Police register FIR in Ramesh Jarkiholi CD case

Police on Saturday registered an FIR in the sex CD case after former minister Ramesh Jarkiholi sought a probe into the creators and conspirators behind the “fake CD”.

Hours later, the case saw another twist as a video clip surfaced, in which a woman claimed that Jarkiholi promised her a job and also got videos released, bringing her shame and pushing her to kill herself.

According to Sadashivanagar police, former Nelamangala MLA Nagaraju approached them with a complaint copy signed by Jarkiholi following which an FIR was registered against unknown persons behind the CD scandal.

Read | Ramesh Jarkiholi scandal: SIT probe is of no use, says JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy

In the FIR, the complainant alleged a conspiracy, claiming that a “fake CD” was created and released to the activist and on social media.

“To humiliate me politically, finish my political career and extort money, unknown persons have made conspiracy,” the complaint stated.

“For three months, they plotted and made a fake CD cheating me, harassing me mentally, to politically defame and tried to extort money from me.”

According to the complaint, “many people are involved in it”. “A few conspired, a few made fake videos. They used others and uploaded them on social media and made me politically unstable. So take necessary action against them,” it states. Later, speaking to reporters, Jarkiholi said he will not drop the case until it was solved but refused to comment on the new clip.

Read | Jarkiholi sex scandal: Bommai directs SIT to provide security to woman in video

“I am not the lone victim here. This can happen to anyone. Everyone should fight against it together,” he said, urging not to encourage such “blackmail tactics”.

“Police have speeded up the investigation. The scam involves hundreds of crores of rupees. Soon, all the actors involved in it will be identified,” he added.

After verifying the details and allegations in the complaint, senior police officials, including the SIT team, were alerted. Police even contacted legal experts and took their opinion before making the decision on registering the FIR.

Nagaraju said he brought the complaint to the police since Jarkiholi was busy. “It is clearly mentioned that Ramesh was blackmailed. It is an act of injustice done to Ramesh, a conspiracy,” he added.

Read | Jarkiholi scandal: Woman in purported sleaze video seeks protection

City police commissioner Kamal Pant said the FIR was transferred to the SIT.

Meanwhile, the SIT on Saturday conducted searches on the residences of media persons being questioned since Friday evening. The searches were conducted in Vijayanagar, Vijayapura in Bengaluru rural and other places.

FIR

The FIR (case no. 21/2021) invoked IPC sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 385 (whoever, in order to the committing of extortion, puts any person in fear, or attempts to put any person in fear), 465 (forgery), 469 (forgery for the purpose of harming reputation), 34 (acts done by several persons with common
intention).

Read | CD scandal: Will not drop this case until it's solved, says Ramesh Jarkiholi

Dinesh Kallahalli reacts

To a question on the complaint, Dinesh Kallahalli told DH that police should have registered FIR based on his complaint.

“But police have acted due to pressure from the government. I have no personal contact with media persons who are being questioned. Only one among them had contacted me a few times with regard to complaints filed by me before the court and chief secretary. He had covered the news,” he said.