Helmet-wearing man chases scooter riders in Sajipa; no sword attack, clarifies SP
Viral social media claims of a sword attack in Sajipa found to be false
police register complaint and initiate investigation.
Bantwal: A case has been registered at the Bantwal Rural Police Station after two men riding a scooter were allegedly chased by a helmet-wearing man near the Deraje bus stop in Sajipa on Thursday night. The incident sparked alarm after social media posts falsely claimed a sword attack had occurred in the area.
Dakshina Kannada Superintendent of Police, Dr. Arun Kumar, issued a clarification stating that no such sword attack took place. He emphasised that the viral claims were baseless and that no weapons were witnessed in the incident.
According to the complaint lodged by Muhammad Maqbool, he and his relative were travelling towards Melkar around 10 PM when a helmeted individual allegedly began chasing them on foot near Deraje. Maqbool informed the police that he did not see any sword or weapon in the man’s hand but, fearing danger, instructed his relative to speed away. They later informed their family after reaching Nandavara.
SP Dr. Arun Kumar confirmed that Maqbool distanced himself from the viral messages and denied playing any role in gathering a crowd at the spot. Police have taken the complaint seriously and are conducting a detailed investigation.
Authorities are also probing whether this incident has any connection to a previous attempted murder case in Deraje last week or the Bakrid cattle seizure incident. Preliminary CCTV footage from near the location reportedly does not match Maqbool’s account, and further examination is underway.
The SP reiterated that legal action would be taken based on the outcome of the investigation.
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Rahul Gandhi has tea with 'dead' voters from Bihar, thanks EC for experience
New Delhi, Aug 13 (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said he had a unique experience of having tea with some "dead" voters from Bihar and thanked the Election Commission for it.
A group of seven voters from Bihar met the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha at his residence and shared their experience of how they were declared "dead" by the EC and their names removed from the electoral rolls.
"There have been many interesting experiences in life, but I never got the chance to have tea with 'dead people'. For this unique experience, thank you Election Commission!" Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X.
He also shared a video of his meeting with the "dead" voters. In it, Gandhi is heard telling them to move around and see Delhi as the "dead" cannot even be charged tickets.
In the video, some of them told Gandhi that they came to know that they were "declared dead" by the EC during the special intensive revision (SIR), and were among the 65 lakh voters whose names have been removed from the electoral rolls of poll-bound Bihar.
The group also told Gandhi that they appeared before the Supreme Court on Wednesday to get their voting rights back. The apex court is hearing petitions against the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar.
In a statement, the party later said that seven voters from Bihar, all very much alive, shared tea with Rahul Gandhi today, even as the Election Commission's SIR list had them as "dead".
Ramikbal Ray, Harendra Ray, Lalmuni Devi, Vachiya Devi, Lalwati Devi, Punam Kumari, and Munna Kumar all belong to Tejashwi Yadav's constituency, Raghopur.
"They have been removed from the electoral rolls despite having completed the requisite paperwork for the SIR.
"The Election Commission has not openly published lists of the people whom it has declared dead, migrated, etc. Our teams on the ground were able to identify these people only because they managed to informally get EC's internal report in two to three polling booths," the Congress said.
These seven represent only a fraction of "unjustly" deleted voters in two to three polling booths in the constituency, it added.
"This is not a clerical error — it is political disenfranchisement in plain sight.
"After 'Vote Chori' was exposed in Bengaluru, it is clear that the Bihar SIR exercise is also compromised. When the living are struck off as dead, the death certificate is issued to democracy itself," the Congress said.
