95 swine flu deaths in Karnataka till Aug 25

A total of 95 people had died of swine flu in Karnataka till Aug 25 this year, state Health Minister B. Sriramulu said Friday.So far this year, 1,702 people had been affected by the H1N1 flu, he told reporters here after a meeting with health ministry officials to assess the preparedness of the state to tackle the flu as well chikungunya and dengue in view of the revival of the monsoon In 2009, there were 1,799 H1N1 cases in the state and 135 of the patients died, Sriramulu said.District administrations and health authorities have been told to be pro-active to prevent the spread of contagious diseases as several parts of the state have been receiving heavy rains in the last three days, he said.There were 927 chikungunya cases in the state but no death has occurred from the disease, Sriramulu said.There has been one death due to dengue while 1,294 had been affected by it, the minister said.Deputy commissioners, district surgeons, and the heads of the administration and medicare, respectively, in Karnataka’s 30 districts will be held responsible for any death from contagious diseases, Sriramulu said.Sriramulu, a close associate of the Reddy brothers, mining barons and ministers, has been under attack from the opposition that he was busy in organizing rallies in his home district of Bellary while swine flu, dengue and chikungunya cases were spreading in the state.
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Raju's bail to be challenged in SC for cancellation

New Delhi, Aug 27 : CBI sources today indicated that the Andhra Pradesh High Court order granting bail to Ramalinga Raju, former chairman of Satyam software company involved in Rs 7,000 crore corporate scam,will be challenged in the Supreme Court.Raju, who is involved in the biggest corporate scam in the country and had cheated thousands of investors of their hard earned money, stayed for almost 10 months in a five star hotel on the pretext of sickness and has been granted bail on medical grounds.With his release on bail, all the accused in the case are out on bail.According to CBI, keeping in view the criminal clout of the accused, the possibility of Raju tampering with the investigation and evidence in the case cannot be ruled out.
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Maoist sympathiser demands judicial probe into Azad's killing

Hyderabad, Aug 27 : Maoist sympathiser Varavara Rao Friday demanded a judicial probe into the killing of Maoist leader Azad in the light of his autopsy report which says he was shot from close range.The revolutionary writer said the autopsy report had rubbished the police claim that Azad was killed in an encounter. "The government should immediately order a judicial probe into the incident to bring out the facts and punish the guilty," he said. Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad, a top leader and spokesman of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) was killed along with a journalist Hemchandra Pandey in Jogapur forests in Adilabad district July 2. The police claimed that they were killed in a gunfight but the Maoist party and rights groups said that police had caught them in Nagpur, Maharashtra and then shot them dead in cold blood. Varavara Rao pointed out that from day one he had been saying that it was a stage-managed encounter. "The autopsy report has vindicated our stand," he said. According to the report, the bullet which killed Azad left a one centimetre oval-shaped wound with darkening burnt edges. Experts say such darkening edges in the entry wound happens only due to burns caused by a bullet fired from very close quarters, mostly from less than a foot. Varavara Rao reiterated that Azad was caught and killed when he was working to create conducive atmosphere for talks with the Indian government. The Maoists claimed that Azad was carrying Swami Agnivesh's letter written to him suggesting three likely dates in July when the cease-fire could go into effect. The police, however, denied that they found any such letter.
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