7 held for hacking accounts and stealing cash using fake SIMs

Bengaluru, Apr 8: Heavy rain lashed Belthangady taluk in Dakshina Kannada district and parts of Udupi district on Tuesday providing much-needed relief to the people from the sultry heat.

Belthangady, Guruvayanakere, Madantyaru, Venoor, Naravi and surrounding areas received rain coupled with lightning and thunder. 

Rain also lashed Karkala, Kundapura, Kollur, Siddapura, Gangolli, Hemmady, Uppunda, Shiroor, Hebri and surrounding areas in Udupi district.

Parts of Malnad --- Koppa, Balehonnur and NR Pura taluks in the neighbouring Chikkamagaluru district --- received good rainfall coupled with lightning and thunder.

The rain has brought a smile on the face of coffee growers as it will help in the blossoming of the flowers in coffee plants.

In Kodagu district, heavy rain lashed Madikeri, Hudikeri, Ponnampet, Srimangala, Siddapura, Galiubeedu, Bapoklu, Talacauvery and Bhagamandala.

Parts of Mysuru city and district, Chamarajanagar, and Hassan received a good spell of rain on Monday night, bringing down the mercury levels.

Heavy rain lashed T Narasipur taluk in Mysuru district and the Kothegala Gram panchayat limits received 7 cm rainfall. Karya village in Nanjangud taluk received 5 cm rainfall.

Male Mahadeshwara Hills in Chamarajanagar district received good rain in the evening. 

Meanwhile, the Agriculture Research Station at Naganahalli has predicted thunderstorms, on April 7 and 8 in the region. The research centre recorded 12 mm rain on Sunday night and 22.5 mm on Monday midnight. 

Moderate to heavy rain, accompanied by strong wind and lightning, lashed some parts of Shivamogga district, including Ripponpet, Sorab, Bhadravathi, Thirthahalli, Sagar
and Shikariput. 

Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada district received heavy rain from 4 to 7 pm. The town had also received the rain for about half-an-hour in the morning.

Hosapete town and the surrounding villages also received the rain. At some places, the rain brought down the branches of the trees. The rain has cooled the mercury level at Hosur, Nagenahalli, Basavadurga, Kamalapur, Hampi and other villages in Hosapete taluk. 

Rain also lashed several places in Ballari district, including the Ballari city. Rain, accompanied by hailstones, brought cheers to the people at Kottur. 

Meanwhile, rain and hailstones have destroyed the standing paddy crop in hundreds of acres of land at Maraladinni, Katagal, Uskihal, Belladamaradi and other villages in Maski taluk of Raichur. The farmers are waiting to harvest the crop.

Bengaluru, Mar 18: Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar on Wednesday met the Director-General of Police in Bengaluru and demanded police protection for Madhya Pradesh Congress MLAs and the removal of BJP workers from the hotel in Bengaluru, where the legislators are currently lodged.

"The (Madhya Pradesh) legislators have come here and have requested police protection, that is all. Let the police give them protection, our candidate (Digvijaya Singh) has come, let him meet the legislators. Why are BJP workers protecting them? We know that they are under threat and hence we need to vacate them (BJP workers)," Shivakumar told reporters here after the meeting.

"We will give protection to our men and that is why we are telling them they cannot stop us. They should be in a free and fair position. I have communicated to DGP that BJP needs to vacate," he added.

Earlier today, Congress' Rajya Sabha candidate from Madhya Pradesh and former chief minister Digvijaya Singh was placed under preventive arrest after he sat on a dharna near Ramada Hotel here, allegedly for not being allowed by police to meet the 21 Congress rebel MLAs lodged in a hotel.

"I am a Rajya Sabha candidate from Madhya Pradesh, voting is scheduled for March 26. My MLAs have been kept here, they want to speak to me, their phones have been snatched, the police is not letting me speak to them saying there is a security threat to MLAs," Singh told reporters.

Singh who sat on the dharna with a face mask on said: "We were expecting them to come back, but when we saw they're being held back, messages came from their families...I personally spoke to five MLAs, they said they're captive, phones snatched away, there is Police in front of every room. They're being followed 24/7," Singh said.

The development comes amid the political crisis in Madhya Pradesh after the exit of Jyotiraditya Scindia from the Congress party.

Scindia's departure was followed by 22 Congress MLAs resigning from the party as well as from the state legislative Assembly.

The resignation of these MLAs has left the Kamal Nath government below the majority mark.

Bengaluru, Apr 29: Karnataka government on Tuesday ordered organisations and NGOs in the state to distribute food to people in plastic boxes and not in polythene bags.

"The state government has ordered the distribution of food and meals in plastic boxes instead of in polythene bags," said the Information and Public Relations Department of the state government.

According to the government, during Covid-19, not only government departments and agencies but also various organisations and NGOs are providing meals to workers in polythene covers.

"However, in order to protect the health of the workers, the government has ordered the supply of food or meals in plastic boxes instead of polythene covers," it added.