Milk federation mulls dairy unit in Udupi

Mangalore, October 26: The Dakshina Kannada milk Union Federation is scouting for a suitable place in Udupi district to establish a higher capacity dairy processing unit following capacity constraints at its existing unit at Manipal.

Federation president Raviraj Hegde told TOI that they are scouting for a 6-10 acre land in between Brahmavar and Udupi for the new unit, which will have the capacity to process 1.5 lakh litres of milk per day.

The project cost is tentatively pegged at Rs 20-30 crore, depending upon the price of the land. Though Manipal dairy can process 60,000 litres of milk per day, it is working well above its capacity by processing close to one lakh litres. 'We get nearly one lakh litres from our members in Udupi district. The existing capacity is being squeezed and hence we want to establish a higher capacity unit keeping in mind the future requirements and procurements,' he added.

There is sufficient land, close to 110 acres, available at the now defunct Brahmavar Sugar Factory, but the federation is not keen due to the liabilities of the sugar factory. 'This may force us to buy land at higher cost. We have requested the state government to give us land in the Krishi Kendra nearby. If it materializes, the unit should come up soon,' he added.

Regarding the Mangalore processing unit at Kulshekar, Hegde said that it had sufficient capacity at 2 lakh litres. Incidentally, the unit gets only 90,000 litres from its members.

Though Udupi district's milk procurement is sufficient for the demand, in Mangalore the demand outstrips the supply. While the procurement is just 90,000 litres per day, the demand is close to 1.6 lakh litres, forcing the federation to procure excess from Karnataka Milk Federation's diaries in Hassan, Mysore and Mandya.

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HC refuses to quash probe against Mangaluru WhatsApp admin over offensive posts

News Network

February 1,2026

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has refused to quash an investigation against a WhatsApp group administrator accused of allowing the circulation of obscene and offensive images depicting Hindutva politicians and idols in 2021.

Justice M Nagaprasanna observed that, prima facie, the ingredients of the offence under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code were made out. “The offence under Section 295A of the IPC is met to every word of its ingredient, albeit prima facie,” the judge said.

The petitioner, Sirajuddin, a resident of Belthangady taluk in Dakshina Kannada district, had challenged the FIR registered against him at the CEN (Cyber, Economics and Narcotics) police station, Mangaluru, for offences under Section 295A of the IPC and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act. Section 295A relates to punishment for deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any class of citizens.

According to the complaint filed by K Jayaraj Salian, also a resident of Belthangady taluk, he received a WhatsApp group link from an unknown source and was added to the group after accessing it. The group reportedly had six administrators and around 250 participants, where obscene and offensive images depicting Hindu deities and certain political figures were allegedly circulated repeatedly.

Sirajuddin was arrested in connection with the case and later released on bail on February 16, 2021. He argued before the court that he was being selectively targeted, while other administrators—including the creator of the group—were neither arrested nor investigated. He also contended that the Magistrate could not have taken cognisance of the offence under Section 295A without prior sanction under Section 196(1) of the CrPC.

Rejecting the argument, Justice Nagaprasanna held that prior sanction is required only at the stage of taking cognisance, and not at the stage of registration of the crime or during investigation.

The judge noted that the State had produced the entire investigation material before the court. “A perusal of the material reveals depictions of Hindu deities in an extraordinarily obscene, demeaning and profane manner. The content is such that its reproduction in a judicial order would itself be inappropriate,” the court said, adding that the material, on its face, had the tendency to outrage religious feelings and disturb communal harmony.

Observing that the case was still at the investigation stage, the court said it could not interdict the probe at this juncture. However, it expressed concern that the investigating officer appeared to have not proceeded uniformly against all administrators. The court clarified that if the investigation revealed the active involvement of any member in permitting the circulation of such content, they must also be proceeded against.

“At this investigative stage, any further observation by this Court would be unnecessary,” the order concluded.

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