Rahane slams 95 as Mumbai crush Odisha by 9 wickets
Lucknow (PTI): Senior batter Ajinkya Rahane struck a scintillating 56-ball 95 as heavyweights Mumbai made short work of Odisha en route to a nine-wicket victory in a Group A match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy here on Monday.
After Odisha posted what seemed a respectable 167 for seven, riding on a collective effort from their top and middle-order batters, Rahane took charge of the situation while putting on 74 runs for the first wicket with Sarfaraz Khan, who blazed away to a 15-ball 28 to put Mumbai in command.
Rahane, the out-of-favour India batter in Tests, was not out when victory was achieved at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.
After the dismissal of Sarfaraz, the 37-year-old Rahane was associated in an unbroken second-wicket partnership of 94 runs with Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who helped himself to a breezy 38 in 26 balls, as Mumbai completed the chase of 168 with as many as four overs to spare.
During his stay in the middle, Rahane smashed nine fours and three sixes and forced Odisha skipper Biplab Samantray to use as many as seven bowlers.
As far as the Mumbai bowling unit is concerned, Suryansh Shedge was the most successful on the day with figures of 3/46 in four overs, while there were two wickets for Sairaj Patil (2/42 in 4 overs).
Yash Thakur shines in Vidarbha win
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Vidarbha pacer Yash Thakur halted Andhra in its tracks by grabbing four wickets to guide his side to a 19-run victory in their final round match of the T20 tournament.
Andhra, who have already qualified for the next stage along with Mumbai from the group, failed to overhaul Vidarbha's 154/8, with the 26-year-old right-hand bowler returning excellent figures of 4/22 to restrict the opponents to 135/9.
Thakur, who also had a five-wicket haul in an earlier match, ended his SMAT campaign with 18 scalps.
Vidarbha's innings revolved around Aman Mokhade's 50 and keeper-batter Akshay Wadkar, who scored a 33-ball 41 with Andhra pacer Satyanarayana Raju's 4/26 playing a big role in restricting the opponents to a below-average score.
However, Andhra fared even worse when they came out to bat, losing three wickets for 31 runs including India player Srikar Bharat for a golden duck.
Pyla Avinash scored a 37-ball 44 but that was not enough as seven players could only manage single-digit scores.
In another Group A match, young Assam fast bowler Sadek Hussain returned a four-wicket haul on way to defeating Kerala by five wickets, while Chhattisgarh beat Railways by five wickets and five balls to spare.
Brief scores:
Vidarbha 154/8 in 20 overs (Aman Mokhade 50, Akshay Wadkar 41; Satyanarayana Raju 4/26) beat Andhra 135/9 in 20 overs (Pyla Avinash 44; Yash Thakur 4/22) by 19 runs.
Kerala 101 in 19.4 overs (Sadek Hussain 4/19, Abdul Ajij Kuraishi 2/16, Avinov Choudhury 2/15) lost to Assam 105/5 in 18.5 overs (Pradyun Saikia 41 not out; KM Asif 2/22) by 5 wickets.
Odisha 167/7 in 20 overs (Sandeep Pattnaik 31, Sambit Baral 28, Aashirwad Swain 28; Suryansh Shedge 3/46) lost to Mumbai 168/1 in 16 overs (Ajinkya Rahane not out 95) by 9 wickets.
Railways 170 all out in 2 overs (Suraj Ahuja 47, Navneet Virk 30) lost to Chhattisgarh 171/5 in 19.1 overs (Amandeep Khare not out 78, Snajeet Desai 36) by 5 wickets.
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Man held for fake campaign against KAS officer; police cite personal hostility
Bengaluru (PTI): In a key development in a cyber defamation case involving social activist Snehamayi Krishna, police on Saturday arrested a man for allegedly circulating fake documents and a fabricated audio clip targeting senior KAS officer and former MUDA Commissioner D B Natesh.
Police said the accused, Vinod, acted out of hostility arising from certain transactions between him and the complainant.
According to a press release issued by the police department, the case was registered on February 18 at the Bengaluru City Cyber Crime Police Station based on a complaint filed by Natesh, former Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) Commissioner.
During the investigation, police found that due to hostility arising from certain transactions between Vinod and the complainant, he contacted Krishna and provided false information, allegedly with the intention of taking revenge for personal gain.
In his complaint, Natesh alleged that Krishna, a resident of Mysuru, had been targeting and harassing him by creating fake documents, morphed photographs and a fabricated audio clip, and uploading them on social media through his Facebook account with the intention of defaming him.
Police said the investigation was taken up accordingly.
It was further revealed that Krishna, without verifying the authenticity of the information received, allegedly circulated it on social media with malicious intent to defame and damage the complainant’s reputation, the release said.
In this connection, a notice was issued to N Vinod, a resident of Bogadi in Mysuru, directing him to appear before the police.
Upon inquiry, and in view of the supporting evidence found against him, he was arrested and will be produced before the competent court, police said.
A notice has also been issued to Krishna to appear for questioning regarding his role in the offence. Further investigation is in progress.
Additionally, another case has been registered against Krishna at the Vidhana Soudha Police Station for allegedly spreading false information and carrying out defamatory propaganda. The matter is under investigation.
During the investigation so far, materials shared by Krishna on Facebook have been collected.
On verifying mobile numbers, vehicle registration details and other evidence, police found that the information circulated was false.
The investigation is continuing, they added.
On Thursday, Krishna had alleged corruption against Karnataka Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh and senior KAS officer D B Natesh, a former MUDA Commissioner.
The government rejected the allegations, stating that due process had been followed and a prior sanction for investigation had already been granted.
Krishna also lodged complaints with the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department, alleging the exchange of a large amount of cash in Mysuru. He also shared a photograph of a vehicle allegedly used in the transaction.
On Saturday, Krishna apologised to the chief secretary.
“I was brought here yesterday for questioning following a complaint by Natesh that I filed a false complaint, created fake documents, fabricated an audio clip, and posted them on my Facebook page. There was also a complaint against me for making baseless allegations against Shalini Rajneesh,” Krishna told reporters.
The activist said he had received the information through WhatsApp. He added that the person who shared it has also been questioned by the police.
Krishna, however, claimed that his allegations against Natesh are correct. “The information shared with me regarding Shalini Rajneesh is false. I have committed a mistake. I request her to pardon me,” he said.
He added that the investigation will continue.
Krishna was the complainant in the MUDA land allotment case, based on which a case was registered against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, his wife Parvathi B M, her brother Mallikarjuna Swamy and others.
In this case, it was alleged that compensatory sites were allotted to Siddaramaiah’s wife in an upscale area of Mysuru, with a higher property value than the land acquired by MUDA.
MUDA had allotted plots to Parvathi under a 50:50 scheme in exchange for 3.16 acres of her land, where it developed a residential layout. Under this scheme, MUDA allots 50 per cent of developed land to landowners in exchange for undeveloped land acquired for residential layouts.
The Karnataka Lokayukta police, which registered the case against Siddaramaiah, his wife and his brother-in-law, later gave them a clean chit by filing a closure report, which was accepted by the Special Court for trial of public representatives.
