Bangalore

The Central government has said that a proper mechanism is in place to monitor the activities of terror groups after a British media report claimed the man behind the most influential pro-Islamic State Twitter account followed by foreign jihadis is from Bengaluru.

“We have a mechanism in place. We see everything,” Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju told reporters here on Friday.

The Minister was reacting to a report by Channel 4 News suggesting that an Indian executive based in Bengaluru could be behind the most influential IS twitter account @ShamiWitness.

Use of mobile phones in the Karnataka assembly was banned today, a day after the House was rocked by chaos over a BJP member watching a zoomed in picture of Priyanka Gandhi during proceedings.

Speaker Kagodu Thimappa suspended Prabhu Chavan, BJP legislator whose act which was caught on TV camera triggered a storm, for a day, and pulled up housing minister M H Ambareesh and Congress member S S Mallikarjun for using phones in the House.

The suspect behind a pro-ISIS twitter account followed by foreign jihadis may not be based in Bangaluru as claimed by a British media report and he could be using a pseudonym — Mehdi Mehboob Biswas, according to preliminary assessment by central intelligence agencies.

The individual may not be based in the IT city as claimed by the Channel 4 News but it has been confirmed that the now defunct twitter handle @ShamiWitness had played significant roles in the Islamic State’s propaganda war.

Use of mobile phones in the Karnataka Assembly was banned on Friday, a day after the House was rocked by chaos over a BJP member watching a zoomed in picture of Priyanka Gandhi during proceedings.

Speaker Kagodu Thimappa suspended Prabhu Chavan, BJP legislator whose act caught on TV camera triggered a storm, for a day, and pulled up Housing Minister M H Ambareesh and Congress member S S Mallikarjun for using phones in the House.

Crime branch of the city police has launched a probe to look into the veracity of a British media report claiming the man behind the most influential pro-Islamic State Twitter account followed by foreign jihadis, is from the IT city, a top police official said.

“We have received the information in the morning on this. We have asked the crime branch to look into the veracity of the report. Whatever action is to be taken, will be taken,” City Police Commissioner M N Reddi told reporters here.

An Indian executive based in Bengaluru could be one of the biggest online recruiters for terror group Islamic State, Britain’s Channel 4 News has said, claiming to have unmasked the identity of the “man behind the most influential IS twitter account.”

In an embarrassment to the Bharatiya Janata Party, which sits in Opposition in Karnataka, a party MLA on Wednesday courted controversy as he purportedly watched the zoomed in photo of Priyanka Gandhi on his mobile phone inside the Legislative Assembly.

BJP MLA for Aurad, Prabhu Chavan, was yesterday caught on camera looking at Priyanka’s photo during a serious debate on sugarcane pricing in the Assembly.

Another party MLA, UB Banakar, from Hirekerur in Haveri, was found playing Candy Crush Saga game on his mobile.

Karnataka Assembly was on Thursday adjourned briefly amid chaos over a BJP MLA watching a zoomed in picture of Priyanka Gandhi on his mobile phone during House proceedings.

As the House assembled, slogan shouting Congress members rushed to the front row of seats, demanding strict action against Prabhu Chavan for the “indecent act” yesterday.

The members said Chavan’s “unacceptable” conduct had hurt the dignity of their leader and demanded action against him.

Daughter of a former state top police official hailing from North-East has alleged that she was racially attacked by two women while shopping in the city.

Rachel Sangliana, daughter of former Bangalore Police Commissioner H T Sangliana, also former Member of Parliament, has alleged that a racial slur was passed against her by a woman and later attacked by her (woman) and another lady when she tried to defend herself.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday criticised the spurt of racial attacks in Bangalore on people from the Northeast after the daughter of former police commissioner and MP HT Sangliana’s daughter Rachel allegedly faced harassment, adding that it was a matter of huge concern that the family of such an esteemed personality had to face such an assault.

According to reports, Rachel, who was shopping in a mall, faced both verbal and physical attacks by two women, while bystanders offered no help.

The Karnataka Assembly was on Tuesday adjourned twice after BJP MLAs demanded adjournment motion to discuss problems faced by farmers, including sugarcane price issue, as the winter session of the Legislature began.

Former Chief Minister and Opposition Leader, Jagadish Shettar sought adjournment motion and criticised the government for failing to keep its promise on payment to sugarcane growers made on the floor of the House in the last winter session.

In the wake of the alleged rape of a 27-year-old woman executive in Delhi by a taxi driver, City Police on Tuesday issued instructions that all drivers must get their background verification done before December 31.

“All the drivers who are running taxis shall get their background verification done by end of the month of December,” City Police Commissioner M N Reddi said.

Speaking to reporters after meeting taxi operators, owners and tourist taxi association, he said, police would verify whether they were involved in any criminal case in the records that are available with the police.

Daughter of a former state top police official hailing from North-East has alleged that she was racially attacked by two women while shopping in the city.

Rachel Sangliana, daughter of former Bangalore Police Commissioner H T Sangliana, also former Member of Parliament, has alleged that a racial slur was passed against her by a woman and later attacked by her (woman) and another lady when she tried to defend herself.

Police Tuesday made background check compulsory for cab drivers to ensure safety and security of citizens, especially women using taxi service for commuting across the city, a top official said.

“We have directed all taxi operators in the city to do a thorough background check of drivers employed with them and not to employ any drivers without verifying their service record with us,” Bengaluru police commissioner M.N. Reddi told reporters here.

Indian software industry’s representative body Nasscom Tuesday certified the courseware developed by the world’s leading IEEE Computer Society to provide ready workforce for the IT and IT-enabled services sector.

“Our IT-ITeS sector skills council has approved the alignment of curricula developed by IEEE for five industry identified job roles and IT services qualification packs,” National Association of Software Services Companies (Nasscom) vice-president Sandhya Chintala told reporters here.

President Pranab Mukherjee today pitched for introducing technology-intensive solutions for governance and for improving transparency and accountability to meet quality of service delivery.

Citing meeting people’s expectations and effective delivery mechanism as parameters for the success of any public programme and good governance, he said responsiveness in catering to citizen’s need is a challenge before the administration.

To create awareness against superstitions, Karnataka excise minister Satish Jarkiholi along with hundreds of people spent a night at a crematorium here.

The minister spent the night at Vaikunth Dham, a burial ground which is now a crematorium, to also observe the death anniversary of B R Ambedkar on Saturday.

Jarkiholi and hundred others had their dinner at the crematorium belonging to Belagavi City Corporation (BCC) as part of an exercise to eradicate superstitions.

Armed with several issues including rising sexual assaults on minor girls in Bengaluru schools and “tainted ministers”, the Opposition is raring to haul the Congress government over the coals, as the 10-day winter session of the Legislature begins here tomorrow.

Setting the stage for a major offensive, the BJP has announced a programme to lay seige to “Suvarna Soudha”, where the session will be held amid tight security, on the opening day of the session.

Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Monday filed a voluminous paperbook of her appeal in the Karnataka High Court in line with the Supreme Court order while granting her conditional bail in the disproportionate assets case.

“Jayalalithaa today filed the paperbook of her appeal as the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister had assured the apex court to do the same by December 18,” B Kumar, Senior Counsel for the 66-year-old leader, told PTI here.

President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said the happiness of citizens is the foremost objective of a welfare state, and added that it is the fulcrum on which rests its other goals.

Mukherjee attended the launch of ‘Mobile One’, a Mobile Governance application of the Government of Karnataka as the Chief Guest at Bengaluru today.

A convict, sentenced to death for rape and murder, committed suicide by hanging in Hindalaga prison premises here, a police official on Sunday said.

“Nanajappa Shivananjappa, who was sentenced to death for rape and murder, last night committed suicide by hanging himself in the toilet near barrack No. 7 of Hindalaga central jail,” Belagavi Police Commissioner S Ravi told PTI here.

The Second Judicial Magistrate First Class Court at Mysuru had awarded death penalty to Shivananjappa (22) who hailed from Yedahalli village in Mysuru, he said.

A 9-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by four minors at an open space in Hospet, following which the accused were arrested, a top police official said today.

“We have arrested four minors in the age group of ten to thirteen years for gangraping the nine-year-old student in an open space at NC Colony in Hospet, about 60 km from here, yesterday,” Ballari Superintendent of Police Chetan Singh Rathore told PTI here.

To create awareness against superstitions, Karnataka Excise Minister Satish Jarkiholi along with hundreds of people spent a night at a crematorium here.

The Minister spent the night at Vaikunth Dham, a burial ground which is now a crematorium, to also observe the death anniversary of B R Ambedkar yesterday.

Jarkiholi and hundred others had their dinner at the crematorium belonging to Belagavi City Corporation (BCC) as part of an exercise to eradicate superstitions.

Naresh V.S, riding a Hero ZMR motorcycle, emerged the overall winner in the Pirelli Rally of Karnataka, the second round of the FMSCI Indian Rally Series for two-wheelers held near here Sunday.

Suhail Ahmed, on a Hero Impulse, was overall second, while Madhu Somashekar (TVS Apache RTR 180) finished third overall.

The results:
Two-stroke Open: 1. Raghu R (49:29 minutes); 2. Ravi Kumar (50:07); 3. Elango K (53:00). Bullet Class: 1. Akash Aithal (52:33); 2. Junaid (54:26); 3. Sanjay (55:34). Scooter Class: 1. Abijith Shetty (55:01); 2. Suresh SV (57:55); 3. Gopal Krishna (1:03:52 hours).

The Indian Golf Union is making efforts to conduct two new professional events next year in addition to the Hero Indian Open, a $1.5 million event sanctioned by the European Tour and Asian Tour.

Disclosing this at a media interaction here Saturday, IGU’s new president Jaydeep Chitlangia also added that the tournaments could also have either Asian Tour or European Tour classification.