Shocking! Gujarat BJP leader arrested for molesting 13-year-old girl on flight

Mangaluru, May 9: Dakshina Kannada District Collector Sindhu B Roopesh on Friday held a meeting to discuss the precautionary measures to be taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and the current situation in the district.

The meeting was attended by Member of Parliament and Karnakata BJP unit chief Nalin Kumar Kateel, Minister-in-charge of Dakshina Kannada Kota Srinivasa Poojary, MLA Vedavas Kamath and District Medical Officer Dr Ramachandra Bauri among others were present there.

Top officials of the police department, labour department officials and other concerned persons were also present in the meeting.

Bengaluru/Ballari, Jan 7: Former minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan of the Congress set a one-week deadline for the BJP government on Monday to arrest Ballari City BJP legislator G Somashekhara Reddy for his recent speech warning Muslims of dire consequences if they continue to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

Police have already booked Reddy, younger brother of tainted mining baron G Janardhan Reddy, under section 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) of the Indian Penal Code.

However, Khan took the fight to Reddy a step further. “If the government fails to arrest Reddy by January 13, I will stage a dharna outside his house in Ballari, come what may. Let them do whatever they want,” Khan told reporters in Bengaluru.

In his speech at a pro-CAA rally organized by BJP workers and ABVP activists in Ballari, the BJP legislator had said, “We [Hindus] are 83% and they [Muslims] are 17% and if we take law into hands, you know what will happen.”

Khan said on Monday, “I challenge Reddy, the coward, to unsheathe his sword and cut me down first. It is absolutely shameful for a legislator to speak such things against a particular community. Why is Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who often says Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, silent?”

On his part, Reddy on Monday said he stood by what he said. “What I meant was you Muslims should not get swayed by CAA protests and damage public property. We [Hindus] are sons of the same mother and live peacefully. However, they [Muslims] should not test our [Hindu] patience. I stick by my words 100%,” he said.

A delegation of the Ballari district Congress unit also submitted an appeal to the deputy commissioner, inspector general of police and superintendent of police on Monday to arrest Reddy for his provocative speech.

Mangaluru, May 5: The Dakshina Kannada district administration has denotified two containment zones, Sampya in Puttur and Thumbe in Bantwal. They were declared containment zones after one coronavirus positive case was reported from each area.

All the primary and secondary contacts of the patients have completed home quarantine period, said DC Sindhu B Rupesh.

The district administration hitherto had already denotified three other such containment zones based on a report of DHO,  after no new case was reported in the area in the last 28 days.

At present, the district has six containment zones-- Shakthinagara, Boloor, First Neuro Hospital in Mangaluru city, Uppinangady in Puttur, Kasaba and Narikombu in Bantwal taluk.