BENGALURU: Just a week ahead of the crucial bypolls to 15 Assembly segments in the state, several top Congress and JDS leaders and also some senior police officers have been charged with sedition, criminal conspiracy and attempting/abetting waging war against the Government of India, among others.
Acting on a private complaint, a local court directed the Commercial Street police to file an FIR against former Chief Ministers HD Kumaraswamy and Siddaramaiah, former ministers D K Shivakumar, Sa Ra Mahesh, DC Thammanna and senior police officials including former Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Suneel Kumar T among others under 20 sections of the Indian Penal Code. The FIR was registered on Wednesday.
The charges have been slapped against the leaders in connection with their statements against the Income Tax Department on March 27 and the protest in front of the I-T office in Bengaluru on March 28 opposing the raids on JDS and Congress leaders.
This was just days before the Lok Sabha polls in the state when the model code of conduct was in force.
Mallikarjuna Alegowda, a social activist and resident of Gubbi in Tumakuru, had filed a private complaint before a city court recently.
Mallikarjuna Alegowda, a social activist had alleged that on March 27, the then Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy had issued statements to the media that he had received information that I-T officials were preparing to raid houses belonging to some JDS leaders. The next day, there were I-T raids on JDS and Congress leaders. On March 28, JDS and Congress leaders staged a protest in front of the I-T office near Queen’s Circle, violating the model code of conduct.
“While hundreds of workers of both the political parties gathered, the leaders made speeches calling the I-T department an ‘agent of the BJP’. This amounts to obstructing I-T officials from discharging their duties. Besides, this led to major traffic snarls in the area. The police personnel who were present at the spot did not do anything to stop the protest,” the complainant stated.