Dharmasthala mass burial case: SIT produces complainant witness in Belthangady court
Mangaluru: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Saturday produced the complainant witness in the Dharmasthala mass burial case before the Belthangady court after taking him into custody.
According to sources, the witness had earlier claimed to have exhumed one of the buried bodies and produced a human skull, allegedly belonging to it. However, during interrogation, he failed to clarify where the skull had been recovered from.
After prolonged questioning on Friday night, the witness reportedly admitted that the skull he submitted did not belong to the body he had buried. Following this revelation, SIT officials placed him under custody, unlike in previous instances when he was allowed to leave with his legal team.
The witness underwent a medical examination on Saturday morning before being produced in court.
Meanwhile, the SIT has so far carried out exhumations in 17 of the 18 sites identified in Dharmasthala village. Human remains were recovered from one site and skeletal fragments from the surface of another. These have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for analysis, with the report awaited.
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Power tariffs under BESCOM to rise from May 1
Bengaluru (PTI): Power bills for consumers under the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) will go up from May 1, following an order issued by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on Friday.
The hike comes after KERC allowed the BESCOM to recover a revenue deficit of Rs 2,068 crore incurred in 2024-25, from the consumers.
As a result, for every unit of electricity consumed in 2024-25, the customers will be charged an additional 56 paise, it said.
"BESCOM shall calculate, for each of the active consumers of FY2024-25 the amount to be recovered based on their actual energy consumption during FY2024-25. Such amount shall be recovered during FY 2026-27 in equal monthly instalments, to be called as 'FY25 True up Charges', commencing from the first meter reading date falling on or after 1 May 2026 and concluding with the reading date ending on 30 April 2027," the order said.
"It is further ordered that BESCOM shall maintain a separate head of account, allocated for the purpose, to record the adjustment of the said amount to ensure full recovery of the deficit," it added.
Similarly Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (CESC) has also recorded a revenue deficit of Rs 121.71 crore and can collect an additional 15 paisa per unit for consumption in 2024-25, official sources said.
