SIT closes gang rape case against BJP MLA Munirathna for lack of evidence
Complaint found to be false, says police team
Bengaluru: The gang rape case filed against BJP legislator Munirathna has been closed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the CID, with the team informing the Karnataka High Court that it found the charges against the MLA to be false.
The closure report was submitted by the SIT before the Justice MI Arun on Wednesday. While the hearing of the petition has been adjourned for September 17, the HC has issued an interim order to the police not to take coercive action against Munirathna until then.
The complaint had been filed against the MLA by a 40-year-old social worker, claiming that she had been gang raped in Munirathna’s office in June 2023 and that the MLA was the mastermind. The woman had also stated in her complaint that two of the legislator’s aides had taken her there under his direction and on the pretext of getting his help to clear a criminal case against her. The two men raped her at the office while Munirathna stood watching before urinating on her.
The SIT had chargesheeted the legislator and others for honey-trapping the woman and also attempting to infect others with AIDS. In addition, Munirathna was chargesheeted in November 2024 for allegedly verbally abusing an ex-corporator.
A senior IPS officer, commenting on the investigation, however, said that there was no evidence to substantiate her allegations, because of which, the SIT was closing the case, saying the complaint is false.
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West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee moves SC against SIR
New Delhi (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in the state, sources said on Sunday.
The petition names the Election Commission (EC) and the chief electoral officer of West Bengal as respondents. It was filed before the apex court on January 28, the sources said.
Banerjee arrived in Delhi on Sunday. She is scheduled to meet Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar at 4 pm on Monday to discuss the ongoing SIR exercise in West Bengal. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo would be accompanied by a delegation of party leaders.
She is also likely to meet party MPs in the Parliament House on Monday.
Talking to reporters at the Kolkata airport before leaving for the national capital, Banerjee claimed that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre is resorting to the SIR exercise because it is certain of its imminent defeat in the West Bengal Assembly polls, due in a few months, and said the saffron party should contest the election politically and democratically.
The West Bengal chief minister has written several letters to the CEC, raising concerns over the conduct of the exercise.
In her most recent letter to the CEC on January 31, she alleged that the methodology and approach of the exercise went beyond the provisions of the Representation of the People Act and the relevant rules, causing "immense inconvenience and agony" to citizens.
Earlier, TMC leaders, including Rajya Sabha MPs Derek O'Brien and Dola Sen, had moved the apex court, challenging certain aspects of how the SIR is being carried out in West Bengal.
