Jarkiholi 'sex for job' scandal: Inaction not an option for cops, FIR likely on March 5

Bengaluru police, who are in the process of registering an FIR in the sex scandal surrounding Ramesh Jarkiholi, are staring at two options. They have to either register a suo motu case or take up a case based on the complaint filed by Dinesh Kallahalli.

According to sources, the FIR may be registered on Friday based on the complaint filed by Kallahalli, a third party. If police take up a suo motu case, it must be based on the videos uploaded to social media and telecast on news channels, under the Information Technology Act. Senior officials had a meeting on Thursday evening with regard to registering the FIR. Sources said the government had given a green signal to register an FIR as the issue had become public and remaining quiet would send a wrong message to the people.

“If someone files a PIL petition in the court, the police will be answerable. So, the legal experts have suggested the police to register FIR under the provisions of the CrPC,” the sources said.

Kin’s plaint key

The woman, her parents or relatives have to file a complaint. So, the police are planning to take their statements after registering the FIR based on Kallahalli’s complaint. If the woman doesn’t give her statement, it won’t have value in the court or if she says the act was consensual, the charges against the former minister will not stand.

A joint team of the Central Crime Branch and Cubbon Park police is trying to trace the people who gave the CD, reportedly containing intimate moments of Jarkiholi and the woman, to Kallahalli.

The team visited Ramakrishna lodge in Gandhinagar on Wednesday evening and collected CCTV footage of the lodge, including the parking lot where Kallahalli met the relative/friend of the woman.

Kallahalli had told the police he got the CD at the lodge without disclosing the name of the woman or her relative who gave it to him. Police have also enquired with a few staffers of the lodge who were on duty on March 2.