BENGALURU: A special court on Wednesday reserved the order on the bail application of RR Nagar BJP MLA and former minister Munirathna. He has been arrested on charges of caste abuse and issuing life threats to a BBMP contractor. Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat of the Special Court to try cases against sitting and former MPs and MLAs, reserved the order after hearing the arguments on behalf Munirathna and the prosecution. The order is likely to be pronounced on Thursday.
During the hearing, Munirathna’s counsel argued that the police should have issued him a notice before arresting him. But he was detained even before a notice was served notice as if he was leaving the country, the counsel argued.
Further, he argued that the alleged incident occurred in the MLA’s office and the accused neither abused nor insulted anyone intentionally. “If there had been intentional insult, a case could be registered but it was not proper on the part of the police to register the case on the charges of caste abuse. The case was registered as if the alleged conversation between the complainant and accused had taken place in public, though it was between them,” he argued.
Accusing the contractor, Chalvaraju, of recording the conversation with the MLA on his mobile phone and sharing it publicly, the counsel argued that it was an attempt to implicate the MLA in a false case. Munirathna would cooperate with the investigation and bail may be granted imposing necessary conditions for the same, he pleaded.
In reply, the Special Public Prosecutor asserted that the MLA’s office is accessible to the public and hence it is a public place only.