Karnataka CM meets police officials, wants gambling, dark web cases to be under control

On Tuesday, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai held a review meeting with the senior police officers and the newly-appointed Home Minister Araga Jnanendra in Bengaluru. During the review meeting, Karnataka CM Bommai instructed police to control growing gambling, dark web, narcotics, drugs and other illegal activities in the state. 

While speaking to reporters after the meeting, Bommai said that many challenges need to be faced in the future, and action has to be taken to prevent the possible third wave of the pandemic. Remarking that precautions have to be taken at the border districts and senior officials will have to work more responsibly, he said that inspections at the check posts in the borders would be mandatory. 

Asserting that the crime rate in the state has to be brought under control, CM Basavaraj Bommai said that crimes are like viruses, and they should be curbed. The Karnataka Chief Minister opined that the police must be people-friendly. On the other hand, Karnataka Home Minister requested CM Bommai to provide support for the better functioning of the police department. "The department must give priority to investigating crimes, and delays will not be tolerated, Janendra added. 

Jnanendra said, “We haven’t talked about any individual case today (Tuesday). The only discussion was regarding the department review and budget and tech tools required for policing.”

It is important to note here that this was the first meeting of the newly-appointed Chief Minister with the police officials. Earlier, Bommai held the portfolio under former CM BS Yediyurappa. 

Karnataka govt to draft bill to monitor online gaming 

Earlier, when Basavaraj Bommai was serving as a Home Minister in the Karnataka government, he had revealed that the bill to monitor online gaming is in the draft stage. While speaking to reporters earlier this year in February, he said that the bill's formulation was underway. Bommai had also hinted at the bill being presented in the Karnataka Assembly in the near future. Karnataka's move to monitor online games comes after neighbouring state Tamil Nadu brought in legislation to ban online gambling in the state after a spur of suicides related to it were reported in 2020. 

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