New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Friday stayed proceedings against former Karnataka chief minister and senior BJP leader B S Yediyurappa in an alleged corruption case.

A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Hima Kohli issued notice to the private complainant on a plea challenging the Karnataka High Court order restoring the complaint against Yediyurappa and others.

"There shall be a stay of proceedings so far as the petitioner is concerned," the bench said.

The Karnataka High Court on September 7 had restored a private complaint against Yediyurappa and his family members. The complainant had accused him of taking bribe for awarding government contracts.

A Sessions court had earlier dismissed a plea seeking a probe into the allegations of corruption against Yediyurappa as the then Governor had refused to sanction it.

T J Abraham, a social activist, had lodged the complaint alleging that Yediyurappa and his family members had taken bribe from Ramalingam Construction Company and other shell companies in return for awarding Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) contracts.

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Mumbai (PTI): The initial report submitted by the microbiology department of a Mumbai-based state-run hospital has said no "bacterial infection" was detected in the bodies of four family members, who died after consuming watermelon recently, officials said on Wednesday.

The Dokadia family, residents of Ghari Mohalla on Ismail Kurte Road, had hosted a get-together of relatives on the night of April 25. At around 1 am (on April 26), hours after the guests had left, Abdullah Dokadia (40), his wife Nasreen (35), and daughters Ayesha (16) and Zaineb (13) ate pieces of a watermelon.

They suffered severe bouts of vomiting and diarrhoea in the early hours of April 26 and were rushed to a local hospital before being referred to the government-run J J Hospital where all four died during treatment.

After the incident, Mumbai police, forensic experts and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials visited the house and had collected samples of every food item that constituted the family's last meal, including 'chicken pulav', watermelon, water, and other foodstuffs, and sent them to the Forensic Science Laboratory for analysis.

After the post-mortem of the deceased, their viscera was preserved for chemical analysis.

As the probe is underway, the microbiology department of the state-run J J Hospital has submitted its initial report to the police.

"As per the report, no bacterial infection has been detected so far in the bodies of the victims. No bacteria was found in their blood," the official said.

The exact cause of the death will be known once the forensic science lab submits its report, he said.

"The report will also clarify whether any food items consumed by the family members during the day contained anything poisonous," the official said.