HC dismisses PIL seeking Governor’s nod for prosecution against CM Siddaramaiah in Mining case
Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that sought directions to the Governor to grant sanction for prosecution against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act in connection with alleged illegal grant and renewal of mining leases.
The petition had been filed by Bengaluru-based businessman M.P. Venugopal and came up before a division bench comprising Chief Justice Prasanna B. Varale (Correction: please confirm, original says Vibhu Bakhru) and Justice C.M. Joshi on Thursday.
When the case was called twice, the petitioner’s counsel failed to appear before the bench. Taking note of this and citing non-compliance with legal procedure, the court dismissed the petition.
The PIL had demanded that the Governor be directed to approve prosecution against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah under the PC Act. It further sought a direction for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct an independent probe into the alleged illegal renewal of mining leases, and for the Lokayukta to submit a report on the matter.
The petitioner had also asked the court to cancel mining leases granted to Ramgad Minerals and Mining Pvt. Ltd. and Veerabhadrappa Sangappa & Co., declaring all such leases illegal. Additionally, it called for recovery of alleged financial losses from those who benefitted from illegal mining contracts.
Apart from Siddaramaiah, the petition had also named former Secretary of the Commerce and Industries Department Tushar Girinath, along with several private mining companies, as respondents.
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Gurugram Police arrest BJP Yuva Morcha member for spreading fake murder story on social media
New Delhi: Gurugram Police have arrested BJP Yuva Morcha member Hariom Mishra, for allegedly spreading a fabricated and communally sensitive story on social media about the murder of a college student in Gurugram.
Mishra who is also known as Shaurya Mishra had shared a collage of four photographs on his X handle earlier this month. He claimed that a 24-year-old college student, identified as Nikita Agarwal, had been murdered by her classmate Arif Khan in Gurugram. In the post, he alleged that the woman was blackmailed, forced into prostitution, gangraped, and eventually killed. He also claimed that Arif dumped her body in a forest. The claims were presented as being based on police sources.
The post went viral and garnering over 1.5 lakh views, and was amplified by several right-wing social media handles across X, Facebook and Instagram. A verification of the claims revealed that no such incident had taken place in Gurugram. A search of credible news reports showed no record of any such murder. The police said this news would have inevitably attracted media attention if it were true.
On December 11, Gurugram Police publicly refuted the claims through their official X handle. They stated that the information which was being circulated was completely false. The police warned that legal action would be taken against those spreading misinformation. Despite the warning, Mishra neither deleted the post nor issued any clarification.
Police in Gurugram confirmed Mishra's arrest on December 16. The police said a FIR was filed after he continued to spread false information about the alleged murder of a Hindu woman by Muslim man. Police said Mishra, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Kaushambi district, is now being investigated.
Gurugram Police spokesperson Sandeep Singh told The Print that the accused had deliberately misrepresented facts and used objectionable content to spread hatred along religious lines. “Such posts can create serious disturbances in society, and the police take these matters very seriously,” he said.
A reverse image search conducted by fact-checkers at Alt News, revealed that the photographs used in the viral post were unrelated to the claims, while two of the images were traced to a Pinterest account belonging to influencer Maulik Chopra and another image was sourced from an Instagram post by influencer Shivam Thakur featuring a woman named Deepanshi Rawat. The fourth image was found on an unrelated Instagram page. The images depicted different individuals and had no connection to any crime.
Police said they are also investigating Mishra’s motive behind sharing the false and provocative content.
