BJP MLA Munirathna.
Credit: DH File Photo
Bengaluru: BJP MLA Munirathna has been charged by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) with hurling casteist abuses against a former corporator.
This is the first chargesheet filed by the SIT in the second of three FIRs registered on September 13 against Munirathna, 61, following a complaint by former corporator Velunayakar.
The SIT, in its chargesheet filed on Saturday before the Special Court for MLAs/ MPs (CCH-82), mentioned a Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report and other technical evidence that it said proved the allegations against the MLA from RR Nagar in Bengaluru currently out on bail.
According to the SIT, the MLA's voice sample matched the voice --- through a detailed analysis by the FSL --- in the viral audio where the casteist remarks were made.
In the viral audio, Munirathna had hurled casteist abuses against Velunayakar during a conversation with BBMP contractor Chaluvaraju, on whose allegations of criminal intimidation the first FIR was registered by the Vyalikaval police.
According to Velunayakar, Munirathna made the remarks since he had told Chaluvaraju "to not give bribes to anyone". The audio was widely shared on social media.
The SIT said that the 590 pages of evidence attached to the chargesheet contained statements from 53 witnesses and 157 pieces of documentary evidence. The chargesheet also contained three eyewitness testimonies recorded before a magistrate.
The SIT has noted in the chargesheet that the FSL report, along with witness testimonies, and other technical and documentary pieces of evidence cements the allegations against Munirathna that he made “public remarks about one’s caste, abused the complainant and created enmity among castes”.
The MLA has been charged under Section 3(1)(r) (intentionally insults or intimidates with intent to humiliate a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe in any place within public view) and 3(1)(s) (abuses any member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe by caste name in any place within public view) of Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
He was also charged under Sections 153A (1)(a)(b) (promoting enmity between different groups), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The SIT was formed by the government after a delegation of Congress Vokkaliga ministers and MLAs met CM Siddaramaiah in September following the registration of the cases.
The investigators are probing two other cases registered — one in Vyalikaval police station in Bengaluru and one in Kaggalipura police station in Ramanagara — against the MLA. The MLA has also been booked under sections related to rape, sexual harassment, voyeurism, criminal intimidation and extortion.