Accused in Lankesh case sold Patanjali products in Aurangabad
Aurangabad, Jan 10: Rishikesh Dewerkar, arrested by Karnataka SIT in the journalist Gauri Lankesh murder, was living in central Maharashtra's Aurangabad city until 2016 and sold Patanjali products, the people who knew him said here on Friday.
The Special Investigation Team of Karnataka arrested him from Katras town near Dhanbad in Jharkhand on Thursday.
In Aurangabad, Dewerkar sold Patanjali products from a shop he had rented in M2 area here from local resident Jagdish Kulkarni.
According to Kulkarni, he ran the shop from 2014 to 2016. "He paid rent on time. Beyond that we had no interaction," he said.
In 2016, he shifted to a house owned by Yeshwant Shukla in the same area.
"The longest meeting I had with him was when he came to fianalise agreement for the house in February 2016," Shukla told PTI, describing him as taciturn.
"He said he wanted a house on the ground floor as his parents were old. He himself stayed there for only one and a half months," Shukla said.
"He then shifted to Solapur and his parents continued to live in the house till April 2019. He used to visit them for a day or a night. His parents did stitching work. Last year they shifted to Mumbai where their other son lives," he added.
"Dewerkar's involvement in the Gauri Lankesh case is a shock to all of us," Shukla added.
Dewerkar is the 17th accused to be arrested in the Lankesh murder case.
Lankesh, a firebrand journalist and writer, was shot dead in Bengaluru on September 5, 2017.
An official of the SIT said Dewerkar was suspected to be part of the conspiracy to kill Lankesh.
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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.
