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Nanded, May 24: In a sensational incident, a Lingayat seer from Karnataka was found murdered in his mutt in the Nanded district of Marathwada region of Maharashtra on Sunday.

The seer, who was strangled to death, has been identified as Shivacharya Nirvanarudra Pashupatinath Maharaj, the founder-spiritual head of Nirvanji Pashupatinath Mutt.

Addressing media persons, Nanded Superintendent of Police Vijaykumar Magar, the prime suspect, Sainath Langote first killed his accomplice Bhagwan Shinde and then went to the ashram late on Saturday.

He entered Shivaharya Maharaj's bedroom where he was resting and threw chilli powder in his eyes, blinding him.

Then he quickly grabbed cash of Rs 69,000, his laptop and other valuables in the bedroom worth approximately Rs.1.50 lakh, besides the seer's car keys.

As Shivacharya Maharaj attempted to grapple with him, Langote pinned him down and strangled him, then dragged his body to the sadhu's car parked outside and dumped it into the boot.

"He started the car and sped off towards the road outside, but the car crashed into the main gate of the ashram creating a noise, alerting the other sevaks sleeping inside the ashram," Magar said.

Around 8-10 other ashram sevaks rushed outside to check the ruckus and when they saw their seer's belongings and his body in the car trunck, they attempted to stop Langote, but he gave them the slip.

A short distance away, Langote managed to steal a motorbike and sped off into the darkness and hours later, the police found the body of his accomplice Shinde from a nearby school premises, Magar said.

In view of the sensitivity of the incident, Magar said around five crack teams were formed which fanned out into the district and managed to catch Langote this afternoon.

"The prima facie motive for the seer's murder was clearly robbery and the second killing could be due to rivalry or some differences among them. The absconder suspect has been caught by a police team. We will interrogate him and get further details of the crime," Magar said.

Nanded Congress strongman and PWD Minister Ashok Chavan appealed that the murder should not be politicized, since the police investigations are underway and the autopsy report is awaited.

He said the deceased sadhu belonged to the Lingayat caste, and both Shinde and Langote who belonged to the same community were his followers.

Shivacharya Maharaj had come to Nanded over a decade ago and set up the ashram which he ran along with a band of followers.

Kasaragod, Jul 8: The meeting of Kasaragod district-level corona control core committee has resolved to make pass mandatory for vehicles to bring vegetables and fruits to Kasaragod from Dakshina Kannada and other parts of Karnataka.

Pass will be issued by RTO. Employees, including the driver of the vehicle, must visit the nearest primary health facility once in seven days and undergo a health check and submit a medical officer's certificate.

District Collector Dr D Sajith Babu, who presided over the meeting, said that only those vegetable and fruit vehicles that produce medical officer's certificate and RTO's passes will be allowed to cross the border.

Meeting, the RTO has decided to convene an emergency meeting of vegetable and fruit merchants.

Bengaluru, Mar 25: The COVID-19 count in Karnataka went up by 10 on Wednesday, reaching 51. The 10 new positives included two girls aged seven and nine who contracted the infection from their father.

The 34-year-old man had returned from Amsterdam on March 19 and tested positive as the 17th confirmed case in Karnataka.

Though his family were kept in isolation and under quarantine in their house, the children developed a cold. They were confirmed for COVID-19 infection while their mother is still negative.

The government remained tightlipped over whether or not a 70-year-old woman from Gouribidanuru who was put under house quarantine and died on Wednesday morning, tested positive for COVID-19. Government officials would neither confirm nor deny anything on the results of tests on the woman.

This evening’s bulletin issued by the Karnataka health department continued to indicate the strong correlation of coronavirus infection and foreign travel.

Among the positive cases identified today were

A 63-year-old Bengaluru man and his 59-year-old wife, with a history of travel to Brazil and Argentina.
Two 26-year-old men with a history of travel to Spain and arrived back in Bengaluru via Dubai.
Two others, a 63-year-old woman and her 69-year-old husband, had a history of travel to Athens and London.
A 34-year-old man, a resident of Udupi, who returned from Dubai
A 37-year old woman, a resident of Chitradurga, with a history of travel to Guyana and arrived back in Bengaluru via Delhi
Speaking to the media, medical education minister K Sudhakar said health officials were apprehensive the positives may go up tonight.

Of the corona positive cases detected in Karnataka so far, three have been discharged after quarantine, and 47 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals in a stable condition. There has been one fatality.

As per a recommendation by the high-level health committee, the government has decided to convert the Bowring Hospital into a coronavirus treatment hospital facility along with the Rajiv Gandhi Hospital for Chest Diseases and Victoria Hospital. 

“The number of positive cases are growing at an alarming rate and the government needs more treatment facilities. The government is for burning of COVID-19 death cases. However, due to some religious practices, it has been decided they would be buried in 8 ft deep pits,'' Dr Sudhakar said.