Interfaith extramarital affair: Man arrested after Bajrang Dal attack

February 24, 2015

Udupi, Feb 24: A 29-year-old man was arrested by the police on the charge of cheating and sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman belonging to a Scheduled Caste at Nitte coming under the Karkala Rural Police Station limits on Monday.

Vilas Nayak, Deputy Superintendent of Police, said that the man, Mohammed Asif, was married and had three children. He had developed friendship with the woman, promising her that he would marry her.

He also falsely gave his name as Adi Shetty to her. He sexually assaulted her at a shed at Nitte on February 4.

When Asif and the woman tried to meet on the night of February 22, they were caught by members of the Bajrang Dal, who beat him. Meanwhile, the woman lodged a complaint at the Karkala Rural Police Station. Asif was helped by three of his friends Ravi, Vijay and Yogish, and the police are looking out for them.

A case was registered under Sections 376 and 420 of Indian Penal Code and The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities Act). The police arrested Asif and produced him before a court in Udupi, which remanded him in judicial custody till March 6, 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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