Fire mishap in Bengaluru Corporation office: Two persons detained
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday said police have detained two people who had escaped after the fire mishap at the Bengaluru municipal Corporation's office, which left nine people injured.
He said the police have started investigation into the fire mishap at the Quality Control Laboratory of the civic agency on Friday.
"Police have to register a case and investigate. Two persons had fled. They have been detained. They are the (BBMP) staff. They ran away soon after the fire. They could have doused fire soon after the incident as there was safety equipment available there," Shivakumar, who holds Bengaluru Development portfolio, told reporters here.
Others on the top floor were trapped by the time they ran down the stairs.
The DCM said three inquiries were going on simultaneously – one is the departmental inquiry by the BBMP, second is police investigation and third by the Electrical Inspectorate to investigate whether the fire happened due to a short circuit.
According to him, the Quality Control Lab was not the place to store documents but it has been done.
"Whom to blame for it? The accident has already happened. We have to provide the best treatment to the injured. We will shift this lab elsewhere," he said.
The Bengaluru Central Division DCP Srinivas Gowda told reporters that a Group-D employee who was present there is being interrogated.
"We are interrogating one person who was on the ground floor at the time of incident…As I said, a Group-D employee who was there is being interrogated. Presently we have detained two people," he said.
Gowda said prima facie it appears that the fire happened due to a highly inflammable material benzene, which is used for testing the strength of asphalt.
According to him, the FSL teams and scientific officers arrived on the spot and collected proof. The incident happened days after the Congress government ordered a judicial probe into all the works in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) during the BJP rule from 2019 to 2023.
This apart, the government formed four panels headed by IAS officers.
The nine injured have sustained burns on their faces and hands, according to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and DCM Shivakumar.
The Congress in Karnataka drew flak for its tweet on the fire accident, which it deleted later. Minutes after the incident, the Congress in Karnataka tweeted from its official handle saying that the fire incident was not an accident but a conspiracy.
Meanwhile, BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal tweeted that the Congress Twitter handle is just like the Congress party which runs away after making allegations.
"The unbridled inept people write whatever comes to their mind and when we question their authenticity, they delete the tweet and run away," Patil tweeted.
He also said, "Wasn’t there a nobleman who said that action will be taken against those who spread fake news? Where has he disappeared?"
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
