7 saffronists arrested after attack on students for attending Eid party at friend’s house

coastaldigest.com news network

August 23, 2018

Mangaluru, Aug 23: The police have arrested seven persons owning allegiance to hardline Hindutva groups after they allegedly abused and assaulted boys and girls belonging to different communities for attending Eid-ul-Adha (Bakrid) festivities at their classmate’s house in Puttur Taluk of Dakshina Kannada district.

The incident took place on Wednesday (August 22) when a group of five male and five female college students had gone to their friend Abdul Shameer’s house at Nadpally in Renja under the limits of Puttur rural police station for Eid dinner.

They boarded a bus from Mangaluru and got off at Renja. As they were about to board an auto-rickshaw to Nadpally, auto-rickshaw driver Rukma abused the boys for taking girls from another community with them to Shameer’s house. Rukma called another auto-rickshaw driver Ganesh and six other persons and assaulted a boy and then abused the girls. All the assailants are said to be activists of saffron groups that are known for targeting Muslims.

Following information from onlookers, the police rushed to the spot and shifted the injured boy to a nearby hospital.

The police took suo motu notice of the incident and arrested Rukma, Ganesh, Satish Karnappady, Seshappa Pitter, Kunhi, Duggappa and Purushottama.

They have been charged under Sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) of Indian Penal Code.

The police ensured that the students had food at Shameer’s house. The police acknowledged the help they received from local residents belonging to the Hindu community in arresting the accused. The residents strongly condemned the conduct of the accused, the police said.

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Elusive bamboo shrimp resurfaces in Mangaluru estuary after 70 years

News Network

December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A rare bamboo shrimp has been rediscovered on mainland India more than 70 years after it was last reported, confirming for the first time the presence of Atyopsis spinipes in the country. The find was made by researchers from the Centre for Climate Change Studies at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, during surveys in Karnataka and Odisha.

The team — shrimp expert Dr S Prakash, PhD scholar K Kunjulakshmi, and Mangaluru-based researcher Maclean Antony Santos — combined field surveys, ecological assessments and DNA analysis to identify the elusive species. Their findings, published in Zootaxa, resolve decades of taxonomic confusion stemming from a 1951 report that misidentified the species as Atyopsis moluccensis without strong evidence.

The shrimp has now been confirmed at two locations: the Mulki–Pavanje estuary near Mangaluru and the Kuakhai River in Bhubaneswar. Historical specimens from the Andaman Islands, previously labelled as A. moluccensis, were also found to be misidentified and actually belong to A. spinipes.

The rediscovery began after an aquarium hobbyist in Odisha spotted a shrimp in 2022, prompting systematic surveys across Udupi, Karwar and Mangaluru. Four female specimens were collected in Mulki and one in Odisha, all genetically matching.

Researchers warn the species may exist in very small, vulnerable populations as freshwater habitats face increasing pressure from pollution, sand mining and infrastructure development. All verified specimens have been deposited with the Zoological Survey of India for future reference.

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