BJP MP Ramesh Jarkiholi, who had to step down as Karnataka’s water resources minister earlier this month after TV stations released a video CD allegedly portraying him with a young woman, risks ‘to be arrested. The woman, who accused him of sexual assault and harassment, a statement recorded Tuesday before a magistrate in Bengaluru.
The woman, nowhere to be found since March 2, the day of Video CD has been played by TV channels, appeared before a magistrate on Tuesday afternoon after being brought to court by her lawyers.
On March 26, Bengaluru police, acting on a complaint sent to them by the woman through her lawyers, registered a complaint of assault and sexual intercourse by an authority official under sections 354 and 376. (c) of the IPC against Jarkiholi.
In her complaint to Cubbon Park Police, the woman alleged that Jarkiholi forced her to have sex by offering her a job in the government, and then reneged on his promise.
She alleged that Jarkiholi instigated her into participating in sexually explicit conversations on video calls and then brought her to meet him at his Bengaluru apartment where he forced her to have sex.
After recording her statement on Tuesday, her lawyer, K Jagadish, said: “We have kept our promise to bring the victim to court for her to provide her statement. The police should now do their duty and arrest the accused who is walking around freely. “
After the court appearance, the woman was taken by her lawyers to the technical police cell for a sample of voices and statements in other cases which were filed on the video CD broadcast by the TV channels.
A special state police investigation team is also investigating Jarkiholi’s complaint of blackmail and extortion in the CD case, as well as a complaint from the woman’s family claiming that she had been abducted.
Jarkiholi said the video recordings were the result of an unsuccessful attempt to extort and blackmail him using a converted video CD. He claims that a “Mahan Nayak” in Karnataka who is a political rival is behind the whole episode, and that the case is a major plot.
The woman’s parents alleged that their daughter was forced to do certain things by a group that was holding her captive. They claim their daughter told them that the CD recording was a fake. The family accused the state congressman DK Shivakumar, a rival of Jarkiholi, of orchestrating the incident.
Shivakumar denied any connection to the young woman and claimed that the woman’s family had “said things for their own convenience.”
“Her lawyers said the female victim made a statement without coercion or interference before a magistrate. Why has the state not yet arrested the rape accused? What does that mean? ”The state congress said on its official Twitter account on Tuesday.
