have taken up investigations.

Mysore, Feb. 9 (KK&KMC)- Yet another pre-dawn demolition was carried out by the Mysore City Corporation (MCC) this morning, clearing the landmark Nandini milk booth on Sayyaji Rao Road.

The milk booth located near the Bata showroom on Sayyaji Rao road had been leased to Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) by MCC about 35 years ago and the term of lease had lapsed three years ago.

Several notices to evict the booth had been allegedly disregarded by its franchisee Dinesh, to whom the KMF booth had been subleased for a period of 15 years, the term being expired three years ago.

Several attempts to demolish the booth were also made by the MCC during the past three years but in vain, owing to political interference in support of the lessee Dinesh. Dasara festivities, road repairs and other such works came in the way of the plans to demolish the booth, according to MCC authorities.

Lokayukta's notice

Dr. Thirumala Rao, a resident of Narayana Shastry road here, had lodged a complaint against Dinesh to the Lokayukta, alleging that the KMF franchisee had been selling dairy products of other brands in Nandini stall. He also accused Dinesh of charging more than the MRP on the Nandini dairy products.

The Lokayukta, admitting the complaint, sought a clarification from the KMF in this regard. The KMF in turn warned Dinesh of legal action and also directed him to evict the booth as his lease term had lapsed.

Dinesh, using his political backing, is said to have disregarded the KMF's warning too, following which the KMF is said to have expressed its 'no objection' for the MCC's action against the disputed booth.

MCC and Police

MCC began the milk booth's demolition work at 5 am today and cleared the debris using two excavators, two tipper trucks and 30 gangmen, supervised by MCC Superintending Engineer Mahesh and Zonal Assistant Commissioner Thimmappa.

They were provided Police protection by ACP V.P. Poojar, ACP (Traffic) Shankaregowda, Inspectors of Devaraj Police Station, KSRP personnel and Mounted Police. The operation lasted till 7 am, during which movement of traffic on the road from K.R. Circle to Ayurveda College Circle, Dhanvanthri road and K.T. Street road were restricted.

Change of target

Demolishing the milk booth came as an afterthought for the MCC which initially intended to dismantle the iron grills installed around the controversial Shaneeshwara Swamy Ratha on Sayyaji Rao road footpath, causing inconvenience to pedestrians.

Emergency meeting

The MCC officials had conducted an emergency meeting at 11 pm yesterday and had chalked out plans to dismantle the iron grills of the Ratha and other additional constructions on the footpath of Sayyaji Rao road.

However, area Corporator Chinni Ravi, who came to know of the MCC's plan, went on to voluntarily dismantle the structure at around 12.30 in the midnight, along with Corporator Nandeesh Preetham and a few localites.

The MCC, raring to go with its plans for operation demolition for which elaborate plans involving Police were made, was not only delighted with the Ratha issue getting resolved by itself, but also made use of the opportunity to evict Nandini booth, which had been a long-pending dispute.

Sources in the MCC said that the ratha was being looked after by one Kitti, following the demise of its priest Raju eight months ago. Kitti, who had a petty shop selling cigarettes, beedies and other tobacco products, is said to have cleared the place during dismantling operation last night.

Wednesday's commotion

It may be recalled that a small commotion had occurred at the Shaneeshwara ratha last Wednesday (Feb. 3), when Assistant Commissioner Thimmappa and staff of the MCC proceeded to dismantle the iron grills illegally installed on the footpath.

He was prevented from doing so by a group of localites, following which Thimmappa lodged a complaint against Corporator Chinni Ravi, accusing him of instigating local residents against the MCC officials by raking up religious sentiments.

Thimmappa later submitted a report to the MCC Commissioner K.S. Raikar pertaining to the ratha's illegally installed grills and plans to further extend construction on the footpath.

State BJP President K.S. Eshwarappa, who arrived in New Delhi today, was accorded a welcome by Tumkur MP G.S. Basavaraju and Additional Special Representative Bykere Nagesh at Karnataka Bhavan. After assuming charge as State BJP President, this is the first visit of Eshwarappa to the National capital. [Pic. by M.M. Joshi]

Mysore, Feb. 9 (DM)- The third Parliamentary Sub-Committee on State Language Policy visited city in connection with the implementation of Union Govt's National Language Policy.

The Sub-Committee members, who arrived in the city on Friday evening on a three-day visit, visited the German Press (Union Government's Text Book Printing Press) and held separate meetings with Income Tax and Bank officials on Saturday.

The Sub-Committee Chairman after receiving information on how the National language Hindi has been implemented in Central Government offices and Nationalised Banks, suggested the officials to implement it in a much more effective manner.

J.M. Haroon Rashid, Hukum-deo Narayan Yadav, Raghuvansh Prasad, S. Madanlal were the members of the Sub-Committee which was headed by MP Prof. Alka B. Kshatriya.

Officials Surendra Mohan and Ram Nivas Shukla accompanied the team. Assistant Director of Agriculture Somasekhar officiated as the Mysore district protocol officer.

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Uninterrupted power supply not possible in State: CM

Shimoga, Feb. 9- Making a statement in contrast to the declaration made in the past by his Ca-binet colleague who held the power portfolio, Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa said that it was not possible to supply uninterrupted power in the State.

Former Power Minister K.S. Eshwarappa had announced that a project for uninterrupted power supply would be launched in the State soon. Explaining his statement on power supply, Yeddyurappa said during his visit to Kote Marikamba temple that the State had already purchased 240 million units from outside.

Many steps were being taken to meet the increased demand for power in the State. In the backdrop of shortfall in power production and rising demand, he questioned how it would be possible to meet the demand.

In order to avoid hardship to the examination-bound students, load shedding during day time and nights has been taken off, he disclosed.

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BJP ex-President's house burgled

Puttur, Feb. 9 (SH)- In a burglary committed on Sunday night in the residence of D.V. Sadanandagowda, former President of BJP in Karnataka, in Padeel, here, thieves are learnt to have made away with gold jewellery and cash. The loss including jewellery of 120 grams of gold is placed at Rs. 3 lakh, according to Police.

The thieves are learnt to have entered the house by breaking open the back doors. Two bedrooms were found to have been ransacked, tossing around the contents of almirahs. Police who searched the surroundings found two suitcases in a dustbin. They recovered a gold bangle and a pair of ear rings.

A Police guard and a watchman were posted to keep vigil at the residence of Gowda, causing surprise how the thieves forced their entry and committed burglary. The first floor of the house is rented to a family whose members are reported to have been asleep at the time of the crime.

Dog squad and fingerprint specialists were rushed to the scene on Monday morning. Assistant Superintendent of Police Chandragupta and team inspected Gowda's house and have taken up investigation.

Mysore, Feb. 9 (DV&KK)- With the theme Kannada books for Kannadigas, Kannada Book Authority has organised a huge Kannada Book Fair from tomorrow in city.

The five-day book fair being held at Maharaja College grounds till Feb. 14 is the first of its kind in city in the past 40 years. Arrangements are going on for the erection of stalls, said Book Authority Chairman Dr. Siddalingaiah at a press meet.

Sapna Book House, Nava Karnataka Prakashana, Kannada Book Authority, Prism Books and hundreds of other publishers are participating. More than a lakh books will be on display at the fair, he said. The fair is open from 10 am to 8 pm.

Litterateur Dr. Dejagow will inaugurate the fair at 11.30 am tomorrow. Mayor Purushotham, Deputy Commissioner P. Manivannan, Kannada and Culture Director Manu Baligar and Additional Deputy Commissioner Dr. C.G. Betsurmath will participate as chief guests, he added.

Books will be available at 10% concessional rate. Allowing more concession is left to the publishers. Allotment of stalls to the publishers will be made by drawing lottery. To facilitate the publishers, light refreshment is arranged on morning and evening in addition to tea, coffee and drinking water. Separate accomodations have been made for ladies in addition to security.

Expenditure Rs. 14 lakh

Rs. 14 lakh is being spent for the fair. More than 100 stalls are being opened. The publishers will make a payment of Rs. 1000 as deposit, he stated.

At the book fair held at Bangalore last time, there was a turnover to the extent of Rs. 1.25 crore, he mentioned.

The Deputy Commissioner has issued separate instructions for the students of schools and colleges to visit the fair. The schools and colleges have also been instructed to purchase books from their funds, he explained.

Cultural programme

As part of the fair, cultural programmes are being held daily from 5.30 pm to 8 pm. On the occasion of Maha Shivarathri on Friday, Yakshagana and other cultural programmes have been arranged under the auspices of Kannada Sahitya Parishat upto 12 pm.

Pandit Somanath Maradduru and troupe, Dharwad will present programme at 5.30 pm tomorrow; Appagere Thimmaraju and troupe, Bangalore on Feb. 11, Mysore Rangaswamy and troupe on Feb. 12, Ramya Visishta and troupe, Bangalore on Feb.13; Janardhan (Janni) and troupe, Mysore, on Feb. 14.

Kannada Book Authority member B.N. Lokappa, Kannada and Culture Deputy Director S. Manjappa, District Kannada Sahitya Parishat President Maddikere Gopal and Book Authority Assistant Director Basavaraju were present at the press meet.

Ban violent videogames that turn kids into killers, says Kishour Giri, the bard with a mission from Guwahati.

Kishour has travelled the length and breadth of the country signing his protest songs playing his guitar. Kishour's theme is 'Violin against violence,' and he has come to the city with his message.

In a free-wheeling interview with Star of Mysore, Kishour laid bare his soul and his yearning for a world without violence.

Kishour with his silvery hair tied in a ponytail, a worn leaf green t-shirt and equally well -worn jeans seems to have taken a leaf from songster protestors like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez.

He says that it was way back in 2007 when several ultra outfits were in operation, that he heard about a boy killing his sister with a pellet gun while playfully holding the gun against his sister's ear. That's when Kishour realised that pellet guns and toy guns along with realistic video games were permanently harming the psyche of children. Children are becoming 'used' to killing and death, says Kishour.

Kishour says that there were more than 86 terror outfits in Assam and its neighbouring States plying their trade of hate and violence.

Sings Kishour —

Nallage hinkr, zooey amaka

Nallage behedur austro

Nallage aagata uno

Rakta utso

Nallaga kuno khemotar garb

The meaning is that one "should not turn fire into a fire that engulfs, a knife used in the kitchen into a weapon that kills"... let's not make an utsav of rakto (bloodshed and murder)."

Kishour says that parents and teachers should be motivated enough to wean children away from interactive realtime video games that encourage children to tote up their kills. ("I killed seven before I was killed" kind of games). "I am not a politician nor am I am involved with any NGO," says Kishour when asked whether he was part of some NGO. He also denied being associated with Assom Gana Parished (AGP) though he is a close friend of AGP Chief, Prafulla Kumar Mohanty.

When asked about what his stand on environmental issues was, Kishour said Think-tanks composed of social and political leaders as well as environmentalists should bring about pressure on respective State Governments to stop indiscriminate tree-felling and mining.

Kishour is more passionately concerned with his cause — 'Ban toy weapons and video games.' He plans to hold a protest songfest in the city. —JP

Siddapura, Feb. 9- In a tragic incident, three Tibetans met a watery grave and another rescued among the group of seven youth who went for a swim in Cauvery river at Dubare near Siddapura yesterday.

The victims have been identified as Tensing Chopel (20), Tensing Tosum (20) and Esum Cosum (30), residents of Bylukuppe Tibetan refugee camp. A seven-member group of Bylukuppe Tibetan Lamas went for a swim in Cauvery river near Dubare's elephant camp at 3 pm yesterday. It is learnt that Tibetans used to frequent this spot for having a swim.

As the camp elephants were bring washed there regularly, the spot had developed huge ditches and the nearby tribals had warned the Tibetan group about this. But the youth, ignoring the warning, went for a swim, following which Tensing Chopel, Tensing Tosum, Esum Cosum and Tesam drowned. But three others of the group managed to swim to safety.

Even as the drowning youth screamed for help, Sannakoosu, a tribal of the area, jumped into the river and managed to rescue Tesum. Unfortunately, the others could not be saved from drowning.

Soon after the incident, river rafting experts Devendra and Jagadish rushed to the spot and recovered the bodies of Tensing Chopel and Tensing Tosum. But the body of another victim could not be traced as darkness had set in.

Health Minister Sriramulu who was scheduled to stay overnight in Dubare Jungle Resorts, visited the spot after coming to know of the incident and consoled the families of victims.

Siddapura Police have registered a case in this regard and are investigating.

Delegation to meet CM on Feb. 11

Mysore, Feb. 9 (KK&KMC)- Mysore Vision 2010 - a meeting of elected representatives, bureaucrats, industrialists, NGOs and prominent citizens of the city to discuss budgetary allocation proposals for Mysore, was held at Hotel President here today.

MLA and Chief Minister's Parliamentary Secretary S.A. Ramdas, who convened the meeting, said in his introductory speech that the proposals put forth from various quarters pertaining to the City's and the district's development will be assimilated and compiled.

The proposals will then be presented before the Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa by a delegation from the city on Feb. 11, requesting him for special budgetary allocations, Ramdas said.

During the meeting, an exclusive budget allocation for Rs. 2,000 crore was proposed.

CFTRI Director V. Prakash, speaking after inaugurating the meeting, put forth proposals for rejuvenating the rural regions around the city's periphery by creating Greater Mysore, reviving the traditional Santhe system where farmers could sell their produce directly instead of being forced to resort to 'Distress Selling' and being effaced by the malls and supermarket culture that has engulfed the towns and cities.

The meeting was attended by MLCs Thontadarya, Siddaraju and Prof. K.R. Mallikarjunappa, MLAs Tanveer Sait and S.R. Mahesh, City Police Commissioner Sunil Agarwal, Mysore City Corporation Commissioner K.S. Raikar, Mysore Urban Development Authority Commissioner P.C. Jayanna, Zoo Director Vijay Ranjan Singh, Mysore Airport Authority Director Rajiv Gupta, industrialist R. Guru, film producer-director Rajendra Singh Babu, heads of various educational institutions and art academies and others.

Mysore, Feb.9- The Union Government is yet to clear 18 projects relating to Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) of Mysore and Bangalore.

The projects are estimated to cost Rs. 1,921.53 crore and the report comes in the midst of the opposition's criticism of State Government's under-performance in utilising funds sanctioned under the Mission. The Union Urban Development Ministry had approved in 2006 the City Development Plan (CDP) for Mysore with an estimated budget of Rs. 1,969 cr. over seven years.

The Centre has approved 66 projects for both Bangalore and Mysore. The Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC), headed by the Union Urban Development Secretary has not approved nine projects for Mysore. Out of them, five are under appraisal of the CSMC and the rest have been returned to agencies seeking more details.

The cost of these nine projects is Rs. 702.03 crore, with Rs. 561.62 crore is the share of the Centre and Rs. 70.20 crore is that of the State. Mysore City Corporation (MCC) and Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) submitted three proposals each in 2007 on tourism infrastru-cture at Chamundi Hill (Rs. 34.96 cr.).

The Karnataka Zoo Authority has sought approval for the project on surface water management and rain water harvesting at Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens (Rs. 3.30 crore).

The civic body has also submitted a proposal on implementing the project on conserving natural lakes in Mysore in two stages (four lakes each) and a comprehensive underground drainage scheme for city. The cost of these projects is Rs. 405 crore with Centre's share of Rs. 324.54 crore and State's share of Rs. 40.57 crore.

The projects proposed by MUDA with detailed project reports include construction of a six-lane ring road (Rs. 90.70 crore), construction of houses for economically weaker section of society (Rs. 144 crore) and development of the Heritage Park on 35 acres of land near Lalitha Mahal Palace.

Mysore, Feb. 9 (KVV)- Zilla Panchayat Planning Committee Member and Corporator B.L. Bhyrappa opined that not just the building owners but also the concerned officers should be held responsible if such buildings constructed on allotted MUDA sites had violated norms.

Addressing a press meet at Pathrakarthara Bhavan here on Sunday, Bhyrappa said that Urban Development Minister S. Suresh Kumar had instructed officials to constitute a Vigilance Squad to identify constructions violating the set norms.

"A building constructed on an allotted MUDA site cannot be termed unauthorised. Officers too are responsible for violations cited in the construction for, they have to inspect the site once construction commences after the plan has been approved. The construction work should be stayed if violations are found," Bhyrappa pointed out.

Referring to the Akrama-Sakrama scheme, Bhyrappa regretted that even MUDA sites had been included in the scheme. "Building owners falling in that category have been inconvenienced. They are unable to get bank loans. Water connections too are not possible to be included in the Akrama-Skrama scheme, only new constructions should be covered leaving behind the old ones.

Everyone is responsible for these errors. In future, building owner, officers and politicians should be extra cautious to prevent violations, he suggested.