EC files FIR against Yeddyurappa over speech made on 'caste lines'
Bengaluru: Ahead of the crucial Karnataka bypolls, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday said two first information reports (FIR) have been registered against Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa over his speeches soliciting votes in the name of caste.
"Alleged speech made by B.S. Yeddyurappa, Chief Minister of Karnataka on caste lines in Gokak and Shiruppi village in Kagwad Assembly constituency on November 23 have been inquired into," Additional Chief Electoral Officer (expenditure monitoring), Priyanka Mary Francis said in a statement, adding that two FIRs have been registered against the CM.
The ECI also charged six check post officials and suspended two of them for not checking the vehicle of Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai at Hanakere check post on November 20.
"An FIR has been registered in Maddur police station against the driver of vehicle trailing the Home Minister's vehicle for not cooperating with the check post officials," said Francis.
The entire team at the check post has been replaced.
Similarly, the ECI suspended four officials of its static surveillance team for not properly checking the vehicle of Yediyurappa's son B.Y. Raghavendra, a member of parliament, on November 25 at Varaha check post.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka unit of Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday filed a complaint with the ECI against former state chief minister Siddaramaiah for allegedly luring people to vote in favour of the Congress party.
The By-elections for 15 out of 17 seats in the state are slated to be held on December 5. The poll body has withheld the elections for two seats -- Maski and Rajarajeshwari -- as petitions against these Assembly constituencies are pending in the Karnataka High Court.
With winning a majority of seats being crucial for the government's survival, the BJP has fielded 13 of the 16 disqualified legislators who joined the party as its candidates from their respective constituencies.
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Mumbai family deaths: FDA finds no watermelon vendor in area to check for affected stock
Mumbai (PTI): The Food and Drug Administration team probing the cause of death of four members of a family in south Mumbai's JJ Marg area have not been able to zero in on any watermelon vendor in the vicinity to check if the fruit had a role to play in the ill-fated incident, an official said on Thursday.
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, 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.
"The FDA team visited the house of Dokadia and collected samples of chicken pulao and watermelon pieces. After two days, the leftover chicken pulao had developed fungus growth. The team also tried to locate watermelon vendors to check for any affected lots," he said.
But no vendors were found in the area for the past two days, preventing the FDA team from getting samples, the official added.
The FDA has requested the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to share the report on the food samples collected by them, he added.
A senior Mumbai police official said the force is waiting for FSL reports in the case, adding that questions on presence of sedatives etc in the fruit could be answered only then.
The statements of the kin of the deceased are being recorded to ascertain if it is a case of mass suicide, and it is being checked if the Dokadia family were in debt or distressed over some issue, the police official said.
