ACB filed FIR without proper sanction: Yeddyurappa

Bengaluru, Jan 24: Karnataka High Court on Friday ordered notice to the state government and self-styled godman Swami Nithyananda while hearing a petition seeking cancellation of bail granted to him.

A petition was filed in the Karnataka High Court on Friday seeking cancellation of bail granted to Nithyananda for skipping the trial and fleeing the country.

Justice John Michael Cunha, after hearing the complainant, ordered issuance of notice to the state government and Nithyananda and posted the matter for hearing next week.

The petition, filed by K Lenin, alleged that Nithyananda has been skipping trial and has fled the country on an expired passport.

The plea further said that Nithyananda was making false representations in his "exemption petitions to the trial court as if he is still in India".

Interpol has also issued a 'blue corner notice' to locate the self-styled godman, who is facing trial in a criminal case, on the request of Gujarat Police. 

Bengaluru, Jun 17: Amid rising COVID cases in the past two weeks, the Karnataka government is planning to increase testing capacity to 25,000 samples a day, said a minister.

"Due to increase in cases in the last two weeks, the government is trying to scale up testing to 15,000 to 25,000 samples per day," said Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar.

He said people living in crowded places, sanitation workers, street vendors, healthcare workers, police and other frontline staff would be extensively tested.

"It has also been decided to mandatorily test all those who have symptoms of Influenza Like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI)," he said.

Similarly, all people over 50 with ILI symptoms will be tested.

The health department will also randomly test samples in old containment zones to make sure that the infection is not recurring.

Currently, there are 72 Covid testing labs in the southern state, 41 government operated and 31 private labs.

However, for a few days, the number of Covid tests in the state have plummeted.

On Monday, the health department has tested only 5,362 samples across the state.

Likewise, on Tuesday, only 7,936 samples were tested, diverging from earlier weeks when around 10,000 cases were tested on an average.

In all, 4.57 lakh samples have been tested so far, of which 4.39 lakh have tested negative.

Bellary, Jan 4: A BJP MLA has apparently threatened 'minority' Muslims against participating in anti-CAA protests, saying that opposing the new Citizenship Act will not be good for them and they will have to face serious repercussions.

"It's just a caution for those who are protesting against the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act). We are 80 per cent and you (Muslims) are 18 per cent. Imagine what will happen if we take charge," MLA Somashekar Reddy told a gathering here on Friday.

"Beware of the majority when you live in this country. This is our country. If you want to live here, you will have to, like the Australian Prime Minister said, follow the country's traditions," he added.

He said: "So, I warn you that CAA and NRC are made by Modi and Amith Shah. If you will go against these acts, it won't be good."

Continuing to spew venom, the MLA further said, "If you wish, you can go to Pakistan. We don't have any issues. Intentionally, we would not send you."

He said that the community should live in harmony with Hindus. "If you will act as enemies, we should also react like enemies," he said.

Earlier, Bengaluru BJP MP Tejaswi Surya reportedly called CAA opposers as "puncturewalas".

The nation has been witnessing massive protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). But Prime Minister Narendra Modi has specifically stated that the NRC was never discussed.