CM briefs Sonia Gandhi on Gauri murder probe

Mangaluru, May 4: In line with the directive of the Deputy Commissioner against opening textile shops even after the relaxation of lockdown, it has been decided to continue the closure of all textile shops in Hampankatta area of Mangaluru until the end of the blessed Ramadan, President of KTA Youth Forum said on Monday.

Pointing out that several rumours were doing the rounds in social media on the opening of textile shops in the wake of Eid, the owners of textile shops met on Monday morning and unanimously decided against opening the shops. The association said the local MLA has also been consulted on the issue.

KTA Youth Forum is an organisation of owners of shops at Kunil Centre in Tokyo Market and Akbar Complex here, mostly comprising of Muslims.

Mumbai, Feb 26: Maharashtra cabinet minister and Congress leader Aslam Shaikh on Wednesday said that former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis made an irresponsible statement regarding the Shiv Sena-led state government's 'silence' on AIMIM leader Waris Pathan's remark. He added that as the incident took place in Karnataka, Fadnavis should ask Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa about the matter.

"This is an irresponsible statement given by Devendra Fadnavis. He should ask the same question to the Chief Minister of Karnataka where the statement was given," Shaikh said.

"Fadnavis should ask the same question to the Union Home Minister Amit Shah that why has he not been able to control the violence going on in Delhi," he added.

Earlier, on Tuesday, targeting Shiv Sena's silence over the recent controversial remark by Waris Pathan, Fadnavis said the Uddhav Thackeray-led party might be "wearing bangles" but the BJP was not and knew how to retaliate in the same manner.

"Shiv Sena might be wearing bangles but we are not. If someone says something then he will be given an answer in the same way. BJP has this much power," said Fadnavis while launching a scathing attack on ruling-Shiv Sena in Maharashtra for not taking strict action against Pathan.

On February 20, while addressing an anti-CAA rally, at Kalaburagi in Karnataka, Pathan had said, "Time has now come for us to unite and achieve freedom. Remember we are 15 crores but can dominate over 100 crores."

Tirupati, Feb 12: A middle-aged man committed suicide out of fear that he was infected with the dreaded Coronavirus (COVID-19), which has killed over 1000 in China. The deceased identified as Balakrishna (50) was suffering from hypertension. He killed self, after being discharged from hospital, fearing it would spread to his family.  The incident happened in Chittoor district on Monday but came to light only on Tuesday.

Balakrishna was treated in Tirupati last week and told that he had an infection. After two days in the hospital, he got better and returned to his village in Chittoor district on Sunday. But fearing that he was infected with COVID-19, Balakrishna isolated himself from his family. Before committing suicide, he surfed many videos about Coronavirus and also behaved weirdly with the family members by warning them against coming close to him.

“He remained aloof, saying he was infected with coronavirus and asked his family not to come near him. When they tried to approach him, he got agitated, threw stones at them and then locked himself in a room," district medical and health officer Dr M Penchalaiah said.

He was found hanging from a tree near his mother’s grave on the village outskirts. The tragic incident took place in Seshama Naidu Kandriga in Thottambedu block.

According to reports, he was suffering from cold and fever. He went to Tirupati hospital where doctors gave him medicines for viral infection and advised him to wear mask.  He wrongly thought he had coronavirus. However, doctors told Balakrishna he did not have coronavirus.

His son Balamurali said that his father panicked and started saying he needed to kill himself to keep other safe from him and coronavirus. “He began to pelt stones and things at us to keep us away from him,” Balamurali said.

“My father was all worried that the virus would spread to us. He hanged himself to save us,” Murali said.

Thottambedu police sub-inspector Venkata Subbaiah said no case was registered as the family refused to lodge a complaint. Till now, no Coronavirus case has been reported in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.