Gauri Lankesh murder: SIT picks up another accused from Kodagu; total climbs to 10

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. 

Udupi, Feb 23: Tanushree Pithrody, a 10-year-old girl from Udyavar and class 6 student of St Cecily’s School, here and a Guinness World Record holder, erased the old record by covering the 100 metres 'Chakrasana race' in one minute 14 seconds to write her name in the Golden Book of World Records.

This was announced by Manish Bishnoi, Head, Golden Book of World Records, who handed over the Certificate to Ms Tanushree, who was accompanied by her father Uday Kumar and mother Sandhya here on Saturday.

The previous record-holder in this category was Samiksha Dogra [11 years and 1 month] from Rampur Bhushar, Himachal Pradesh, who had set a time of 6 minutes and 2 seconds on June14,2018.

Later speaking to scribes here, Ms Tanushree said that she was delighted that she was able to break the record. “When I was practicing, I used to finish it in around 2 minutes. This is my fifth record. I dedicate my success to my parents and my Yoga guru,”she added.

Ms Tanushree has also created a record for the ‘most forward rolls with Dhanurasana Yoga pose in 1 minute’ by performing 62 rolls and she also created the ‘fastest 100 forward rolls with Dhanurasana Yoga pose’ in 1 minute and 40 seconds on February 23, 2019 and entered the Golden Book of World Records.

In 2018, she set the Guinness World Record for ‘most full-body revolutions maintaining a chest stand position’ with 42 full-body revolutions in one minute, and on 21 March, 2019 she broke that record with 44.

Bengaluru, Feb 21: Historian Ramachandra Guha on Thursday refuted Karnataka home minister Basavaraj Bommai's claim that the latter had apologised for police allegedly manhandling him during an anti-CAA protest in the city, saying he received no such call or apology.

The writer further said even if such an apology had been offered, he would have rejected it.

"The Home Minister of Karnataka has claimed on the floor of the State Assembly that he apologised to me by phone for the manhandling by the Bengaluru police on 19th December 2019. This is false.

I received no such call or apology," Guha tweeted.

"Even if such an apology had been offered, I would have rejected it.

The imposition of Section 144 was illegal (as the Karnataka High Court has since held) and I was proud to be one of thousands of peaceful protesters who defied the States arbitrary action on that day," he said in another tweet.

During his reply to the debate on law and order situation in the state, Bommai on Wednesday claimed that he had apologised to Guha.

The minister was apologising to senior Congress MLA and former Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar for police serving him notice and detaining him along with others at Mangaluru airport in December for trying to enter the city despite restrictions following violence there.

Stating that anti-CAA protests have taken place peacefully across the state, he had said, there might have been minor discrepancies, like that with historian Ramachandra Guha, being manhandled during a protest.

"I have called and apologised to him," he had said.

Guha was detained on December 19 for staging a demonstration against the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens at the Town Hall here, in defiance of the prohibitory orders imposed in the city.

He was taken away by police personnel and led to a police vehicle parked nearby.

Leader of Opposition in the assembly and former chief minister Siddaramaiah said Bommai has committed a "perjury" in the House, and asked him to apologise to people and Guha in front of media.

"Bommai has committed a perjury on the floor of the House. It answers the question of where @BJP4India workers derive their motivation to spread fake news.

Bommai has insulted the people whom he represents," he tweeted and demanded that he apologize to people and Guha.