Man arrested for trying to extort money using Priyank Kharge's name

A day after Priyank Kharge took oath as a cabinet minister, a man attempted to extort money using his name.

The suspect, identified as Raghunath S V N, 34, a resident of Ramakrishna Nagar in Mysuru, has been arrested by the Sadashivanagar police.

Kharge's personal assistant, Keshava Murthy, filed a complaint on May 26, stating that an unknown individual had been attempting to extort money from people by falsely promising them positions as chairpersons or presidents of various corporations, using Kharge's name.

According to Murthy, the caller, who introduced himself as Kharge's PA, contacted Congress party functionaries from an unknown number (6361231868) starting from May 21. The caller demanded lakhs of rupees as a bribe and provided the mobile number 9980823165 for the money to be paid via UPI. He threatened the functionaries that failure to pay would result in them not being appointed as chairpersons or presidents.

Murthy revealed that Geetha Shivaram, a Congress party worker, was among those who received such calls and immediately informed Kharge. Murthy also informed the police that the same individual had previously attempted to extort money from party functionaries by misusing Kharge's name.

Sadashivanagar police registered a case under IPC sections 385 (putting a person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion) and 419 (cheating by personation).

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central), Srinivas R Gowda, confirmed the arrest of the accused. Raghunath had previously been arrested by Vidhana Soudha police for forging officials' signatures and deceiving the public by accepting money for promised government work. Further investigation will determine if Raghunath defrauded others through false promises.