Mangaluru, Feb 2: The ashes of late Union minister and labour leader George Fernandes were buried at the church cemetery in his native place Bejai near here Saturday evening.

His brother Michael Fernandes handed over the ashes to Fr Wilson Vitus DSouza, the parish priest of Bejai church.

A prayer service in memory of George Fernandes was held at the church cemetery.

City mayor Bhaskar Moily, former MLC Capt Ganesh Karnik, and corporator Lancelot Pinto were among those present.

Later a condolence meeting was held at the T V Raman Pai hall in the city by the Citizens Council.

Michael Fernandes, Nalin Kumar Kateel MP, Vedavyas Kamath MLA, former bishop of Mangaluru diocese Aloysius Paul D'Souza, Alvas Educational Trust chairman Mohan Alva and Nitte university chancellor Vinay Hegde spoke at the meeting.

The 88-year-old former defence minister passed away in New Delhi on January 29 after suffering from a prolonged illness.

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Holenarasipura (Karnataka) (PTI): Smoke billowed as ‘Havan’ (fire rituals) flames raged in the scorching summer at JD(S) MLA and former Karnataka Minister H D Revanna’s residence here on Wednesday.

Conspicuous was a piece of paper pasted on the wall of his house.

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru before leaving for Holenarasipura, Revanna said the SIT has pasted a notice on his house.

Noting that he has no clue about the content of the notice, he said he will cooperate with the authorities.

“I have the strength to face these conspiracies. I will face it (investigation). There is no need to bother. I did not do anything wrong. I am prepared for any investigation and will fight it in a legal manner,” Revanna said.

Rejecting all the allegations, he said, "I will not speak about it now.”

Meanwhile, the SIT has formed three teams to probe the case.

Revanna, the Holenarasipura JD(S) MLA, is the son of former Prime Minister and JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda and elder brother of former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy.

Prajwal is seeking a re-election from Hassan from the JD(S), which is an alliance partner of the BJP in Karnataka.

Just before the elections, a huge cache of explicit videos and photographs, allegedly belonging to him have gone viral in the social media, following which the Karnataka government constituted the SIT on the request of Karnataka State Commission for Women chairperson Nagalakshmi Chowdhary.

A case has been registered against Revanna and Prajwal at Holenarasipura on a complaint by their former cook and relative for allegedly sexually harassing her. She alleged that Prajwal made video calls to her daughter and spoke in an objectionable manner, which forced her to block him.

Since morning, priests were busy performing rituals at Revanna's residence in Hassan district to "ward off the adversity" that has struck their family.

Revanna’s trust in Gods, Goddesses, rituals and astrology are well known.

Once the JD(S) MLA was seen holding lemons in his hand during a public event on the stage. When asked about it, he said lemon has the quality to ward off any type of spell cast on a person.

Sometime he also was seen walking barefoot as part of a vow to fulfill his wishes.

When he was the Public Works Minister in the coalition government of Congress-JD(S), which was led by his brother Kumaraswamy, he travelled 350 km to and from Holenarasipura after an astrologer had advised him not to stay in his own house in Bengaluru as it would bring him bad luck, a source close to Revanna said.

One cannot miss out a broad ‘Tilak’ on his forehead, a garland of Rudraksh Rosary around his neck and rings on his fingers studded with precious stones.