Blog by- Anuj Vishwakarma
Introduction
Earlier this year, Karnataka BJP leader Ramesh Jarkiholi caught attention after a sex CD allegedly featuring him and an unknown 25-year-old woman went public. Following the controversy, Ramesh Jarkiholi, an influential leader in the BJP and a self-proclaimed ‘kingmaker’, had to resign on March 3. After an extensive investigation by the special investigation team (SIT), the controversy does not appear to extinguish. Since March it has gone through many twists and has appeared to have dominated the talks in the Karnataka political scenario over the last several months. A major twist to the controversy was marked when Karnataka Congress chief D.K. Shivakumar was alleged to have a connection in the issue.
What is the matter?
The sex tape went viral on March 2. As the videos went viral on channels and social media, a self-styled social activist, Dinesh Kallahali, moved to a police station in Bangalore to file a complaint against Jarkiholi alleging Jarkiholi of sexual harassment with a 25-year-old woman. Kallahali initially alleged that he had received information through the family member of the woman that the woman in the tape had been promised a job by Ramesh Jarkiholi in exchange for a coerced relationship. However, later the activist moved to withdraw his claim of sexual harassment because he had received information from a friend who gave the CD to him and not directly from the family of the alleged victim as he had claimed initially.
On March 12, the BJP government constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to investigate the matter. Jarkiholi initially claimed that the CD was fake and was an attempt to defame him by one ‘Mahanayak’, and his associates, and on March 13, Jarkiholi filed a complaint of some unknown persons attempting to blackmail and extort money from him. On the same day, a video statement of the victim woman turned up alleging Jarkiholi of using her and recording their intimate scenes and later releasing it to the media.
The case took another turn on March 16, when the parents of the victim filed a complaint alleging the abduction of their daughter and have been held detained by unknown persons. The police who did not file any formal complaint against Jarkiholi earlier filed it finally following demands by the congress party for filing a case against sexual assault against Jarkiholi.
Alleged connection with the Karnataka Congress chief D.K. Shivakumar-
The victim’s family has alleged the involvement of Shivakumar in the matter. In one of the alleged recordings made by the family, the victim is allegedly heard taking the name of Shivakumar.
There have been talks of the rivalry between Jarkiholi and Shivakumar, who are formal alley both belonging to the BJP until Shivakumar shifted to the Congress in 2019. Jarkioli family has a commanding position in the Belgavi region of Karnataka and the Shivakumar family is dominant in the Bangalore rural region. A fallout between the two came up after Shivakumar allegedly tried to gain control of Belagavi politics with the aid of local Congress leader Lakshmi Hebbalkar, who was earlier an associate of Ramesh Jarkiholi.
SIT Investigation so far
The police have retrieved an unedited recording of the background of the alleged video. Naresh Gowda and Shravan Kumar, a formal journalist specializing in string operations and a formal video editor, respectively, are the primary missing suspects. Gowda is considered to be one of the close associates of Shivakumar.
The SIT handed over a report to the high court on July 19 on the progress of investigations. However, the Karnataka High Court. However, the Karnataka High Court stopped the SIT to file the final report.
On November 7, the Karnataka High Court again stopped the SIT from filing the final report asked the SIT to resubmit the investigation reports after examination by the head of the SIT, Soumendu Mukherjee, an officer of the rank of Inspector General of Police, who was on leave most of the time during the investigation. It also directed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to apply and permit it to file its final report in the alleged scandal case.
Conclusion-
The alleged sex CD controversy has resulted in damage to the image of the BJP government in Karnataka, especially after six ministers of the government sought a media gag order on the broadcast of the recordings of any of their relationships in the light of the alleged sex CD. The six ministers and Jarkiholi defected to the BJP from the Congress and JDS (along with 10 others) in 2019 aiding Yediyurappa to form the state government against the Congress-JDS coalition government. The controversy is also a hard blow for Jarkiholi as a scheduled tribe leader who is competent in deciding who can be CM in the state. The fact that the government registered a case against Jarkiholi soon after the charges were made has been widely criticized by the people and the opposition Congress party. A case against the formal Water Resources Minister was registered only after Congress agitated in the legislature during the budget session. Over time, many such controversies have arisen and the lackadaisical stance of the Police has been a point of attention.
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