CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI ■ ■ KALABURAGI  SUNDAY  SEPTEMBER 25, 2022  `12.00  PAGES 24  CITY EDITION Love all, Fedal... A picture peRFect ending EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE THE ‘frame’ — both poignant and moving — can be preserved for eternity Roger Federer and . Rafael Nadal sitting next to each other crying, almost inconsolable. Federer’s last match (as a professional) has just ended but the beautiful symphony of their friendship rose to a cre- scendo. Greatest of rivals on court were fighting tears and even holding hands — a reflection of the immense love and respect they share. Words fail to describe that beautiful moment. Perhaps, it’s sensible to absorb, relish and tuck it into the most-desirable chambers of your memory They may appear . together on court, they may sit next to each other too but the emotion the two evoked on Friday night will never be the same again. The frame will always remind generations of a rivalry that was fierce but it was also built on respect and love for the other’s craft. Like all sportspersons, Federer’s retirement was inevitable. It was poetic that it ended CBI crackdown to disrupt child porn network 59 locations across 20 states, including K’taka, raided under Operation Megh Chakra EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi W I T H T H I S I SSU E CAUSE AND EFFECT PLUS 12 PAGES EXPRESS READ State govt to seek public opinion on Kannada Bill Bengaluru: The state government has decided to seek opinions and suggestions from people for implementation of the Kannada Language Comprehensive Development Bill. Stressing that there is no urgency in the matter, Kannada and Culture Minister V Sunil Kumar, however, made it clear that the government will not withdraw the Bill. REPORT: P4 SUNDAY INTERVIEW: P4 IN a major crackdown against downloading and circulation of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), the CBI on Saturday car ried out country-wide searches at 59 locations across over 20 states including Delhi, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. The search operation, dubbed Operation Megh Chakra, was based on two cases the federal investigating agency registered under relevant provisions of the IT Act. Investigations were launched a few days ago following intelligence inputs from the Interpol’s Crime Against Children (CAC) unit in Singapore. According to a CBI statement, the CAC received a wide array of inputs from the New Zealand police. It was alleged that Indian citizens were involved in circulating, downloading and transmitting CSAM using cloud storage. The searches took place in various locations including metros Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai. In the South, raids were conducted in Malappuram in Kerala; Cuddalore and Dindigul in Tamil Nadu; Kodagu, Kolar and Ram Nagar in Karnataka; and Chittoor in Andhra. Interpol to discuss the topic during Delhi meet According to sources in the Union home ministry, child pornography will be a major point of discussing during the 90th session of the Interpol General Assembly, which makes final decisions for the organization, to be held in Delhi between October 18 and 21 Searches were also conducted in Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Agartala, Guwahati, Itanagar, Goa, Dehradun, Raipur, Ranchi, Jaipur besides Pune, Nashik, Thane and Nagpur (Maharashtra); Godhra (Gujarat); Gurdaspur (Punjab); Bardhman (West Bengal); Bhagalpur (Bihar); and Mandi (Himachal Pradesh), among others. During the raids, electronic devices including mobile phones, laptops belonging to more than 50 suspects have been recovered. Preliminary scrutiny of these devices using cyber forensic tools has allegedly revealed the presence of huge quantity of CSAM. Saturday’s exercise was a follow-up to Operation Carbon that the CBI conducted last year against Online Child Sexual Abuse Material. with Nadal by his side. The applause at the O2 arena in London reverberated throughout the world. Whether a fan or not, drops of tears escaped unknowingly It was not exactly a fairy. tale finish as Europe’s Federer and Nadal, 42 Grand Slams between them, lost to Team World’s Frances Tiafoe and Jack Sock 4-6, 7-6, 9-11 (match tie-break). In these emotional matches, results are a side show. Federer, the protagonist, strode the court like a king. He hugged his teammates, World team-members and later, his family And, of course, he was . emotional. “We’ll get through this somehow,” he said emotionally during the post-match interview. “I’m happy, I’m not A rare man-eating leopard has sent the forest department into a tizzy for the first time in Karnataka after the feline killed and partially consumed a 65-year-old-man in Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS) on Thursday. The officials have now put four cages and installed 80 camera traps to trace and catch the man-eater which vanishing into the wild. The wildlife sanctuary which , is also on the list to be declared as a tiger reserve, is one of the largest wildlife sanctuaries spread across 1.20 lakh hectares. Despite all efforts to stop the entry of locals for grazing cattle, incidents of animals being killed by leopards are reported. This is the first time an incident of a leopard killing and eating a man has been re- A forest department staffer prepares a cage to trap the leopard in Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary | EXPRESS ported in the state, forest department officials said. On Thursday, Govindaiah, the 65- year old victim, had entered Hannur range of CWS, with his cattle. When he did not return till Friday morning, concer ned villagers approached the forest department. During a search, the forest patrolling staff found Govindaiah’s body with the left , leg and neck eaten by the leopard. The animal had also eaten some portions of cattle after killing them. The leopard was sighted near the carcasses before it vanished into the wild. “We do not know what made the leopard eat the man. Incidents of leopards attacking humans is not new, but eating is. We are now working to make entry into forests more stringent. But there have been instances in the past, where locals, supported by politicians, have staged protests and even attacked forest staffers. Cages were kept on Saturday at entry and exit points of the area where the incident happened. Camera traps have been installed all around. Once the leopard is identified, it will be captured,” Deputy Conservator of Forests, CWS, Nandeesh L, said. CONTINUED ON: P5 CIVIC BODY RELEASES DOGS INTO FORESTS P5 sad. It feels great to be here and I enjoyed tying my shoes one more time. Everything was the last time. The match was great, I couldn’t be happier.” As Federer walks into sunset, Nadal’s words aptly capture the loss to sports and beyond: “When Roger leaves the tour, an important part of my life is P11 leaving too.” Playing her last international match of an illustrious career, India women’s team seamer Jhulan Goswami received a guard of honour when she walked out to bat against England in third ODI on Saturday. She will end her two-decade career as women’s highest wicket-taker Pandemic is over, but don’t let your guard down S H I L PA P @ Bengaluru AFTER two years and 200 days of the Covid-19 pandemic, experts have confirmed that the pandemic in Karnataka is now passe, albeit sounding a caution to not be complacent. State Covid Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) chairperson, Dr MK Sudarshan, said, “The pandemic situation is behind us. We have reached the pre-pandemic normal situation which prevailed in 2019, as virtually almost everybody is infected. As a result, there is infection immunity We are are . now reasonably resistant to current strains of Omicron variant of Covid-19, as per clinical and epidemiological analyses. This situation will prevail until the next variant of concern (VOC) is discovered and declared by the World Health Organisation.” Over the past few days, Karnataka has witnessed below 400 fresh cases daily . Dr Sudarshan explained: “Covid-19 pediatric sero survey conducted among school children aged 6-14 in Karnataka held in June this year had indicated that 75.38 per cent children were infected with covid. Now all activities have resumed as per normalcy. Adults are moving more freely (than children) virtually with poor covid protocols without wearing masks. As Omicron is a highly infectious and transmissible upper respiratory virus (transmittable till the throat), almost everybody has been infected at some time or the other. So, there is infection immunity, which is known for other viruses, and we are now reasonably resistant to the current strains of omicron infection.” He also pointed out that although people are resisting getting tested, more than 20,000 tests are conducted daily, and yet the cases are low. As on Saturday, although 21,130 tests were conducted across the state, only 275 tested positive. Yet Dr Sudarshan has warned that people need to follow Covid-19 protocols, especially the high-risk segment of the population, who need to wear masks at least in closed places and must avoid crowds. NO COVID RESTRICTIONS AT MYSURU DASARA After over two-and-a-half years of the pandemic, while Mysuru district administration is hosting the Mysuru Dasara on a grand scale from September 26, the district administration said they have not sought any Covid guidelines for Dasara from the TAC, as events are in open places SSLC exams to return to old format, no MCQs EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru AS per fresh guidelines issued by the Karnataka government, examinations for Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) are set to revert to prepandemic format. The students will now have to answer essay-type questions and give detailed answers, as against multiple choice questions (MCQs) that were introduced during the pandemic. The decision to reduce the syllabus will also be revoked and students will have to study the entire syllabus. In addition, the revised textbooks, which have caused much controversy during the year, will also be a part of the syllabus taught to stuCONTINUED ON: P5 dents. Ganja raid: Cop battles for life after assault RAMAKRISHNA BADSESHI @ Kalaburagi Leopard kills man, eats portion of body in Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary B O S K Y K H A N N A @ Bengaluru JHULAN WALKS INTO THE SUNSET Emotional Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal after the match | AP LEFT IN LIMBO More than 500 parents and students protested in front of Nehru English High School in Shivajinagar, Bengaluru, after the institution was shut abruptly on Saturday. The private school was served a notice on Friday by Revenue Department officials in connection with the IMA Ponzi scam case following directions from a special court. The school’s name had figured in connection with the scam | EXPRESS THE Circle Inspector of Kalaburagi (Rural) Police Station sustained serious injuries after he and his team were brutally attacked by a gang of about 40 people with clubs and weapons at about 10 pm on Friday. The incident took place when the police were ambushed by ganja growers. The victim Srimant Illala (54), an ex-serviceman, fired in the air but to no avail. Illala, under whose jurisdiction Kamalapur and Mahagaon Police Stations fall, had gone to conduct a raid on ganja growing farmers at Taruri village of Umarga taluk in Maharashtra, about 85 km from Kalaburagi, when they were attacked. The victim sustained serious injuries on the face, chest and stomach and is in coma. Police officials of Maharashtra and Manthala of Basavakalyan taluk arrived at the spot. They searched for Illala in darkness for about an hour in the fields and after finding him, admitted him to United Hospital in Kalaburagi at 5 am on Saturday . Northeast Range IGP Manish Kharbikar said Home Minister Araga Jnanendra has issued directions to officials to airlift Illala and admit him in a hospital in Bengaluru or Hyderabad if required. Police sources said a person who was arrested on charges of selling ganja recently had revealed that he used to purchase the banned substance from Taruri village of Maharashtra borderP3 ing Basavakalyan taluk. Fraudsters create fake Insta account of SP Belagavi: Cyber fraudsters created a fake Instagram account of Belagavi Superintendent of Police Dr Sanjeev Patil and sent messages to people asking them to make e-payment of Rs 7,500 on a mobile number. Patil, who was Bengaluru West Zone DCP earlier, has blocked the account. P5 Social media abuzz with rumours of coup in China Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi SOCIAL media was abuzz on Saturday with rumours that China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has staged a coup and President Xi Jingping has been placed under house arrest. A video claiming to show tanks moving towards Beijing went viral on Twitter. Jennifer Zeng, who posted the video, claimed that the convoy of tanks is 80 km long. “PLA military vehicles heading to Beijing on September 22nd. Starting from Huanlai County near Beijing and ending in Zhangjiakou City Hebei , Province, entire procession as long as 80 kms. Meanwhile, ru- mour has it that Xi Jingping is under arrest after CCP seniors removed him as head of PLA,” Zeng tweeted along with the video. Adding fuel to the rumour was the cancellation of about 60% of Chinese domestic flights on Saturday . The coup rumours come days after China’s former Justice Minister and a top public secu- rity official, Fu Zhenghua, who was reportedly heading a “political clique” against Xi was sentenced to death with a twoyear reprieve for corruption. Meanwhile, Chinese officials have rubbished the rumours and termed them absurd. China expert Gordon G Chang tweeted dismissing the coup rumours. COVID HORROR IN CHAMARAJANAGAR Movie to expose lapses in oxygen tragedy which claimed 36 lives K S H I V A K U M A R @ Mysuru THE oxygen tragedy, which claimed the lives of 36 patients in a Chamarajnagar Hospital during the second wave of Covid pandemic in 2021, is set to hit the big screen soon. Ajay Kumar, a young and budding filmmaker, is producing and directing the movie that seeks to bring the tragedy alive on the silver screen. The film is ex- pected to throw light on the lapses of the government and bureacracy, besides agony of the families of the victims. The cinema crew that has already shot more than 70 per cent of the movie in the Chamrajanagar hospital, closely interacted with victims’ families. They have decided to extend a helping hand to these families by sharing a part of the box office collection from the movie. Ajay Kumar, who has named the film ‘Lockdown’, said, “I was in tears when I came to know that newly married nurse Rani, who fed her husband in the hospital at 9 pm, received a video call from him saying he was feeling uneasy as his oxygen level was dropping. Soon, his mobile was alle gedly snatched and switched off by the hospital staff, who feared that the patients would inform their families about the shortage of oxygen.” When Rani rushed there, she could not find her husband. But she was informed about her husband’s demise at 5 am, he added. “There are too many emotional issues and many of the families are shattered and have nothing to fall back on. Hence, we have decided to share 30 per cent of the film’s profit to help the 36 families”, he added. The promo of ‘Lockdown’ is already catching eyeballs. It features Congress leader Siddaramaiah saying that the tragedy could have been avoided if oxygen was supplied on time. Ajay Kumar has earlier directed a children’s movie ‘Belakina Nadege’. “I am reaching out to journalists who covered the tragedy besides doing my re, search to incorporate different perspectives on the tragedy .” Director Ajay Kumar, along with his crew and villagers, during the shooting of ‘Lockdown’