Dubai-based doctor who studied in Mangaluru gifted me the watch, says CM

[email protected] (CD Network)
February 26, 2016

Bengaluru, Feb 26: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who has decided to announce his luxury watch as a state asset, revealed that it was it was a “gift” from his Dubai-based doctor and friend Girish Chandra Varma.

siddaramaiahThe Chief Minister, who came under severe attack from the Opposition JD(S) and the BJP on the “expensive and imported” watch, said: “Dr. Varma gifted me the watch last July when he visited India. I have been a close friend of Dr. Varma since 1983.” Mr. Siddaramaiah said he would pay the gift tax for the watch and provide information to the Lokayukta before July-end during declaration of assets and liabilities.

“I received the gift in July (2015) and I will provide information to the Income Tax Department before March 15. I will not wear the watch, instead I will donate it to the government to preserve it,” the Chief Minister said.

Mr. Siddaramaiah said Dr. Varma studied MBBS in Davangere and completed his postgraduation in Mangaluru. He later practised in France and the U.S. He now resides in Dubai. When the doctor visited India in July 2015, he removed the watch from his wrist and gifted it to Mr. Siddaramaiah. The doctor will provide all details of the watch, including bill receipt and payment of taxes, when he visits India this July.

“The doctor meets me whenever he comes to India and Bengaluru,” the Chief Minister said. “Dr. Varma is a cardiac surgeon. He has been my friend for more than 30 years. He gave me the gift as a gesture of affection and friendship. According to Dr. Varma, the value of the watch is 75,000 dirham,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said, adding that JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy has been making the watch “a big issue without any basis”.

During the run-up to the elections to rural local bodies, Mr. Kumaraswamy had alleged that Mr. Siddaramaiah, who boasts of socialist credentials and pro-poor policies, was wearing a watch worth Rs. 50 to Rs. 60 lakh, and sunglasses valued at Rs. 2 lakh. In its petition to the Enforcement Directorate, the BJP had urged the ED to conduct an inquiry into the Rs. 70 lakh Swiss wrist watch.

Asked whether he would file a defamation case against the JD(S) leader, the Chief Minister said he would not indulge in such “low-level politics”.

Comments

Uday
 - 
Friday, 26 Feb 2016

Congratulations to Siddaramaiah for making the BJP's job easier. Hope he continues to lend his helping hand with his watch:)

Sumathi
 - 
Friday, 26 Feb 2016

It seems Siddaramaiah had said he wud sell his watch to anyone who paid him even Rs 5 lakh for it. Ready to beg, steal or borrow.

Suresh Vamanjoor
 - 
Friday, 26 Feb 2016

37 Chennai &38 Bangalore ranking is pretty bad. Siddaramaiah can utilise money from d auction of his watch to clean a mini area

Sidda
 - 
Friday, 26 Feb 2016

After Modi’s luxury suit, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah’s Rs 70 lakh watch to be auctioned`

Ravi
 - 
Friday, 26 Feb 2016

Siddaramaiah Govt must stop fooling people & work for the State. If not time will run out even on his 70 lakhs watch

priyanka
 - 
Friday, 26 Feb 2016

Modi's few thousand worth suit becomes worth 10 lacs with nonstop coverage. But Siddaramaiah's 70 lacs watch doesn't get any coverage

reshma
 - 
Friday, 26 Feb 2016

It's a second hand watch gifted to me. I'll pay gift tax, won't wear it &will make a state asset

Vaman Rai
 - 
Friday, 26 Feb 2016

Will pay tax on Rs 70 lakh watch which was gifted to me but will not wear it, says Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah

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News Network
January 8,2020

Mangaluru, Jan 8: A 23-year-old youth has been booked under the POCSO Act on charges of abduction and sexual abuse of a minor girl.

Police said on Wednesday day that the accused identified as Aneesh Dias, a resident of Chikkamadnur has reportedly gone absconding. The victim, who hails from Puttur, is a I PU college student.

The victim's parents had filed a missing complaint with Puttur Rural police as their daughter did not return home after leaving home for college. The police investigating the complaint traced the girl.

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News Network
May 2,2020

Bengaluru, May 2: The Centre’s classification of districts created confusion in Karnataka as the state’s own categorisation deviates significantly from the health ministry’s list.

For instance, the Centre put the number of districts in the red zone in state at three, while the state Covid-19 war room puts it at 14. Bengaluru Urban and Mysuru figure in the red zone in both lists. While Bengaluru Rural with zero active cases on May 1makes it to the Centre’s red-zone list, it is in the orange zone according to the state.

In addition to these two, the state classifies Belagavi, Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, Bagalkot, Mandya, Bidar, Dakshina Kannada, Chikkaballapura, Dharwad, Gadag, Tumakuru and Davanagere as red-zone districts.

State Covid war-room authorities said they would take a look at the Centre’s criteria for classification and take a call. Besides, incharge Munish Mudgil pointed out that states are allowed to make additions to the red and orange zones. According to the Centre’s list, Karnataka has 13 districts in the orange zone and 14 in the green zone.

Sudan said, “the districts were earlier designated as hotspots or red zones, orange zones and green zones primarily based on the cumulative cases reported and the doubling rate. Since recovery rates have gone up, the districts are now being designated across various zones duly broad-basing the criteria.

This classification takes into consideration incidence of cases, doubling rate, extent of testing and surveillance feedback. A district will be considered under the green zone if there are no confirmed cases so far or if there is no reported case in the past 21 days.”

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News Network
July 11,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 11: Karnataka on Saturday reported the biggest single-day spurt of 2,798 cases and a record 70 related fatalities, taking the total number of infections in the state to 36,216, the health department said.

The day also saw a record 880 patients getting discharged after recovery.

Out of 2,798 fresh cases, a whopping 1,533 cases were from Bengaluru urban alone.

The previous biggest single-day spike was recorded on July 10 with 2,313 cases.

As of July 11 evening, cumulatively 36,216 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 613 deaths and 14,716 discharges, the health department said in its bulletin.

It said out of 20,883 active cases, 20,379 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 504 are in ICU.

Out of 70 deaths reported, 23 are from Bengaluru urban, 8 from Mysuru, five from Dakshina Kannada, among others.

Most of the dead are either with a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) or Influenza-like illness (ILI).

Out of 2,798 cases tested positive today, contacts of the majority of the cases are still under tracing.

Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Bengaluru urban accounts for 1533 cases, followed by Dakshina Kannada 186, Udupi 90, Mysuru 83, Tumakuru 78, Dharwad 77 and Yadgir 74.

Bengaluru urban district tops the list of positive cases, with a total of 16,862 infections, followed by DakshinaKannada 2,026 and Kalaburagi 2,024.

A total of 7.99 lakh samples were tested so far, out of which 20,587 were tested on Saturday alone.

So far 7.46 lakh samples have been reported as negative, and out of them 17,488 were reported negative today.

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