Congman 'took sexual favours from teacher desperate for transfer'

A Congress leader, who unsuccessfully contested the last Assembly election from CV Raman Nagar, is accused of taking sexual favours from a high school teacher in Chikkamagaluru who was desperate for transfer to Bengaluru.

P Ramesh, believed to be close to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, reportedly got intimate with the woman on several occasions at a five-star hotel in the city.

The teacher claimed that she approached the police, but her complaint was not entertained on the grounds that the sexual activity took place by mutual consent. Left with no other option, she approached a Kannada channel on Monday and narrated what had happened.

According to her, she first met Ramesh at a job fair organised by him in CV Raman Nagar in 2013. She requested him to facilitate her transfer from Chikkamagaluru to a school in Domlur. The two exchanged phone numbers and remained in regular touch, she said.

Ramesh asked her to meet him in his Bengaluru office. When she came for the appointment, he reportedly asked sexual favours from her. The woman said she decided to oblige him as she was “helpless”. Ramesh took her to a five-star hotel in Halasuru where the two got intimate. The Congressman didn’t stop at that. He often called her out to Bengaluru on the pretext of helping her but got intimate with her on each occasion.

The woman said she decided to put an end to the “ordeal” as she was doing something against her will and decided to approach the police.

DCP (East) Ajay Hilori, however, denied that the woman had approached the police to make a complaint of sexual assault by Ramesh. “We will register a case against him if the teacher files a complaint. There is no question of police refusing to entertain such a complaint,” Hilori told journalists.