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Indian Express
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Karnataka Lokayukta extortion case: WhatsApp messages from ex-cop's phone revealed links to IPS officer
The investigation into an alleged extortion racket operating in the Karnataka Lokayukta established a link between IPS officer Srinath Joshi and Ningappa Savant, a former police constable accused of threatening government officials with raids, from WhatsApp messages retrieved from the latter's phone. The alleged association between Savant and Joshi, who was a Superintendent of Police (SP) in the Karnataka Lokayukta until last week, emerged after WhatsApp messages from the former constable's phone were retrieved following his arrest on June 2, police sources said. 'Information about the involvement of other officers with the accused is being gathered by examining WhatsApp messages, call details, and WhatsApp call details,' the office of the Karnataka Lokayukta had said in an official statement on June 17. A single-judge bench of the Karnataka High Court granted bail to Savant on Thursday following a plea by his wife, G K Chandrakala. She alleged that the Lokayukta police did not follow arrest procedures mandated by the Supreme Court while arresting Savant. The high court ruled that Savant's arrest was unconstitutional and noted that 'the fact that the grounds of arrest were not intimated, furnished or communicated to the petitioner or her husband' was grounds for granting bail. 'I deem it just and appropriate to direct the respondent-Lokayuktha and the concerned jail authorities to release the petitioner's husband on interim bail for a period of four weeks…,' Justice S R Krishna Kumar of the Karnataka High Court ruled on Thursday. Earlier, the high court bench had stayed the Lokayukta police FIR against Savant on June 17. The bench on June 18 also stayed a summons issued by the Lokayukta police for questioning Joshi on his alleged association with Savant. The alleged extortion racket linked to the Karnataka Lokayukta emerged after a May 23 extortion bid on a regional transport officer (RTO) in Tumakuru. The official filed a complaint with the police, saying he had received a call from a caller claiming to be Vamsi Krishna, the SP of the Bengaluru City Lokayukta unit, who demanded money to prevent a raid on the RTO. The subsequent probe led to the arrest of Savant, who was identified as the person who allegedly called the RTO in the guise of a Lokayukta police officer. The Lokayukta police also seized Savant's mobile phone. The police retrieved data from the phone through the technical services of the state CID and found that the dismissed police constable was closely associated with SP Joshi through multiple messages and calls. Savant's WhatsApp messages allegedly revealed that he reported the collection of over ₹ 56 lakh from excise officials in the state to the officer. The Lokayukta police are now investigating the excise officials who are alleged to have made payments through Savant to evade action by the Lokayukta police. Savant is alleged to have extorted over ₹ 4.15 crore from dozens of government officials by claiming to be closely associated with police officers in the Karnataka Lokayukta police units. The Lokayukta police also established the alleged association between Savant and Joshi from information about the former police constable's visits to the Lokayukta office, where he frequently met Joshi. Sources said that the Lokayukta police had collected sufficient material through technical analysis to pursue the case further and would seek removal of the high court stay on investigations following an advancement of a hearing initially set for July 15.
Time of India
a day ago
- Time of India
Overspeeding led to accident on Jejuri-Morgaon road: Police
Pune: The accident near Jejuri wherein a car rammed a stationary pickup van from behind on Wednesday evening was because of overspeeding said officials of RTO and Pune rural police after a joint inspection. Late on Wednesday night, one of the two injured children, Sarthak Kiran Raut (6) of Indapur, succumbed to injuries — taking the death toll to nine. A refrigerator was being unloaded from the van for an eatery along the Jejuri-Morgaon Road when the car crashed into the vehicle from the rear around 6.45pm on Wednesday. Pune regional transport officer (RTO) Archana Gaikwad and deputy RTO Swapnil Bhosle inspected the accident spot on Thursday morning. "One of our squads visited the spot on Wednesday night too. Initial investigations revealed the accident happened because of overspeeding. The car was likely at a speed of over 100 kmph. Its driver lost control over the vehicle and rammed the pickup van," Bhosle told TOI. "We have checked documents of both vehicles and the insurance and fitness certificates are valid. The driver was not drunk. We are yet to determine the exact speed of the car. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Nuevo calefactor viral ayuda a miles a dormir sin sentir frío EcoHeat Undo Overspeeding seems to be the problem," Bhosle told TOI. Assistant inspector Deepak Waghchoure of Jejuri police said, "Investigations show the driver of the pickup van was not at fault. He had parked the vehicle off the road. Its tail light could not be seen since the rear doors were open for unloading. Doctors who performed postmortem at the primary health centre have certified multiple injuries as the cause of deaths. Bodies have been handed over to family members. The officer said, "If the car's speed was within limit, the pickup van would not have overturned. We could not get speedometer evidence from the car because it was destroyed in the crash." Kiran Bharat Raut (32), who was driving the car, was returning home to Pawar Wadi in Indapur along with his wife, son, daughter and two relatives after attending a marriage ceremony when the accident occurred. Raut was among those killed. Police identified the other deceased as Raut's son Sarthak (6) and sister-in-law Ashwini Santosh (23) and her husband, Akshay Shankar Raut (26). The others are eatery owner Somnath Vayse (55) and his employee, Ramu Sanjeevan Yadav (23), both of Nazra Supe in Jejuri taluka. Another eatery employee, Ajit Ashok Jadhav (32) of Kajale in Bhor taluka, and two passersby — Ajaykumar Chauhan (32) of Uttar Pradesh residing in Nazra Supe and Kiranlal Bikaner (35) of Rajasthan — also died. Chauhan and Bikaner were contractual employees at a Kirloskar company located near the accident spot. Ashwini and Akshay were residents of Solapur. The injured victims are Raut's wife Sonali (27), daughter Mahi (4) and cleaner of the pickup van Sachin Bajirao Tambat. They are undergoing treatment at hospitals in Baramati and their condition is reportedly stable. Meanwhile, Waghchoure said, "We reached the spot and tried to open the cars doors, which were jammed. We summoned an earth-moving elevator, broke the door and removed the victims. All the victims were taken to a hospital. Eight people, including a woman, were proclaimed dead on arrival by doctors. The ninth victim succumbed to injuries while undergoing treatment." A case related to causing death due to negligence was registered against Raut, a farmer from Indapur. Box: PM condoles loss of lives, announces Rs2 lakh ex-gratia to kin of each deceased Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday condoled the loss of lives in the road accident on the Jejuri-Morgaon road. He announced an ex-gratia of Rs2 lakh from the PM National Relief Fund for the next of kin of each deceased and Rs50,000 to the injured. PMO India handle's post on X said: "Deeply saddened by the loss of lives due to a road accident on the Jejuri-Morgaon road. Condolences to those who have lost their loved ones. May the injured recover soon."
Time of India
a day ago
- Automotive
- Time of India
HSRP deadline extended to Aug 15
1 2 P une: The state transport department on Thursday extended the deadline to install high security registration plates (HSRP) to Aug 15 for vehicles registered before April 2019. State transport commissioner Vivek Bhimanwar told TOI that this was the last deadline extension. "There will be no further extension of the deadline to fit HSRP. Vehicles registered before April 209 but without HSRP after Aug 15 will be penalised," he said. The earlier deadline to install HSRP on vehicles was June 30. Around 25 lakh vehicles need HSRP under the Pune RTO. Close to 2.6 lakh HSRPs have been fitted so far. People have been facing various issues during the HSRP fitment process in the city. A source in the state transport office said people should at least take an appointment for the fitment of HSRP and possess the receipt for the same to escape the penalty after the Aug 15 deadline. "Those who don't even have an appointment to fit HSRP will face action for sure," the source said.
Time of India
a day ago
- Automotive
- Time of India
UP dept adopts simpler and faster process for issuing driving licence
Lucknow: A detailed review of new driving licence applications from Jan 1 to June 10 by the transport department revealed the success of its "paperless, faceless, and cashless" initiative, with several districts recording exceptional disposal rates and minimal pendency. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The analysis revealed outstanding performance in several districts. Ghaziabad received 24,115 applications with just 15 pending (0.06%), Prayagraj (RTO) had 33 pending out of 23,914 (0.13%), and Muzaffarnagar reported only 20 pending out of 13,523 (0.15%). In districts like Shahjahanpur (0.46%) and Amethi (0.63%), where application volumes were lower, pendency rates were slightly higher. The department has responded by initiating special monitoring in these areas. Thanks to strong monitoring, administrative efficiency, and effective public awareness campaigns, including outreach via social media, the pendency rate dropped below 0.5% in over 90% of the districts, said an official. The department aims to further streamline the application and approval process with the help of Community Service Centres (CSCs) and the Sarathi portal. Performance reviews will be conducted regularly to maintain and improve results. "Owing to the department's continuous efforts, the licence issuance process has become simpler, faster, and more transparent. All districts have been instructed to ensure that pending cases are resolved within seven days. Officials from lagging districts have been urged to evaluate their performance and take swift corrective measures based on the comprehensive review report issued by the department," said transport commissioner, Brijesh Narayan Singh.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
I'm a former Amazon developer. Jassy's memo doesn't surprise me, and I don't think engineers should worry about their jobs.
Shahad Ishraq was a systems development engineer at Amazon in Germany for just over three years. He quit at the end of May after the company implemented a five-day RTO. Ishraq said Andy Jassy's memo wasn't surprising, and he isn't concerned about his future career. This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 30-year-old Shahad Ishraq, from Germany. The following has been edited for length and clarity. Reading Andy Jassy's new memo on generative AI, I'm not surprised by anything. I worked at Amazon for nearly three and a half years and left in late May because of the 5-day RTO mandate. My commute took an hour and a half each way, so I wanted to move to another job where I could still see my career progressing and do interesting work. The memo feels consistent with what I'd been hearing from management and Jassy while working at Amazon. I think Jassy's comments are to show shareholders he's invested in the technology. I initially worried about AI when I wasn't as familiar with the products. However, using AI will give you a better understanding of what it's capable of and what skills you can develop to differentiate yourself. I joined Amazon in 2022 as a systems development engineer, working in Leipzig, Germany. My day-to-day work involved designing and implementing software and performing operational tasks. When AI tools first came out a few years ago, we were told we could use them, but we should be very careful and follow the company's policies on their usage. Amazon is a huge company. Within it, I spotted and heard about different approaches to AI adoption. There seemed to be a bunch of excited early adopters who shared their findings with everyone. There were people like me who followed the first bunch and saw what went well. There were also some skeptics and a small number of engineers who were outright against using AI. For me, the dawn of AI was a bit scary at first. Everyone was saying it would put me out of a job. Unless you test the technology yourself and see what it can do, you'll fear the unknown. AI wasn't part of my job until sometime in 2024. There were also some barriers to using the technology. When I first joined Amazon, ChatGPT wasn't even available, but when it did come out in 2022 we couldn't use it that extensively because of data security issues that come with copying our code into those models. When Anthropic's Claude became available within Amazon Bedrock — the company's internal service for developing generative AI applications — we were able to make more use of AI. In my last few months at Amazon, I started experimenting a lot with approved AI tools, doing extensive tests with them. They don't do everything for me, but I've integrated these tools into my workflow, such as by asking it to create a plan for my tasks or spot differences between documents. I noticed it often fails, and I have to make changes, but overall, it has improved my speed and increased my throughput significantly. Andy Jassy's memo feels very consistent with what I've been told internally before I left Amazon and what the company has communicated publicly. News articles talking about the memo focus on Jassy saying that a lot of jobs will be taken by AI. However, in the same sentence, he also says jobs will be created. I've tried creating production-level applications using AI, and it takes a lot of effort to get these products ready. A company like Amazon can't roll out an application that breaks and causes havoc. They have to have firewalls, checks, and tests. I don't see people going out of jobs in huge numbers soon. Amazon went on a hiring spree during COVID. If we see more layoffs, I think it will be associated with cutting back after that spree, rather than the impacts of AI. AI agents are helping out software engineers a lot, and the amount of work agents do will probably increase gradually. I'm able to get agents working on three different things, while I look into other tasks. But AI hallucinates quite a lot. It does things it's not asked to do. I often have to correct an AI agent producing code. Humans will be required to build guardrails and act as guardrails themselves. Implementing these guardrails will take time, and I think this will slow down the AI agent hype. I think Jassy's comments about AI are to show shareholders he's invested in the technology. Memos have to come out. Jassy has to place a lot of optimism around AI; otherwise, shareholders will think they're not doing anything with AI. My advice to Amazon employees is to start using AI as much as possible to overcome their fear of the unknown. I now work as a software engineer at a utilities company. The more I've been using AI, the more comfortable I feel about myself. I can see what skills I have that I can use to stay relevant. In tech, languages and developments come really fast. My guess is that people will need to use AI to write code and increase their throughput, and pure software engineers will gradually be replaced by people who have both software engineering and AI skills. I'm personally trying to learn these skills because I think they'll become more important. A spokesperson for Amazon told Business Insider, "Amazon employees use internal generative AI tools every day to innovate on behalf of our customers. We have safeguards in place for employee use of these technologies, including restrictions on sharing confidential information with third-party generative AI services." Do you have a story to share about the AI job market? Contact this reporter at ccheong@ Read the original article on Business Insider
