JDS minister's 'street dog' jibe at BJP leaders
Bengaluru, Dec 29: Taking a dig at BJP leaders, who were "expecting" the Congress-JDS coalition government to fall, JDS leader D C Thamanna has drawn an analogy between them and the 'street dogs' while refuting BJP lawmaker Umesh Katti's claim that the dispensation would collapse soon.
Katti had recently claimed that 15 disgruntled MLAs of the ruling coalition were in touch with him and that the saffron party would form the new government in Karnataka by next week.
Hitting out at Katti, Thammana said, "J H Patel (a former chief minister) had once narrated a story in the state assembly about an elephant and street dogs. He recalled Patel saying an elephant was walking ahead of street dogs who were hoping something would fall from atop the tusker that they would eat.
"Neither did the food fall, nor the dogs got something to eat. This story fits perfectly with BJP leaders, who are expecting this government to fall," the Karnataka Minister told reporters on Friday at Maddur near Mysuru.
Replying to a query, Thamanna said Katti has been predicting the government's fall "today or tomorrow" for quite some time.
"For the past seven months, we are hearing this every day but this has not materialised," he said.
Soon after Katti's claim, state BJP chief and Leader of the Opposition B S Yeddyurappa had ruled out any attempt by his party to destabilise the present dispensation.
He said his party would take an "appropriate decision" if there was political instability in the state.
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.
3 officials of private banks arrested in Gujarat in Rs 2,500 crore cyber fraud; 20 held so far
Rajkot (PTI): Three officials of leading private banks were arrested for their alleged involvement in a Rs 2,500-crore cyber fraud racket in Gujarat's Rajkot district, bringing the number of those held so far in the case to 20, police said on Monday.
Those arrested were identified as Maulik Kamani, a personal manager at Yes Bank in Padadhari; Kalpesh Dangariya, a manager at Axis Bank in Jamnagar; and Anurag Baldha, a personal banker with HDFC Bank, Rajkot (Rural) Superintendent of Police Vijay Gurjar said.
Dangariya and Baldha were previously employed with Yes Bank, he added.
Kamani allegedly assisted the earlier arrested accused in opening and managing suspicious accounts. He also helped bypass banking alerts triggered by high-value transactions by submitting additional documentation to keep accounts active, the SP said.
Kamani was allegedly involved in cash withdrawals that were later routed through hawala channels (illegal money transfer system), supported by digital evidence recovered from his mobile device, he added.
Dangariya is accused of facilitating the opening of fraudulent accounts using fake or misrepresented identities, police said.
He also assisted in structuring documentation, including Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC)-related papers, to prevent transactions from being flagged as suspicious, they said.
On the other hand, Baldha opened new accounts after verification and certification processes as part of the racket, Gurjar informed.
All the three accused are in police custody, while others are in jail under judicial remand, SP said.
So far, police have identified 85 bank accounts linked to the racket with 535 complaints filed on the cyber crime portal.
The total transaction linked to the cyber fraud exceeds Rs 2,500 crore, police said.
The earlier fraud amount was pegged by police at Rs 1,500 crore.
