No innocent person held over Hubballi violence: Karnataka CM Bommai
Bengaluru/Sringeri (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday dismissed the allegations that innocent people are being held in connection with the Hubballi violence and said arrests were made based on evidence.
"No innocent person has been arrested. Based on evidences, people have been arrested," Bommai told reporters at Menase helipad in the temple town of Sringeri.
The Chief Minister said no one involved in the violence will be spared and the government will ensure that they are punished.
"Those who take law into their hands will face action. Attacking a police station is an unpardonable act," Bommai said.
He was replying to a query on opposition parties' apprehensions that innocent people are being framed in the Hubballi incident.
Regarding the Congress party's allegation that there was Ravana Rajya' instead of Rama Rajya', Bommai said what common people say is important and not the opposition parties.
"We cannot expect anything better from the opposition," the Chief Minister said.
A large number of Muslim people on Saturday midnight went on a rampage over a social media post showing a saffron flag placed on a mosque in the Old Town of Hubballi.
Police have so far arrested 89 people while four persons named in the FIR are still at large. The 89 people appeared before court via video-conference on Monday.
Regarding civil contractor Santosh Patil's suicide case, Bommai said the investigation is going on and he did not wish to comment on it regularly.
Bommai refuted the charge that he was not taking strong decisions and said he has ordered a detailed probe in the contractor's death case, Hubballi violence and the irregularities in sub-inspector recruitment tests.
Senior BJP MLA K S Eshwarappa resigned last Thursday as Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister after Patil allegedly died by suicide in an Udupi hotel accusing the minister of demanding 40 per cent commission on a public work in Hindalga village of Belagavi district last year.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
