BJP holds state-wide hartal protesting killing of party activist

Feb 28: The Supreme Court on Friday granted more time to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file a counter affidavit on a petition filed by Karnataka BJP leader and mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy seeking permanent relaxation on his bail condition to allow him to visit Karnataka's Bellari and Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh.

A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Indira Banerjee listed the matter for further hearing on March 16 after the CBI sought more time to do file the counter affidavit.

Earlier, the apex court had issued a notice to the CBI and sought its response on the plea.

Last year, the Court had allowed Reddy to visit the Ballari district for a period of two weeks to meet his father-in-law, who the petitioner claimed had suffered a stroke and also allowed him to move a bail modification application seeking permanent relaxation of his bail condition.

In January 2015, the Supreme Court had granted bail to Reddy in an illegal mining case involving Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) on the condition that he will not visit any of the mining zones in Karnataka or Andhra Pradesh.

By the time he was granted bail, Reddy had already spent over three years in prison.

Reddy and his brother-in-law BV Srinivas Reddy, who was the Managing Director of OMC, were arrested by the CBI on September 5, 2011.

New Delhi, Jun 7: The Karnataka government has asked the railways to make announcements at originating stations that it was compulsory for passengers travelling to the state to register themselves on the ‘Seva Sindhu’ portal through which they can be tracked.

In a letter to Chairman Railway Board on Saturday, Chief Secretary of the state T M Vijay Bhaskar said many passengers are not aware of this mandatory rule of the southern state.

He said thousands of passengers are coming to Karnataka from New Delhi, Bihar, Maharashtra and other states through trains everyday, but most of them are not registered under the Seva Sindhu portal of the Government of Kamataka.

"If passengers are not registered under Seva Sindhu, the state will not be able to track them. Therefore, it is necessary to create awareness among the passengers regarding registration under the portal.

"Hence, it is requested to give instructions to origin railway stations to make announcements that ‘It is compulsory for all passengers travelling to Karnataka to register in Seva Sindhu portal. Otherwise they will not be allowed for home quarantine’, and also to give passengers awareness (about this) at the time of booking tickets,” Bhaskar said in his letter to the national transporter.

Seva Sindhu portal, under the control of the Karnataka government, provides various online services to the citizens of the state.

Currently, this portal is playing an important role in helping those stranded amid the COVID-19 pandemic to fill online registration forms for availing e-passes.

Shivamogga, Feb 1: A three-year-old girl who fell out of a moving vehicle had a miraculous escape in Agumbe Ghat section in Teerthahalli taluk of Shivamogga district of Karnataka.

The incident took place in the early hours of Friday when 12 members from three different families were returning from a tour of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The girl was reunited with her family after 30 minutes of high drama.

The child, identified as Anavi, is believed to have fallen from the vehicle as it negotiated hairpin bends on the Agumbe Ghat road, 350km from Bengaluru. The child's parents, Binu and Lincy, from NR Pura in Chikkamagaluru district, and other family members reportedly dozed off and did not realize the child had fallen off the vehicle until they covered a distance of about 20km.

One of the family members noticed that child was missing from the seat next to the door. When the driver realized the door latch had given way, they suspected the child could have slipped out of the vehicle.

Then the family started searching along the road and learnt from a forest guard at the Agumbe checkpost that a missing child was found and it had been handed over to Agumbe police station.

An advocate who identified himself as Vinay spotted the girl child as he passed the deserted stretch minutes after the vehicle left and picked her up and handed her over to Agumbe police.

The child sustained minor injuries in the fall. She was provided medical treatment before she was handed over to the parents.

Sources said it wasn't known how the vehicle door opened. One theory is that the girl could have accidentally unlocked the door while clutching the latch in the bumpy ride on the ghat. Police did not file any complaint.

Similar incident

This incident is almost a rerun of a Kerala incident in which a one-year-old baby fell off a moving jeep and was reunited with its mother hours later in September 2019 in Idukki district.

The baby had slipped off the mother's arms while she dozed off in the vehicle. CCTV footage showed the baby, after falling on the road, crawling towards a lit-up area close by, which turned out to be a forest checkpost. Family realised child was missing after 20km.