An FIR has been filed against Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy and JDS leader Suresh Babu at the Sanjay Nagar police station in Bengaluru for allegedly threatening a senior police officer.
The case was registered based on the complaint of Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) M. Chandrasekhar, who is heading the special investigation team (SIT) probing the decade-old case pertaining to the illegal grant of mining lease by Kumaraswamy, during his tenure as the chief minister in 2007. Kumaraswamy is alleged to have flouted rules to grant a lease to mine 550 acres of forest land in Sandur, Ballari district to Sri Sai Venkateshwara Minerals (SSVM), a company that allegedly had no experience in mining or selling iron ore.
On August 19 this year, a special investigating team (SIT) of the Lokayukta, headed by ADGP M. Chandrashekhar, sought Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot’s sanction to file a charge-sheet against Kumaraswamy. Following a complaint by the officer, the police have registered a case against the trio under Section 224 (threatening a public servant) of the BNS Act.
In his complaint, the ADGP alleged that he sought the governor’s approval to prosecute Kumaraswamy as the head of the SIT probing the mining cases. “The minister, during the press conferences held on September 28 and 29, made false allegations against me and threatened to shunt me out of Karnataka. Suresh Babu, a close aide of Kumaraswamy wrote to the chief secretary seeking action against me. Nikhil Kumaraswamy too made false allegations against me during the press meet,” stated the officer.
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Kumaraswamy said the officer was free to “review” the videos of his press conference as there was nothing malicious or false in what he had spoken. “I read the FIR and the complaint. It is ridiculous and clearly malicious. They filed an FIR against me, Channapatna candidate Nikhil Kumaraswamy and JDLP leader Suresh Babu for allegedly making a statement during a press meet and for complaining to the chief secretary? So, do they mean to say no one can speak or file a complaint against them? They cannot silence us,” said Kumaraswamy, adding that it was a conspiracy as they were getting exposed in Channapatna (which goes to bypolls on November 13).
“During the by-election, the Congress government is targeting us out of sheer animosity. I will respond to this legally,” said Nikhil.