Bengaluru, Jun 13: The BJP Thursday took out a protest rally in the city accusing the state government of being lenient towards financial fraudsters and selling precious land to JSW Steel at a throwaway price.

Holding placards and waving party flags, hundreds of BJP workers thronged the Maurya Circle and staged a demonstration.

They raised slogans against the state government accusing it of being insensitive to people's problems.

Leading the protest, former deputy chief minister R Ashok referred to the IMA Jewellers' case.

The firm's owner Mohammed Mansoor Khan is reportedly absconding following emergence of an audio clip, purportedly of him, in which he is heard threatening to commit suicide.

"They (fraudsters) decamped with the money of 30,000 Muslims... the owner of the firm has escaped," Ashok said, addressing the gathering.

Seven directors of the firm at the centre of an alleged financial fraud that left thousands of investors in the lurch have been apprehended.

The state government has formed an 11-member special investigation team to probe the case.

BJP MLC N Ravi Kumar said "...broad daylight robbery is happening here. Muslim brethren are being exploited right under the nose of the Congress-JDS coalition government by one after another fraudster companies."

The protesters also raised the JSW Steel land sale issue.

They accused the government of being hand in glove with JSW Steel as it allotted the land to the company at a "throwaway price."

While welcoming the government's decision to review the land sale, they said the government should make sure that every inch of the land is recovered.

Caught in a bind over the controversial land deal, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy Tuesday said the government's decision on sale of 3,667 acres to JSW Steel will be reconsidered and placed before the cabinet once again for discussion.

After the protest rally, the BJP leaders and workers proceeded to stage a sit-in at Vidhana Soudha, the state secretariat complex, when they were arrested.

Later, they were released, police said.

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New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi Police has arrested a bus helper and recovered USD 1,600 that was allegedly stolen from the purse of an Iranian woman who had forgotten it on a private bus at ISBT Kashmere Gate, an official said on Sunday.

The incident came to light on December 15, when a complaint was lodged at the ISBT Kashmere Gate police post by Dr Ali Akbar Shah, a professor at Delhi University and a resident of Mukherjee Nagar, the police said.

He informed police that his guest, Fareshteh Sayanjali, an Iranian national, had arrived in India on December 13 and was staying at his residence, they said.

The woman had travelled to Uttarakhand's Rishikesh and was returning to Delhi on December 15 in a bus. While de-boarding at ISBT Kashmere Gate around 1.45 pm, she inadvertently left her purse on the bus seat, the police officer said.

After some time, she received a phone call from the bus operator informing her that the purse had been found in the vehicle. However, when the purse was handed back to her, she discovered that USD 1,600 in cash kept inside was missing," the officer added.

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Based on Dr Shah's statement, an FIR was registered at Kashmere Gate police station on December 16, and an investigation was taken up, police said.

During the investigation, the team questioned the driver and conductor of the bus in which the woman had travelled, police said.

During questioning, the conductor told police that Monish, the bus helper, found the purse lying abandoned on a seat and handed it over to him, police said.

Monish initially attempted to mislead the investigators, but later confessed to stealing the US dollars from the purse, police said

Following his disclosure, Monish was arrested on December 17 and recovered the entire stolen amount, police said.

The accused, Monish, 26, is a resident of Jahangirpuri in north Delhi.

He has studied up to Class 10 and has been working as a helper with the private bus service for the past year, they said.