Archives for 2021

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday said the state will soon have an anti-religious conversion law.

Speaking to reporters here, Bommai said, “The state government is studying related laws enacted by other states and soon an anti-conversion legislation will be formulated.” He was replying to a query on the meeting with a group of seers, seeking a ban on religious conversion, on Friday.

According to the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti convener Mohana Gowda, under whose aegis the event was organised, over 50 seers of various Hindu religious orders met Bommai and stressed on the need for a law banning religious conversion.

The Chief Minister categorically stated that the constitution does not permit forced conversion, including by allurement.

Later, Gowda said in a statement that Sriram Sena chief Pramod Muthalik, Santhosh Guruji, Siddalinga Swami and Pranavananda Swami were among the delegates.

Muthalik was quoted as saying that the schools and hospitals are being used for religious conversion. Many illegal churches were also coming up in the state, he said.

The delegates demanded that the converts be denied special benefits meant for the scheduled caste and other backward class.

Bengaluru: Continuing its tirade against the ruling BJP in Karnataka over the alleged bitcoin scam, the opposition Congress on Friday sought a probe under a sitting Supreme Court judge, into the case.

As Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and Priyank Kharge alleging attempts to cover-up, demanded that the government come out clean in connection with the cases, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai asserted that nobody from his government was involved in the bitcoin scam and termed statements that his position was in danger, as “political”.

“I don’t want to react on this issue on a day-to-day basis, I have already made an appeal to whom ever it is, to please tell us, what is the scam and who are involved, so that it can be probed. As far as the government is concerned it is very clear that the matter was handed over to the ED about 8-9 months back, which has registered the case and probe is on,” Bommai told reporters.

Noting that the government is open minded with respect to the case, in response to a question he said, “we need not protect anybody, none of our people are involved. Therefore, whatever little information they (Congress) have, they should hand it over to investigating agencies, let the probe happen and truth come out.”

Claiming that the bitcoin scam was probably the first and biggest cryptocurrency scam in India , Congress legislator and former IT Minister Priyank Kharge listed out chronology of events concerning the case and said the documents suggest that the prime accused, Srikrishna alias Sriki was allegedly drugged in police custody.

He also questioned the delay by the police and state government in reporting the case to the central agencies, while expressing apprehensions about some kind of a cover-up.

Addressing a press conference at the KPCC office here, Kharge said Sriki’s father had in January filed an application in court claiming that his son had been administered “mind-altering drugs” by the police in their custody, especially Alprazolam, and that Sriki had also made similar claims before the magistrate, when asked.

Seeking to know why the accused was administered drugs while in police custody, citing documents, he further noted that the magistrate had sought a test of his blood and urine samples, which seems to have not been done.

Alleging that new cases were slapped on Sriki each time his police custody ended, Kharge sought an explanation from police officials in this connection.

Finding lapses in the panchnama’s done with regards to the recovery of 31 bitcoins worth about Rs 9 crore, he said during the third panchnama, for transferring bitcoins to the police wallet from Sriki’s wallet, cyber experts and people from Unocoin were called. “When the wallet (of Sriki) was opened, it had 186 bitcoins.”

Then the process of transferring bitcoins to police wallet was initiated, the MLA said.

“On verifying, they (police, experts and those from Unicoin) found that the transaction ID never existed.

Kharge also raised questions about the whereabouts of the 186 bitcoins now.

In response to a query on allegations that the bitcoins have now disappeared, Bommai told reporters that all these charges have to be proved with documents. “there is lot of hear say.. but the real scam and facts of the case have to come out through probe . ED is probing, we have also referred (the case) to CBI Interpol branch, as there is international ramification,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Senior Congress leader and leader of opposition Siddaramaiah in a series of tweets sought to know if it was ‘correct’ on part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in telling Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to ignore the charges regarding the bitcoin scam in the state.

“Instead of asking the CM of Karnataka to investigate and prove the innocence, how is it correct for the Prime Minister to tell him to ignore the allegations? Can the Prime Minister unilaterally decide what he wants?” Siddaramaiah asked.

Bommai after meeting Modi in New Delhi on Thursday had said the Prime Minister advised him not to bother about the issue, and instead work for the people with dedication and honesty.

There have been speculations for some time now about involvement of politically influential people in the scam after CCB officials seized bitcoins worth Rs 9 crore from a city-based hacker Sriki, who is also accused of hacking into government portals, sourcing drugs through the dark net, and paying for it through cryptocurrency.

While Congress leaders alleging involvement of senior BJP leaders, their family members and senior officials in the scam, have accused the government of trying to cover up; the ruling party too in its counter has alleged involvement of leaders from the grand old party.

BENGALURU: Even as the Union health ministry is “working” on a policy for the third dose of Covid-19 jab, anxious healthcare workers and doctors in Karnataka are jumping the gun and silently taking booster shots.  

They said they are “anxious” as they are seeing breakthrough infections, ICU admissions, fatalities and waning antibodies among those immunised with both doses. 

“Not just government, even private hospital doctors are doing this. We are educated and are following research that’s out,” said a doctor from a Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute hospital.

Dr CN Manjunath, member of Covid-19 Technical Advisory Committee and Director of Jayadeva Hospital, said he is aware of this trend.

Many are taking the third jab out of fear — they are checking antibody levels, and if there is an indication of waning, they are opting for the jab.

However, there is no protocol announced yet.

“With people hesitating to take the second dose, healthcare workers feel they are at risk. Especially with reports of breakthrough infections, ICU admissions and some minute population succumbing to it, doctors are worried. Taking a booster is not dangerous but there’s no policy yet so it’s better to refrain,” he said. 

A head nurse from a private hospital on Bannerghatta Road said, “I was told to check my antibody level. It had waned, so I got my third jab,” she said.

However, a senior doctor explained that waning of antibodies is not the same as absence of immune response.

“Antibodies will taper off. When an antigen hits again, the antibodies will mount and can even come out strongly to protect the individual if he/she is young, and not immuno-compromised,” he said.

Epidemiologist Dr Giridhara Babu, who is also a member of TAC, said that flu shots are given every year as the virus keeps changing.

“In case of Covid-19, it is gamma variant which is infectious and after that, no variant has been more infectious. So we don’t know yet whether annual boosters are needed,” he said.

Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar quoted Dr NK Arora, co-chair of INSACOG, as saying that they have been working on a policy document regarding administering a booster dose for the past three weeks, which will be made public soon.