Bengaluru, Oct 15 Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Thursday accused the Karnataka government of targeting JD(S) workers in connection with a “sting” operation, claiming that a party cadre was picked up for questioning without notice and kept at an undisclosed location for several hours.
According to the JD(S) second-in-command, two of his cadres from the social media team were picked up for allegedly posting a defamatory post against former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Kumaraswamy staged a sit-in protest in the Bengaluru Police Commissioner’s office and offered to subject himself to any investigation into the alleged sting operation involving political leaders and officials.
Siddaramaiah has obtained an injunction against any media report on the derogatory video or posting it on social media handles.
He has also lodged a police complaint. Accordingly, two people have been detained for questioning.
Earlier, addressing a press conference at the JD(S) office in Sheshadri Puram here, Kumaraswamy questioned the handling of the investigation and alleged that attempts were being made to implicate him in the case.
He claimed that six to seven people in plain clothes took a young man working in the party’s war room from his residence around 6 am on Wednesday, denied him an opportunity to speak to his wife and seized his mobile phone.
The worker was allegedly kept at a warehouse-like location until around 8 pm, Kumaraswamy said, without elaborating. Also, he did not elaborate on the other cadre picked up by the police.
The union minister asked why the worker was not taken to a police station and alleged that party members were being targeted over their social media activities.
He also alleged that a meeting had been held to devise a strategy to implicate him in the case by securing a statement against him under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Targeting Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah, the union minister questioned the investigation into the alleged sting operation and called for the examination of mobile phones belonging to those in positions of power.
“I want to tell our police officers. If you genuinely want the truth, seize the chief minister’s phone and investigate. You will find the facts,” he said.
Referring to earlier controversies involving private videos of political leaders, Kumaraswamy cited a statement made by BJP MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi in 2024 warning of the possible emergence of videos involving senior state leaders, including Siddaramaiah and G Parameshwara.
Jarkiholi was a minister in the BJP government. He resigned on May 3, 2021, after an obscene video emerged.
Later, speaking to reporters near the Police Commissioner’s office, Kumaraswamy challenged the state government to initiate an investigation against him first and later the two JD(S) members.
“I have come here to submit myself to an investigation. Let them conduct any investigation they want,” the JD(S) leader said.
Questioning CM Shivakumar and the handling of the case, Kumaraswamy asked why investigations were not being conducted against those he accused of protecting people involved in wrongdoing.
He also asked Home Minister Priyank Kharge to speak on the issue. “Will you conduct an investigation? Go ahead. Start with me. You can look into my party workers later,” he said.
Alleging that sting operations were being used to blackmail politicians and officials and extort money, Kumaraswamy said the probe should also examine whether people in constitutional institutions were being targeted.
“All of this must come to light, and that can happen only through a fair investigation,” he said.
(PTI News)
