Belagavi, Nov 22 (DHNS): The Karnataka Legislative Assembly has directed the Home department to arrest Bengaluru-based tabloid journalists Ravi Belagere and Anil Raj following a House resolution sentencing them to one-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 for breach of privilege.

The Assembly Secretariat sent a letter to the Home department on Tuesday night, after the Legislative Assembly unanimously rejected a petition filed by the two editors seeking reconsideration of the imprisonment and fine.

In 2014, Ranebennur MLA K B Koliwad (now the Speaker) had petitioned the Privileges Committee taking offence to "defamatory articles" against him in 'Hi Bengaluru'. Ravi Belagere is the editor of Hi Bengaluru.

File photo - Anil Raj and Ravi Belagere along with his daughter Chetana Belagere in Vidhan Soudha

In another instance, in 2017, Yelahanka MLA S R Vishwanath approached the Privileges Committee taking offence to the articles appeared in a local tabloid 'Yelahanka Voice' edited by Raj. The committee found the articles defamatory and that they amounted to breach of privilege.