Bengaluru violence: NIA conducts searches at 30 places, arrests key accused

Bengaluru, Apr 30: In a horrific incident, a quarrel between a 60-year-old woman and her 19-year-old daughter ended in the murder of the latter, after they both stabbed each other. The incident took place in Shastri Nagar in Banashankari police station limits in Bengaluru, on Monday evening.

The deceased has been identified as Sahitya, who had completed PUC this year. Her mother, who has sustained stab injuries, has been hospitalised. Police said the incident occurred around 7.30 pm, when a fight broke out between the mother and daughter at their house.

They both allegedly picked up knives and started stabbing each other. While the mother stabbed the daughter thrice in the neck and stomach, the daughter stabbed her mother four times. Hearing the commotion, the neighbours rushed to their house and alerted the police on seeing both of them lying in a pool of blood.

The police, who rushed to the scene, shifted both women to hospital, where Sahitya was declared brought dead. The mother, whose name was not revealed, is undergoing treatment. 

“As per the initial probe, only the two were living in the house. The reasons for the incident will be known only after the mother recovers and we record her statement,” the police said. The Banashankari police have registered a murder case and are further investigating.

Bengaluru, Apr 25: Former union minister C M Ibrahim, who was expelled from Janata Dal (Secular) for protesting against party’s alliance with BJP, has stressed on need for a third front not just at the national level, but also in Karnataka. 

Addressing a news conference in Bengaluru on Wednesday, he said he’s planning to form a third front in Karnataka along with Lingayat Seer Dingaleshwar Swami.

Ibrahim said that he will tour the state between April 27 and May 4 and that he would meet Dingaleshwar Swami on April 29. “There is a need for the third front in this country. We will try to establish a third front in association with the seer and we hope we will be successful in those efforts,” he said.

Expressing disappointment with the Congress for not doing enough to gain the full confidence of Muslims, Ibrahim said that Congress is concentrating only on certain communities for votes, and ignoring Muslims. 

“The Congress is not even caring for Muslims and Dalit votes. In some Muslim areas they did not even hold campaigns seeking votes and trying to convince the communities which never vote in their favour. I fear this may lead to low turnout and Congress may lose its vote base,” he opined.

Mentioning about guarantees on which Congress is strongly relying during this election, Ibrahim said, such things won’t work all the time. “Guarantees will not work anymore. Every election you need to give something new to the voters,” he added.

On Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that Congress is trying to appease minorities for votes, Ibrahim requested both Congress and BJP parties not bring Muslims between them. “I request both parties. Leave us alone. Don’t make us sandwiches for your political sake. We are living with peace and hope even the Prime Minister will understand this,” Ibrahim added.

Launching a broadside against Prime Minister Deve Gowda, Ibrahim said, “Deve Gowda has sold his personality itself. Whatever I have told about JD(S) has come true. I pity, a former Prime Minister should not have come to this stage,” he said. 

Campaigning for 14 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka going to polls in the first phase on April 26 will come to an end on Wednesday evening.

A total of 247 candidates -- 226 men and 21 women -- are in the fray for this round of voting in most of the southern and coastal districts.

It is a straight electoral contest between the ruling Congress and the BJP-Janata Dal (Secular) combine in the State.

While the Congress is contesting in all 14 seats, BJP has fielded nominees in 11, and its alliance partner JD(S) in three -- Hassan, Mandya and Kolar.

Besides the three, the segments where elections will be held on Friday are: Udupi-Chikmagalur, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore North, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South and Chikkballapur.

The intense campaigning for the past about a month saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah leading from the front for the BJP, holding rallies and roadshows. BJP President J P Nadda, some Union Ministers and Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant too pitched in.

Veteran BJP leader and former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and the party's state president B Y Vijayendra also campaigned extensively.

Congress president M Mallikarjun Kharge, senior leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy were among the prominent names who led the charge for the party.

And for the JD(S), it was the 90-year-old party patriarch and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, who led the campaign.

Chikkaballapur has a maximum number of 29 candidates, followed by 24 in Bangalore Central and Dakshina Kannada has the least number - nine.

Kumaraswamy from Mandya, his brother-in-law and noted cardiologist C N Manjunath from Bangalore Rural on a BJP ticket, erstwhile Mysuru royal family scion Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar from Mysore, also from the BJP, and state Congress President Shivakumar's brother and MP D K Suresh from Bangalore Rural, are among the prominent candidates in the fray in the first phase.

The state has a total of 28 Lok Sabha segments. The remaining 14 constituencies, mostly in the northern districts, will go to polls on May seven.