Karnataka politician's son in Dubai gets threat calls for anti-JuD video

Bengaluru, Jul 18: Bringing a major change in the  administration of Bengaluru, which has emerged as a Covid-19 hotspot, the state government on Saturday transferred B H Anil Kumar out of the BBMP and brought N Manjunath Prasad to take his place. 

Manjunath Prasad, who headed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) before being replaced by Kumar, will take over with immediate effect. The government has also placed him in concurrent charge of the Revenue Department as well as the Disaster Management, Bhoomi and UPOR.

Kumar, an Additional Chief Secretary, has been put in a place where earlier a secretary was posted. He now heads the Department of Public Enterprises. The posting would have brought him two spots down had it not been for the government upgrading it to the level of additional chief secretary. 

Anil Kumar, who was earlier praised for his work to contain the coronavirus pandemic, had faced criticism by the High Court of Karnataka for the BBMP's failure to help people in containment zones as well as other issues on the spread of the pandemic. 

Sources in the government said, pressure has been building up against Anil Kumar over the last two months after most of the Bengaluru MLAs complained to the chief minister's office.

"No MLA backed him. Everyone had a problem," a source said. 

Things came to the head with regard to a Rs 436 crore project given to KRIDL. "The issue reached the chief minister's office as all the MLAs took an issue with the way the project was awarded," a source said. 

Another source said that Kumar came under fire after a central team flagged the issue of failing Covid-19 surveillance measures in Bengaluru. The central team's criticism, it is widely believed in the government, came as the last straw. 

Bengaluru, Jan 13: A criminal case was registered against two persons for allegedly defaming Chamarajpet MLA BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan by posting defamatory comments against him on Facebook.

Police registered a case based on a complaint filed by the MLA's staffer, Mohammed Ayub Pasha, on Friday. The suspects were identified as Sharath ITI and Sri Rushikumar Swamiji, based on the profile names in the Facebook posts.

Case under IT Act

Pasha said he found the defamatory posts against Zameer and the community when he was checking his Facebook account. Chamarajpet police registered a case under the provisions of IPC and IT Act and are tracing the suspects.