Two Leftists injured as suspected RSS activists hurl bomb

Bengaluru, May 28: As many as 115 new coronavirus cases were reported in Karnataka on Thursday taking the infection count to 2,533, Karnataka Minister S Suresh said.

The total coronavirus cases include 834 discharges, 1,650 active cases, 47 deaths so far due to the disease and two deaths due non-COVID causes, Suresh Kumar, who is minister for primary and secondary education, said during the daily COVID-19 briefing.

According to him, 29 cases were reported in Udupi on Thursday, followed by 24 in Dakshina Kannada district, 13 in Hassan, 12 in Bidar, nine in Bengaluru Urban, seven in Yadagiri, six in Chitradurga, five in Kalaburagi, four in Haveri, three in Chikkamagaluru, two in Vijayapura and one in Raichur.

The minister said among the new cases, 95 are inter-state passengers and two international passengers.

According to the health department, 84 infected people have returned from Maharashtra and eight from Tamil Nadu.

Among those discharged today, 13 are in Davangere, 12 in Dakshina Kannada, nine each in Yadagiri and Vijayapura, five in Gadag, three in Belagavi, one each in Mysuru and Bagalkote.

Two are severe acute respiratory infection cases.

There were, however, no coronavirus related deaths in the state today, the minister said.

Kumar said the government has issued another circular making changes in the quarantine rules.

"A person who has completed seven days of institutional quarantine and is asymptomatic can be permitted for home quarantine without a COVID test, subject to undergoing medical check-up," the minister said.

According to the circular, all elderly people of above 60 years of age and those with comorbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma, heart ailment and renal diseases, are required to be clinically evaluated diligently prior to shifting them to home quarantine.

Such people will be under mandatory home quarantine for seven days, the circular read.

Bengaluru, Mar 16: A 23-year-old mobile app developer was arrested on Saturday for allegedly forging the signature of Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murty to rope in Telugu actor Vijay Devarakonda as an app’s ambassador.

The arrest of Laveti Sai Krishna alias Krishna ML, a resident of Hyderabad, comes a year after the case was registered. Jayanagar police registered a case against Krishna on February 26, 2019 based on a complaint filed by Lt Col (retd) M Ramesh, representative of Infosys Foundation. The complaint was filed after the forged letter didn’t reach Devarakonda and came back to Infosys Foundation instead.

App developer is a B.Pharma holder

“We conducted an investigation and traced the app designer. We caught him and based on information provided by him, we learnt that Krishna was the brain behind the forged signature,” a senior police officer said.

Krishna confessed that he developed a mobile app — ‘Offer nearby’ — and planned to launch it in a big way. He wanted Telugu actor Vijay Devarakonda to be the app’s brand ambassador and tried contacting him. Krishna, however, was unable to meet Vijay.

Krishna then thought he could easily reach the actor if he sent a recommendation letter in the name of Sudha Murty.

“He forged the letterhead of Infosys Foundation and Sudha Murty’s signature. We are verifying his antecedents to know if he committed any other offence earlier,” said Rohini Sepat-Katoch, DCP (south). Rohini said Krishna is a B.Pharma holder and worked with an advertisement firm. Later, he planned to develop an app that provides details of offers for retail customers. He floated Laveti Technologies, and with help from a friend, developed ‘Offer nearby’.

As per the complaint, Krishna created a fake letterhead in the name of Sudha Murty and wrote to Devarakonda, asking him to become the brand ambassador/ partner for his mobile app. Krishna sent it through SpeedPost mentioning the sender’s address as Infosys Foundation. Krishna’s game was up when the letter, which wasn’t delivered to Devarakonda, came back to Infosys Foundation.

Mangaluru, Jan 12: Sudarshan Moodbidri and Robin Devaiah were today unanimous elected presidents of Dakshina Kannada and Kodagu district units of Bharatiya Janata Party.

Karnataka BJP vice-president Nirmal Kumar Surana oversaw the election process of the two district units at the BJP’s party office here.

While Sanjeeva Matandoor, Puttur MLA and incumbent president of DK unit of the party welcomed his successor Sudarshan, it was the turn of BB Bharatheesh, president of Kodagu unit to welcome Robin.

K Uday Kumar Shetty, DK district election officer and Ravi Kalappa, Kodagu district assistant election officer conducted the election under the supervision of Surana in the presence of MLAs of the party from respective districts.

Sudarshan started out his career as taluk and then district convener of Bajrang Dal before taking up responsibility as seva pramukh of Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

He formally joined the BJP as general secretary of Mulki-Moodbidri assembly unit of the party, moved on as convener of training cell of the party and was the general secretary of the district unit of the party before his elevation. A B.Com student of Dhavala College, Moodbidri, he is 44.

Robin, 50, who started out as a RSS volunteer as a student, too is incumbent general secretary of the Kodagu unit. Having been a member of ABVP for 8-years, he joined BJP formally in 1996 through Yuva Morcha and was its district treasurer, national executive member and state general secretary.

A product of Field Marshal K M Cariappa College, Kodagu, he served two terms as general secretary of the district unit prior to his elevation.