Bhatkal, Aug 3: The Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday said the State government would take care of education of children who lost their parents and relatives in a landslide in Muttalli village in Bhatkal Taluk of Uttara Kannada district.

We have given relief amount to the next of kin of four people who were killed in house collapse. The government will take care of the education of the children, be it hostel fees or education fees. If they don't have a house, I have told the deputy commissioner to build a house for them, Bommai told reporters after inspecting the spot where four members of a family were buried alive under the house which collapsed following landslide in a nearby hillock on Tuesday.

The Chief Minister said Muttalli and surrounding places in Bhatkal town witnessed so much of rains, which had never occurred in the past.

It was like a cloudburst in which 515 mm rainfall occurred in an area of six to seven-km radius causing immense loss, especially those living beneath the hillock in the low-lying areas where the landslide occurred leading to house collapse killing four people of a family, Bommai said.

This incident should not have happened. Because of laterite mining, the soil has become loose. Prima facie the heavy downpour led to the incident. We will get the geological study of the area done, identify the houses which may be in danger and shift the residents to safer places, the Chief Minister said.

According to him, in just one day, there was a loss of Rs 38 crore to Rs 40 crore.

Bommai said he has instructed the deputy commissioner of Uttara Kannada district to submit a preliminary report on the rain-related damages, including crop loss, infrastructure loss, damage to houses, shops and shipping boats, so that the relief amount can be given quickly.

He said at least 14 districts affecting 115 villages suffered rain-related losses in which 600 houses were completely damaged, 2,312 houses severely damaged and 14,578 houses partially damaged.

Bommai added that crop in 21,431 hectares of land was damaged.

The figures may go up also, so a joint survey is needed to give relief, he said.

The Chief Minister said the State government has already released Rs 500 crore to repair infrastructure which bore the brunt of heavy downpour and floods.

 

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Dhar (MP) (PTI): A 25-year-old woman and her lover have been arrested in the district for allegedly conspiring to kill her husband by hiring a contract killer, police said on Thursday.

The case was solved within 36 hours of the murder though the woman initially tried to mislead the police by claiming that robbers killed her husband, an official said.

Dev Krishna Purohit (28) was stabbed to death on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday at his house in Gondikheda Charan village, about 60 km from here. 

Superintendent of Police Mayank Awasthi told reporters that accused Priyanka Purohit (25) was married to Dev Krishna when she was around 15 years old. Priyanka moved to her matrimonial home after attaining adulthood but was unwilling to live with her husband, leading to frequent disputes between them. 

During investigation, it emerged that she was in a relationship with Kamlesh (32), the SP said. 

The duo allegedly hatched a plan to kill Dev Krishna and hired a man identified as Surendra for Rs 1 lakh do the job, he said

After Dev Krishna was killed, Priyanka told police that unidentified persons broke into the house, attacked her husband with a sharp weapon while holding her captive in another room, and fled with valuables. 

But the inconsistencies in her statements raised suspicion, and eventually she confessed to hatching the murder conspiracy, the SP said.

While she and Kamlesh were arrested, police are looking for the contract killer, the official added.