BJP will sweep Gram Panchayat polls in DK: Monappa Bhandary

May 24, 2015

Mangaluru, May 24: The Bharatiya Janata Party will win at least 60% of the Gram Panchyat seats in Dakshina Kananda district, said state BJP executive committee member K Monappa Bhandary.

Addressing media persons in the city on Saturday, the former MLC said that majority of candidates elected unopposed to various gram panchayat constituencies in the coastal district are those backed by the BJP.

“Out of 109 candidates elected unopposed, 71 are backed by the BJP. Among them 19 are from Sullia, 18 from Bantwal, 16 from Mangaluru, 11 from Puttur, six from Moodbidri, and one from Mangaluru North assembly constituency limits,” he said.

This is also an indication that the rural electorate will favour the BJP backed candidates in the polls, he said, adding Congress leadership is trying hard to distort this ground reality with a series of well laid out falsehoods.

Referring to the claim made by Congress MLC Ivan D’Souza that the Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj has addressed the issue of sale and sub-division of family property in rural areas, Mr. Bhandary said officials told him that the powers of sub-division had been transferred from taluk to the Gram Panchayats.

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Mangaluru NRI returning from Saudi Arabia arrested over Instagram post

News Network

December 15,2025

Mangaluru police have arrested a 27-year-old NRI on his return from Saudi Arabia in connection with an Instagram post allegedly containing derogatory and provocative remarks about the Hindu religion, officials said on Monday.

The accused, Abdul Khader Nehad, a resident of Ulaibettu in Mangaluru, was working in Saudi Arabia when the post was uploaded, police said.

A suo motu case was registered at the Bajpe police station on October 11 after an allegedly offensive post circulated from the Instagram account ‘team_sdpi_2025’. Police said the content was flagged for being provocative and derogatory in nature.

During the investigation, technical analysis traced the Instagram post to Nehad, who was residing abroad at the time, a senior police officer said. Based on these findings, a Look Out Circular (LOC) was issued against him.

On December 14, Nehad arrived from Saudi Arabia at Calicut International Airport in Kerala, where he was taken into custody on arrival. Police said further investigation is underway.

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Elusive bamboo shrimp resurfaces in Mangaluru estuary after 70 years

News Network

December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A rare bamboo shrimp has been rediscovered on mainland India more than 70 years after it was last reported, confirming for the first time the presence of Atyopsis spinipes in the country. The find was made by researchers from the Centre for Climate Change Studies at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, during surveys in Karnataka and Odisha.

The team — shrimp expert Dr S Prakash, PhD scholar K Kunjulakshmi, and Mangaluru-based researcher Maclean Antony Santos — combined field surveys, ecological assessments and DNA analysis to identify the elusive species. Their findings, published in Zootaxa, resolve decades of taxonomic confusion stemming from a 1951 report that misidentified the species as Atyopsis moluccensis without strong evidence.

The shrimp has now been confirmed at two locations: the Mulki–Pavanje estuary near Mangaluru and the Kuakhai River in Bhubaneswar. Historical specimens from the Andaman Islands, previously labelled as A. moluccensis, were also found to be misidentified and actually belong to A. spinipes.

The rediscovery began after an aquarium hobbyist in Odisha spotted a shrimp in 2022, prompting systematic surveys across Udupi, Karwar and Mangaluru. Four female specimens were collected in Mulki and one in Odisha, all genetically matching.

Researchers warn the species may exist in very small, vulnerable populations as freshwater habitats face increasing pressure from pollution, sand mining and infrastructure development. All verified specimens have been deposited with the Zoological Survey of India for future reference.

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