No recommendation for lockdown extension so far from TAC: CM BS Yediyurappa

Bengaluru: Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said here on Sunday that the Technical Advisory Committee on COVID-19 has not yet recommended extending the state-wide lockdown beyond June 7, though discussions were on.

A decision in this regard will be taken based on the prevailing situation on June 6, a day before the lockdown ends, he told reporters here after distributing ration kits to sanitation workers.

Asked whether the TAC has recommended extension of the lockdown, Yediyurappa said, "It's not like that. Discussions are on. After June 5 and 6, we have to wait and watch how the cases come down."

The Chief Minister, however, admitted that the COVID-19 infections were still on the higher side. "The cases are still higher than our expectations. We will hold a meeting with ministers and experts on June 5 or 6 to chart out the future course of action. However, we have not taken any decision yet," Yediyurappa said. Restrictions are in place in Karnataka since April 27, which was further made stringent from May 10 onwards for about one month till June 7 to contain the rapid spread of COVID-19.

The state, which has been reporting a decline in fresh cases since May 21, barring a single day on May 26, logged 20,628 infections, 492 fatalities and 3.5 lakh active cases on Saturday. PTI GMS Actor's bodyguard held in Karnataka for raping 30-year-old woman (Eds: Combines related stories)

Mandya/Mumbai, May 30 (PTI) The bodyguard of a leading Bollywood actress has been arrested from a village in Karnataka for allegedly raping a woman in Mumbai, under the pretext of marriage. Kumar Hegde was on the run for the last 10 days before being nabbed from his native village in Mandya district on Saturday afternoon and taken to Mumbai on transit remand. A team of Mumbai police arrested Hegde a day before he was supposed to get married to another girl, a police official said. A police officer posted at the DN Nagar police station in Mumbai, said Kumar Hegde was on the run for the last 10 days before being caught in Karnataka and brought to Mumbai on transit remand. "A 30-year old woman, who works as a beautician, had last week filed a complaint of rape against him. The woman said they knew each other for eight years and he had, in June last year, proposed marriage, which she accepted," the DN Nagar police official said. He had allegedly established a relationship with the woman by promising to marry her.

The accused was one of the bodyguards of a Bollywood actress. In her complaint, the victim alleged that on April 27 this year, Hegde took Rs 50,000 from her claiming his mother had died in Karnataka, but then stopped all communication with her once he reached his native state. After the woman found out he was planning to marry another girl, she approached police and Hegde was charged with rape, unnatural sex and cheating, and arrested, police said.