Speaker reminds CM to constitute SIT to probe into BSY’s audiogate

TNN
March 9, 2019

Bengaluru, Mar 9: Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar said he will soon write to chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, requesting him to expedite the process of setting up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the poaching audio clip controversy involving BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa and others.

“I presume Kumaraswamy could not focus on this issue because he was pre-occupied with the groundwork for Lok Sabha elections,” Kumar told reporters on Friday. “I will write to him and remind him of the urgency of forming the SIT.”

On a suggestion from Kumar, Kumaraswamy had announced on the floor of the House on February 11 that he will constitute an SIT. Kumar was miffed since one BJP leader involved in the poaching exercise was caught on tape allegedly saying the speaker had accepted a bribe of “Rs 50 crore” to accept resignations of the coalition MLAs without hassle.

“I cannot carry this blemish on my head forever,” Kumar had said in the assembly, while advocating the necessity for a probe. “Please ensure the investigation is conducted by SIT and completed within 15 days.”

The audio clip, released by the CM to the media on February 8, has purported conversations between Yeddyurappa, Shivanagouda Naik (BJP MLA from Devadurga), and Sharanagouda Kandakur, son of JD(S) MLA Naganagouda Kandakur. Yeddyurapp and Naik purportedly try to lure the JD(S) leader by promising huge amounts of money and a minister’s post if he got his father to resign from the assembly and he (Sharanagouda) contest on the bypoll on a BJP ticket.

Kumar also said he will not take “a hasty decision” on Chincholi MLA Umesh Jadhav’s resignation and will seek legal opinion if necessary to ensure that it does not set a bad precedent.

Jadhav resigned on March 4, but Kumar is yet to accept his resignation as a Congress petition for his disqualification is pending since February 11. Siddaramaiah, Congress legislature party (CLP) leader, had sought legal action against Jadhav under the anti-defection law for defying a whip by abstaining from two CLP meetings on January 18 and February 8 and skipping five days of the assembly budget session.

After submitting his resignation to the speaker in person, Jadhav joined the BJP in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a party rally recently. He plans to contest against Congress leader Mallikarjuna M Kharge in the forthcoming Lok Sabha election from Kalaburagi seat.

The speaker said he has already served notice to Jadhav to explain reasons for his resignation and has given him a week’s time to clarify his position.

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News Network
January 9,2020

Mangaluru, Jan 9: Customs officials seized 1.575 kg gold, worth about, Rs 63 lakh from three passengers who arrived from Dubai here at Mangalore International Airport on Thursday.

Official sources said that in the first incident, three days back gold weighing 336.7 grams was found in possession of an inbound air passenger. The passenger who arrived by Air India flight from Dubai had concealed the gold in his socks. The value of the seized gold is estimated to be Rs 13.43 lakh.

In the other two instances that took place on January 7, gold weighing 1239 gram and worth about Rs 50.3 lakh was confiscated from two passengers who arrived from Dubai by Air India flight. One of the passengers had attempted to smuggle 523 gram gold in paste form.

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News Network
July 8,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 8: Karnataka on Wednesday reported the biggest single-day spike of 2,062 coronavirus cases and a record 54 fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 28,877 and the death count to 470, the health department said.

778 COVID-19 patients were also discharged after recovery in the state.

Out of the fresh cases reported today, 1,148 cases were reported from Bengaluru alone with 22 deaths.

The previous biggest single-day spike was recorded on July 5 with 1,925 cases.

As of July 8 evening, cumulatively 28,877 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 470 deaths and 11,876 discharges, the health department said in its bulletin.

It said out of 16,527 active cases, 16,075 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and stable, while 452 are in ICU.

The dead include 22 from Bengaluru urban, Dharwad seven, Ballari four, three each from Hassan and Raichur, two each from Ramanagara, Chikkaballapura, Vijayapura, Tumakuru, Mysuru, and one each from Bidar, Dakshina Kannada, Kalaburagi, Chikkamagaluru and Bengaluru rural.

Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Bengaluru urban accounted for 1,148 cases, followed by Dakshina Kannada 183, Dharwad 89, Kalaburagi 66, fifty nine each from Ballari and Mysuru, Bengaluru rural 37, Ramanagara 34, Chikkaballapura 32, 31 each from Udupi and Haveri, Bidar 29, Belagavi 27, Hassan 26, and 24 each from Bagalkote and Tumakuru.

While Chikkamagaluru reported 23 cases, it was 20 in Mandya, Uttara Kannada 19, Davangere 18, 17 each from Raichur and Shivamogga, Kolar 16, 11 each from Yadgir and Koppal, Gadag five, Vijayapura four, and Chitradurga two.

Bengaluru urban district tops the list of positive cases, with 12,509 infections, followed by Kalaburagi 1,816 and Dakshina Kannada 1,534.

Among discharges, Bengaluru urban tops the list with 2,228 discharges, followed by Kalabuagi 1,351 and Udupi 1,178.

A total of 7,59,181 samples were tested so far, out of which 19,134 were tested on Wednesday alone.

According to the bulletin, so far 7,11,319 samples have been reported as negative, and out of them 16,503 were reported negative today.

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News Network
May 23,2020

Bengaluru, May 23: It was a stampede-like situation near Palace Grounds in Bengaluru on Saturday afternoon. The incident took place after hundreds of migrants gathered and jostled to gain entry. The situation raises concerns as no social distancing norms were followed.

According to Chetan Singh Rathore, DCP Central, the reason behind the stampede-like situation was an en masse message. "What we heard was that an en masse message has been conveyed to the people of Manipur and Odisha that they would be able to go home on trains on Saturday. The message did not consider the capacity of the train which is only 1500 seating capacity for Manipur train and 1500 for Odisha train," he told media.

Singh further added, "But the people gathered were around 3000 in number for the Manipur train and 5000 for the Odisha train. Passengers with tickets and requisites were allowed to travel while others were asked to return home and wait for their turn to travel back home."

The state of Karnataka has eased lockdown restrictions across, allowing state transport services to run. Lately, the government has been running special Shramik trains from Karnataka to ferry migrant workers back to their hometowns.

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