Three die in heavy rains in Karnataka, thousands evacuated
Bengaluru, Jul 23: Heavy rains in various parts of Karnataka over the past 24 hours have claimed three lives, led to landslides in eight places and evacuation of about 9,000 people, while the government has sounded a red alert in seven districts.
The Indian Coast Guard said that it conducted a day-long rescue operation in the flood-hit Uttara Kannada District and rescued 161 people from Khargejoog village, Unglijoog, Kharejoog and Bodojoog Islands.
The Indian Railways cancelled a few trains due to landslides between Sonalium- Kulem, and Dudhsagar-Caranzol.
The Goa Express Special train was stopped at the Londa station in Belagavi district and passengers were served food.
Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, who reviewed the flood situation with top officials on Friday, directed all district in charge ministers and MLAs to oversee relief work in their areas and ordered cancellation of leave of officials, who are responsible for flood relief work.
He said the government would extend all necessary support to relief and rescue efforts and assist farmers who suffered losses due to the untimely rain and hailstorms.
Yediyurappa directed officials to send the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force personnel to the needy districts and open relief camps.
He urged them to seek Indian Army's help and helicopters in relief operations.
He also instructed the officials to submit a proposal for financial assistance if it was required.
Dr Manoj Rajan, Commissioner, Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority, said parts of Belagavi, Chikkamagaluru, Dharward, Haveri, Shivamogga and Uttara Kannada are facing the brunt of floods due to incessant rains over the past few days.
The rivers Krishna, Cauvery, Tungabhadra, Bhima, Kapila (Kabini) and many others in Malnad and coastal Karnataka are in spate, the KSDMA officer said.
Details shared by him showed that 131 villages in 18 Taluks are badly hit, affecting 16,213 people.
While three people lost their lives, two are missing.The rains damaged 21 houses completely and 804 houses partially.
Sixty-five bridges, 10 schools and a primary health centre were damaged, while 291.03 km of roads were washed away.
So far, 8,733 people have been evacuated to safety.
The state has opened 80 relief camps where 4,964 people are staying.
Landslides were reported in eight places, including Virajpet in Kodagu district and Arabail Ghat in Uttara Kannada district.
A red alert has been sounded in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan and Kodagu districts for the next 24 hours in view of a possible heavy to extremely heavy rainfall and an orange alert, in Belagavi and Dharwad, the officer said.
The rains have also led to filling up of most of the reservoirs in Karnataka, including Almatti, Bhadra, KRS, Kabini, Harangi, Hemavathi, Narayanapura, Malaprabha and Ghataprabha, he said.
Meanwhile, the ICG said in a statement that its Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) and rescue operations were pressed into service at short notice to carry out rescue operations in the islands in Uttara Kannada District.
It said the armed forces were in constant touch with the civil administration of the affected state.
"ICG Forces teams are aware of the need to keep the road and rail links open to ensure uninterrupted supply of life saving oxygen and drugs required for treatment at COVID-19 hospitals. The ICG Force remain ready to mitigate the impact of the incessant heavy rains , save lives and provide succour to the fellow citizens," the statement added.
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Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
