Bengaluru, February 11: The Karnataka High Court on Monday served notice to former minister Ramesh Jarakiholi and the state government over missing case of Athani MLA Mahesh Kumatalli.

Hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by advocate and Youth Congress secretary Pramod Dayanand Hiremani of Athani, a bench comprising of Justice Phaneendra and Justice Natarajan issued the notice.

The advocate, arguing for the petitioner, said that former minister Ramesh Jarakiholi kept Athani MLA Mahesh Kumatalli in house arrest illegally and the police should be directed to trace him and produce him before the court.

The advocate further stated that the MLA is facing threat to his life, so the Home department and Athani police should immediately be directed to trace the missing MLA and produce him before the court. While further appealing the court to order immediate interrogation of former minister Ramesh Jarakholi.

About incident

It is said that Mahesh had allegedly informed the applicant of the petition that Ramesh had been forcing him to resign from his MLA post, and was also threatening of kidnapping him if he doesn’t resign. And within sometime after this, Mahesh went missing and now has been untraced for over a month.

He was not found in his constituency Athani, nor did he attend any of the assembly session this month where the JDS-Congress coalition government presented the budget. According to the applicant, the MLA’s family is also not responding clearly about his whereabouts.

The apoplicant has also filed a complaint at the Athani police station dated Feb 7, but the police has not yet filed an FIR into the matter, citing that Mahesh might have been to Bengaluru to attend the assembly session, where he was not found to be, when enquired at the legislator’s house.

The HC has now directed the state government and the police to investigate the matter and trace the missing MLA.

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Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.

The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.

Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.

The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.

Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.

The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.