Badminton: Saina bows out, Srikanth advances at All England Open
Birmingham: Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal lost to World No.1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in the first round while Kidambi Srikanth advanced at the All England Open here on Wednesday.
Saina could not match up to the precision skills and the array of shots unleashed by Tai and bowed out of the meet going down 14-21, 18-21 in a match which lasted 38 minutes.
Third seed Srikanth, on the other hand, played brilliantly and and defeated Brice Leverdez of France 7-21, 21-14, 22-20.
After dropping a game, the Guntur player soaked up the pressure and bounced back in style to clinch the next two games.
In the women's doubles category, Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy also lost their first round match to the Japanese duo of Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi 14-21, 13-21 to crash out of the meet.
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Udupi: Woman, bank employee arrested in property tax fraud case
Udupi: Udupi City Police have arrested two persons, including a woman, in connection with the alleged misappropriation of property tax funds belonging to the Udupi Municipal Council.
The accused have been identified as Shalini, who was working as a tax consultant outside the municipal office, and Ganesh, a bank employee.
According to police, Anand Suvarna had paid Rs 34,730 towards 12 years of property tax for his building in Kalmadi to Shalini on October 16, 2025. She reportedly issued him a receipt acknowledging the payment.
However, when Suvarna recently checked the status of the payment on the property tax portal, he found that the amount had not been credited and was still shown as pending. He then brought the matter to the notice of the Municipal Commissioner, who verified that the payment had not been recorded.
During questioning, Shalini allegedly admitted to the lapse. On February 16, 2026, she generated a new challan in Suvarna’s name and paid Rs 35,213 towards the dues.
Police said a case has been registered at the Udupi City Police Station against the accused for allegedly misappropriating tax money and defrauding the government by affixing the seal of Union Bank on the challan without remitting the amount initially received from the taxpayer.
Further investigation is under way.
