In a new twist in the sleaze CD case in Karnataka, the parents of a woman who was allegedly seen with former state minister Ramesh Jarkiholi in videos that were widely shared this month, lodged a complaint with the Belagavi police alleging that they are fearing for their life and that their daughter had been abducted from Bengaluru.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Vikram Apte told reporters that a complaint of abduction of the woman was filed by her father on Tuesday, 16 March.
“We have booked his complaint under sections 363 (Kidnapping), 368, 343, 346 (Dealing with wrongful confinement) 354 (Assault) and 506 (Criminal Intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code,” he said.
According to the police, the father has alleged in his complaint that his daughter had been abducted on 2 March itself when the CD was released and that was the last day when they spoke with her.
“She told us that she was not the one in the video. Miscreants seem to have used our daughter's doppelganger. My daughter has told her mother that someone who looks like her has been used in the video. ‘I am not the one who is in that CD’,” the complainant has claimed, quoting his daughter.
The complainant said that his daughter had also been harassed to act in such deplorable video clips, which has truly brought a lot of disrepute to their family. “We are poor and not influential at all in any manner. But, police must take steps to find where our daughter has been kept or is she even alive,” the complaint stated.
The family also released a two-minute video clip stating that their life is in danger and their daughter has been abducted. “When I spoke last time, it was on 2 March. Since then, I have not categorically refused to accept that it was her who is in the CD. She has also told me that she would explain in-detail when she meets them in person instead of speaking on the phone,” the woman's mother said in the clip.
She also alleged that her daughter had told her that she was in a safe place and will return soon. “My life is in danger, I can not come now. Wherever I am, I am safe,” the mother said, quoting her daughter.
On 2 March, Kannada news channels flashed visuals of then Water Resources Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi with the woman. Jarkiholi was forced to resign from his position as minister a day after the video emerged and he was accused of seeking sex for favours. The police complaint in this regard was filed by a social activist Dinesh Kallahalli who made a U-turn and withdrew his complaint a few days later.
(The story has been published in an arrangement with The News Minute.)
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