50-year-old man dies in Bantwal polling booth after casting his vote

Bengaluru, Apr 16: The Union Health Ministry on Wednesday has identified eight districts from Karnataka as COVID-19 hotspots.

Districts that have reported a higher number of cases are classified as hotspots, the districts where cases have been reported as non-hotspots, and green zones where no cases have been reported.

Bangalore Urban, Mysuru, Belagavi, Dakshina Kannada, Bidar, Kalaburgi, Bagalokote and Dharwad have been identified as Covid-19 hotspots by Union Health Ministry, tweeted the state health department on Wednesday.

Mangaluru, Feb 28: Sleuths of Bajpe police station have busted a counterfeit currency racket and arrested two persons on charge of printing and circulating fake currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 200.

The arrested have been identified as Dheerendra (45), a resident of Kanjilakody House in Bantwal taluk, and Sudheer Poojary (44), a resident of Adyar Volabail. Both of them said to be activists of Hindutva groups and had campaigned for BJP during last Lok Sabha polls.

Apart from counterfeit currencies, the cops have recovered a colour printer, two mobile phones and a motor bike from the accused.

According police, on February 23 the miscreants went to a petty shop owned by one Abdul Salam near Suralpady and purchased a Gillette blade costing Rs 20. They handed over Rs 200 currency note to Abdul Salam and took Rs 180 back from him.

However, the shop keeper grew suspicious about the genuineness of Rs 200 note. When he went in search of the duo, he came to know that they had purchased mustard seeds from a nearby provision store belonging to one Muhammad Arif. There too, they had handover Rs 200 fake note and got change.

The duo then took fake notes back from Abdul Salam and Muhammad Arif and escaped. The next day, Abdul Salam filed a complaint with Bajpe police station.

New Delhi, Mar 30: Congress MP Rajmohan Unnithan on Monday approached the Supreme Court seeking directions to open the Karnataka-Kerala border to allow movement of ambulances and other emergency vehicles for the transport of essential items to Kerala.

Unnithan, who is an MP From Kerala's Kasaragod constituency, filed a plea seeking direction to Karnataka to open the borders with Kerala and in particular Kasargod-Mangalore border at Talappadi.

The petition sought directions to Karnataka to allow the movement of ambulances, emergency vehicles, trucks and other vehicles carrying essential and non-essential items to Kerala. It also sought to stay the blockade imposed by Karnataka with its border states.

The plea also sought directions to Karnataka to register an FIR and constitute a special investigation team (SIT) under the supervision of this court to enquire against the concerned authorities including the police officials whose action led to the death of two citizens.

It said that the imposition of such a blockade at a time when the supply of commodities is itself hit hard and when a medical emergency has plagued the entire country is a clear violation of Articles 21 and 19(d) of the Constitution.

"This blockade has also resulted in cutting off the essential lifeline of National Highways and State Highways and major District Roads leading to the State of Kerala which has resulted in the shortage of supply of essential and non-essential items to the State of Kerala leading to shortage supply of food and medical supplies," the plea said.

"This ill-planned and dangerous blockade has claimed the life of a 70-year-old woman who was denied entry into Karnataka even for the purpose of urgent medical treatment which was only available in the medical hub of Mangalore. This is a clear case of violation of the right to life with dignity by the state as citizens are made to die on the roads because of the action of the state which is in total disregard to Article 21," it added.

This comes as the country is under a 21-day lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus, which according to the Ministry of Health and Family Affairs has claimed the lives of 29 people and infected a total of 1071 people as on Monday morning.