‘Kailaasa’: Nithyananda sets up own 'Hindu sovereign nation'

Mangaluru, July 17: For the first time, Dakshina Kannada saw over 3,00 new coronavirus cases in a single day. The coastal district today recorded 311 positive cases. 

The number of active cases in the district is 1,725 while its overall tally stands at 3,074.

Out of the 26,242 samples tested so far, 23,168 were tested negative. 

As many as 1,278 people were discharged after fully recovering so far including 115 people who were discharged today.

The district also recorded deaths of 8 covid-19 patients in past 24 hours including a woman. The deceased are aged between 53 years and 78 years. 

With this the total number of deaths in the district mounted to 71 including 12 patients from other districts who were admitted in hospitals here. 

Meanwhile, Karnataka reported 3,693 fresh cases in the last 24 hours, which raised the virus case count to 55,115. The number of recoveries reached 20,757, including 1,028 on Friday.

At 115 fatalities, the state witnessed its biggest single-day jump. Bengaluru accounted for 75 of these 115 deaths. The number of active cases in the state are 33,205, including 508 patients who are in ICU. The state's death toll reached 1,147 while that of Bengaluru stands at 582.

Bengaluru, May 7: Fear and anxiety gripped migrant workers who lined up at police stations in the city on Wednesday to register for train services without knowing that the state government had cancelled the train facility.

Senior officials in South Western Railway said they were ready to run special trains for migrant workers. On Tuesday evening, the state government decided to withdraw the requests made for 13 such trains to north India after realtors said they need the labourers here.

Migrants continued to stream into the railway station at Majestic, Bangalore International Exhibition Centre and even the bus station hoping for some travel arrangement. Many who were aware of the government web portal, stood in front of the BBMP ward office or police stations for enrolment.

In Varthur, over 100 migrants stood in front of the police station and sought to know what happened to the forms they had submitted four days ago. "We first went to the BBMP office and were shooed away by an official who directed us to go to the police station. We want to go home and demanded that the police help us. There was no response first. Then they came out and beat us," said Pintu Kumar from Mohanpur of Bhagalpur district in Bihar.

Though a video clip accidentally shot by Kumar showed two police personnel charging the cane at them, a police officer from the Varthur station, however, disputed the claim. "The video doesn’t show the cane landing on any person. We were beating the seat and tyre of two-wheelers to send the migrants away," he said.

At Mahadevapura, the workers came in groups and submitted the forms at the police station.

At the railway station in Majestic, a group of labourers from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand had walked from several areas in south Bengaluru only to be told that there is no train. Mahendra, a labourer from Jharkhand, said they received 5 kg rice and nothing else in the last 45 days. "Now, I don’t want food. I don’t want the job or money. I can't get stuck here. I want to go home,” he said.

'Restore dignity'

Activists and leaders wrote an open letter to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa questioning the decision to cancel trains without consulting labourers and protesting the violation of their fundamental rights.

The letter had support of 522 organisations and individuals, including Dalit rights organisations and trade unions. It urged the government to restore the dignity of the migrant workers. "We demand recognition of the autonomy and dignity of the migrant workers to decide their travel plans. No one should be forced either to stay back or to return to their home states," it said.

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.