No runway expansion at Mangaluru Airport for now

Bengaluru, Jun 9: A 24-year-old who wanted to experience the feeling of death lost his life after consuming pesticide — he recorded it all on TikTok — in Koratagere taluk of Tumakuru district on Saturday evening.

Chided by his mother for not earning money, Dhananjaya, a resident of Gouraganahalli, on Saturday evening bought pesticide from a shop and shot a 15-second TikTok video, saying, “I want to experience the feeling of what death would be like. I will try to kill myself.”

Locals rushed Dhananjaya to a nearby hospital where he breathed his last the next morning. Koratagere police registered a case of unnatural death.

According to police, Dhananjaya had in the past rammed his Bajaj Pulsar bike into a tree to ‘experience’ death but had survived with minor injuries. Villagers and family members had advised him to not to take such risks. But he continued to do so as he was obsessed with death and posted his opinion regularly on TikTok, where he had 431 followers.

He tied the knot four months ago and was running an autorickshaw on rent. However, his earnings reduced to zero during the lockdown and he wasn’t mentally stable, claimed villagers.

Investigators said Dhananjaya wanted to scare his mother with his suicide threat and wanted to ‘experience’ death. He consumed poison near a farm but later panicked thinking he would die. However, he was not in a position to ride back home. He called his friend, who visited the spot and shifted him to hospital on Saturday night, police said.

Bengaluru, Jul 25: Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said that the ministers of the BJP-led government in the state avoiding a judicial enquiry into the alleged corruption in procurement of medical essentials "is their height of arrogance".

In a series of tweets, Siddaramaiah said, "Why is the government afraid of judicial enquiry on corruption in procurement of medical essentials? If the ministers are so clean, what is holding them back from initiating investigation? This is their heights of arrogance!!"

He said that there should be a judicial enquiry by a sitting High Court Judge to let people know the facts.

"We will submit our documents and let the government submit their documents. If they are confident, why are they reluctant to initiate an investigation?" Siddaramaiah asked.

"Statment from the PMO says 50,000 ventilators are procured at a rate of Rs 4 lakhs per unit. Is this not true? Will Karnataka BJP ministers say that ventilators under PM CARES are sub-standard and lack quality?" he said.

"There will be both basic and premium models in everything. Even the PMO could have bought Rs. 18 lakh worth ventilator. Why did they buy a Rs 4 lakh worth ventilator? What is the justification from ministers for this?" he questioned.

Siddaramaiah asked that if the Medical Education Department sent a proposal worth Rs 815 crores which is not recomended by experts.
"It is true that Medical Education department has sent a proposal worth Rs 815 crores. It is also true that there is a note on the proposal which says that these are not recommended by experts. What is the significance of this note?" he tweeted.

The former Chief Minister said that if the state government is saying that if ventilators were procured during the tenure of Congress-JD(S) government, they must produce the proof.

"They are accusing us for the ventilators procured during the coalition government. I was not in the government then. If they have documents, let them investigate about that also. Let the truth be revealed," he said.

The Congress leader said that the opposition is not interested in playing politics during the time of COVID-19 pandemic.

"We are not interested in doing politics during COVID-19 pandemic, which is why we have not taken up many other pressing issues. But how can we be quiet when hundreds of people are succumbing due COVID-19 mismanagement?" he asked.

Karnataka on Friday reported 5,007 more COVID-19 cases and 110 deaths. The total number of cases in the state stands at 85,870, including 52,791 active cases and 1,724 fatalities, said the state government's bulletin.

New Delhi, Mar 19: Lawyer of Mukesh Singh, who is one of the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, on Thursday mentioned a petition before the Registrar of the Supreme Court seeking an urgent hearing in the matter.

Advocate Manohar Lal Sharma, through the petition, sought directions to bring call record, documents and reports of his client through any probe agency and passed appropriate directions and measure to ensure justice in the matter.

The petition, however, has not sought a stay on the execution, which is scheduled for the morning of March 20. The petition is likely to be taken up for hearing today.

Earlier today, the apex court dismissed the curative petition of Pawan Gupta, another convict in the matter, who claimed juvenility at the time of the crime.

This comes as the four convicts -- Mukesh Singh, Akshay Singh Thakur, Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta -- are scheduled to be hanged at 5.30 am on March 20.

Meanwhile, several other petitions are also pending in the matter in different courts.

The case pertains to the brutal gang-rape and killing of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012, by six people including a juvenile in the national capital. The woman had died at a Singapore hospital a few days later.