Haveri: Partially burnt body of 17-year-old girl found
Rape and murder suspected
HAVERI: The dead body of a PU-2 student of KLE’s Gudleppa Hallikeri College has been found at a bush near Varadahalli Bridge on the National Highway 4.
The deceased has been identified as Renuka Patil (17), a resident of Mannur village in Savanur taluk. She was studying in the second PU commerce at GH College.
Renuka, who had gone to college on August 6, did not return home. Renuka's brother and sister were also studying in the Gudleppa Hallikeri College. The sister had not gone to college due to some work. Her brother was studying in Arts and returned home early because he had no classes. When Renuka did not return ever after the late evening, the family members started calling her friends and relatives. When they received negative answers, her parents filed a complaint with the Haveri rural police.
Renuka was not found even when Police and family members searched for her. But, a young woman's body was found at a bush near Varadahalli Bridge on the National Highway 4. When the police informed the parents to recognise the dead body, they broke down. Later, her grandfather went with the police and identified the body.
SP Parashuram, DySP Kumar, and Haveri rural police have visited the spot, and the investigation is on.
Rape and murder suspected
It has been suspected that while returning from college on August 6, miscreants abducted Renuka and dragged her into a bush near Varadahalli Bridge and raped her. The perpetrators later burned and murdered her to destroy evidence.
While some clues in this connection have been gathered, we have intensified the operation by creating three teams led by DySP Kumarappa, DCRB DYSP Narayana Baramani and DCIB Inspector Santosh Patil of Haveri.
Parshuram, SP
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Relief to Mayawati, SC disposes of 2009 PIL against installation of her statues in UP
New Delhi, Jan 15: In a relief to BSP supremo Mayawati, the Supreme Court on Wednesday disposed of a petition filed in 2009 seeking a probe into the alleged spending of more than Rs 2,000 crore from the Uttar Pradesh government's budget on installing elephant statutes and personal glorification, when she was the chief minister of the state.
The development came on a day Mayawati turned 69.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma disposed of the petition filed by two lawyers -- Ravi Kant and Sukumar -- after observing that most of the prayers had become infructuous.
It noted that the Election Commission (EC) has already issued guidelines on the issue and that a stay on the installation of the statues cannot be granted as those have already been installed.
The public interest litigation (PIL) matter filed by the lawyers had alleged that a total amount of about Rs 2,000 crore was used from the state's budget for 2008-09 and 2009-10, when Mayawati was the chief minister, for installing her statues and the Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) poll symbol -- elephant -- at different places.
The petition, filed through advocate Prakash Kumar Singh, had claimed that the installation of 60 elephant statues at the cost of Rs 52.2 crore was not only wastage of public money but also contrary to circulars issued by the EC.
On April 2, 2019, Mayawati had justified her decision and told the apex court that the construction of her life-size statues and the BSP's poll symbol at various places in Uttar Pradesh during her tenure as the state's chief minister represented the "will of the people".
She had told the court that even the Congress, in the past, installed statues of its leaders, including those of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and P V Narasimha Rao, across the country.
She had also referred to recent instances of installation of statues by state governments, including a statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, known as the "Statue of Unity", in Gujarat.
Besides, the BSP supremo had said the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government has constructed a 221-metre-high statue of Lord Ram in Ayodhya at the state exchequer's cost.
"Thus, construction of memorials and installation of statues was not a new phenomenon in India," she had submitted.
"Similarly, other political parties in power at both the Centre as well as in states have also installed statues of various other leaders at public places at the cost of the public exchequer from time to time, but neither the media nor the petitioners have raised any questions with respect to them," she had said in an affidavit filed in the court.
The Dalit leader was responding to a notice issued by the top court and its oral observations. The court had, on February 8, 2019, observed that Mayawati should deposit the amount of public money used for erecting statues of herself and her party's poll symbol with the state exchequer.
The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister had sought the dismissal of the plea, which had alleged that public funds were misused, saying it was "politically motivated" and was in gross abuse of the process of the court.
"The will of the people was expressed by the state legislature with a proposal to install the statues of the answering respondent (Mayawati) at the memorials to show their respect to a contemporary woman Dalit leader, who has decided to sacrifice her life for the cause of the underprivileged communities, including Dalits, the downtrodden, Scheduled Tribes and economically weaker sections in all the communities," the 2019 affidavit of Mayawati had said.
"In these circumstances, the statues of the answering respondent (Mayawati) came into being as the will of the state legislature to represent the will of the people.
"It is submitted that the funds for the construction of the said memorials and installation of statues have been sanctioned through a budgetary allocation after approval of the budget by the state legislature and the passing of the relevant Appropriation Act by the state legislature in accordance with the Constitution of India and rules," the affidavit had said.
