Bengaluru: 28-year-old gym trainer hugs woman on road, held

Varanasi, Jan 20: An FIR has been lodged against unidentified persons for a controversial hoarding near the Varanasi railway station. It is worth mentioning here that Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself is the MP of Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency.

The hoarding near the Englishiya Line crossing read, "Hindu dharma mein ghar vapasi karo... CAA, NRC se chhutkara pao (Get rid of CAA, NRC by converting to Hinduism)".

Inspector Ashutosh Ojha said that the FIR under section 295 A and 505 of IPC has been lodged.

"Investigation has been launched in the case and those involved in putting up the hoarding would be identified soon," he added.

According to sources, a lesser known outfit, Hindu Samaj Party, had placed the hoarding on the busy road.

The outfit's state Vice President Roshan Pandey had made a video viral on social media with his message in which he claimed to have put up the hoarding in response to the protest being staged at Shaheen Bagh, New Delhi.

The hoarding, which also has photographs of some Muslim women wearing saffron pagdi, was removed by the police late Saturday evening.

It came up at a time when Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Union Minister Smriti Irani and other leaders were in Varanasi to address a rally in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act at the Sampurnanand Sanskrit University.

Pandey, along with his supporters, had also tried to stage a sit-in at Lanka to give a call for marching to Shaheen Bagh in Delhi but was prevented by the police.

They were taken in custody and were later released following initial interrogation, said inspector Lanka, Bharat Bhushan.

Bengaluru, May 27: A 69-year-old woman from Yadgiri became the 45th COVID-19 related fatality in Karnataka, where 122 fresh cases have been reported, taking the total number of infections in the state to 2,405, the health department said on Wednesday.

With 45 deaths and 762 discharges, there are 1,596 active coronavirus cases in the state, the department said in its mid-day bulletin. It said, the deceased woman, a returnee from Maharashtra was brought dead to designated hospital in Yadgiri on May 20 and tested positive for COVID-19.

Fourteen patients have been discharged in the state so far on Wednesday. Of the 122 new cases, 108 are returnees from neighboring Maharashtra, three from Tamil Nadu, and one each from Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Delhi. While two are returnees from foreign countries- one each from UAE and Nepal.

Remaining four cases are contact of patients earlier tested positive.

Among the districts where new cases were reported, Kalaburagi accounted for 28, Yadgiri 16, Hassan 15, Bidar 13, Dakshina Kannada 11, Udupi 9, Bengaluru Urban 6, five each from Uttara Kannada and Raichur, Belagavi 4, Chikkamagaluru 3, two each from Bengaluru Rural and Vijayapura, and one each from Ballari, Mandya and Tumakuru.

Bengaluru, Jun 30: To instill confidence among its commuters, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has decided to put stamp on hand of all passengers before they are allowed to board the buses.

In a statement issued here on Tuesday, The decision was taken in the wake of a sudden jump in the number of COVID-19 cases reported from Bengaluru.

The round stamp is, however, different from 'home-quarantine' stamp applied to infected and they were not allowed to travel. Officials said that the measure is aimed at reassuring passengers that those travelling with them do not have symptoms. The left hand will be stamped with an ink which can be washed away by the time they reach home.