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Karnataka Today newsletter: Former State police chief B.N. Garudachar passes away, and more

Former Karnataka State Police chief B.N. Garudachar, 96, passed away due to age-related ailments in the wee hours of Friday (March 28, 2025) in Bengaluru. He is survived by two sons, including Chickpet BJP MLA Uday Garudachar, and two daughters .Garudachar was a highly decorated police officer of the State, who also presided over the force in its centenary year in 1985 as its chief. Several retired police officers who worked with him recall him with fondness and admiration. 

Garudachar had long stints in Bengaluru City in various capacities. In 1963, he was appointed the first dedicated DCP (Traffic) of the city and is credited with laying a foundation for what is Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) today. In 1976, he was appointed the Commissioner of Bengaluru City Police at a time when rowdy gangs led by M.P. Jayaraj and Kotwal Ramachandra were powerful, with political patronage. He is credited for being tough on the underworld, even antagonising the political powers of the day.

The Commission for the State Education Policy (SEP), headed by Prof. Sukhdev Thorat, which was supposed to submit its final report to the Karnataka government by February, has missed the deadline with the end of March approaching. In fact, it has not even submitted a request to the government yet for the extension of term required for submission of the report.

Sources said that the submission of the report may be delayed by a couple of months and it is doubtful that the SEP will be implemented in the State from 2025-26. As per its manifesto for the 2023 Assembly elections, the Congress government decided to withdraw the NEP-2020 and constituted a separate Commission to formulate a SEP on October 12, 2023.

Rakesh Rajendra Khedekar (36) — who allegedly killed his wife Gauri Sambekar (32), stuffed her body inside a suitcase, abandoned it at their rented accommodation and fled from the scene to his native Pune — reportedly attempted to end his life on March 27 night. He is being treated at a hospital in Satara, Maharashtra and detained by the Bengaluru City Police.

Rakesh, a project manager with a Bengaluru MNC, had taken a house on rent in Doddakammanahalli a month ago. On the evening of March 27, he had called the landlord and his in-laws and told them that Gauri had ended her life and cut the call, following which the police were alerted. They discovered the body with stab wounds stuffed in a suitcase in the bathroom around 6 p.m. 

A Dutch delegation led by Barbara Goezinne, Vice Minister of Health, Curative Care, has expressed interest in the deployment in the Netherlands of a few selected advanced-stage AI health tech based India and Karnataka. Ms. Goezinne met Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dinesh Gundu Rao at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP) on March 28, 2025.