Three days after Mangaluru techie Maaz Muneer’s arrest, his father dies of cardiac arrest

Maharashtra Deputy CM and NCP chief Ajit Pawar on Sunday informed that the BJP had offered a Ministry of State portfolio with independent charge to Praful Patel. He said Patel has served as a cabinet minister in the central government and "we did not feel right in taking the Minister of State with independent charge". So we told them (BJP) that we are ready to wait for a few days, but we want a cabinet ministry. We are going to attend the swearing-in ceremony today..."

Pawar said, "We have one Lok Sabha and one Rajya Sabha MP today, but in the next 2-3 months we will have a total of 3 members in the Rajya Sabha and our number of MPs in Parliament will be 4. So we said we should be given one (cabinet ministry) seat."

Praful Patel said that last night, he was informed that his party would get a Minister of State with independent charge. "I was earlier a Cabinet Minister in the Union Government, so this will be a demotion for me. We have informed the BJP leadership and they have already told us to just wait for a few days, they will take remedial measures."

The NCP contested 4 seats in Maharashtra but could win only 1. NCP's other two allies in the state Sena and BJP bagged 7 and 9 seats respectively. 

A 40-year-old expatriate from Karnataka’s Mangaluru had a lucky escape to survive even as a huge fire engulfed an apartment complex in Kuwait, killing over 49 people. 

Praison Roby Peter, who was working as an administrator in a private company for the last seven years, was asleep when the fire started.

“He was on the fourth floor. Fire started from the ground floor when they were asleep at 4 am. Suddenly, the smoke spread to the upper floors. To escape from smoke he jumped from the fourth floor and hence was injured,” said Joy Mathew from the Kuwait Pentecostal Mission Church.

Mathew is working closely with Indians who were injured in the Kuwait tragedy.

Kannadiga among victims

One person from Aland Taluk from Kalaburagi is one among the 45 Indians who lost their life in the Kuwait fire tragedy. 

The deceased has been identified as Vijay Kumar Prasanna (43) and his body is expected to reach Kalaburagi tomorrow. “We are coordinating with the Kochi Airport authorities. Once all the bodies arrive in Kochi, the body of the deceased will be transported to Hyderabad via flight on Friday night. From Hyderabad, the body will be moved to his native village in Aland using a district ambulance. We are hoping that the body will reach the family by early morning on Saturday,” a senior official from the Kalaburagi district administration said.

According to sources in Kalaburagi district administration, Prasanna was working as a driver in a private company in Kuwait for the last ten years. He is survived by his wife and three children, sources revealed. Prasanna is one of the deceased in the Kuwait apartment blaze that killed close to 45 Indians on Wednesday. 

Mangaluru: The police have arrested five more persons in connection with the stabbing of two BJP workers at Boliyar in Konaje police station limits on June 9 night.

With this, the total arrests in the case have reached 11. According to commissioner of Police Anupam Agrawal, the arrested are Tajuddin alias Sadiq, Sarvan, Mubarak, Ashraf and Tallath. The police had booked a case against 20 persons in the stabbing incident.

Three special teams have been constituted to trace all the absconding. Efforts are on to apprehend the remaining suspects, said the commissioner.

The attack occurred on June 9 night when three BJP supporters were passing a masjid in Boliyar and allegedly shouted provocative slogans. They were apparently observing 'Vijayotsava' to celebrate the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the third term and were on their way home.

Three persons were also injured in the attack. The injured have been identified as Harish (41) and Nandakumar (24) who are undergoing treatment at a private hospital, another injured individual Krishna Kumar has been discharged from hospital.