JOIN USHistory-sheeter V Nagaraj sent everyone into a tizzy by consuming what appeared to be poison at the Press Club here on Friday, just a day after he was released from prison on bail.
The 58-year-old former corporator had called the press meet to speak out against some politicians and a senior police officer, who had "destroyed his career by implicating him in a false case".
Minutes before the purported suicide attempt, Nagaraj claimed that a total of 83 people had conspired against him and plotted to kill him. Among them were KPCC working president Dinesh Gundu Rao, minister K J George and senior IPS officer Hemant Nimbalkar, he added.
"They foisted 10 false cases on me and my sons, Gandhi and Shastri. They got history sheets opened against us as they knew I will contest the Assembly polls," Nagaraj said.
Around 1.45 pm, in the middle of the press conference, Nagaraj suddenly took out a bottle and gulped some liquid from it. But his associates snatched the bottle, which they later said contained poison and carried him out of the venue.
Meanwhile, Nagaraj kept screaming, 'don't vote for the Congress', 'don't vote for Dinesh Gundu Rao and George'.
Out of danger
He was first taken to Bowring Hospital before being shifted to St Martha's Hospital. Doctors there gave him a stomach wash and put him on a ventilator. The hospital later sent a memo to the jurisdictional Vidhana Soudha police station. The police visited the hospital to take his statement, but doctors advised them against it. They, however, said he was stable and out of danger.
Responding to Nagaraj's allegations, Gundu Rao said he didn't know him and refused to comment further.
Nagaraj and his sons were arrested on March 11, 2017, in Tamil Nadu's Vellore district, almost a month after they absconded when the police raided their home in Swathanthrapalya, Srirampura, on April 14 and seized Rs 14.8 crore in demonetised currency.