Mangaluru: NaMo Birgade leader denied anticipatory bail in RTI activist murder

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 7: Kerala government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday has come under the spotlight for depicting the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on the cover of the state finance budget 2020-21 document.

Issuing clarification on the same, Issac justified that it is a political statement.

"Definitely, it is a political statement, the cover of my budget speech. It is a painting by a Malayalam artist of Mahatma Gandhi's murder scene. We are sending out a message that we will not forget who murdered Gandhi."

He also alleged that history is being re-written and National Register of Citizens (NRC) is being used to divide the country on communal lines.

"This is important at the times when history is being re-written. There is an attempt to erase some popular memories and use NRC to divide the population on communal lines. Kerala will stand united."

NRC is an official record of those people who are legal citizens of India. The dossier includes demographic information about all those individuals who qualify as citizens of India as per the Citizenship Act, 1955.

The register was first prepared after the 1951 Census of India and since then it has not been updated until recently.

Bengaluru, Jan 23: An alleged low-intensity blast on Wednesday late evening in Shanthinagar left three-time Congress MLA NA Harris and six others with burn injuries. The blast reported at around 8:30 pm during a cultural programme gripped the central parts of Bengaluru in a panic especially after the incident of police recovering a live bomb in Mangaluru airport. 

According to sources in Shanthinagar, MLA Harris was attending the birthday celebrations of MGR organized by the locals close to his residence in Shanthinagar. Following the blast, Harris and a few others who standing close to the MLA sustained burn injuries and rushed to the nearby Philomena Hospital immediately and police officials from both the Ashok Nagar and Vivek Nagar visited the spot. The police officials are yet to confirm whether it was a bomb blast or due to the bursting of loud and powerful crackers. 

Chethan Singh Rathore, DCP (Central) visited the hospital and the blast site. A team of forensic science lab experts have also been summoned to the spot to collect samples for ascertaining the nature of the blast. MLA Harris’s son Mohammed Nalapad who rushed to the hospital along with supporters told media persons that they are completely shocked by the incident. 

“He was sitting on a chair and suddenly something that was hurled at him exploded beneath the chair. He sustained injuries to his leg and brought to the hospital. He is being treated by a team of doctors and other injured supporters are also being attended to by the doctors,” Nalapad said. 

Expressing shock over the incident, he said, “My father has been an MLA for 12-years and nothing of this sort had happened before in the constituency. We have no rivals and my father never had any gunmen. We are all shocked and have complained to the jurisdictional police.” 

Meantime, Dr Shankar Prasad, Medical Director, St Philomena’s Hospital explained that Harris and others are currently being treated for minor injuries. “None of them have any open cut injuries and they are being examined further,” Dr Prasad told DH. 

According to Dr Prasad, Harris had a minor blood clot in his left leg which was possibly due to a hard object hitting him during the blast. “We have taken X-Ray and examining further. At the look of it, it seems like a very minor injury,” he added. 

Bengaluru, Mar 9: Karnataka government has ordered holidays for children in lower and upper kindergarten classes in Bengaluru, in the wake of coronavirus outbreak and with positive cases being reported from states in its neighbourhood.

"Further to the advice received from the Health Commissioner, holidays have been declared for Lower and Upper Kindergarten classes in Bengaluru North, South and Rural districts due to coronavirus, " Karnataka Minister for Primary and Secondary Education S Suresh Kumar said on Sunday.

According to official estimates, no positive cases of coronavirus have been reported from Karnataka till now.

The state has strengthened all surveillance and containment measures against the possible spread of disease.

Till Sunday, 890 persons have been identified for observation including persons who have travelled to COVID-19 affected countries and contacts of COVID-19 positive cases.

Six persons have been admitted to selected isolation hospitals.

According to official estimates, till date 87,066 passengers have been screened at airports in Karnataka.

The number of COVID-19 cases in India climbed to 39 on Sunday with five people in Kerala testing positive for coronavirus. The deadly virus has caused the deaths of over 3300 people globally.