Bengaluru, May 17 (IANS) A female student at a private engineering college on the outskirts of Bengaluru was found dead in mysterious circumstances and police are probing the case, officials said on Friday.

The deceased student, identified as Harshita, 18, was a resident of Kodihalli in Arsikere taluk of Hassan district. and a first-year student in the electronic and communications branch at the college near Heelalige, close to Chandapura town.

According to police, her body was found hanging in her room in the college hostel on Thursday night.

The incident came to light when her friend, Pragathi, saw Harshita’s body hanging through the window. She informed other students about the incident, and they broke open the door, brought Harshita down, and attempted to rush her to the hospital. Harshita was staying alone in her room as her roommate had gone to her home. The exact reason for her taking the step is yet to be ascertained.

Her father Keshavamurthy told the police that at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Harshita had called up and spoken to him. However, he received a call from the college principal at 10.30 p.m. that she was found hanging in her room.

The father has asked police to probe the matter. Suryanagar police, which is investigating the matter, said that they will record the statements of her friends and staff of the college and hostel.

–IANS

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Hyderabad, May 17 (IANS) Actor-politician Vijayashanthi, who has been lying low since leaving the BJP to join the Congress in November last year, on Friday said that the BJP does not understand the self-respect and regional aspirations of the southern states.

Vijayashanthi, who did not contest the Lok Sabha elections and also stayed away from the Congress campaign, in a post on X, criticised Union Minister and state BJP President G. Kishan Reddy for claiming that the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) will no longer exist in Telangana.

The veteran film star wrote that southern states have been following the path of regional emotions and public sentiments for their self-esteem. Those who don’t understand this should know how people responded to leaders from Karunanidhi, M.G. Ramachandran, N.T. Rama Rao, Ramakrishna Hegde and Jayalalithaa to the BRS and YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), she added.

Vijayashanthi said while the Congress understands the existence of self-respect in the south, the BJP has perhaps not even thought of it and this is reflected in Kishan Reddy’s statement.

Her comments to defend the BRS triggered speculations in political circles that she may be planning to return to the party. She, however, denied any such plans.

Vijayashanthi, who was a BJP national executive member, defected to the Congress just two weeks before Telangana Assembly elections.

It was in December 2020 that Vijayashanthi returned to the BJP after 15 years.

Popular as ‘Lady Amitabh’ for her action roles in Telugu films, she joined the BJP in 1997 and served as General Secretary of the party’s women’s wing. She quit the BJP in 2005 to float a separate outfit, Talli Telangana, to fight for separate statehood for Telangana. She later merged Talli Telangana with the TRS (now BRS) and was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Medak constituency in 2009.

In August 2013, a few months before the formation of Telangana, the TRS suspended Vijayashanthi for anti-party activities. She later joined the Congress and unsuccessfully contested from the Medak Assembly constituency in the 2014 polls.

After lying low for four years, Vijayashanthi again became active in Congress in 2017 and was named its star campaigner for the party in the 2018 Assembly polls. After the party’s debacle, she was not active in the party and returned to BJP in 2020.

Vijayashanthi, whose film career spans nearly four decades, has acted in over 180 films in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi.

–IANS

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New Delhi, May 17 (IANS) Bibhav Kumar, the personal secretary (PS) to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, lodged a complaint at the Civil Lines police station on Friday evening in connection with the allegations of physical assault levelled against him by AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal, the former chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women (DCW).

Kumar’s complaints read, “This is to bring to your kind notice that on the morning of May 13, Swati Maliwal forcefully and unauthorisedly entered the Chief Minister’s residence. Not only did she breach the security, create a ruckus, and assault the complainant, she is now trying to falsely implicate the undersigned so as to create undue pressure on him.”

He also claimed that on May 13 at around 8:40 a.m., Maliwal came to the Chief Minister’s official residence in Civil Lines, and sought permission to enter the house.

“The security officer present at the main entrance inquired about her identity, to which Swati Maliwal identified herself as a Rajya Sabha MP. She then told the security officers to clear her path and allow her to enter as she had an appointment with the Chief Minister,” Kumar said in his complaint.

“The said security officer requested her to wait till he got the details of her appointment verified. Upon verification, the security officer informed her that there was no such appointment on record and therefore he could not allow her to enter (the house).

“Maliwal then forcefully entered the CM’s residence despite the objections of the office staff. So not only did she make false claims of having an appointment to gain entry into the CM’s residence, she also forcefully and illegally trespassed into the premises despite repeated objections of the security and CM office staff,” he said.

“Since Ms. Maliwal had by now gained unauthorised entry into the premises of the CM’s residence, the office staff asked her to wait in the waiting area. The said waiting room is located on the campus of CM’s residence, but not in the main building where the CM resides,” Kumar claimed in his complaint.

“Upon being asked to wait outside the main building, she started shouting at and abusing the CM office staff. She told them to leave the waiting area and check with the Chief Minister about her appointment. At around 9 a.m., despite strong objections of the office staff, she stormed out of the waiting area and entered the main building where the CM resides,” he added.

As per the complaint, Bibhav was informed that she had no appointment and had made an unauthorised entry into the premises of the CM’s residence despite the objections of the staff.

“At around 9:22 a.m., the complainant entered the main building and found Ms. Maliwal sitting in the drawing room. The complainant approached Ms. Maliwal and politely requested her to follow the proper procedure for meeting the Chief Minister.

“As soon the complainant stated the above, Ms. Maliwal started screaming and shouting at the complainant and hurled abuses at him, saying, ‘Tumhari himmat kaise hui ek MP ko rokne ki… Tumhari aukad kya hai’,” Kumar claimed in his complaint.

The development came after Maliwal on Friday morning formally lodged a complaint with Delhi Police, revealing the extent of “harassment” and “torture” she faced at the hands of Kumar at the Chief Minister’s residence on the morning of May 13.

–IANS

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Hyderabad, May 17 (IANS) A fraudster claiming to be an officer of Maharashtra Police cheated a woman to the tune of Rs 60 lakh to save her from a money laundering case, but on receipt of complaint, Telangana State Cyber Security Bureau acted swiftly to put the transfer of the entire amount on hold.

The woman, a resident of Cyberabad, received a call from an unknown number on May 15.

The caller claimed that he was an officer of Maharashtra police and stated that she was involved in a major money laundering case and a warrant was pending against her.

According to Telangana State Cyber Security Bureau (TSCSB), the fraudster forced the victim to be on Skype video call throughout the entire night and kept threatening her of dire consequences.

Due to fear and as per the advice of the fraudster, the victim transferred Rs 60 lakh to the account mentioned by unknown persons the next morning.

After transferring the amount, she realised that it was a fraud and immediately called the cybercrime helpline number 1930 of TSCSB.

The helpline immediately uploaded transaction details on CFCFRMS portal, alerted the State Bank of India to which the amount was fraudulently transferred and ensured that the entire amount was put on hold within one hour.

TSCSB said that this is an example of swift action by the victim in reporting the crime on 1930 within the golden hour and by the 1930 helpline staff in alerting the concerned banks and intercepting the fraudulent money from going into the hands of suspects.

TSCSB director Shikha Goel appreciated and rewarded sub-inspector G. Shirsiha, constables T. Rehman and B. Krishna of 1930 call centre who acted promptly and made sure that the entire amount was put on hold.

The director informed people that no police or government agencies make video/skype calls to any person.

If they receive any such calls they should not respond. She also stated that police or government agencies never ask for transfer of any amount by any means.

If any member of the public receives any such calls/request they should immediately inform us on 1930 or cybercrime.gov.in, she said.

–IANS

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Kolkata, May 17 (IANS) Friday turned out to be a politically eventful day in West Bengal which brought both relief and anxiety for the state unit of the BJP.

The relief came after the Calcutta High Court ordered the immediate release of a woman BJP leader from Sandeshkhali, Mampi Das, who was arrested after a sting operation video went viral in which a local BJP leader was heard saying that the women’s protest there was plotted and orchestrated by the BJP in which Das played a key role.

The order came as a political reprieve for the BJP as the single-judge bench of Justice Jay Sengupta raised questions over the justification behind Das’ arrest, and the justification of implicating her in a non-bailable section of the Indian Penal Code.

The state BJP is terming the order as an endorsement of the party’s claims that the viral video and the subsequent arrest of Das were nothing but conspiracies plotted by the Trinamool Congress and the state police.

However, the BJP also received a jolt on Friday after the Election Commission of India issued a show-cause notice to the former judge of the Calcutta High Court, Abhijit Gangopadhyay, over the latter’s derogatory remarks against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The notice came after the Trinamool Congress filed a complaint with the poll panel against Gangopadhyay, who has been fielded by the BJP from the Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency in East Medinipur district.

The remarks by Gangopadhyay were made at a public meeting in Haldia district on Wednesday. They went public after a purported video emerged online a day later in which Gangopadhyay could be heard wondering about the “amount at which CM Banerjee was getting sold”.

While Gangopadhyay has been asked to file a reply by 5 p.m. on May 20, there is anxiety in the BJP camp whether the reply will satisfy the poll panel.

If the Election Commission bars Gangopadhyay from addressing public meetings, holding roadshows, or giving interviews to the media, as demanded by the Trinamool, it will be a major embarrassment for Gangopadhyay before Tamluk goes to the polls in the sixth phase on May 25.

–IANS

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