MYSURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has turned the tables on the BJP, accusing the saffron party of double standards in the Dharmasthala row and the Sowjanya case. The saffron party took out a yatra in support of Dharmadikari Veerendra Heggade on one hand, and on the other, it wants Sowjanya’s family to approach the Supreme Court and plead for a fresh inquiry, he said here on Tuesday.
Sowjanya was raped and murdered in October 2012, while returning home from college in Dharmasthala.
If BJP is supporting Veerendra Heggade, why do they want Sowjanya’s family to approach court for a fresh inquiry, when the CBI has investigated the case and closed it, the CM questioned. He told the media it is up to Sowjanya’s family to take a call on a fresh probe. The BJP raises slogans for Veerendra Heggade, and also wants to meet Sowjanya’s family for political gains, he said.
Asked about a woman coming forward to depose before the SIT, claiming she had seen Sowjanya being abducted, he countered, “Why did she not appear before the CBI. A witness not disclosing facts before an investigation team is also a crime.”
Ruling out the need for an NIA or CBI probe into the Dharmasthala case, he said the SIT is carrying out investigation and sought faith in the Karnataka police. The BJP, which did not press for an investigation in the beginning, has changed its tone, pushing for a probe when the team couldn’t find any bodies in the burial spots. He recalled that Heggade himself had welcomed the SIT probe, following allegations of mass burials, to dig out the truth before the people.
Clarifying that the BJP had meddled with the SIT probe, he wanted to know who was funding the party in the Dharmasthala case, and accused it of politicising the issue.
He criticised the BJP’s Chamundi Chalo plan over the Dasara inauguration controversy, and recalled that the scion of the Wadiyar family had taken Dewan Sir Mirza Ismail in the golden howdah during the Jamboo Savari procession.
Siddaramaiah took exception to the BJP’s demand and clarified that the government cannot compel people of various religions to wear kumkum when their religion does not permit it. Banu Mushtaq has love and passion for Kannada, which inspired her to write and contribute to the Kannada literary world, he added.
PRODUCER SEEKS ACTION AGAINST YOUTUBERS
MANGALURU: Film producer Prashanth Sambargi has lodged a complaint with SIT at Belthangady against two YouTubers and editors of local newspapers accusing them of conspiracy and interference with the protected witness. The complaint is against Ajay Anchan, Dinesh Kumar, Harsha Kumar Kugwe, Mohammad Sameer and Abdussalam Puthige Sambargi.
The complaint said that the person who lodged a complaint with Dharmasthala police on July 3 had given a statement before the Belthangady court and he was simultaneously brought under the Witness Protection Scheme. “During the period of witness protection, he was staying in the house of Mahesh Shetty Timarodi.
During the period of witness protection, the YouTubers Ajay Anchan (Kudla Rampage) and Dinesh Kumar (D Talks), interviewed the complainant, thereby exposing his identity and violating the confidentiality guaranteed under witness protection.
It shows the YouTubers had prior access to and knowledge of, the protected witness and were in unlawful communication with him. A video on Kudla Rampage, claimed an ‘exclusive interview with the complainant before arrest’. How did the YouTubers come to know that he was residing in Timarodi’s house? An interview by D Talks claims that the interview was taken even before a complaint was lodged,” he alleged.