Udupi: The Udupi sessions court has given 15 days' conditional bail to Nandalike Niranjan Bhat, 30, the accused in the murder of businessman Bhaskar Shetty. Bhat had been in prison for four years, unable to get bail.

His father Srinivas Bhat, who had been accused of destroying evidence of the case, died of ill-health on June 22. Since Niranjan Bhat is the only son of Srinivas Bhat, he had requested for conditional bail to conduct the last rites of his father.

Justice C M Joshi, Udupi district and sessions judge, has granted Bhat bail. While the District Magistrate's court granted bail on June 24. The court has ordered that Bhat submit a bond of Rs 5 lakh for the conditional bail, appear in court, and submit himself to judicial custody on July 7.

Bhat, who is currently in the Parappana Agrahara Jail, Bengaluru, is likely to be released on conditional bail on June 25, said sources.

Bhat has been accused of murdering Bhaskar Shetty along with his wife and son at his house in Indrali on July 28, 2016, before burning the bodies. The police arrested him on August 8, 2016. Bhat had tried to kill himself by swallowing his diamond ring and earrings.

Srinivas Bhat and Raghavendra had been arrested on August 11, 2016, for the destruction of evidence of the case. The Udupi District and Sessions Court had granted them bail on October 1, 2016.

Srinivas Bhat, who had been suffering from ill-health for some years, failed to present himself for the hearings. The court had rejected Niranjan Bhat's plea for a month's bail to take care of his father on August 9, 2019, but has granted him conditional bail after four years.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



New York (AP): A Mexican navy sailing ship hit the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday during a promotional tour in New York City, the top of its three masts slamming into the iconic span and partially collapsing as the boat floated in the East River. Nineteen people were injured in the crash.

The New York Fire Department press desk confirmed that authorities responded to injuries.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said 19 people were injured in the crash, four seriously, but the 142-year-old bridge was spared major damage. The cause of the collision was under investigation.

In a scene captured in multiple eyewitness videos, the masts could be seen snapping and partially collapsing as they crashed into the deck of the bridge. Videos showed heavy traffic on the span at the time of the collision.

The vessel, which was flying a giant green, white and red Mexican flag, then drifted toward the edge of the river as onlookers scrambled away from shore. Sailors could be seen aloft in the rigging on the damaged masts.

Sydney Neidell and Lily Katz told The Associated Press they were sitting outside to watch the sunset when they saw the vessel strike the bridge and one of its masts snap. Looking closer, they saw someone dangling from high on the ship.

“We saw someone dangling, and I couldn't tell if it was just blurry or my eyes, and we were able to zoom in on our phone and there was someone dangling from the harness from the top for like at least like 15 minutes before they were able to rescue them,” Katz said.

They said they saw two people removed from the ship on stretchers onto smaller boats.

The Mexican navy said in a post on the social platform X that the Cuauhtemoc, an academy training vessel, was damaged in an accident with the Brooklyn Bridge that prevented it from continuing its voyage.

It added that the status of personnel and material was under review by naval and local authorities, which were providing assistance.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry said on X that its ambassador to the U.S. and officials from the Mexican consulate in New York were in contact with local authorities to provide assistance to “the affected cadets,” but it did not mention injuries.

The Brooklyn Bridge, which opened in 1883, has a nearly 1,600-foot (490-meter) main span supported by two masonry towers. More than 100,000 vehicles and an estimated 32,000 pedestrians cross every day, according to the city's transportation department, and its walkway is a major tourist attraction.

The Cuauhtemoc - about 297 feet long and 40 feet wide (90.5 meters long and 12 meters wide), according to the Mexican navy - sailed for the first time in 1982.

Each year it sets out at the end of classes at the naval military school to finish cadets' training. This year it left the Mexican port of Acapulco, on the Pacific coast, on April 6 with 277 people onboard, the navy said then.

The Mexican consulate said May 13 on X that the Cuauhtemoc, also called the “Ambassador and Knight of the Seas,” arrived that day and docked at pier 17. It invited people to visit through May 17.

The ship was scheduled to visit 22 ports in 15 nations, including Kingston, Jamaica; Havana, Cuba; Cozumel, Mexico; and New York.

It also had planned to go to Reykjavik, Iceland; Bordeaux, Saint Malo and Dunkirk, France; and Aberdeen, Scotland, among others, for a total of 254 days, 170 of them at sea.