Here are the big stories from Karnataka today

Karnataka Today newsletter: Ministers claim ED coercing Valmiki Corp scam accused to name CM & DCM, and more

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) is coercing those arrested in connection with the alleged Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation scam to name senior functionaries of the government of Karnataka, including the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, in a bid to destabilise the Congress government in the State, Karnataka Ministers have claimed. 

The allegation at a media conference hosted jointly by five senior Ministers of the government of Karnataka on July 18 before the legislature convened for the ongoing session. Other ministers at the media conference were K.J. George, Priyank Kharge, Dinesh Gundu Rao and Santosh Lad. 

After a 70-year-old farmer Fakeerappa, who went to G.T. Mall in Bengaluru with his son to watch a movie at a multiplex, was allegedly denied entry owing to his attire — a dhoti and a white shirt on July 16, the Karnataka Government on July 18 said it will ask the management to close the mall for seven days.

G.T. Mall is located on Magadi Main Road in the City and the incident occurred around 6 p.m. on July 16. Urban Development Minister Byrathi Suresh told the Legislative Assembly that the government would take stern action against the mall and it would be ordered to shut down for seven days for denying entry to the farmer to the mall.

The first Vice-Chancellor of Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) and senior cardiac surgeon Marthanda Varma Sankaran Valiathan passed away in Manipal on July 17 at 9.14 p.m. He was 90. Dr. Valiathan is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

His career included significant contributions to cardiac surgery and medical technology. He was the Vice-Chancellor of MAHE from 1993. Under his leadership, MAHE expanded its academic programmes and significantly increased its research output.

The passengers of a car narrowly escaped being buried under mud on the Bengaluru-Mangaluru National Highway 75 overnight on July 17-18. Their vehicle was buried under mud following a landslide near Doddathappale village on Shiradi Ghat stretch of NH 75. Local people rescued the passengers.