A special investigation team (SIT) by Bengaluru police on Tuesday has concluded its investigations into a sex CD episode involving BJP’s former water resources minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, who was found in a comprising position with a woman.
A woman had filed a case of sexual assault against Jarkiholi and a case of complaint of extortion against unnamed suspects has been filed by the BJP MLA, according to the Indian Express.
The SIT did not find any evidence to prosecute the case of sexual assault filed by the woman. However, they found evidence to prosecute the woman and the two others who were allegedly involved in the extortion of the BJP’s minister, as per the sources.
The SIT has proposed to file a B report or a closure report in the sexual assault case and a chargesheet in the extortion case as no evidence was found to establish the woman’s claims that the BJP minister offered her a government job to coerce her into a sexual relationship. Also no evidence was found of the woman that she was seeking a job through the minister as claimed by her. Hence, it was found that she was not an engineering graduate as claimed but a second year engineering drop out, as per the reports.
Initially, the woman had approached Jarkiholi, who was the water resources minister then, guised as a part of a studio and had sought permission to shoot videos of dams in the state and developed an intimacy with the minister subsequently, the investigation supposedly found.
However, the probe in the extortion case have unearthed a `lot of evidence’ which indicates a plot to entrap Jarkiholi and secretly film his sexual encounters with the woman in order to extort funds and blackmail him, the sources said.
A box for a mini camera, that was used for the recording of the sexual encounters of the minister with the woman, from the paying guest room of the woman has been recovered by the SIT. It has also been found that a mobile phone used by the woman for meetings with Jarkiholi was given to her by other two suspects, who are former media employees Naresh Gowda and Shravan Kumar, who are key accused in the extortion case.
The SIT has notified the Karnataka High Court about the completion of the inquiry and is waiting for clearance to file reports in a lower court on the findings of the probe.
In March this year, Jarkiholi was forced to resign as water resources minister in the BJP’s government over rape charges and is now hoping to return to the cabinet on the closure of the case against him.
During an anticipatory bail hearing for the two former media employees, the SIT informed a sessions court that Jarkiholi had provided a statement saying he had been honey-trapped.
The sessions court in a June 8 order granting anticipatory bail, observed, “It is further contended in the objection that the complainant Jarakiholi gave statement before the SIT narrating the sequence of events as to how he was honey trapped by the said lady and the petitioners here and how the petitioners extracted money from him.”
Objecting the anticipatory bail plea of Naresh Gowda and Shravan, the SIT said the probe had revealed that the two were part of an organised attempt to trap the BJP minister in a compromising situation for extortion.
Karnataka government constituted the SIT over the CD case, assigning it three FIRs, one of sexual assault filed by the woman against Jarkiholi, a second of extortion filed against a gang of extortionists by the BJP MLA and third of abduction filed by the woman’s father. So far, a closure report has been filed by the SIT in the abduction case based on a statement given to a magistrate by the woman.
