Mangaluru: 38 illegal immigrants from Sri Lanka arrested

coastaldigest.com news network

June 12, 2021

Mangaluru, June 12: The City Crime Branch police on Friday arrested 38 Sri Lankan nationals who have illegally migrated to India. The arrests were made during raids at multiple locations in and around Mangaluru. Six local people, who had sheltered these illegal immigrants have also been arrested.

Mangaluru Commissioner of Police N Shashi Kumar told reporters that the operation was launched following a tip-off from Tamil Nadu police.

He said that the illegal immigrants were trafficked to India with the promise of jobs in Canada. They were staying at two lodgings and two houses for past 45 days claiming to be daily wage workers and fishermen from Tamil Nadu.

According to Commissioner, they had left Sri Lanka on March 17 by paying Rs 6 to Rs 10 lakh in Sri Lankan rupees to an agent. They reached Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi by boats.

The agents, fearing intense scrutiny of foreign nationals due to Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, shifted the Sri Lankan nationals in buses first to Bengaluru and later to Mangaluru. The commissioner added that an organised illegal trafficking racket was operating in Tamil Nadu.

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Campus politics: DKS pushes to restore student elections in Karnataka banned since 1989

News Network

November 26,2025

Bengaluru, Nov 26: Karnataka is taking its first concrete steps towards lifting a three-decade-old ban on student elections in colleges and universities. Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar announced Wednesday that the state government will form a small committee to study the reintroduction of campus polls, a practice halted in 1989 following incidents of violence.

Speaking at a 'Constitution Day' event organised by the Karnataka Congress, Mr. Shivakumar underscored the move's aim: nurturing new political leadership from the grassroots.

"Recently, (Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha) Rahul Gandhi wrote a letter to me and Chief Minister (Siddaramaiah) asking us to think about restarting student elections," Shivakumar stated. "I'm announcing today that we'll form a small committee and seek a report on this."

Student elections were banned in Karnataka in 1989, largely due to concerns over violence and the infiltration of political party affiliates into campus life. The ban effectively extinguished vibrant student bodies and the pipeline of young leaders they often produced.

Mr. Shivakumar, who also serves as the Karnataka Congress president, said that former student leaders will be consulted to "study the pros and cons" of the re-introduction.

Acknowledging the history of the ban, he added, "There were many criminal activities taking place back then. We’ll see how we can conduct (student) elections by regulating such criminal activities."

The Deputy CM reminisced about his own journey, which began on campus. He recalled his political activism at Sri Jagadguru Renukacharya College leading to his first Assembly ticket in 1985 at the age of 23. "That's how student leadership was at the time. Such leadership has gone today. College elections have stopped," he lamented, adding that for many, college elections were "like a big movement" where leaders were forged.

The move, driven by the Congress high command's push to cultivate young talent, will face scrutiny from academics and university authorities who have, in the past, expressed concern that the return of polls could disrupt the peaceful academic environment and turn campuses into political battlegrounds.

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