Bengaluru news: Top stories – July 16

Welcome to your one-stop destination for the top news from Bengaluru on July 16.

Karnataka crisis: SC reserves order, verdict at 10.30 am tomorrow

The Supreme Court has reserved its order for July 17 on the plea moved by Karnataka rebel MLAs. The verdict will be pronounced at 10.30 tomorrow. Meanwhile, Speaker K R Ramesh – at the centre of the political crisis – also sought time till tomorrow to decide on the disqualification and resignation of the rebel MLAs.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi dealt with the pleas of 10 lawmakers against the Karnataka Speaker for not accepting their resignations. It also heard arguments of five more lawmakers who alleged that they “are being forced to support the government on the threat of disqualification”. The Chief Minister’s counsel told the court that the dissident “MLAs were hunting in pack to destabilise the government.”

Congress MLAs shifted at a resort ahead of trust vote

Meanwhile, in Bengaluru, Congress MLAs arrive at a resort ahead of the trust vote. Congress MLAs shifted to Windflower Prakruthi Resort, Devanahalli from Taj Yeshwantpur hotel on Tuesday. CM Kumaraswamy’s confidence motion through which he will seek to prove his majority will be taken up on July 18.

SIT allowed Roshan Baig to appear on 19 July for further enquiries

Shivajinagar MLA and former minister Roshan Baig, who was detained on Monday from Bangalore international airport at 10.30 pm by the Special Investigation Team in connection with the IMA scam, was questioned and allowed to appear on 19 July for further enquiries. Baig, 65, was scheduled to fly on a chartered aircraft to Pune.

Baig was trying to escape, says Kumaraswamy

“Today SIT probing the IMA case detained Roshan Baig for questioning at the BIAL airport while he was trying leave along with Yeddyurappa’s PA Santosh on a chartered flight to Mumbai. I was told that on seeing the SIT, Santhosh ran away while the team apprehended Mr Baig,” CM Kumaraswamy said late on Monday night.

“BJP’s Yogeshwar (a BJP leader) was present at the time. It’s a shame that the Karnataka BJP is helping a former minister who is facing a probe in the IMA case. This clearly shows BJP’ s direct involvement in destabilizing the govt through horse-trading,” Kumaraswamy said.

The Karnataka BJP has, however, denied the accusations of the chief minister and accused the state government of misusing agencies like the SIT to protect its own interests.

Two site engineers arrested in connection with building collapse

Two site engineers were arrested in connection with the collapse of the basements of two apartments on Hutchins Road, Pulakeshi Nagar in east Bengaluru, last week. Three prime accused, including owners of the structures, are still at large. The engineers— Tamim and Nayazullah— are from Kolar. The three prime suspects have approached a court seeking anticipatory bail — Mohammed Shoeb A Hameed and Mohammed Imtiaz A Hameed, owners of the buildings, and architect BM Sridhar. An under-construction building in Bengaluru’s Pulkeshi Nagar collapsed on July 10 morning, killing five people and leaving 11 others injured. An adjacent building also tilted upon the impact of the collapse.

Jayadeva flyover demolition postponed to next week

The demolition of Jayadeva flyover junction, which was scheduled on Monday, has been postponed to next week by Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL). The busy junction is being remodelled to accommodate an additional elevated road and the interchange Metro station of Reach 5 line (RV Road to Bommasandra) and Reach 6 line (Gottigere to Nagawara). The work is likely to affect areas like BTM Layout, Jayanagar, Koramangala, Bannerghatta Road and surrounding areas.

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