Udupi: Girl child found murdered a day after she was allegedly kidnapped

Bengaluru, Jun 8: Veteran Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday filed his nomination as the party's candidate for the June 19 Rajya Sabha polls from Karnataka.

The former union minister filed his nomination in the presence of KPCC President D K Shivakumar, Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah and other senior party leaders at the office of Legislative Assembly Secretary M K Vishalakshi, who is the returning officer for the polls.

Ahead of filing of nomination, the Congress Legislature Party meeting was held under the leadership of Siddaramaiah, after which Shivakumar issued "B-form" to Kharge.

The Congress high command on June 5 had announced Kharge as the party's candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls.

The election is scheduled on June 19 to fill four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka represented by Rajeev Gowda and BK Hariprasad of the Congress, Prabhakar Kore of the BJP and D Kupendra Reddy of the JD(S) that will fall vacant on June 25, with their retirement.

June 9 is the last date for filing nominations.

Congress with 68 MLAs in the assembly can win one of the four seats easily on its own, so Kharge's victory is said to be certain.

This will be the first stint in Rajya Sabha for Kharge, who has always got elected directly by the people in his political career spanning over four decades.

The leader, earlier popularly known as "solillada Saradara", (a leader without defeat), faced his first electoral loss in his political life against BJP's Umesh Jadhav in Gulbarga by a margin of 95,452 votes during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

A nine-time MLA and two-term Lok Sabha member, he had served as Congress floor leader in the previous Lok Sabha, and also as Union Railway and Labour Minister during the UPA government.

Kharge, who is 77-years-old, has also served as minister during several Congress governments in the state, and as KPCC President and Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly in the past.

His son, Priyank Kharge, is currently MLA representing Chittapur constituency and had served as minister during the previous Congress and coalition governments.

JD(S) patriarch and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda is the JD(S) candidate.

The regional party that has 34 seats in the assembly is not in a position to win a seat in Rajya Sabha on its own, and will need the support from the Congress with its surplus votes.

A minimum of 44 votes are required for candidates to win.

BJP with 117 members in the assembly (including Speaker), can ensure easy victory in two seats.

The BJP's central leadership on Monday sprang a surprise by fielding Eranna Kadadi and Ashok Gasti as its candidates for the Rajya Sabha election ignoring the recommendations of the state BJP unit.

Mangaluru, Jan 10: Two members of a notorious honey-trap gang that used to lure rich men using women and then extort money from them by staging fake police raid have been arrested by the Dakshina Kannada district police.

Lohith, a resident of Kushalnagara, and Sharif from Vittal, were arrested in connection with a honey-trap case registered in Uppinangady police station. Jamal, Jeevan and Naushad, who were also involved in the case, are absconding.

Police said they received information that a few people under the guise of being Kerala police, were planning to raid a resort near Uppinangady where two couples were staying.

They were informed that they would threaten and try to extort money from them. The police were tipped off about the same by their counterparts in Kerala.

Police said the accused are experts in setting honeytraps, and were involved in similar crimes since a long time. Their modus operandi was to use two women from Mangaluru to lure their intended targets.

Once they trap their target, the woman and victim are sent to resorts. They then raid the resort posing as police officials, and click pictures in compromising positions of the victim with the woman.

They threaten to release the pictures on social media or TV channels, if they fail to pay up.

Police said the accused demanded Rs 10 lakh from each victim, but they denied to pay up. Irked by this, the accused took away the victims’ belongings such as phone, money and car.

The victims who believed that the accused were police personnel, asked them to take them to the police station. Instead of taking them to the police, the accused took them to a secluded place, where they claimed that they were putting the victims under house arrest. Police have seized an SUV from the accused.

Mangaluru, Feb 1: Rotary Club of Mangalore city team represented by Rtn. Dr. Ranjan Rao and Rtn. Sumith Rao duo bagged the 14th Annual prestigious Rotary Quiz Trophy by securing 380 points. The Rotary Club of Vijayanagar Mysore represented by  Rtn. H.M. Harish secured 370 points and was declared runners up.

Rotary Club of Mangaluru central as a part of Rotary movement awareness campaign conducted their 14th Annual “Dist. Level Inter Club Rotary Quiz”  contest on Friday 31.01.2020 at Hotel Ocean Pearl Hall, Mangaluru. The Quiz was based exclusively on Rotary related affairs, matters and issues.

Chamarajnagar City based Eminent Pediatrician and Rotary past Dist. Governor Rtn. Dr.R. Nagarajun  graced the occasion as Chief Guest, in is address he lauded the  invaluable contributions of Dr. Rai to the Rotary Movement and congratulated on his achievements.  Later he awarded the Rotary Glittering Trophy, Certificates and Cash prizes of R.3,000 to the Winners and Runners up and congratulated them on their unique achievements.

13 Teams from Mangaluru, Bykampady, Panamburu, Deralaktte, Puttur, Mysore, participated in this contest. Rtn. Dr. Devdas Rai was the Quiz Master and officiated the closely contested  quiz contest. Asst. Governor Zone-2  Rtn. Geethanand Pai was the guest of honour he released the weekly club news bulletin “Centor”. Club President Rtn. Dr. Jayaprakash Poonja presided over the function. Secretary Rtn. K.M. Hegde presented the monthly report. Rtn. Prakash Chandra proposed the vote of thanks.  The event was sponsored by Chairman and Managing Director of Athena Hospital Rtn. Raviraj Shettiyan and Eminent Chartered Accountant C.A. Nithin Shetty.