- 2 minutes ago
An explosion at an under-construction building in Bengaluru's Pulikeshi Nagar left two labourers injured after they handled an unidentified bag containing a battery and wires. Forensic and internal security teams are investigating the incident to determine the nature of the blast. Meanwhile, heavy northeast monsoon rains triggered waterlogging and disrupted normal life across Chennai, with residents in areas like T. Nagar and Panagal Park facing inundation. Greater Chennai Corporation Mayor Priya raised concerns over targeted online trolling and AI-generated deepfake videos aimed at women leaders after she questioned civic authorities. In another development, the release on parole of five convicts from the 1998 Coimbatore blast has sparked a political clash, with the BJP alleging appeasement politics while the ruling establishment defends the move as a regular judicial and administrative protocol.
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NewsTranscript
00:05Vannakam, Namaskara, good afternoon and a big welcome to India Today's SoSouth.
00:09I'm Nagar Jundwar Kanath. Over the next 30 minutes, we will be getting you all the news that dominates the
00:14south region as well.
00:15Remember, it's a one-stop destination, SoSouth, where it makes news in the south, you'll hear it first on SoSouth
00:22on India Today.
00:23And joining me right now are my team of colleagues from Chennai and Bengaluru.
00:26Sagai Raj from Bengaluru, Pamud Madhav and Anagar Keshav are from Chennai joining me live right now to get us
00:32more details.
00:33Let me get a word with each of them as to what's the big story from their respective state as
00:37well.
00:37Sagai Raj, to you first, what's the big story that you are tracking from the state of Karnataka?
00:45There was a mysterious blast which has been reported in Fraserton of Bengaluru city.
00:49And apart from that, there is also Mysore Dasara in Mysore where the entire cabinet is a part of it.
01:01Well, it's a big Mysore Dasara festival in Karnataka.
01:04Also, we'll be closely tracking that celebrations as well.
01:07Let me take it across to Pramod Madhav and Anagar Keshav.
01:10Pramod to you first, what's the top headline from the state of Tamil Nadu and Chennai city?
01:18Definitely, Anagar Keshav. We have the Monson session beginning here and we have the Northeast Monson bringing quite a lot
01:23of rain.
01:24And we'll get you more updates on that.
01:30Anagar Keshav, what's the top story that you are tracking today?
01:37In fact, it's pouring here in Chennai. So, we have ground reports coming about the rain situation in Chennai.
01:43The kind of water stagnation that we have reported from the location.
01:47So, we have some interesting visuals about all of that.
01:50But apart from that, there is a tragic story from Tamil Nadu.
01:52A financial influencer called Harish has died by suicide.
01:56He has alleged cyberbullying and trolling on social media.
02:00So, we'll be bringing all of those details to you throughout this bulletin.
02:07Let's kick start the bulletin right now with news coming in from Karnataka.
02:20The whole of Karnataka celebrated Vijay Dashmi yesterday.
02:23And at 2.30 in the afternoon in Bangalore, something unusual took place.
02:27An explosion in an under construction building in Pulakeshinagar in the Bangalore East limits.
02:33What exactly happened was the under construction building, there were laborers and workers who were there.
02:37They picked up an unidentified bag, took it to the fourth floor and suddenly an explosion took place and blast
02:44took place.
02:45The police department reached immediately to the spot and these two workers have been injured, admitted to the hospital.
02:51And what in fact surprised the police was that wires and batteries were found.
02:55So, now the forensic department is looking into all the angles right now to investigate what are the materials that
03:01were found at the blast place or the explosion place.
03:03And now the internal security division of the Karnataka police are also swinging into action to in fact rule out
03:09any other angle as well.
03:11They look into security checks of terror in Karnataka and any other intel that they have.
03:16But they want to ensure that all the angles have been ruled out right now.
03:20Priyank Kargi, the Home Minister of Karnataka has spoken on this. Listen in.
03:23No, there has been a blast. That's all I can tell now. We will see what is happening.
03:30No, no, no.
03:31No, no.
03:32No, no.
03:32No, no.
03:32No, no.
03:32No, no.
03:33No, no.
03:34No, no.
03:35No, no.
03:36No, no.
03:37No, no.
03:38No, no.
03:38No, no.
03:38No, no.
03:40No, no.
03:40No, no, no.
03:40So, we keep the locomotive, let remove Muchas.
03:40Ah, 대해서 allem they want to leave us right.
03:41Shabbat Dasar, it is a blast timer.
03:43Shahay Raj, you need me live on this.
03:44Shangai, have you had a chance to speak to the top cops of the Bengaluru police?
03:49What are they saying?
03:50What's the intel they have them at this point of time?
03:52Are they also ruling out the terror angle right now?
04:01Umahtaridad, not an invasion?
04:06and according to him, there were two people who were working in this particular building
04:11and you can see that it is almost a construction completed building.
04:16There are few interior works which have been done in few floors
04:20and according to the commissioner, there are also few residents who are already occupied
04:24and the blast took place in the fourth floor where still the interior works have been done
04:31and two of them were working in this building.
04:33One has been identified as Alauddin, the other one is Suraj.
04:37They found a mysterious bag on the grounds on the main road.
04:41This is the road which connects this apartment and they found a bag here
04:45and immediately they were curious to find out what was there inside the bag
04:50and they took that bag to the fourth floor and when they opened, they found out a battery
04:55and according to commissioner, one of the persons tried to switch on the battery
04:59and according to him, it was a torch on the battery and when he switched on, it exploded
05:04and one of those persons have lost the finger, the other one escaped with minor injuries.
05:11Both of them were shifted to the hospital, one has been discharged and one is still undergoing treatment
05:16and according to the police commissioner of Bengaluru, both of them are giving a different statement.
05:21There is a contradictory to the statement which has been given by both of them
05:24and the police have sent whatever the materials which has been found in that bag,
05:30whether it is a battery, wire, the other explosive stuff which exploded.
05:33They have gathered all those stuff and it has been sent to the FSL team
05:38and they are awaiting for a report from the FSL to figure out and to ascertain what exactly was that,
05:46whether it was an improvised explosive or something else
05:50and as of now, they are not coming to a conclusion that there might be some kind of terror suspicious
05:55in this blast or something else.
05:58So, everything is subject to investigation and subject to the report from the FSL team.
06:04The police have taken suomoto of it, they have registered a complaint
06:07and they have cordoned the entire building, nobody has been allowed to enter inside and come out
06:13and as we speak now, the police are waiting for the report
06:17and once the report comes, probably they will come to a conclusion
06:20what exactly has happened in this entire incident.
06:27In fact, we will have to wait and watch and keep a close eye on this developing story
06:30because the Bangalore police have not ruled out any angle awaiting information from the FSL team
06:35and also from the ISD team if they have picked up any clues.
06:39Remember, this was a suspected bag or an unclaimed bag
06:41and these two laborers or the workers picked it up and took it to the fourth floor
06:45and then an explosion occurred.
06:47So, we will be closely watching this story or that is developing from Karnataka and in Bengaluru
06:52and these are the stories today from Bengaluru
06:54and we now move across to Chennai.
06:56Pramod Madhav will take it from here.
07:06Thank you, Nagar.
07:07The important part of the Tamil Nadu right now, it is about the monsoon season.
07:11We have the Northeast monsoon heating, Samir Nadu on the whole and Chennai.
07:14Unfortunately, due to the memories of 2015 and 2023, quite a lot of questions are being asked
07:20as to about the preparedness to face this monsoon.
07:23In fact, two days ago, we had heavy downpour in Chennai and yesterday also,
07:27it was a very good amount of rainfall that was received by the capital.
07:30Now, questions are being raised about what kind of preparedness GCC has done.
07:34That is the Greater Chennai Corporation, close to 20 crores is ready to be spent on this particular
07:4015 zones when it comes to maintaining the roads and the basic necessities when it comes
07:45to facing the monsoon.
07:47We have multiple ground reports from various locations that are normally like are prone to
07:52flooding and such.
07:53And most importantly, the important aspect in a kind of way political is that now it seems
07:57to be a talk of war between the Greater Chennai Corporation where the mayor comes from DMK and
08:02the ruling government which is the TVK.
08:05But before that, let's see the ground reports from various locations across Chennai.
08:10We are reporting from Panagal Park here in Tienagar, one of the most busiest stretches in Chennai.
08:16And just look at the water level here, vehicles are still passing by, it's actually quite difficult
08:23for passers by here.
08:25The water inundation is so much that all the vendors here have shut their shops.
08:31None of the shops, the street shops are open because it's just impossible to even walk here,
08:37let alone standing, it's impossible to do anything in this stretch of road.
08:41Efforts are underway to drain out the water, but just look at the stretch there.
08:45It's fully, completely inundated with water.
08:48I'm joined by a resident here who lives in Tienagar, Panagal Park to just take us through
08:53the ordeal here residents are particularly facing.
08:56Hi sir, good morning.
08:58How has the situation been from morning, what are you doing, how are you coping?
09:02I mean we were awake all night, there was more than two feet water above this all night.
09:06Just now they have started pumping and this is a yearly problem, they are not fixing it.
09:11It's been happening for the past three years now.
09:13So, and they are not pumping out water, just now they are, if you can see, they are putting
09:16the pump now only.
09:17They have not been doing anything about it.
09:20Every shop, I mean here, Umdiya's, all of them have water inside now.
09:23Yeah.
09:24They are not able to do anything.
09:25How, how was the water level now, was it worse or has it been the same since morning?
09:30No, this has gone almost one and a half feet down.
09:32Okay, so it's getting better.
09:33It's getting better because government has put the things, metro people are not doing.
09:37Okay.
09:37They have put those pumping machines, you can see.
09:39Yeah.
09:40The government is pulling out, metro people have not done anything to clear the water.
09:44Okay.
09:45The pump is now only being installed, so.
09:47They broke the rain water drain there near where the station is coming and they have not
09:51fixed it yet.
09:52So that's why the water log.
09:53Okay, but is this the situation every year or, or is this because of metro?
09:58Yeah.
09:58Every year since the metro started.
10:00Before that, even the 2015 floods, when the whole city was flooded, there was not a drop
10:04of water here.
10:05This is only because of the metro.
10:07Okay.
10:08Thank you, sir.
10:09Please take care and stay safe.
10:11This, you know, ever since the metro construction started here in Chennai, Stenagar, this has,
10:15the situation has just gotten worse.
10:18What he's saying is that the water level was worse in the morning and now the water is slowly,
10:23slowly seeping out.
10:24But I want to show you this visual here.
10:26If I can just ask my camera person, Danny to pan, there's a child there.
10:29The mother is carrying her child.
10:32They are trying to trudge through.
10:33I hope they have not come for shopping, but the child is carrying a chocolate there.
10:37They're trying to pass through this road.
10:40It's fully inundated with water.
10:42It's literally the fate for every single passerby here in Tinagar.
10:46Look at children there trying to walk through this stretch of water.
10:50The government really has to step up its game and try to clear off this water because Tinagar
10:55is one such area that's heavily, heavily populated.
10:58There are so many people using this road and human safety comes above all.
11:03So the appeal to the government is to make sure that Tinagar and particularly Panagal Park,
11:08the stretch of road that's widely used by students and kids and young people, the water gets drained
11:13off as quickly as possible.
11:15With camera person Daniel Anagar Keshiv reporting for India today from Chennai.
11:20Chennai city has faced severe rainfall and because of its work is in progress to make
11:24sure that water stagnation in low lying areas are being removed.
11:28Here we are near a place called as Gemini Bridge and what's happening over here is that a road
11:32mover is being used to remove the water from a place which is a low lying area close to Gemini
11:38Bridge.
11:38And this is how water is also being removed. This is a makeshift process because the pump is on the
11:43left side but the water stagnation is over here. The Greater Chennai Corporation claims all efforts and
11:48all work are in progress to make sure that like water is removed and the computers will not have
11:53any problem. However, considering the heavy rainfall already has been declared for schools alone in
11:58five districts that also includes Chennai, Kanjipuram and Chenkalpatu as well and the Greater Chennai Corporation and
12:04the other authorities very clearly say that all efforts and work is being done to make sure that the water
12:09stagnation is removed as soon as possible with Devraj from Odmadu for India today.
12:16But I can't tell anybody about this. In this case, whether it's an administration or if the
12:22administration works, I will call somebody. I'm telling somebody.
12:24So, this is how the Secretary will continue to advocate for these 39 people.
12:28Mouriyadu is going to be a 3rd person.
12:30This is the state will be a investigate.
12:33So, since I've seen an entire state, I will take a 3rd person.
12:39But, this is the state is my recommendation.
12:41I think this is a real thing, but I don't know what the person is doing.
12:46But I'm trying to make it clear that I don't want to.
12:50If there's an audience that can be a public name,
12:51they can be a public name.
12:56They want to be a woman.
12:58If they're one of the main things,
12:59I don't know how many women can talk about this.
13:06Not only in party people,
13:08Even in IT companies, in any other sectors, many women will be facing this kind of things.
13:14So, in the matter, it's social, in the cybercrime,
13:17it's not a titan.
13:30And this is a very important story that we are bringing forward.
13:33And this is about bullying of netas or women netas when it comes to issues.
13:38And unfortunately, in the state of Tamil Nadu, it is gaining a lot of traction.
13:42Considering the recent kind of, the person who is calling herself as a victim of cyberbullying
13:46is the mayor of the Greater Chennai Corporation, Priya.
13:49Priya says that the moment she actually criticizes the government for inefficiency,
13:53she is being immediately cyberbullied.
13:56She becomes a victim of cyberbullying and not just that artificial intelligence is being used.
14:01And she is questioning people who watches.
14:03They don't even know what is artificial influence.
14:06And they are getting influenced by these artificial intelligence created videos.
14:11And that, she says, is very badly affecting her personal life.
14:14Priya also says that she has already filed a complaint with the commissioner of the police.
14:18No action has been taken.
14:19But yesterday, after she has criticized the government once again,
14:22she saw that the social media is being flooded with AI-generated videos
14:26against her as a form of social media bullying.
14:29And she claims that, imagine if a woman, if me being a woman, being the mayor itself is facing
14:34such kind of issues, imagine what will be the stance of women from other sectors as well.
14:39And she says that she wants to talk for everybody, speak for everybody.
14:43And that's why she said she uploaded the video.
14:45Very important topic, very important issue.
14:48Cyberbullying, especially against women who have authority as a form,
14:52unfortunately, by faceless people.
14:55And Mayor Priya wants to highlight it.
14:57Here's what she said.
15:54Well, this is a very serious issue.
15:56Be it a Neta from a woman Neta, be it from any party, be it DMK, AI, DMK, TVK
16:01or any form of like program or department in the society,
16:07cyberbullying is definitely not acceptable.
16:10Moving on, another story from the state of Tamil Nadu, which goes back all the way to 1998.
16:15Now, five conflicts of the Coimbatore blast where unfortunately 60 people died
16:19and 200 people were injured in 1998, they have been given parole.
16:24BJP calls it as kind of selectivism by TVK government over them getting parole, calling them as terrorists.
16:31This was an issue back in 1998 when the BJP leader LK Advani had come to Coimbatore for an election
16:38visit.
16:39And this is where these five men were apparently, like several people were arrested,
16:43but these five men right now have been given parole.
16:46On the other hand, TVK calls it as a judicial process and they do not say that like, you know,
16:50this cannot be stopped or such.
16:52DMK claims the same.
16:53They say it's the court's decision.
16:55We cannot interfere.
16:56BJP leaders Naina Nagendran and Tamirisayi Sandarajan have questioned this particular move,
17:01calling it totally unacceptable.
17:04and this is something they are completely opposing and here's what they have to say.
17:12Wherever may be the law, the law may have some holes, look holes,
17:19but to whom we are giving and what Tamirnads suffered during that time
17:24and what was the intention behind it, who are all these people
17:28to pamper some section of the society, if they practice like this,
17:35then it will be pampering one section so that they will have confidence
17:40of doing all these atrocities again.
17:44Because the motive behind these activities are only vote bank politics.
17:50Chief Minister should come up with an explanation
17:52and why this was not given before, why this was given,
17:55that too for a long parole.
17:56And these people were already convinced
17:59and were involved in such a very, very big incident.
18:03So the government should view above the vote bank politics
18:07and above their help from the alliance partners,
18:12their appeal from the alliance partners.
18:13So this is something serious issue.
18:16It's not just a parole.
18:17So everything, everyone should be concerned about this.
18:22Anaga Keshav is live with us.
18:23Anaga, I understand that this is a judicial process,
18:25but what exactly happened and why is BJP opposing this particular process now?
18:33Well, in fact, the BJP says that the TVK government is being soft towards the convicts
18:38and that their actions and behaviours should be more stricter than it is now.
18:43But to which the TVK has defended, saying that this is a part of regular process
18:47which is taken based on the behaviour of convicts
18:51and the kind of work that they have been doing in the prison.
18:54It's a part of the regular process that happens for anybody and everybody.
18:58This is not selective.
18:59We're not being soft.
19:00But this is a regular protocol is what the TVK government on the defence has stated.
19:05But the BJP has sternly opposed this move of giving a 60-day parole
19:09for the five convicts of the assassination, of the blast, sorry.
19:19I understand, Anaga.
19:20Thank you for those updates.
19:21Well, these are the important stories from the state of Tamil Nadu.
19:24Back to you, Nagarjun.
19:30Thank you, Pramod.
19:31With that, it's a wrap on today's show of SoSouth.
19:33We got you updates from Chennai and Bengaluru
19:35and all the ground reports from both the states as well.
19:38We'll see you once again at 1 p.m. tomorrow
19:40with more updates and news from the southern part of India.
19:43Until then, keep watching India today.
19:53We'll see you next time.