SHIVAMOGGA: Reacting to National Investigation Agency (NIA) sleuths visiting his personal office, former minister and Congress leader Kimmane Ratnakar said, “We informed the authorities that we hired the building in 2015 by depositing Rs 10 lakh with the owner, and were remitting Rs 1,000 rent regularly till December 2022. The building is to be vacated once the owner returns the deposit amount, and we only have an owner and tenant relationship.”
He told the media here on Thursday that some electronic media channels had falsely said that his house had been raided, and alleged that the BJP’s high-handedness was behind this. He also said the BJP was trying to politicise it. “Some television channels portrayed me as carrying a cooker. There were clippings of Shariq’s picture with my photo. I never fled Thirthahalli and people know what Kimmane is. The BJP is trying to drum up a drama,” he said.
Kimmane alleged that Home Minister Araga Jnanendra is number one accused in the ‘Santro’ Ravi issue. “Santro Ravi has a list of officers to be posted, and postings are done accordingly. In this case, Araga Jnanendra has to be arrested, and he was also an accused in the PSI scam,” he said, adding that the Congress will take out a mammoth protest if Araga fails to tender his resignation before February.
He alleged that all PWD works in Thirthahalli and Hosanagar taluks were assigned to C V Chandrashekhar, a relative of Jnanendra. The minister’s son was making layouts, for which government lands are being made private lands, he added.