HDK urges Karnataka govt to announce relief package for farmers

Bengaluru, Feb 26: Congress leaders on Wednesday staged a protest in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statue at Vidhana Soudha here against BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yathnal's alleged remarks accusing freedom fighter HS Doreswamy of being a "Pakistani agent".

Former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah, KPCC working president Eashwar Khandre also joined the protest.

Yathnal on Tuesday called Doreswamy a fake freedom fighter and a Pakistani agent, while addressing the media.

His comments triggered a controversy drawing sharp remarks from Congress and other parties.

Congress has demanded an apology from Yathnal and has also urged that his Assembly membership be cancelled.

"Session proceedings will not continue until Yathnal apologises," said senior Congress leader HK Patil while addressing the protest earlier today.

Siddaramaiah asserted that making "provocative" comments against such a freedom fighter is obnoxious.

Former KPCC president Dr G Parameshwar said: "Yathnal is a criminal who had mentioned in his election affidavit that he had 27 cases against him. He has made such loose comments against the freedom fighter. He should apologise for his remarks."

Bengaluru, Apr 1: Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu on Wednesday said that 200 people, out of 342 from the state who had attended the religious gathering at Markaz building in Delhi's Nizamuddin area, have been quarantined.

"200 people including four from Bengaluru and five from Belgaum, who participated in Tablighi Jamaat (in Delhi's Nizamuddin), have been quarantined. Total 342 people from Karnataka had attended the event," Sriramulu told reporters here.

The gatherings organised by the Tablighi Jamaat at the Markaz building in Nizamuddin came into the spotlight after multiple coronavirus cases were confirmed amongst those who attended the event held in March.
Twenty-four cases were reported from the national capital alone, apart from Telangana, the union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands amongst others.

The minister had earlier said that Bengaluru Urban and Mysuru have been identified among the prime 25 COVID-19 hotspots in the country.
Chikkaballapur, since the last fourteen days, has been emerging as another hotspot, according to Sriramulu.

The total number of coronavirus cases in India has risen to 1,637 after 240 new cases were reported in the country, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, on Wednesday.

The total number of active cases rose to 1466 in the country, while 132 people have been cured and discharged after receiving treatment, as of 9 am.

Bengaluru, Feb 6: A flower vendor from Channapatna town in Karnataka got a shock of his life when he found a credit of Rs 30 crore in his wife's bank account. This happened when Syed Malik Burhan was struggling to meet expenses for a medical emergency in the family.

According to reports, bank officials knocked on his doors on December 2 asking him to explain how the money came to his account.

"On December 2, they came searching our house. They only said a huge amount has been deposited in my wife's (Rehana) account and then asked me to come to the Bank along with my wife carrying Aadhaar card," Mr Burhan said.

He claimed that the Bank staff sought to exert pressure on him to sign on a document but he refused. Mr Burhan recalled that he had purchased a saree through an online portal following which he received a call seeking his bank details which, he was told, were needed as he had won a car.

"Since then, we are running from pillars to post to find out how the money came to our account. We had only Rs 60 but suddenly such huge money came, which we are unable to understand," said Mr Burhan.

Mr Burhan said he had lodged a complaint with the Income Tax department, which he claimed was not keen on investigating it initially. Based on his complaint, the Channapatna town police in Ramanagara district registered a case of forgery and impersonation under the IPC besides the Information Technology Act for cheating and impersonation on January nine.

According to police, there were many financial transactions, which Mr Burhan may be unaware of. "We are trying to find out what these transactions mean. We will arrest whoever is behind it. We will not spare them," said a police officer in Channapatna.