Mangaluru: Senior Yakshagana artiste Siddakatte Sadashiva Shettigar passed away at a hospital in Mangaluru on Sunday, July 20. He was 60 years old and had been unwell for some time. He is survived by his wife, two sons, and a daughter, reported The Hindu.

A popular ‘bannada veshadhari’ of the Tenkuthittu school of Yakshagana, he performed in several Yakshagana melas, including those of Kateel, Dharmasthala, Hosanagara, Edneer, and Hanumagiri. His last performance was with the Hanumagiri troupe, after which he had recently announced his retirement.

A resident of Hokkadigoli near Siddakatte in Bantwal taluk, Shettigar was well-known for playing characters such as Mahishasura, Ravana, Kumbhakarna, Yama, Shurpanakha, Varaha, Matsyagandha, Rudra Bheema, Veerabhadra, Tataki and many others.

He had received several honours during his career, including the Yakshamangala Award from the P. Dayananda Pai and P. Satish Pai Yakshagana Study Centre at Mangalore University. Other recognitions included the Udupi Yakshagana Kalaranga Award, Sri Rama Vitala Award, Kateel Gopalakrishna Asranna Award, and Keelaru Gopalakrishna Award.

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Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday. 

The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said. 

A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said. 

Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.

Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.

Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.

Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.

Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.

The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.

According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet. 

"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.