Sex Scandal: Karnataka govt standing behind Ramesh Jarkiholi, alleges D K Shivakumar
Bengaluru: Karnataka Congress President D K Shivakumar on Tuesday alleged that the BJP government in the state was supporting and standing behind former Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, who has been accused of involvement in the sex scandal that has rocked the state politics.
"I have nothing to say on this, it is honourable Minister (former Minister) who is involved, which all of you have seen through your eyes, the government is supporting him..
I don't know why the government is behind him, this also shows police's inability," Shivakumar told reporters in Kalaburagi to a question.
Asked whether SIT has issued any notice to him as he has been named by the woman's parents, he said, "why will it? (SIT issue notice to me).. even if it gives, most welcome, if they call me, whatever I know I will answer. I will cooperate."
The family of the woman in the purported sex video has repeatedly blamed Shivakumar for the sex scandal, accusing him of playing "dirty politics" by using their daughter.
They have accused Shivakumar of keeping their daughter at an undisclosed location and pressuring her to issue statements.
Noting that he doesn't want to comment much on the issue and the law will take its own course, Shivakumar said he wants to focus on the April 17 by-election.
Asked whether there was any pressure on the woman's parents to name him, he said, "let them do whatever they want for their convenience, investigation will happen, I don't want to speak much."
Jarkiholi, who was Water Resources Minister in Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa-led cabinet, resigned on March 3, a day after news channels aired videos of the alleged sex scandal.
While Jarkiholi has repeatedly claimed his innocence and that the video was fake, the woman has accused him of sexually using her, cheating and threatening her after promising a government job.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
