Karnataka poll date leak: EC sets up panel to probe
New Delhi: The Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat on Tuesday caught by surprise when he learnt during a news conference that a BJP leader had already made public the election dates in Karnataka, even before he could do it.
The CEC was yet to read out the poll schedule when reporters drew his attention to the tweet by the BJP IT cell chief, Amit Malviya, who had already posted that Karnataka would go to polls on May 12.
The EC later constituted a committee of senior officers of the commission to investigate the matter and submit its report within seven days.
"Certain things may have leaked for which Election Commission will take appropriate action," he told reporters.
"It will be investigated. Be assured, legally and administratively befitting action would be taken," added Rawat, as several mediapersons repeatedly asked him for the commission's reaction to the unprecedented leak of the election dates.
"Karnataka will vote on 12 May 2018, counting on 18 May 2018," Malviya posted on Twitter at 11.08 am - almost 15 minutes before the CEC officially announced the schedule. He got the date of polling correct, but the date of counting wrong. The CEC said that the votes would be counted on May 15.
The BJP IT cell chief, however, deleted the tweet after it triggered a controversy.
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Wedding card helps police crack robbery case; victim's brother among 4 held
Palghar (PTI): A marriage invitation card has helped police in solving a case of robbery in Maharashtra's Palghar district, with the victim's brother found to be involved in the crime, an official said on Thursday.
The incident took place on March 28 near Vavar village in Jawhar, he said.
The victim, Boru Khandu Binnar (30), resident of Khodala in Mokhada taluka here, was travelling in a pickup van when three unidentified persons flagged him down under the pretext that their motorbike had broken down, District Superintendent of Police Balasaheb Patil said.
Believing their plea for help, the man asked his van driver to halt to assist them.
The robbers then threw chilli powder into the eyes of the man and the van driver and took away Rs 6,85,500 in cash kept behind the driver's seat. They also threatened the man with dire consequences before fleeing, the official said.
The Jawhar police subsequently registered a case against the then unidentified culprits under sections 309(4) (robbery) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
During the investigation at the crime scene, the police found traces of chilli powder, and an usual piece of evidence - a marriage invitation card in which the chilli powder was wrapped, the official said.
The police tracked down a person whose name was mentioned on the invitation, and found him to be involved in the robbery. Later, three other culprits were also nabbed, he said, adding the four were taken into custody over the last couple of days.
According to the official, out of the four persons arrested, Dattu Khandu Binnar (34), the victim's brother, allegedly planned the robbery.
The other three arrested persons have been identified as Kiran Ananta Lamte (23), resident of Mokhada, whose name was on the marriage invitation card, Parmeshwar Kamlakar Zole (24) and Dada Bajirao Pehre (24), both from Nashik, he said.
The police recovered the entire stolen cash from the arrested persons, the official said.
