Pampa award for poet KS Nissar Ahmed

Mangaluru, Feb 28: Sleuths of Bajpe police station have busted a counterfeit currency racket and arrested two persons on charge of printing and circulating fake currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 200.

The arrested have been identified as Dheerendra (45), a resident of Kanjilakody House in Bantwal taluk, and Sudheer Poojary (44), a resident of Adyar Volabail. Both of them said to be activists of Hindutva groups and had campaigned for BJP during last Lok Sabha polls.

Apart from counterfeit currencies, the cops have recovered a colour printer, two mobile phones and a motor bike from the accused.

According police, on February 23 the miscreants went to a petty shop owned by one Abdul Salam near Suralpady and purchased a Gillette blade costing Rs 20. They handed over Rs 200 currency note to Abdul Salam and took Rs 180 back from him.

However, the shop keeper grew suspicious about the genuineness of Rs 200 note. When he went in search of the duo, he came to know that they had purchased mustard seeds from a nearby provision store belonging to one Muhammad Arif. There too, they had handover Rs 200 fake note and got change.

The duo then took fake notes back from Abdul Salam and Muhammad Arif and escaped. The next day, Abdul Salam filed a complaint with Bajpe police station.

Kasaragod, Mar 21: The lack of self-restraint and social distancing by people here, the ones who come from the Middle East regions, in particular, has been a cause of concern for the district authorities who have time and again been reiterating the need to follow tips from health authorities to counter the spread of Novel Coronavirus.

But as things are feared to go out of control, the district authorities including the Collector Dr. Sajith Babu have come out to the streets and bazaars only to impose social distancing instructions now in place in the district strictly since six more persons have been tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday.

According to health authorities, the new cases were caused by a few people who recently returned from abroad and who did not follow the self-quarantine measures.

Bengaluru, Mar 27: A 65-year-old coronavirus patient who died in Karnataka this morning after apparently contracting the infection on a train ride has raised concern about community transmission of the highly contagious disease.
The man, the 60th coronavirus patient in Karnataka, died in Tumakuru. It is not known for certain how he caught the virus. The Karnataka Health Department has posted a notice on Twitter asking whoever travelled with him on train to come forward.

He had no history of recent foreign travel but had apparently traveled to Delhi on March 5 by Sampark Kranti Express and returned on March 11.

On March 7, he arrived at Delhi's Nizamuddin station and participated in an event at Jamia Masjid.

The man took a train back on March 11 and arrived at Yeshwantpur in Bengaluru. From there, he took a bus on March 14 to his hometown Sira.

He first showed symptoms of COVID-19 on March 18 and was taken to a private hospital. He was sent home with medicines but his condition worsened.

On March 23, he was admitted to a district hospital, but checked himself out against all advice and went to a private hospital. When his health showed signs of deterioration, he was again sent to the district hospital, where he tested positive for coronavirus yesterday. He died around 10.30 am today.

The health department has since traced 24 people who came in direct contact with him and are so, in the high-risk category. Thirteen are in hospital and eight have tested negative.

"All passengers who had travelled with him on the train are being traced," K Rakesh Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, Tumakuru, was quoted as telling news agency ANI.

A 70-year old woman and a 76-year old man had died of coronavirus or COVID-19 earlier in Karnataka.

India has over 700 coronavirus cases, including 17 deaths.