Sleaze case: Activist Kallahalli withdraws plaint against ex-Minister

IANS

Bengaluru, 08 Mar 2021: In a dramatic twist to the sensational sleaze CD, city-based social activist Dinesh Kallahalli withdrew his compliant against former Karnataka Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi in the case, police said on Sunday.

 

“His (Kallahalli’s) lawyer Kumar Patil submitted a letter in Kannada to us stating that he was withdrawing the complaint against Jarkiholi, as he was accused of taking Rs 5-crore ransom and damaging the reputation of the woman and her family,” a police official told reporters here.

 

Jarkiholi resigned as state water resources minister on March 3 a day after Kallahalli complained to the police that the accused had cheated a woman after an intimate relationship and released the sleaze CD to local news channels.

 

“As I am hurt after former state Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy alleged that I took ransom for exposing Jarkiholi through a CD, whose release in the public domain has caused damage to the victim’s family,” said Kallahalli in the letter.

 

Though police waited for Kallahalli to depose before its investigation team in the case since March 4, he sought protection to visit Cubbon Park police station, as he feared for life following threatening calls from unknown persons.

 

“We will study the contents of Kallahalli’s letter given through his lawyer for the next course of action as he does not want to pursue the case due to pressure,” police said.

 

Jarkiholi, a legislator from Gokak assembly segment in Belagavi district in the southern state’s northwest region, defected from the Congress after resigning from the seat and got re-elected in the December 5, 2019 by-election and became a minister on February 6 during the second cabinet expansion of the ruling BJP government.

 

Though Jarkiholi denied any wrongdoing and accused his political rivals of conspiring to damage his reputation through a purported sleaze CD and oust him from the ministry, the BJP high command forced him to resign ahead of the month-long budget session since March 4 for saving its government from further embarrassment.

 

“I wanted police to inquire into my complaint against Jarkiholi for allegedly harassing a woman who approached him for a official favour and had intimate relation with her. Instead, the victim and her family have been humiliated by playing up the CD in news channels and social media platforms, which has tainted them. I am not interested in pursuing the case anymore,” said the activist through his lawyer.