Anticipating INDIA bloc victory, women rush to open India Post accounts to get Rs 8,500 per month
Bengaluru (PTI): An otherwise silent General Post Office in Bengaluru is witnessing an unprecedented rush of women hurrying to open India Post Payment Bank accounts, anticipating a monthly deposit of Rs 8,500 into their accounts if the INDIA bloc comes to power at the Centre.
The elections are still in the process but women, largely from the minority communities sporting burqas, stood in long queues to open the account.
Some of them believed that opening the IPPB account would ensure that they get Rs 8,500 per month.
A woman said she stood in queue early in the morning itself. Another said everyone in her neighbourhood was saying that money would start coming from the day the account is opened, so she too came to open an account.
Most of the women PTI spoke to were from Shivajinagar, Chamarajpet and surrounding places in the city.
Talking to reporters, Chief Post Master of GPO Bengaluru H M Manjesh said people have been coming to the office to open IPPB accounts in the belief that the Department of Post would credit Rs 2,000 or Rs 8,500 into their accounts.
“Actually it is a rumour. Somebody has spread this rumour. The department will not pay any amount to them. However, this account can be used for any type of online transaction or even Direct Benefit (Transfer) scheme,” Manjesh clarified.
He said that the department has already informed the customers about this. "We have displayed some posters also. In spite of that, customers are requesting that we open IPPB accounts for them."
There was such a rush that more counters were opened outside the GPO building, under the open sky, he added.
“Earlier we used to open 50 to 60 accounts in a counter. Now we have made separate arrangements. We have brought our postmen for this purpose and regularly we are opening around 500 to 600 accounts, sometimes even 1,000 accounts in a day,” Manjesh said.
According to sources in the department, this rush has been witnessed for the past three days. It is learnt that some Congress MLAs spread the rumours, believing which the women made a beeline for the GPO.
The MLAs said that the women will start getting money after June 4 "when the INDIA bloc will come to power".
The Congress has made a promise to launch the Mahalakshmi scheme under which Rs 8,500 will be directly credited into the account of women heads of families belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL) category.
It is similar to the Gruha Lakshmi guarantee scheme started by the Karnataka government in which Rs 2,000 is paid to women heads of BPL families.
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Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
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.
