Siddaramaiah attacks BJP for fomenting communal divide in coastal Karnataka

Bengaluru, Feb 11: A 36-year-old woman who fought back after being stabbed eight times by a helmet-clad intruder succumbed to injuries at a hospital.

Susheela was in shock after she pulled off the attacker’s helmet as it was her own brother-in-law. Before breathing her last, she explained the sequence of events to the police.

She said her brother-in-law attacked her because he was eyeing their ancestral property worth over Rs 10 crore. “Susheela put up a stiff resistance and identified her assailant. But the stab injuries proved to be fatal,” said a police officer. Based on her statement, Ananth Kumar, 42, was arrested on murder charges.

The attack occurred on February 7 at Honaganahatti village in Tavarekere, off Magadi Road. Susheela, whose husband Gangaraju died in a road accident 12 years ago, was living with her 14-year-old daughter and 75-year-old mother, Rudramma.

On Friday, her daughter had gone to school and Rudramma was sitting outside the house when a man walked in wearing a full-faced helmet and attacked Susheela with a knife. She defended herself with a stick used for making ragi balls and by throwing chilli powder at his face. But the attacker stabbed her on the hand, neck and head. He fled when Susheela identified him and raised an alarm. Neighbours rushed her to a hospital.

During questioning, Kumar reportedly confessed to the crime, saying he wanted to get rid of her as she was not agreeing to sell five acres of their ancestral property.

Susheela’s nephew Kiran G said: “The family owned six acres. Kumar sold one acre for Rs 50 lakh a few years ago after convincing Susheela. He, however, paid her only Rs 5 lakh. Lately, he was pestering Susheela to sell the remaining land as buyers were ready to pay Rs 2.5 crore per acre. But she was hesitating as she had been cheated by him earlier.”

Police are now examining the circumstances under which Gangaraju was killed. “We learnt the driver who had been arrested in connection with Gangaraju’s accident is currently working with Kumar,” said an officer.

Bengaluru, Jan 23: City civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) levied a penalty of Rs 50,000 on the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) for using single-use plastic cups during the recent India-Australia one-day international match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

"Despite many awareness meetings, BBMP has found that single-use plastic cups were used during yesterday's cricket match and has fined KSCA Rs 50,000 as penalty," tweeted the civic body commissioner BH Anil Kumar.

The state cricket association treasurer Vinaya Mruthyunjaya said the civic body gave a general notice without detailed information on plastic use.

"We have been environmentally friendly for the last many years and at all gates, security has made sure no plastic or flex was allowed inside the stadium," Mruthyunjaya told media.

Mruthyunjaya said KSCA sought information from the civic body as to where the single-use plastic cups were found in the stadium during the India-Australia match.

On January 16, KSCA president Roger Binny inaugurated a plastic bottle shredder at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, in addition to other green initiatives at the cricket ground such as solar panels, sub-air system, biogas unit, rainwater harvesting and others. 

Similarly, in December 2019, BBMP cracked down on popular fast food eatery – Adyar Anand Bhavan in HSR Layout and fined the establishment Rs 1 lakh for plastic use.

In October, the BBMP fined eateries including McDonald's in central Bengaluru for using plastic.

Bengaluru, Apr 9: 10 new positive cases have been confirmed in Karnataka, apart from the recent fatality of an 80-year-old woman from Gadag district, the health department said on Thursday.

The fresh cases have been reported in the state from last evening to Thursday noon.

Till date, 191 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed, which includes 6 deaths and 28 discharges, the update said.

Among the 10 positive cases, eight are contacts of patients who have already tested positive- one each from Belagavi, Mandya and Chikkaballapura, two from Mysuru, and three from Bagalkote; while two from Bengaluru city are with a travel history to Delhi.

Three cases from Bagalkote are children- two boys of 4 and 13 years of age, and one girl of 9 years old.

The elderly woman died on April 8 in Gadag, the department said in its mid-day situation update.

Confirming that her reports tested positive on April 7, officials had said, she had a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI).