Mangaluru: Two Mangaluru students are among thousands of Indians who are stranded in Ukraine amidst the threat it faces of military action by Russia and rebels backed by Russia.

According to the details, two students from Mangaluru are stranded in Ukraine. One of the two students has been identified as Cleton D’Souza, son of Marvin D’Souza, a resident of Padil in the city.

Cleton is reportedly an MBBS student in Ukraine and is stranded with another student from the city.

“He is safe. There is no information on him facing any trouble.” Marvin D’Souza has said.

Parmesh S Jain

Many have been arrested and they are being interrogated in the case related to the murder of Harsha in Shivamogga.Investigation is on.

Based on the outcome of the investigation we will decide as to which agency should be assigned the task of further investigation,Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said.

Speaking to media persons he said,maintaining peace,law and order is our priority.Curfew is in force in Shivamogga.

Reacting to Congress leaders’ charge that Harsha’s funeral procession was a government sponsored event violating section 144,Bommai said,Congress leaders are used to government sponsored programmes in the past.They are saying this based on their own experience.”

Replying to a question on his Delhi trip, the Chief Minister said that he had no such plans for now.

Home Minister Araga Jnanendra on Wednesday said it does not appear to be a simple case of murder.

‘We are looking into the angle of how these elements got emboldened to carry out a crime like this. I have written to the DG for audit of crime in Kote and Doddapet police stations in last five years,’ he said.

‘We will examine the role of officers who have worked in these police stations for five years. Police negligence will be probed,’he said.

The arrested persons are criminals who have committed serious offences.How they have been not monitored by the local police will be probed, he said.

BJP MP and President of BJP National Yuva Morcha,Tejasvi Surya has demanded the government to consider it as an act of terror.

He also urged a ban on the SDPI, PFI and CFI. After visiting the family of deceased Harsha, Tejaswi Surya said,Ours is not a ‘haram’ government like Congress,FIR’s have been changed when Hindu activists were killed during the time of Congress rule in the state.

Our government will see to it that the people behind this murder are hanged, this is the message we will give to the people of the state,” he said.

However, SDPI Karnataka State President Abdul Majeed squarely blamed the role of Sangh Parivar behind the murder of Harsha.

Murders like this are not new in the state. Whenever, there is a murder of Hindu leaders, it is blamed on Muslims and SDPI. 

“There is a hand of Sangh Parivar behind Harsha murder.There is a role of Sangh Parivar behind 36 murders.

Harsha’s murder is a conspiracy. Ruling BJP and Sangh Parivar both have their role behind the act. To hide this, they blame it on SDPI and talk about banning it,” he said. 

On Sunday, February 20 night, Bajrang Dal activist Harsha was stabbed to death near Kamat petrol bunk in the Shivamogaa district of Karnataka. The Hindu activist was rushed to Mc Gann district hospital,where he succumbed to his stab injuries.

In a press briefing held on Tuesday, the Shivamogga SP, Laxmi Prasad informed that six people involved in the murder have been arrested.

Those arrested include, Mohammad Kashif, Sayed Nadeem,Asifulla Khan,Riyan Shariff,Nihan, and Afnan.

As per the Police,Mohammad Kashif, Asifulla Khan and Nihan have been arrested for murder while Sayed Nadeem and Afnan have been arrested for conspiracy. As per the police, the accused came in a car, chased Harsha and killed him he added.

UDUPI: After a gap of about 10 days, classes in MGM College, Udupi where the showdown over hijab and saffron shawl was witnessed, resumed peacefully on Friday.

Hijab row that had ‘polarized’ students in Udupi had reached a peak with many wearing saffron shawl and turbans creating commotion inside the MGM College campus in Udupi on February 8. As the situation was going out of control, Principal Dr Devidas Naik had approached the students to convince them not to get provoked by ‘outside elements’.

But students were already firm in their decision to not to remove the saffron shawls and turbans. This made the principal Dr Devidas Naik to declare holidays for an indefinite period.

On Friday, the situation was normal. Additional SP Siddalingappa present at the venue told reporters that all students were following the court order and there was no space for any confusion, he said.

PU college students also appeared for the examination. The second PU chemistry practical examination is being held on Friday. The situation at other colleges was normal on Friday.

Mangaluru: The new Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Mangaluru City Corporation will be elected on March 2. The election process will begin at 1 pm on March 2, Wednesday.

According to a press statement issued by the Mangaluru City Corporation’s Commissioner, the election process will be held MCC’s Mangala Auditorium.

It further added that the election process will be chaired by Mysuru Division’s Regional Commissioner.

Apart from Mayor and Deputy Mayor, the elections will also be held for electing Chairmen to four Standing Committees of the corporation.

BENGALURU: The Karnataka unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party allegedly shared the personal details of the girls from Udupi including their residential addresses who had approached the Karnataka High Court against the ban on wearing of hijabs in classrooms.

Apparently after coming under criticism, the party deleted its tweets in English as well as Kannada.

The party had tweeted, “Five of the students involved in #HijabRow are minors. Don’t CONgress leaders Sonia, Rahul & Priyanka have any guilt for using minor girls to stay relevant in politics? How low will they stoop to win elections? Is this what “Ladki hoo lad sakti hoon” means, @priyankagandhi?” Along with the tweet, the party put out the personal details of the girls from Udupi, who had filed petitions in the High Court.

Taking a strong view against BJP’s Karnataka unit, Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi tweeted, “Shameless @BJP4Karnataka tweets the addresses of the minor girls in order to attack the opposition. Do you’ll realise how insensitive, sick and pathetic this is? I request @DgpKarnataka and @TwitterIndia to take action and take down the tweet. Also seek @GoI_MeitY intervention.”

The Rajya Sabha member also demanded that the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights take this up immediately.

“This is a criminal act to share names and addresses of minors. This is unacceptable,” Chaturvedi further tweeted.

Karnataka is witnessing a row over Hijab versus Saffron scarves, which started since December end in Udupi in coastal Karnataka.

On January 1, six girl students of a college in Udupi attended a press conference held by Campus Front of India (CFI) in the coastal town protesting against the college authorities denying them entry into the classroom by wearing Hijab.

This was four days after they requested the principal permission to wear Hijabs in classes which was not allowed.

Till then, students used to wear Hijab to the campus and entered the classroom after removing the scarves, the college principal Rudre Gowda had said.

“The institution did not have any rule on Hijab-wearing as such and since no one used to wear it to the classroom in the last 35 years. The students who came with the demand had the backing of outside forces,” Rudre Gowda had said.

The full bench of the Karnataka High Court where the girls had petitioned is hearing the matter on day-to-day basis.

The Court, in its interim order pending consideration of all petitions related to the hijab row, last week restrained all the students from wearing saffron shawls, scarves, hijab and any religious flag within the classroom.

Mangaluru: Police have arrested seven more persons, including two women, in connection with a prostitution racket unearthed at an apartment complex at Nandigudda near Attavar in the city recently.

With this, the total number of persons arrested in the case has risen to ten, city police commissioner N Shashi Kumar told reporters here on Wednesday.

Police had rescued women including minor girls from the apartment in a recent raid. The fresh arrests were made on the basis of a complaint by one of the victims who is a minor.

The arrested women used to lure minor girls into the trap, the commissioner said, adding, it was an organised prostitution racket. Among the ten arrested persons, seven were operating in the gang, while three are clients who sexually assaulted the minor, he said.

Mangaluru: In an incident reported from the outskirts of the city, an 85-year-old man died after being run over by a pick-up truck on Sunday morning. The incident was reported from Kakkebettu in Shaktinagar here in the outskirts of the city.

The deceased senior citizen has been identified as Koragappa, a resident of the worker’s colony in Kakkebettu here.

According to the reports, the incident took place when a pickup van loaded with tiles ran over him while the driver was reversing the vehicle. Koragappa was reportedly standing in the compound of his house when the pickup van mowed him down.

Koragappa sustained critical head injuries and was being rushed to District Government hospital when he breathed his last.

A case in this regard has been registered at Kankanady Police Station.

Mangaluru: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has come out against the Karnataka governments move to pay allowances to Imams of 41 Mosques and Madrasas in Dakshina Kannada district as Covid lockdown compensation from the funds of Hindu religious endowment department.

In a memorandum submitted to state Muzrai Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary, the VHP said the money received from Hindu temples and ‘daivsthanas’ should be utilised for the temples and the welfare of Hindu community.

“We condemn the decision of the state BJP government to use it for mosques and madrasas,” it said.

The VHP, however, welcomed the decision of the government to provide compensation to the priests of temples who are affected by the Covid lockdown.

The minister, who received the memorandum, assured VHP leaders that the decision will be withdrawn, a VHP statement claimed.

VHP divisional secretary Sharan Pumpwell, district president Gopal Kuthar and secretary Shivananda Mendon were among those who presented the memorandum to the minister.

MYSURU:  As the gloom descends over Mysuru with the number of deaths going up because of the intense second Covid wave, bamboo workers who prepare biers for bodies have been kept busy.
Mysuru, registering 1,144 Covid deaths over the last one year, is next only to Bengaluru, Ballari and Dakshina Kannada districts.

Guruprasad said they used to sell one or two biers a day earlier and worked on other craft items like wall panels and screens. But Covid has increased the bier orders manifold. He said that the situation is unprecedented and people should stay indoors to stay safe. Mysuru City Corporation Commissioner Shilpa Nag said they purchase biers from Guruprasad at Rs 250 each. The biers are being used at both gas and electric crematoriums, she added.