Karnataka govt issues order handing over probe into Mangaluru blast case to NIA
Bengaluru(PTI): The Karnataka government on Thursday issued an order to hand over the investigation into Mangaluru blast case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The state government has written to the Ministry of Home Affairs recommending an NIA investigation into the case, state Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said in a statement.
According to government sources, the Additional Chief Secretary in the Home Department in his letter to the Union Home Secretary said the state police has invoked section 16, 38 and 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
"As this is a scheduled offence under section 6 of the NIA Act, 2008, the matter is being submitted for further necessary action," the ACS wrote in his letter to the Home Ministry recommending an NIA probe.
The Karnataka Director General of Police Praveen Sood had said that the NIA and other central agencies are already working with the state police in cracking the case from the day one even before getting a formal direction from the Centre.
On November 19, an explosion took place in an autorickshaw within Kankanadi police station limits, injuring the passenger and the driver.
Police called it a terror act and blamed the passenger, identified as Mohammed Shariq, responsible for the incident.
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Amid row over Waqf land, Karnataka officials to appear before parliamentary panel
New Delhi, Dec 25: Amid a row over Waqf land in Karnataka, officials from the state government are scheduled to appear before the parliamentary panel examining the Waqf Amendment Bill on Thursday.
The Joint Committee on the Waqf Amendment Bill, chaired by BJP member Jagadambika Pal, is scheduled to hear views from representatives of the governments of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Delhi in sittings spread over two days beginning Thursday.
Delhi's Food and Supply Minister Imran Hussain is also scheduled to address the committee on Friday, followed by the recording of evidence by the representatives of the Delhi government.
The deposition of officials from the Congress-led Karnataka government comes in the wake of a row over claims by BJP leaders that over 1500 acres of land belonging to farmers in the state were being taken over by the Waqf board.
Pal had visited Karnataka and interacted with the farmers who had received notices from the state government regarding encroachment over properties belonging to the Waqf Board.
The committee had also written to state governments seeking details of Waqf properties occupied by them in an unauthorised manner as per the Sachar panel report.
The UPA government constituted the Sachar Committee in 2005 to study the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community in India.
The parliamentary panel was constituted on August 8, soon after the Waqf (Amendment) Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha.
Opposition parties have stridently criticised the amendments proposed by the bill in the existing Waqf Act, alleging that they violate the religious rights of Muslims. The ruling BJP has asserted that the amendments will bring transparency in the functioning of the waqf boards and make them accountable.
