Here are the big stories from Karnataka today

Karnataka Today newsletter: FIR against Tejasvi Surya for spreading ‘fake news’ on Haveri farmer’s death

Haveri district police have booked BJP MP from Bengaluru South Tejasvi Surya for spreading ‘fake news’. Editors of two Kannada online news portals were also booked in the case. Mr. Surya had posted on X on Thursday: “A farmer in Haveri commits suicide after finding his land taken over by Waqf! In their haste to appease minorities CM Siddaramaiah and minister B. Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan have unleashed catastrophic effects in Karnataka that are becoming impossible to contain with every passing day”. He also posted links of a news story claiming this from the news portal Kannada Duniya. 

Hours later, Superintendent of Police, Haveri district issued a press release fact checking the news. The farmer, Rudrappa, had ended his life on January 6, 2022, as he had taken a loan of ₹7 lakh but suffered extensive crop damage. Following this, Haveri Cybercrime, Economic and Narcotic offences (CEN) Police registered a FIR against Mr. Surya, editors of two Kannada portals Kannada Duniya and Kannada News that had published this news story, for spreading fake news, based on a complaint by Sunil Huchannavar, a constable working in the Social Media Monitoring Cell at SP, Haveri office.

Farmers are up in arms against the proposal by the Karnataka government to revive the township project at Nandagudi, Hoskote taluk, that was shelved in 2016. The State Government is now planning to acquire 18,500 acres of land in 36 villages for this mega project. The BMRDA recently revived the project and sent a proposal to the State Government and for Cabinet nod.

The project is part of three self-contained work-and-play model satellite townships proposed around Bengaluru at Bidadi, Solur near Magadi, and at Nandagudi in Hoskote taluk. These satellite townships are located at strategic locations along the upcoming Satellite Township Ring Road (STRR).

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) officials in Kodagu district have been instructed by Virajpet MLA A. S. Ponnanna to ban the sale of unsafe food items supplied from Kerala. In the wake of concerns about the quality of food items supplied from Kerala to Kutta, Makutta and Perumbadi areas of Kodagu district on the inter-State border, a total of 90 samples of food items were collected and sent for an analysis.

The IADFAC food testing laboratory, approved by FSSAI and accredited by NABL, has confirmed that 31 food samples were unsafe while four others were of substandard quality.

The Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) has removed a total of 7,175.48 km of optical fiber cables (OFC) and data cables out of the total 9,250.25 km of cables found on electrical infrastructure in Bengaluru since August 2023. Bescom and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) are presently taking up drives to remove illegally laid OFCs.