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Karnataka Today newsletter: Who was Vikram Gowda, the wanted Maoist leader killed in Udupi? and more

A prime Maoist leader from Karnataka, Vikram Gowda, 44, was killed in an alleged exchange of fire between Anti Naxal Force (ANF) and a team of Maoists near Peetabailu village, Kabbinale area near Hebri of Udupi district in Karnataka, on November 18 night. A top police official confirmed Gowda’s death to The Hindu without revealing the time of the encounter.

Gowda, alias Shrikant, has been on the wanted list of Karnataka police for 22 years. He was among the nine Maoists accused in the murder of 50-year-old bamboo basket weaver Sadashiva Gowda in December 2011. For the last few days, six members of Maoist’s ‘Kabini Dalam’, including Gowda, were searching for a safe place in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Chikkamagaluru, and Kodagu districts.

Meanwhile, Banjagere Jayaprakash, a member of the Karnataka State committee to oversee implementation of the rehabilitation policy to surrender/assimilate Left Wing Extremists, said that despite giving wide publicity to their appeals to Maoists to join the mainstream, none had got in touch. However, he condemned Gowda’s killing and demanded a judicial probe into the incident.

A sense of fear has gripped the family of Subbe Gowda and Rathnamma of Kadegundi in Koppa taluk of Chikkamagaluru. The aged couple, who till four acres of land in the hilly area, are fed up answering the police for the past few days. They have been facing an ordeal after serving dinner to suspected Maoists, who came knocking on their door.

It all began when four suspected Maoists visited Kadegundi on the nights of November 9 and 10. Of them, two knocked on the doors of Mr. Subbe Gowda’s family and had dinner. A few hours later, around midnight on November 10, scores of ANF personnel and policemen subjected the couple to intense questioning about the people who had visited, and even searched the house.

Karnataka will set up Global Innovation Districts in Bengaluru, Mysuru and Belagavi as a continued part of the Global Capability Centre (GCC) policy, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced on November 19, 2024, after inauguration of the 27th edition of Bengaluru Tech Summit 2024: Technology Unbound — Uniting Global Innovation, Creating Impact for the World.

The three-day event is billed as the largest of its kind in Asia. As part of its Nipuna Karnataka initiative, the State signed five strategic MoUs with global tech giants Microsoft, Intel, Accenture, IBM, and the BFSI Consortium. The MoUs aim to train 1,00,000 persons in the next year with a placement of 70% of the trained professionals.