Siddaramaiah writes to PM Modi, alleges Gadkari's Shivamogga event was breach of protocol
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who boycotted the inauguration of India's second-longest cable-stayed Sigandur bridge in Shivamogga, has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging a serious breach of protocol by the Centre.
In his letter sent on Monday, the Chief Minister claimed that the programme was held by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in Sagara taluk of Shivamogga, without consulting the state government, and his name was mentioned on the invitation card without any prior notification.
He said the ministry's proceeding with the programme, despite the state's disagreement, amounts to "sheer arbitrariness and defies the very spirit of co-operative federalism."
Siddaramaiah also claimed that, since, as per the technical report, the project is not yet complete, the programme should not have been conducted.
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Monday inaugurated or laid the foundation of various infrastructure projects, including the Sigandur bridge in Shivamogga.
The event was boycotted by Siddaramaiah and his cabinet.
He said he also spoke to Gadkari on July 11 after he came to know about the programme and even urged him to postpone it, given his prior commitment in the Indi taluk of Vijayanagara district.
He claimed that though the minister then agreed to postpone the event, it still went underway on Monday, as advertised.
"I wish to draw your (PM) kind attention to the foundation stone laying function and dedicating 9 National Highway Projects of total length of 88 km with an investment of more than Rs 2,000 crore, held on July 14 by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in Nehru Field, Sagara taluk, Shivamogga district," Siddaramaiah said in his letter to Modi.
He said the ministry violated the protocol by not consulting the state before the programme, printing the name of an ex-chief minister, BS Yediyurappa, before the names of Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, Speaker of Karnataka Legislative Assembly U T Khader Fareed, and Chairman of State Legislative Council Basavaraj Horatti.
"The Government of Karnataka places on record its protest against such non-cooperative action. I do hope that all Central Ministries will be strongly advised to refrain from such discordant acts in future," he added.
The chief minister said that the construction of a major bridge (Sigandur bridge) across the Sharavathi backwaters and approaches between Ambargodu and Kalasavali on NH 369E on EPC mode was originally conceptualised by the state government in 2013, and subsequently implemented by the Centre.
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Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
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.
