Man assaulted over inter-community marriage

Bengaluru: Search and rescue operations resumed on Wednesday morning in Shirur village in Uttara Kannada district, where a massive landslide claimed the lives of four people a day ago.

Vehicular traffic has been temporarily suspended on National Highway 66, where the incident occurred, officials said.

After an intensive rescue and search operation by the local police, a team of National Disaster Response Force, fire and emergency services and officials of other agencies amid rains, four bodies were recovered by Tuesday evening.

"So, far four bodies have been recovered and identified. Restoration and search operations have resumed early morning today," a senior police official said.

Among the four dead were members of the same family, who ran an eatery along the national highway.

Following the incident, the state government had said that three gas tankers had pulled up at the eatery for a tea break when mud and rocks plunged down the hill.

The landslip triggered by incessant rains also swept away two of the three tankers into the Gangavali river flowing on the other side of the road.

According to state government, the National Highways Authority of India while building National Highway 66 "cut the hill steep instead of a 45-degree slope resulting in the accident.

Meanwhile, vehicular movement has been banned till July 22 in Seethalayanagiri-Mullayanagiri area of Chikkamagaluru taluk due to collapse of hills and severe damage to the road surface owing to heavy rains.

Rescue personnel on Thursday, July 18, recovered two more bodies of people killed in the recent landslide at Shirur village in Ankola taluk of Uttara Kannada district.

With this, the rescuers have recovered the bodies of six persons, including four of a family.

On Thursday, the members of NDRF recovered the body of a six-year-old girl, Avanthika, near Gokarna, some eight km from the tragedy site.

The officials had sighted her body on Tuesday too but couldn't recover due to the overflowing Gangavali river and heavy rain. On Tuesday, the rescuers had recovered the bodies of her father, mother and brother.

The emergency service personnel also recovered the body of the driver of the gas tanker that was washed away in the river after the landslide. The body was recovered from one of the several islands created by the tonnes of mud that washed away into the river. The identity of the driver is yet to be ascertained.

Locals claim that at least three more persons are missing from the village and could be buried under the debris.

Bengaluru: Senior JD(S) MLA C B Suresh Babu is the party's leader in the Karnataka Assembly, Speaker U T Khader said on Monday.

The position fell vacant following JD(S) leader and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy's election to the Lok Sabaha.

"JD(S) state President H D Kumaraswamy on July 14 has given a letter stating that Chikkanayakanahalli MLA C B Suresh Babu has been appointed as the JD(S) party leader (in the Assembly) and the same has to be recognised. Accordingly, Suresh Babu has been recognised as the JD(S) party leader," Khader told the House.

Kumaraswamy resigned as the MLA from Channapatna segment after his election to the Lok Sabha in the recent polls.