Udupi: Yeddyurappa hails Kalladka Bhat; asks CM to drop Ramanath Rai

Bengaluru: The Congress on Sunday released its list of seven candidates for the biennial MLC elections on June 13. The elections were necessitated due to the retirement of 11 members on June 17.

As expected, the Congress has fielded Karnataka Science and Technology Minister N S Boseraju and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's son Dr Yathindra Siddaramaiah.

The other candidates are Vasanth Kumar, K Govindraj, lvan D'Souza, Bilkis Bano and Jagdev Guttedar.

The party also announced Basanagouda Badarli for the forthcoming MLC byelection for a seat that fell vacant owing to the resignation of former chief minister Jagadish Shettar, who joined the Congress briefly after he rebelled against the BJP when he was denied a ticket in the 2023 assembly election.

"The election dates to fill that post have not been announced yet but our party has declared him as our candidate whenever the election takes place," a Congress leader said.

Shettar contested the assembly election in 2023 on a Congress ticket and after his defeat, his new home rewarded him with an MLC seat.

Earlier this year, he went back to his parent organisation and is contesting the Lok Sabha election on a BJP ticket from Belgaum (Belagavi) constituency against Congress's Mrinal Hebbalkar, who is the son of Women and Child Development Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar.

Udupi: A teenage boy, identified as Nithin, ended his life by suicide after reportedly being humiliated by the head teacher of his school. The incident occurred two days ago, and the police have yet to take action against the accused.

Nithin, 16, a resident of Shiroor in Byndoor, had gone to his government high school on May 18 to collect his Transfer Certificate (TC) after completing his SSLC. However, not only was his request for the TC denied, but he was also allegedly insulted by the head teacher.

On May 20, Nithin informed his father, Nagaraj, about his intention to visit the school to collect the TC. Tragically, between 12 noon and 12:30 pm, when no one was at home, Nithin hanged himself. In his death note, he accused the head teacher of insulting him and refusing to issue the TC, which led to his decision to end his life.

A case has been registered by the Byndoor police under Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the IPC. Nithin's family members staged a protest in front of the Byndoor police station on Tuesday, demanding the arrest of those responsible for his suicide.

DySP of Kundapura Belliappa, probationary IPS officer Dr. Harsha Priyamvada, and Byndoor CI Savitra Tez held discussions with the public, assuring them that investigations are underway and that the case is being taken seriously. They promised that a suitable report would be published within a week following further investigation and interrogation. They also assured that stringent action would be taken against the culprits if sufficient evidence is found.

Village elders, social leaders, and locals provided support to Nithin's grieving family. His mortal remains were later taken home for the final rites.

Mangaluru: A businessman was swindled out of Rs 1.1 crore in a cryptocurrency trading scam. The victim, 43-year-old PG Saji from Ichalampady in Kadaba taluk of Dakshina Kannada district, operates a business in Bengaluru.

Saji filed a complaint at the Dakshina Kannada CEN police station on May 27.

According to the complaint, on May 25, Saji was contacted by a person named Ayaka Watanabe on the Telegram app. Watanabe instructed him to download the Binance and Defi apps from the App Store on his iPhone for cryptocurrency trading. Following these instructions, Saji created wallets for both apps using his mobile phone number and email ID.

Subsequently, an unknown individual provided him with details on trading and exchange via a website and token address. Trusting this information, Saji transferred Rs 1.1 crore in phases from his two bank accounts, only to realize later that he had fallen victim to a scam.

A case has been registered under Sections 66(D) and 66(C) of the IT Act and Sections 420 and 417 of the IPC.