Datta Jayanti: Saffron clad bhakts resort to violence at Bababudangiri

Udupi, Jul 7: A hotelier committed suicide by jumping into a well at Hiriadka in Udupi district last evening. 

The deceased is Raghavendra Bhat (48), a resident of Kadiyali and owner of Hotel Shivasagar in Kadiyali.

He had been to his brother's house in Hiriyadka where he resorted to the extreme step. 

He was known for organising tiger dance competitions during Sri Krishnashtami every year.

He had contested the Udupi CMC election from Congress party, but had lost by a few votes. Later he had joined the BJP.

A case has been registered ar Hiriadka police station and investigations are on.

Davangere, Jul 19: A 9-year-old sniffer dog ran 12 km in the night to trace a murder accused and helped the police arrest him in Karnataka's Davangere rural area, an official said on Sunday.

"Doberman Pincher Tunga ran 12 km non-stop from the crime spot at Basavapattana in the city to a house at Kashipur in the rural where murder accused Chethan, 25, was hiding and helped us arrest him on July 17," Davangere Police Superintendent Hanumantha Rai said on phone.

Davangere is 260 km northwest of Bengaluru.

"Though Chethan allegedly shot dead his friend Chandra Nayak with a stolen service revolver on July 10 over sharing the booty (gold ornaments) of the theft they had committed recently with two others. We took female dog Tunga to the crime spot on July 16. She led the sleuths to the area where Chethan was hiding with two accomplices," Rai recalled.

While trained sniffer dogs normally run 4-5 km from a crime spot, Tunga could track the accused 12 km away.

When Tunga's handler (Head Constable Prakash) took her to the crime scene at 9.30 pm, she sniffed around and ran 12 km non-stop to Kashipur. She halted at a wine shop and went to a food joint later. Then she stopped at a house nearby at 12.30 am.

The prime accused (Chethan) was present in the house of his relative. He was arrested after he confessed to the theft and the murder.

The police are on the hunt to trace Chethan's two accomplices who fled from the house they were hiding in.

Karnataka Additional Director General of Police (law and order) Amar Kumar Pandey felicitated Tunga on July 17 at a function here for cracking the murder case with its exceptional sniffing traits.

Bengaluru, June 22: Even as the covid-19 positive cases are steadily increasing in Karnataka, an expert has claimed that community transmission has begun in Bengaluru and cases could keep rising over the next two months.

“If you look at the natural course of this virus across countries around the world, it is about six months. Now we’re in the fourth month. This will go on for another two months. It also sounds like this is the beginning of the peak. There is also a possibility of the number of cases going up from now on. Even across India, cases are increasing,” says Dr CN Manjunath, director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research and State Task Force member.

Besides the increase in number of cases, the virus is advancing silently, stealthily. A lot of people who are testing positive are asymptomatic. In areas like Padarayanapura, Nanjangud and many places in north Karnataka, there have been positive cases who have not had any contact with infected individuals. Some cases recorded in Bengaluru over the last two to three days have not had any contact with Covid-positive people.

Dr Manjunath adds: “We are in community transmission. This will happen because nature is ahead of everything. We have to take all possible precautionary measures at our command. This has to happen. Only then some kind of herd immunity will be developed.”

“We are expanding the guidelines of testing to include a large number of people to be tested. Now, according to the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines, only symptomatic Influenza like Illness (ILI) or Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI), or a person coming in contact with an infected person are being tested.

But since we have crossed 100 days in Karnataka from the first reported case and we’re getting cases with no travel history or contact with a Covid-positive person, we have to start random testing across the sub-group population. Only then will we understand the burden of the disease and what precautions need to be taken,” he says.