Bengaluru (PTI): JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday hinted that his party was interested in the Agriculture portfolio in the new NDA Government.

JD(S), headed by his father and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, joined the NDA last year.

BJP and JD(S) fought the Lok Sabha elections together in Karnataka, which has a total of 28 seats. BJP won 17 seats and JD(S) two.

Asked about JD(S)' "demands" ahead of government formation, he said: "we don't have any such demand. Our priority is resolution of issues concerning Karnataka that have been there for long from the Centre. About giving representation (Cabinet berth) to Karnataka at the Centre, Narendra Modi will decide."

On his Ministerial aspirations, Kumaraswamy said the NDA leadership will decide. "Let's speak about it when the time comes. Delhi leaders know what is the appropriate decision that needs to be taken for the situation there (in Karnataka). They will decide," he said.

Regarding speculation in some quarters that he will be the Agriculture Minister, with similar desire being expressed by several other JD(S) leaders, he acknowledged that his party's interest is in the Agriculture department, "Let's see what decisions will happen."

"Our party's interest is in the Agriculture department. Our fight since the beginning has been towards doing good for the farming community," Kumaraswamy, who arrived in New Delhi to attend today's NDA meeting, told reporters.

Earlier during campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections also, Kumaraswamy, who on Tuesday won the Mandya seat with a massive margin, had made no secret of his interest in holding the Agriculture portfolio in the event of the NDA returning to power at the Centre.

According to the final results for Lok Sabha polls declared, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is poised to form the government for a third consecutive term with the BJP-led NDA getting a majority in the Lok Sabha.

The BJP won 240 seats, falling short of the 272 majority mark and needing the support of allies in the party-led NDA for government formation, a far cry from the 303 and 282 seats it had won in 2019 and 2014, respectively, to have a majority on its own.

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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.