Division will be a loss for both Hindus and Lingayats: Pejawar seer

Bengaluru, Jan 18: The Karnataka state government has reportedly initiated the process to ban organizations like Popular Front of India (PFI).

State Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday evening said that instructions have been given to the police and officers concerned to gather information about the activities of such organisations so that necessary inputs can be sent to the Center.

He made it clear that the action would not be limited against PFI and SDFI (Social Democratic Front of India), rather any organisation which is involved in such activities, would meet the same fate.

Bengaluru, Feb 22: Student activist Amulya Leona, who was arrested on sedition charge after she raised ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans during an anti-CAA event at Bengaluru’s Freedom Park on Thursday evening, has now criticised the organisers of the event for snatching away microphone from her hand.

The event was organised by ‘Hindu Muslim Sikh Isaai Federation’. Soon after she started pro-Pak slogans All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi rushed and tried to snatch mic from her hand. When she continued to speak, her microphone was deactivated.

According to police, the 19-year-old BA journalism student blamed her predicament on the organisers of the protest for not allowing her to complete what she wanted to say on stage.

"Maybe she had intended to say what she had recently posted on her Facebook page where she has said ‘Zindabad’ to all the countries, including India and Pakistan. But it went awry. She was not answering any of our questions, but kept saying she had not done anything wrong," a senior police officer was quoted as saying by a news paper.

The police have booked Leona for sedition and promoting enmity between groups. After her arrest, she was thoroughly questioned by the police for over two hours. After recording her statement, the police produced her before a magistrate in the wee hours of Friday. When she was taken to the judge’s residence, located at the National Games Village in Koramangala, Leona pointed towards the TV cameras and flashed a victory sign.

As the police did not seek her custody, the judge remanded her to judicial custody and she was subsequently taken to Bengaluru Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara. Her advocate is expected to file a bail application in the court on Monday.

When the police took her into custody at Freedom Park and quizzed her, she reportedly did not answer any of their questions but kept insisting that she had not done anything anti-national to be charged with sedition.

"It was the organisers’ mistake to snatch the mike from me before I completed what I had to say. Because of them, I have been arrested today. If they had given me a chance to complete what I had to say, nothing like this would have happened. Now, there is no point in telling you what I intended to speak there. But I can say that there was nothing anti-national in what I did. You can initiate action against me and my advocate will fight the case," a source, citing Leona, said.

The police recorded whatever she said as her voluntary statement and submitted it to the magistrate. "We tried to find out why she did what she did and whether there was anyone else behind her making such a statement. But it appears she had done it on her own," the police official said.

Kalaburagi, Mar 11: A suspected coronavirus patient who had returned to Kalaburagi from Saudi Arabia on February 29 passed away today in hospital.

It is said he was admitted to the hospital on March 5 after he showed flu symptoms. But, the family members of the patient had shifted him to Hyderabad from GIMS on Tuesday against the advice of the doctors.

However, the district administration and District Health Officer (DHO) M A Jabbar are waiting for the final report of throat swab of the patient sent for lab test.

The DHO has directed Taluk Health Officer Sharanabasappa Kyatanal to supervise until the final rites of the suspect person were performed.

Kalaburagi Deputy Commissioner B Sharat said the patient died on Tuesday night on his way back to Kalaburagi after the doctor stated that chances of his survival was bleak. "It is still a suspected coronavirus case. We are waiting for the report," he said.

Sharat said he developed severe respiratory problem coupled with cough, cold and fever. "As he was 76-year-old, he failed to respond to the treatment. It is yet to be confirmed if the cause of death was coronavirus," he said.