Mangaluru: 10 arrested in connection with dacoity at PWD Contractor’s residence
Mangaluru: Ten persons have been arrested in connection with a dacoity at the house of a PWD contractor, police said here on Friday.
The incident was reported on June 21 at Ulaibettu under Mangalore Rural Police Station limits, they said.
City Police Commissioner Anupam Agarwal said seven of the arrested were from Kerala while two were from Neeramarga and one from Bantwal.
On June 21, a gang of eight to nine masked men entered the house of contractor Padmanabha Kotyan, tied him up and beat him, threatened his wife and children and stole cash and jewellery worth Rs 9 lakh. Also, they took a vehicle that belonged to the contractor and after travelling in it for some distance abandoned it and escaped.
ALSO READ: Masked robbers break into PWD contractor’s house near M'luru; tie up residents, steal money, jewelry
According to police, four local persons had planned the robbery. Vasanth, a household help who doubled up as a lorry driver in the fleet owned by Kotyan, with another person, linked up with a group from Kerala to hatch the dacoity plan some eight months ago.
Police further said Vasanth and his accomplices planned to rob Kotyan, who they learnt had a lot of wealth. The gang had brought large gunny bags with them, in anticipation of making away with a huge amount of money.
Four or five more persons are still at large and will be arrested soon, police added.
The dacoity was meticulously planned and executed, police said, adding three teams had to be formed to catch the accused.
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Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah accuses EC of ‘bias’, defends state guarantee schemes ahead of bypolls
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has accused the EC of "double standards" and "bias" after it sought details on the state’s guarantee schemes in Davanagere and Bagalkot districts, where bypolls are scheduled for Thursday.
In a post on 'X' on Wednesday, Siddaramaiah said the Election Commission of India had asked the Karnataka government for information on fund releases under five ongoing guarantee schemes in the constituencies going to polls.
The polls were necessitated following the deaths of senior Congress MLAs Shamanur Shivashankarappa and H Y Meti, respectively.
The schemes are Gruha Jyothi, which provides 200 units of free electricity to every household; Gruha Lakshmi, offering Rs 2,000 to women heading families; and Anna Bhagya, supplying 10 kg of rice per month to each member of BPL families.
In addition, Yuva Nidhi grants Rs 3,000 to unemployed graduates and Rs 1,500 to unemployed diploma holders aged 18–25 for two years, while Shakti enables women to travel free of charge within Karnataka on government non-luxury buses.
Siddaramaiah alleged that the ECI had remained silent when similar cash transfer schemes were announced in Maharashtra and Bihar ahead of elections, calling the scrutiny of Karnataka’s schemes a "clear case of bias".
"In states like Maharashtra and Bihar, cash transfer schemes were announced or fast-tracked just before elections, directly benefiting voters. Yet the ECI remained silent. This is not neutrality—it is complicity," he said.
The CM accused the BJP and NDA governments of "a double standard", noting that when they act, the ECI "looks the other way", but when Karnataka fulfils its promises, it faces "intense scrutiny".
He added that targeting the state’s guarantee schemes is "not just political but anti-poor, anti-women, and anti-Karnataka."
Siddaramaiah clarified that these schemes were not launched in connection with the bypolls but are ongoing programmes implemented as part of the Congress government’s commitments from the 2023 Assembly elections.
Funds are transferred regularly to beneficiaries in a transparent and structured manner, he added.
"The guarantees are part of governance—a direct investment in human dignity, household stability, and economic participation, not inducement," he said.
He also accused the BJP of "hypocrisy", saying that while it criticises Karnataka’s schemes as "freebies", it rolls out similar programmes in states it governs.
"The Karnataka model has set a benchmark for the country. What is deeply concerning, however, is the ECI’s selective approach," Siddaramaiah added.
