Karnataka Legislative Assembly budget session curtailed by a day, to conclude on Mar 26
Bengaluru (PTI): The Budget session of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly has been curtailed by a day, to conclude on March 26, reportedly due to upcoming bypolls for two Assembly seats in the state.
The state legislature's Budget session, which began on March 6, with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah presenting the Budget for 2026-27 was originally scheduled to conclude on March 27.
Speaker U T Khader announced this in the House on Tuesday, following a meeting of the Legislative Assembly's Business Advisory Committee (BAC).
"As per the decision of the BAC, discussion on the Budget and demands will conclude today (March 24). The CM will reply to these discussions on March 26, following which the Appropriation Bill will be taken up for discussion and passage. After transacting business on March 26, the House will be adjourned sine die," he said.
Though the Speaker did not mention why the session was curtailed by a day, official sources said it was done keeping the upcoming by-elections in mind, as leaders, ministers, and legislators would participate in campaigning.
Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka and Labour Minister Santosh Lad indicated on Monday that the session might be curtailed due to by-elections.
Two Assembly seats in the state --Bagalkot and Davangere South-- will go to bypolls on April 9.
Bypolls for the Bagalkot and Davanagere South Assembly constituencies were necessitated by the deaths of senior Congress MLAs H Y Meti and Shamanur Shivashankarappa, respectively.
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3 officials of private banks arrested in Gujarat in Rs 2,500 crore cyber fraud; 20 held so far
Rajkot (PTI): Three officials of leading private banks were arrested for their alleged involvement in a Rs 2,500-crore cyber fraud racket in Gujarat's Rajkot district, bringing the number of those held so far in the case to 20, police said on Monday.
Those arrested were identified as Maulik Kamani, a personal manager at Yes Bank in Padadhari; Kalpesh Dangariya, a manager at Axis Bank in Jamnagar; and Anurag Baldha, a personal banker with HDFC Bank, Rajkot (Rural) Superintendent of Police Vijay Gurjar said.
Dangariya and Baldha were previously employed with Yes Bank, he added.
Kamani allegedly assisted the earlier arrested accused in opening and managing suspicious accounts. He also helped bypass banking alerts triggered by high-value transactions by submitting additional documentation to keep accounts active, the SP said.
Kamani was allegedly involved in cash withdrawals that were later routed through hawala channels (illegal money transfer system), supported by digital evidence recovered from his mobile device, he added.
Dangariya is accused of facilitating the opening of fraudulent accounts using fake or misrepresented identities, police said.
He also assisted in structuring documentation, including Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC)-related papers, to prevent transactions from being flagged as suspicious, they said.
On the other hand, Baldha opened new accounts after verification and certification processes as part of the racket, Gurjar informed.
All the three accused are in police custody, while others are in jail under judicial remand, SP said.
So far, police have identified 85 bank accounts linked to the racket with 535 complaints filed on the cyber crime portal.
The total transaction linked to the cyber fraud exceeds Rs 2,500 crore, police said.
The earlier fraud amount was pegged by police at Rs 1,500 crore.
