Former union minister Babagouda Patil passes away
Bengaluru: Former union minister and eminent farmer leader Babagouda Patil died at a hospital here on Friday, family sources said.
The 76-year old leader was undergoing treatment at the KLES Dr Prabhakar Kore Hospital where he died, the sources said. He is survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters.
Born on January 6, 1945 at Chikka Bagewadi in Belagavi district, Patil did his BSc RL Science Institute in Belagavi.
He became an independent MLA from Kittur in 1989 and he won the Lok Sabha election from Belgaum constituency on the BJP ticket in 1998.
He then became the Minister of State for Rural Development (independent charge) in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
Mourning his death, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said Babagouda Patil was at the forefront of farmers' struggle who had won election from two assembly constituencies.
"He was one of the founder members of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha who was always concerned about the farmers and worked towards their well being. He had also served as the union minister in the A B Vajpayee government," the Chief Minister tweeted.
Karnataka Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K S Eshwarappa said he was shocked to learn about the demise of Patil.
"Patil had entered politics through peasant struggle.
He was one of the foremost farmer leaders in the country. May his soul rest in peace," Eshwarappa tweeted.
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7 held for running fake call centre in South Kolkata
Kolkata (PTI): Seven people were arrested from the Parnashree area in the southern part of the city for allegedly running a fake call centre, a police officer said on Saturday.
Acting on a tip-off, police raided a house on Netaji Subhas Road on Friday night and found the fake call centre operating from the ground floor, he said.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused had set up a bogus company using forged documents and posed as employees of an antivirus firm to call citizens in the US, the officer said.
"The callers would gain the trust of victims and then use remote access to take control of their phones or other digital devices. The accused allegedly siphoned off large sums of money, running into millions of dollars, from victims' accounts," he said.
Five laptops, two WiFi routers, six mobile phones and four headsets were seized from the accused, he said, adding that the seven are being questioned to ascertain the full extent of the racket and to identify others involved.
