Ramesh Jarkiholi CD case: Special team formed to trace woman

Team Udayavani, Mar 18, 2021, 11:27 AM IST

Bengaluru: After the father of the woman involved in the sex-for-job scandal allegedly involving BJP MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi lodged a complaint with the Belagavi police that his daughter has been kidnapped and kept in confinement a special team formed by top police officials of Belagavi swung into action to trace her.

The special team is headed by ACP (Market) Sadashiva Kattimani and Circle Police Inspector of APMC station Javid Mushapure, is expected to gather some vital information on the possible whereabouts of the woman in the next 24 hours.

According to DCP (Law and Order), Belagavi, Vikram Amte, the Belagavi police is yet to decide whether to hand over the kidnap case to the SIT.

In his complaint the woman’s father said that his 25- year-old daughter, who has completed her engineering, was staying in a PG Hostel in Bengaluru when a few men abducted her, confined her and unlawfully shot sleaze videos of her.

The abductors later shared the video with the media, damaging her reputation, the complainant said.

The police have intensified investigation to trace the girl but they could not find her whereabouts.

Our investigations are on. We could not find her yet, a senior police officer told PTI. Jarkiholi had to resign as a Minister on March 3 a day after the videos went viral and a social worker lodged a complaint that Jarkiholi had sexually exploited the girl under the pretext of giving her a job in the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL).

The social worker later announced withdrawing the complaint. The BJP MLA rejected the charges, saying the video-clips were fake and the charges were far from the truth. He even lodged a complaint with the Sadashivanagar police in Bengaluru stating that some people created fake videos to blackmail him.

The government has set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe into the matter. The team recorded Jarkiholi’s statement on Tuesday. The woman, said to have featured in a video purportedly showing her in a compromising position with Jarkiholi, has been summoned by the city police in connection with the scandal, official sources had said on Sunday.