Kerala landslides: Rescue ops continue on 5th day with over 1,300 rescuers roped in
Wayanad (PTI): Search operations started early Saturday with more than 1,300 rescuers, heavy machinery and sophisticated equipment being deployed to look for survivors from the ravages of the landslides that have killed more than 200 people.
Private companies specialising in the field of search and rescue, and volunteers have also joined the operations led by the army, police and emergency service units.
However, huge boulders and logs brought by landslides and deposited in the residential areas of Mundakkai and Chooralmala are posing a significant challenge to rescue efforts to locate people believed to be trapped beneath the rubble.
As many as 210 people have died and 273 were injured in the massive landslides that hit Wayanad district in the wee hours of July 30.
Around 300 people are suspected to be missing and rescue operators are battling adverse conditions, including waterlogged soil, as they search through destroyed homes and buildings.
The district administration had on Friday divided the landslide-hit areas into zones, mapped potential spots for rescue work by using GPS, took aerial photographs and cell phone location data.
They have also used ground penetrating radar and cadaver dog squads to look for bodies buried deep under the debris.
A large number of medical professionals, from the armed forces as well as civilians, and ambulances have been on stand by in the area to provide immediate aid if any survivors are found.
The 190-foot-long Bailey bridge, constructed by the army on Thursday and handed over to the Wayanad administration, has so far proven crucial in rescue efforts.
The bridge that has allowed movement of heavy machinery and ambulances to the landslide-hit areas will serve till a proper bridge is built in the area.
Rescue operations are also ongoing along the 40-kilometre stretch of the Chaliyar river which flows through Wayanad, Malappuram, and Kozhikode districts.
More than a hundred bodies and body parts have been recovered from the river and its banks.
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Bengaluru court extends judicial custody of Darshan & other accused till September 12
Bengaluru (PTI): A court here on Monday extended till September 12 the judicial custody of Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa along with his friend Pavithra Gowda and others, who are accused in the Renukaswamy murder case.
All the 17 accused, including Darshan and Pavithra, were produced before the 24th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court through video conferencing from various prisons across the state, where they are lodged, as their judicial custody ended today.
Police last week submitted to the court a 3,991-page preliminary charge sheet in the case.
Darshan is currently lodged in Ballari prison. He was shifted there from the Parappana Agrahara Central jail here by obtaining court permission, after a photograph of him hanging out with three others, including a rowdy-sheeter, on the lawns of the jail had gone viral, sparking an uproar.
In the picture, the actor is seen in a relaxed mood, sitting on a chair and holding a cigarette and a coffee mug. Also, a purported video of Darshan speaking to a person over a video call from the prison too had surfaced on social media.
The court had also permitted shifting of other co-accused in the murder case to various prisons in the state.
Other accused -- Pawan, Raghavendra and Nandish -- are now lodged in Mysuru Jail, Jagadish and Lakshmana in Shivamogga Jail, Dhanraj in Dharwad Jail, Vinay in Vijayapura Jail, Nagaraj in Kalaburagi/Gulbarga Jail, and Pradosh in Belagavi Jail.
Three accused -' Pavithra Gowda, Anukumar, and Deepak -- continue to remain at Parappana Agrahara Central Jail here. Four accused -- Ravi, Karthik, Nikhil and Keshavamurthy -- were earlier shifted to Tumakuru prison and they continue to remain lodged there.
Nine prison officials, including the Chief Superintendent of the Parappana Agrahara jail, were suspended over their "lapses" after a preliminary probe into "special treatment" to Darshan.
Also, three FIRs were registered, including against Darshan, under sections of the Prisons Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
According to police sources, 33-year-old Renukaswamy, a fan of the actor, had sent obscene messages to Pavithra, which enraged Darshan, allegedly leading to his murder. His body was found near a stormwater drain next to an apartment in Sumanahalli here on June nine.
Raghavendra, one of the accused who is part of Darshan's fan club in Chitradurga, had brought Renukaswamy to a shed in R R Nagar here, on the pretext that the actor wanted to meet him. It was in this shed that he was allegedly tortured and murdered.
According to the post-mortem report, Renukaswamy, a native of Chitradurga, died due to shock and haemorrhage as a result of multiple blunt injuries.
Police sources said Pavithra, who is accused number one, was the "major cause" for Renukaswamy’s murder, claiming that it has been proved from the probe that she instigated other accused, conspired with them, and took part in the crime.
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