Senior BJP leader Damodar Rout quits party
Bhubaneswar: Senior BJP leader Damodar Rout resigned from the primary membership of the saffron party on Wednesday, alleging that he was not being involved in party activities ahead of the Bijepur Assembly by-poll in Odisha on October 21.
Rout, who had joined the BJP in March after being dismissed from the ruling BJD, sent his resignation letter to BJP state president B K Panda.
"I feel that the party does not require my involvement in its political programmes and policy-making process after the general elections. This has hurt me," Rout said in the letter.
He was being forced to retire from active politics for not being relevant in the party, the letter read.
Rout, who was a member of the Odisha Assembly for 35 years and a cabinet minister for seven times, had lost the 2019 polls from Balikuda-Ersama Assembly constituency. For the first time, he had contested the election on a BJP ticket.
Rout was the second leader after former MLA Ashok Kumar Panigrahi to quit the saffron party ahead of the Bijepur by-poll.
The former MLA from Paradip mentioned in the letter that he was expelled from the BJD in September 2018 for raising the issue of corruption against the then government.
"The BJP leaders inducted me into the party while I was busy campaigning against corruption in the system. I joined the BJP in New Delhi in the presence of its president.
I was made the partys campaign committee convener before the elections, Rout said.
Pointing out that his name did not figure among the 40 star campaigners for the Bijepur by-poll, Rout said, he was "disgusted" over the BJP state leadership not utilising his vast experience, Rout said.
The veteran leader said he has decided to work for the people on the ideology of the late Biju Patnaik. Therefore, he would prefer to resign from the primary membership of the BJP, Rout said.
"I have no animosity against the party and its leadership," Rout said.
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.
Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
