K’taka Police registers FIR against Kumaraswamy, son on SIT Lokayukta’s complaint

Karnataka Police registered an FIR against Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel, H.D. Kumaraswamy, on Tuesday as per the directions of a court. 

The petition in this regard was submitted by Lokayukta ADGP and Special Investigation Team (SIT) Chief M. Chandrashekar, in which he has accused Kumaraswamy of defaming and threatening him and his family.

Sanjaynagar police in Bengaluru have registered the FIR against Kumaraswamy. The police have named Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Kumaraswamy and NDA candidate for Channapatna seat as the second accused in the case.

C.B. Suresh Babu, the JD(S) party floor leader in the Legislative Assembly is named as the third accused in the case.

Chandrashekar had filed a complaint against Kumaraswamy with Sanjaynagar police alleging that the leaders threatened him and his family.

The police had taken a non-cognisable miscellaneous case.

Chandrashekar had approached the court demanding registration of an FIR against Kumaraswamy. The development is likely to trigger a tussle between Kumaraswamy and Chandrashekar.

Kumaraswamy had lashed out at Chandrashekar for seeking permission to question the Raj Bhavan staff over the issue of information leak on a confidential file.

He had called Chandrashekar a criminal and accused him of being involved in extortion.

In reply to the charges, ADGP Chandrashekar wrote a letter to his staff and refuted all allegations calling it false and malicious.

Chandrashekar concluded his letter by quoting playwright George Bernard Shaw’s famous lines, “Never wrestle with a pig because you’ll both get dirty, and the pig likes it.”

Earlier, defending ADGP Chandrashekar, Home Minister G. Parameshwara had stated, “The police officers will have a mandate of investigation and the SIT has been formed lawfully. They will carry out their duties. If the police work is obstructed, they will have their own procedures to deal with it and they will initiate those steps.”

A delegation of JD(S) MLAs and MLCs led by the floor leader C.B. Suresh Babu lodged a complaint with the Chief Secretary of the Karnataka government Shalini Rajneesh on September 30 demanding sacking of the Lokayukta SIT Chief.

Suresh Babu had stated, “ADGP M. Chandrashekar, who is heading the Lokayukta SIT should be suspended from service and action must be initiated against him by sending a proposal in this regard to the Union Home Ministry from the state government.”