03/05/2010
Bangalore: A Karnataka minister on Sunday quit following a newspaper report accusing him of sexually assaulting his friend's wife in his home district of Shimoga. A criminal case was filed later in the evening by the victim, police said.
The case was filed against former food and civil supplies minister Haratalu Halappa by Chandravathy, 33, wife of Venkatesh Murthy of Shimoga, about 270 km from here.
On Sunday morning, a local Kannada newspaper carried graphic details of the rape, but did not name the minister. However, by 9 am Halappa faxed his resignation to Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa who was in Guarat.
Later in the day, TV channels showed a half naked man (allegedly the minister) in a bermuda trying to force himself on a woman. Another clipping showed the woman sitting on a bed wailing and abusing a man, which, the TV channels said, was the minister.
But it is a mystery as to why the rape issue took five months to surface. The timing is also suspect as the sgtate goes to polls for the gram panchayat seats.
"We have received a complaint from Chandravathy charging Halappa of sexually assaulting her. We have registered a non-cognisable (NC) case against the accused on the basis of the complaint," Assistant Sub Inspector T. Shivarudraiah told IANS.
Prior to lodging the complaint, the couple met state Director General of Police (DGP) Ajay Kumar Singh with their lawyer to file the case against Halappa, who resigned earlier in the day after a local Kannada daily published a news story without naming the accused that he had sexually assaulted the victim.
Murthy, a friend of Halappa and a financier, told reporters outside the DGP office that he did not file the complaint at Shimoga, as he was not sure whether the local police would have entertained it had the incident not been reported in the media and also because Halappa and Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa hail from the same town.
"We do not trust the local police (in Shimoga). That's why we came all the way to Bangalore to lodge the complaint with the DGP," Murthy, 42, told reporters.
Governor H.R. Bhardwaj accepted Halappa's resignation later in the day after it was passed on by the chief minister.
Though Halappa, who represents Shorab assembly segment in Shimoga district, denied the assault charge, terming it as a political conspiracy plotted by his detractors within the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the dramatic release of video clips and tapped conversations between Murthy and Halappa to news channels had embarrassed the state government.
According to the complaint, the incident occurred on the night of Nov 26-27, 2009, when Halappa went to Murthy's house for dinner and stayed back for the night.
"In the middle of the night, Halappa, who was sleeping on the first floor, came down and told me that he was suffering from chest pain and asked me to rush to the government guest house where he had kept his medicine in the baggage. When I returned after a while, I was shocked to see Halappa semi-nude and my wife squatted on the bed wailing," Murthy said in the complaint.
When Chandravathy told her husband that Halappa attempted to outrage her modesty, Murthy thrashed the then minister.
Halappa shot to fame as he defeated former state chief minister S. Bangarappa's sons Madhu Bangarappa and Kumar Bangarappa in the May 2008 assembly polls from Shorab. While Kumar Bangarappa contested on the Congress ticket, Madhu fought as a Samajwadi Party candidate, as senior Bangarappa was then in that party.
Incidentally, Halappa is the brother in-law of Bangarappa.
After Halappa accused Bangarappa of masterminding the incident, the latter told reporters that his brother in-law's behaviour with women was questionable from the beginning.
"When he worked with me, I had received several complaints about his behaviuor with women. But I never though he would stoop to such a level. Why should I conspire against him? He is a political minnow," Bangarappa maintained.
Meanwhile, Yeddyurappa descrbed Halappa as a `pious man'.
Source: IANS and India Syndicate
K.Venugopal
#1
Monday, 03 May 2010 13:19:48
If the incident is true (and prima facie, it appears true), it is clear that power tends to corrupt. This person was considered a gentlemen, the report says (that is, till power got into his head). I think some chemical should be invented which, like the 'truth serum', if injected into prospective candidates for jobs of power, would reveal if that candidate is likely to be corrupted by power. There is really no saying which gentle folk and in which way power would corrupt, most being corrupt financially. The rare one (maybe not so rare) gets his libido corrupted. Meanwhile this not so honourable Minister must be sent to the gallows for betrayal of the worst kind. And BJP can, like a one minute silence, have a one minute hanging of their heads in shame to express their misfortune in having had such a scoundrel in their midst.
http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3881338&page=0
Bangalore: A Karnataka minister on Sunday quit following a newspaper report accusing him of sexually assaulting his friend's wife in his home district of Shimoga. A criminal case was filed later in the evening by the victim, police said.
The case was filed against former food and civil supplies minister Haratalu Halappa by Chandravathy, 33, wife of Venkatesh Murthy of Shimoga, about 270 km from here.
On Sunday morning, a local Kannada newspaper carried graphic details of the rape, but did not name the minister. However, by 9 am Halappa faxed his resignation to Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa who was in Guarat.
Later in the day, TV channels showed a half naked man (allegedly the minister) in a bermuda trying to force himself on a woman. Another clipping showed the woman sitting on a bed wailing and abusing a man, which, the TV channels said, was the minister.
But it is a mystery as to why the rape issue took five months to surface. The timing is also suspect as the sgtate goes to polls for the gram panchayat seats.
"We have received a complaint from Chandravathy charging Halappa of sexually assaulting her. We have registered a non-cognisable (NC) case against the accused on the basis of the complaint," Assistant Sub Inspector T. Shivarudraiah told IANS.
Prior to lodging the complaint, the couple met state Director General of Police (DGP) Ajay Kumar Singh with their lawyer to file the case against Halappa, who resigned earlier in the day after a local Kannada daily published a news story without naming the accused that he had sexually assaulted the victim.
Murthy, a friend of Halappa and a financier, told reporters outside the DGP office that he did not file the complaint at Shimoga, as he was not sure whether the local police would have entertained it had the incident not been reported in the media and also because Halappa and Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa hail from the same town.
"We do not trust the local police (in Shimoga). That's why we came all the way to Bangalore to lodge the complaint with the DGP," Murthy, 42, told reporters.
Governor H.R. Bhardwaj accepted Halappa's resignation later in the day after it was passed on by the chief minister.
Though Halappa, who represents Shorab assembly segment in Shimoga district, denied the assault charge, terming it as a political conspiracy plotted by his detractors within the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the dramatic release of video clips and tapped conversations between Murthy and Halappa to news channels had embarrassed the state government.
According to the complaint, the incident occurred on the night of Nov 26-27, 2009, when Halappa went to Murthy's house for dinner and stayed back for the night.
"In the middle of the night, Halappa, who was sleeping on the first floor, came down and told me that he was suffering from chest pain and asked me to rush to the government guest house where he had kept his medicine in the baggage. When I returned after a while, I was shocked to see Halappa semi-nude and my wife squatted on the bed wailing," Murthy said in the complaint.
When Chandravathy told her husband that Halappa attempted to outrage her modesty, Murthy thrashed the then minister.
Halappa shot to fame as he defeated former state chief minister S. Bangarappa's sons Madhu Bangarappa and Kumar Bangarappa in the May 2008 assembly polls from Shorab. While Kumar Bangarappa contested on the Congress ticket, Madhu fought as a Samajwadi Party candidate, as senior Bangarappa was then in that party.
Incidentally, Halappa is the brother in-law of Bangarappa.
After Halappa accused Bangarappa of masterminding the incident, the latter told reporters that his brother in-law's behaviour with women was questionable from the beginning.
"When he worked with me, I had received several complaints about his behaviuor with women. But I never though he would stoop to such a level. Why should I conspire against him? He is a political minnow," Bangarappa maintained.
Meanwhile, Yeddyurappa descrbed Halappa as a `pious man'.
Source: IANS and India Syndicate
K.Venugopal
#1
Monday, 03 May 2010 13:19:48
If the incident is true (and prima facie, it appears true), it is clear that power tends to corrupt. This person was considered a gentlemen, the report says (that is, till power got into his head). I think some chemical should be invented which, like the 'truth serum', if injected into prospective candidates for jobs of power, would reveal if that candidate is likely to be corrupted by power. There is really no saying which gentle folk and in which way power would corrupt, most being corrupt financially. The rare one (maybe not so rare) gets his libido corrupted. Meanwhile this not so honourable Minister must be sent to the gallows for betrayal of the worst kind. And BJP can, like a one minute silence, have a one minute hanging of their heads in shame to express their misfortune in having had such a scoundrel in their midst.
http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3881338&page=0
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