Schoolboy drowns during immersion of Ganesha idol

Thiruvanthapuram, Feb 21: Rape-accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal has been accused of sexual abuse by another nun. Police sources say that there is at least one more nun who has given a statement of sexual assault against the bishop.

This nun is a witness in the rape case registered against Franco Mulakkal. She is the 14th witness in the case and in her statement, she said that the bishop made sexually-colored and lewd remarks to her over the phone.

As per the nun, they were in communication via phone calls, chat and video calls for a period of two years from 2015 to 2017.

In the statement, the nun said that she kept quiet as she was scared of the bishop.

In her witness statement in September 2018, she said that in 2017, the bishop visited the convent she was in and hugged and kissed her.

Police say that the witness was not ready to file a complaint against the bishop. They had alerted the police in the jurisdiction and when the team met her, she refused to file a complaint. Hence a separate case wasn't registered against Bishop Franco

The first nun of Missionaries of Jesus had accused Franco of raping her multiple times at the Kuruvilangadu convent in Kottayam. The FIR in the case was registered in June 2018.

Then after protests, Franco was arrested on September 21, 2018.

The chargesheet in the case was submitted in April 2019. In the chargesheet, Bishop Franco Mullackal has been charged under various sections of the IPC: 342 (wrongful confinement), 376 (2k) (rape on a woman incapable of giving consent), 376 (2n) (causing grievous bodily harm during rape), 376 (c) (a) 377 (unnatural offence) and 506 (1) (criminal intimidation).

Tumakuru, Jul 7: Coronavirus is spreading at the community level in Karnataka, said minister, JC Madhuswamy on Monday.

"Medical condition of eight infected with coronavirus admitted in Tumkur COVID Hospital is critical. There is no guarantee of their lives as per the information. We somewhere feel we are worried that coronavirus is spreading at the community level," Madhuswamy, Tumakuru district-in-charge minister, told reporters here.

"We have reached a point where it is difficult for the district authorities to restrain it, even though we are trying to restrain it. Somewhere the situation is going out of hand," he said.

The minister confirmed that the cumulative toll in the district due to COVID-19 rises to 9.

Earlier, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, Deputy CM Ashwath Narayan, Medical Education Minister Dr Sudhakar have denied of community transmission of coronavirus in Karnataka.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, there are 23,474 coronavirus cases in Karnataka including 13,255 and 372 deaths.

Kasaragod, Feb 18: Police have seized counterfeit notes of Rs 45 lakh from a resident here on Tuesday.

The accused Muhammed, a native of Perla, has been taken into custody for carrying the prohibited currency and the police is investigating the crime.