Karnataka CM, 6 ministers face criminal cases: Poll watchdogs
Bengaluru, June 29: Seven Karnataka Ministers, including Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, face criminal charges ranging from forgery to causing death by negligence, said two election watchdogs in a report here on Friday.
The report by the Karnataka Election Watch and Delhi-based Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) was based only analysis of the poll affidavits belonging to 26 of 27 cabinet ministers, save Women and Child Development Minister Jayamala, the lone woman minister, whose affidavit was not available, ADR said.
It said that seven (27 per cent) of the 26 ministers, including Kumaraswamy have declared criminal cases against them, while four ministers, including him, face serious criminal charges.
The other six ministers are Venkatrao Nadagouda (Animal Husbandry and Fisheries), B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan (Food and Civil Supplies), D.K. Shivakumar (Water Resources and Medical Education), D.C. Thammanna (Transport), N. Mahesh (Primary and Secondary Education) and Ramesh L. Jarkiholi (Municipalities and Local Bodies).
Kumaraswamy faces serious criminal charges, including forgery for the purpose of cheating, causing disappearance of evidence, and other charges relating to criminal breach of trust.
Twenty five of the 26 ministers are crorepatis, as per the asset declarations in their poll affidavits, with Shivakumar being the richest with total assets worth Rs 840 crore.
Kumaraswamy is also among the top five ministers with highest declared assets and income, with total assets worth over Rs 160 crore.
Two of the ministers have only studied up to class 8 - with Higher Education Minister G.T. Deve Gowda being one of them.
A dozen of the 26 ministers have declared their educational qualifications to be between class 8 and 12, and 14 are graduates and above.
In a pre-poll survey by the election watchdogs, of the 2,654 candidates who were in fray for the state election, 883 were crorepatis and 645 had criminal cases against them.
The BJP candidates were found to be with the highest number of criminal cases against them, with 83 (37 per cent) of the 223 in fray having criminal cases against them and 58 others (26 per cent) having serious criminal cases against them including murder, attempt to murder and kidnapping etc.
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Brahmavar: Four arrested in Kotathattu murder case
Brahmavar: Police have arrested four persons in connection with the murder of a 30-year-old man following a quarrel after a drinking party at Kotathattu Padukere in Brahmavar taluk.
The deceased has been identified as Santhosh Mogaveera, a resident of Padukere. The arrested accused are Darshan (21) of Parampalli Padukere, Kaushik (21) of Neeradi Jeddu, Sasthan Pandeshwar, and Ankit (19) and Sujan (21), both residents of Kotathattu Padukere. All four have been produced before the court.
According to the police, the incident occurred on the evening of December 14. Santhosh, along with Sachin, Chethan, Kaushik, Sujan and Darshan, had gone to a bar and later came to the Padukere Circle, where they had food and were conversing. During this time, an argument broke out between the groups over issues related to Santhosh’s family and alcohol consumption. The verbal altercation escalated, with the accused allegedly abusing Santhosh and assaulting him together.
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It is alleged that during the scuffle, Darshan struck Santhosh forcefully on the back of his neck with his hand, while Kaushik also assaulted him. Though others attempted to intervene and stop the fight, Santhosh collapsed at the spot.
He was later rushed to a private hospital in Brahmavar, where doctors declared him brought dead. A case has been registered at Kota Police Station in this regard.
Brahmavar Circle Inspector Gopikrishna, Kota Sub-Inspector Praveen Kumar T and Station SI Mantesh Jabha Gowda visited the spot and conducted an inspection. Further investigation is underway.
