Siddaganga seer Shivakumara Swamiji passes away
Bengaluru: Shivakumara Swamiji, the 111-year old head of the Siddaganga Math in Karnataka, known as ‘Walking God’ among his countless followers, died Monday after prolonged illness, the seminary said. The senior pontiff who had undergone a surgery at a hospital in Chennai recently for liver complications, had shown signs of improvement but his condition deteriorated in the past few days, said doctors who attended on him. Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and the education society run by the Swamiji announced the demise of the seer, plunging lakhs of his followers across the state into grief. The highly revered pontiff of the influential Lingayats, the major community in Karnataka, is a recipient of Padma Bhushan and Karnataka Ratna, the highest state civilian award. Kumaraswamy announced a three-day state mourning and government holiday on Tuesday. The last rites of the seer will be performed Tuesday at 4.30 pm at Tumakuru, the math said. (PTI)
Two mobile phones, illegal items seized from Jammu jail
Jammu: Police have recovered illegal items, including two mobile phones, five pendrives and some sharp-edged weapons from high-security Kot Bhalwal jail in winter capital Jammu, officials said Monday. LPG cylinders, deep freezers and several other incriminating items were also recovered from the barracks housing over 500 inmates, including local and foreign terrorists, during the day-long operation carried out by 300 policemen and jail staff under the supervision of Senior Superintendent of Police Tejinder Singh Sunday, they said. The officials said authorities were monitoring the activities inside the jail over the past couple of months, especially the use of mobile phones and accordingly planned the operation. However, no SIM card was recovered during the operation, they said, adding that these could have been disposed off or destroyed secretly by users when the searches started. The mobile phones and pendrives have been sent for a detailed analysis to extract data which will take some time, the officials said. In addition to over 200 hardcore local and Pakistani terrorists, the jail houses prisoners, including dreaded criminals, habitual stone-throwers and detainees under the public safety act. (PTI)
PM to address rally in J&K on February 3: Madhav
Jammu: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a rally during his visit to Jammu and Kashmir’s Samba district, party general secretary Ram Madhav said Monday. Modi will visit Jammu and Kashmir on February 3 to lay the foundation stone and inaugurate various projects in all the three regions of the state, he said. Madhav said the prime minister will lay the foundation stone for AIIMS at Vijaypur, Samba and inaugurate projects worth Rs 35,000 crore and Rs 9,000 crore in Jammu and Kashmir, respectively. Modi will address the rally in Jammu in which over two lakh people are expected to turn up, he said. Madhav, along with state president Ravinder Raina, and other senior leaders from the state visited AIIMS ground in Vijaypur and reviewed the preparations for the scheduled rally. Raina discussed the preparations at the local-level chalked out by the state BJP with the national leader and assured him that the rally will be a “grand success”, marking the beginning of preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. He stressed that the people of the state love Modi, which, Raina said, will be evident from the rally’s success as well as the win of the BJP in the upcoming general polls. (PTI)
Consider Manu Sharma plea for premature release: HC
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday asked the AAP government to consider Jessica Lal murder convict Manu Sharma’s request for premature release at the next meeting of the Sentence Review Board (SRB) that is likely to be held in March. Justice Najmi Waziri issued the direction after the Delhi government told the court that under the new Delhi Prisons Rules, 2018 which came into effect from January 1, 2019, SRB meetings would be held every quarter instead of once in six months, and Sharma’s case would be considered at the next one. The court said that in the circumstances, the Board will consider the reports in favour of the convict’s release as well as his satisfactory conduct in prison in its next meeting, and disposed of his plea. During the hearing, the court was surprised that while the Delhi Police had not objected to Sharma’s plea for premature release, its nominee on the Board had done so. Senior advocate Salman Khurshid, appearing for the 43-year-old convict, told the court that his client has undergone 21 years one month and six days of imprisonment, including remission, and therefore, he was eligible for premature release. (PTI)