Bengaluru, Nov 15: The Congress in Karnataka on Tuesday hit out at the BJP for its decision to paint thousands of Viveka' classrooms in saffron by saying the ruling party leaders should first have their houses painted in that colour.

"Let the BJP which wants to paint the schools with saffron colour answer these questions. Why haven't the BJP leaders painted their cars and homes with saffron colour? Why they did not even paint the compound wall of their houses with saffron colour? Let them colour their houses with saffron and then go to paint the schools," the Congress Karnataka unit tweeted.

The State government has proposed construction of 7,601 classrooms under 'Viveka', a new scheme named after saint-philosopher Swami Vivekananda.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday launched the scheme on the occasion of Children's Day by laying the foundation stone in Government Higher Primary School at Madiyal in Kalaburgi district.

The Congress alleged the State has slipped to the 14th place in the education performance and 29th slot in the school infrastructure indices.

In terms of toilets in schools, the State dropped from 13th spot in 2017-18 to 20th place now, the Congress alleged.

Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said: "Regarding this saffronisation, it should be noted that it is not BJP money but public money. Have people asked for saffronisation or have they got the mandate to do so? Have they got the mandate for tampering with history? Bommai has defended the government's move.

"Why do people turn red with the very name of saffron? What's wrong to have saffron colour? There's saffron colour in the (national) tricolour. Swami Vivekananda himself used to wear a saffron robe", the Chief Minister has said.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Bengaluru, Dec 26: A Japanese national, Hiroshi Sasaki, who works in Bengaluru, lost Rs 35.5 lakh after being 'digitally arrested' by cyber fraudsters, police said, on Thursday.

 

The incident occurred between December 12 and 14, police added.

Sasaki, who lives in a flat near Dairy Circle, received a phone call on December 12. The caller was claiming to be from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. The caller informed him that his phone number would be blocked due to its unauthorised use.

To avoid the disconnection Sasaki was asked to dial a number.

Upon dialling the number, he was immediately connected to a WhatsApp call from someone claiming to be from the Cyber Crime wing of Mumbai Police. The caller informed Sasaki that he was involved in a money laundering case.

The fraudsters "digitally arrested" him and siphoned off Rs 35.5 lakh by having him make payments through various means, including RTGS.

He was also told that the money would be returned after the investigation was completed.

After realising that he had been duped, the victim approached the South East Cyber Crimes, Economics and Narcotics (CEN) police station and lodged a complaint.

'Digital arrest' is a new cyber fraud, where the fraudster poses as law enforcement agency officials from agencies like CBI, and customs and threatens people of arrest by making video calls.

Get all the latest, breaking news from Karnataka in a single click. CLICK HERE to get all the latest news from Karnataka.