Two days on, cops yet to trace prime suspect in Puttur murder case

[email protected] (News Network)
June 16, 2012

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Puttur, June 16: Although two days have passed since four members of a family were allegedly murdered at their residence at Kakkur of Bettampady village in Puttur taluk, police are yet to trace Venkataramana Bhat , who is the prime suspect in the case.

The police have initiated a search operation to trace the whereabouts of Venkatramana Bhat, who is suspected to have gone missing after the incident.

Three teams have been constituted to search for the accused.

The deceased are Sandhya V Bhat (45), a teacher by profession, her three children named Vedya (18), Harigovind Sharma (15) and Vinutha (12).

A team of police will comprise of District Crime Investigation Bureau, another will be headed by Puttur ASP and third team will be headed by Rural Circle Inspector. These teams will search for the accused at various places including Kerala, Maharastra, Bangalore etc.

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The accused has switched off his mobile but the police have found that the accused had thrown his mobile in Kakkur area before leaving the village.

Though there were rumours that Bhat was spotted at Mangalore airport on Friday afternoon, it was later learnt to be false information.

Vimala, the lady who used to assist Bhat in feeding information to the computer was interrogated by the police on Friday and during the interrogation, Vimala is said to have denied to have any sort of relationship with Bhat. The police released Vimala on Friday evening on conditions of summoning her anytime they would find the need to interrogate her again in future.

Bhat had taken up research on gravitation force. Following this interest, he had even called a press meet sometime ago claiming that he has designed a machine, which can produce one watt energy per day using gravitational force.

“The unit costs Rs 80,000 and I have accomplished something that no scientist has achieved so far. My invention will solve power crisis permanently,” Bhat had claimed in the press meet.

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People who know him closely say that he was a difficult person with bizarre interests and behaviour. Many suspect that this bizarreness of his must have compelled him to make his family to death.

Bhat, who was also an astrologer, shared strained relation with almost every person in the village.

His father Kundaya Bhat had large landholding but had lost most of it to the occupants and cultivators of land in wake of land reforms.

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News Network
December 19,2025

Mangaluru: In a decisive move to tackle the city’s deteriorating sanitation infrastructure, the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) has announced a massive ₹1,200 crore action plan to overhaul its underground drainage (UGD) network.

The initiative, spearheaded by Deputy Commissioner and MCC Administrator Darshan HV, aims to bridge "missing links" in the current system that have left residents grappling with overflowing sewage and environmental hazards.

The Breaking Point

The announcement follows a high-intensity phone-in session on Thursday, where the DC was flooded with grievances from frustrated citizens. Residents, including Savithri from Yekkur, described a harrowing reality: raw sewage from apartments leaking into stormwater drains, creating a "permanent stink" and turning residential zones into mosquito breeding grounds.

"We are facing immense difficulties due to the stench and the health risks. Local officials have remained silent until now," one resident reported during the session.

The Strategy: A Six-Year Vision

DC Darshan HV confirmed that the proposed plan is not a temporary patch but a comprehensive six-year roadmap designed to accommodate Mangaluru’s projected population growth. Key highlights of the plan include:

•    Infrastructure Expansion: Laying additional pipelines to connect older neighborhoods to the main grid.

•    STP Crackdown: Stricter enforcement of Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) regulations. While new apartments are required to have functional STPs, many older buildings lack them entirely, and several newer units are reportedly non-functional.

•    Budgetary Push: The plan has already been discussed with the district in-charge minister and the Secretary of the Urban Development Department. It is slated for formal presentation in the upcoming state budget.

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News Network
December 15,2025

Mangaluru police have arrested a 27-year-old NRI on his return from Saudi Arabia in connection with an Instagram post allegedly containing derogatory and provocative remarks about the Hindu religion, officials said on Monday.

The accused, Abdul Khader Nehad, a resident of Ulaibettu in Mangaluru, was working in Saudi Arabia when the post was uploaded, police said.

A suo motu case was registered at the Bajpe police station on October 11 after an allegedly offensive post circulated from the Instagram account ‘team_sdpi_2025’. Police said the content was flagged for being provocative and derogatory in nature.

During the investigation, technical analysis traced the Instagram post to Nehad, who was residing abroad at the time, a senior police officer said. Based on these findings, a Look Out Circular (LOC) was issued against him.

On December 14, Nehad arrived from Saudi Arabia at Calicut International Airport in Kerala, where he was taken into custody on arrival. Police said further investigation is underway.

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News Network
December 7,2025

SHRIMP.jpg

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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