Rahul Gandhi gets 2-year jail sentence for ‘Modi’ remark, granted bail to appeal

Mangaluru: The Puttur town police have detained nine Hindutva activists and are on the lookout for another accused in connection with the case of an alleged derogatory banner. 

Those detained Hindu activists have been identified as Abhi alias Avinash, Shivaram, Chaithresh, Eshwar, Nishanth, Deekshith, Guruprasad, Madhav and Vishwanath.

A black condolence banner with the pictures of former chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda and BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel had sprung up near the KSRTC bus stand in Puttur after the May 13 assembly poll results. 

The black banner, decked with a garland of footwear, offered “condolences” to Gowda and Kateel for ensuring a humiliating defeat to the BJP candidate in the Puttur Assembly segment. Due to a triangular contest, BJP candidate Asha Thimmappa Gowda, who polled 37,558 votes, was pushed to third position.

MLA Ashok Kumar Rai Kodambady had polled 66,607 votes and defeated BJP rebel independent candidate Arun Kumar Puthila by a margin of 4,149 votes. The BJP supporters, who have been trolling Kateel on social media, installed the banner taking potshots at the caste miscalculations of both Kateel and Gowda. Later, the Puttur police intervened and had the banner removed.

Mangaluru, May 26: Senior Congress leader B Ramanath Rai on Friday urged the state government to form a special investigation team (SIT) to investigate the ‘politically motivated’ murders that took place in the district in the last few years.

Addressing reporters at the Congress office here, Rai said many youths, belonging to Hindu and Muslim communities have been victims of political violence in the district in the last few years.

He said there should be a comprehensive probe into these murders after preparing a list of the victims. Congress workers were not involved in these political murders and the role of BJP and other communal outfits in the communally sensitive district should be probed, the former minister said.

The Congress government will not tolerate violence of any kind in the coastal region, he said.

Riyadh, May 23: Saudi astronauts Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali Al-Qarni have arrived at the International Space Station, Al Ekhbariya reported on Monday.

Barnawi, a scientist who became the first Saudi woman to go into space, and Al-Qarni, a trained fighter pilot, traveled on the SpaceX Dragon capsule with astronaut Peggy Whitson and business pioneer and pilot John Shoffner.

They were welcomed by the seven astronauts already on board (three Russians, three Americans, and an Emirati).

“We are now living a dream that we did not expect to become a reality. This trip represents Saudis and the entire Arab world. It is also an opportunity to discover space,” Barnawi said on arrival at the station.

Al-Qarni, meanwhile, said the pair will carry out “scientific experiments that will benefit humanity” during their stay in space.

They aim to conduct 20 research projects. Among them are 14 projects developed by Saudi scientists, covering various areas such as human physiology, cell biology, and technology development.

“It was a lovely ride,” said mission commander Whitson, a former NASA astronaut who has made the voyage three times in the past, adding: “It was the softest docking I've ever felt.”

The Dragon spacecraft launched atop a SpaceX rocket on Sunday, kicking off the private Ax-2 mission.

The mission is the second fully private mission to visit the ISS following a first in April 2022.