The year 2016 would be remembered for two murder cases which hogged the headlines in Udupi district.
Bhaskar Shetty, an NRI businessman, went missing from his house on July 28 and the police later arrested and charged his wife Rajeshwari Shetty (50), his son Navneet Shetty (20) and a priest Niranjan Bhat (26) with murder and destroying evidence.
Bowing to pressure, the government handed over the case to the CID for investigation on August 16. The CID filed a preliminary chargesheet in the case on November 2. Though Rajeshwari Shetty applied for a bail, the District and Session Court denied it on December 28.
As many as 15 accused in the murder of the Bharatiya Janata Party member Praveen Poojary (29) at Kenjur village near Hebri in Udupi district on August 17, had been given conditional bail by the District and Sessions Court here. Poojary, along with Akshaya Devadiga (20) were assaulted by a group of youth belonging to right-wing groups for transporting cattle in his van on August 17.
Poojary later died in a private hospital in Brahmavar. As many as 22 activists including six main accused, were arrested on the charge of being involved on the murder. Barring the six main accused, the others got bail recently.
Progressive groups organized ‘chalo Udupi’ to protest against cow vigilantism here on October 9. The Yuva Brigade held ‘Kanaka Nade’ cleanliness campaign in the surroundings of the Sri Krishna Mutt/Temple here on October 23.
The handing over of the 3.88 acres of land belonging to the District Government Maternity and Children’s Hospital to a private company to construct a 200-bed maternity hospital and a 400 bed super-specialty hospital under public-private-partnership mode, led to protests, when Chief Minister Siddaramaiah came to lay its foundation stone laying here on October 30.
The low-floor government city buses under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission scheme hit the roads here on September 9 ending the long-held monopoly of private sector on city bus service.
Vishwesha Tirtha Swami of Paryaya Pejawar Mutt created history on January 18 when he ascended the Paryaya Peetha at the 800-year-old Sri Krishna Mutt/Temple for a fifth time.
