Congress asks EC to launch inquiry into charges of bribing voters in Karnataka
New Delhi, Feb 7: The Congress asked the Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday to conduct an inquiry into charges of bribing voters in Karnataka in the run-up to the state Assembly polls and ensure fairness in the electoral process.
A delegation of Congress leaders met EC officials and demanded a thorough investigation into charges that seek to "decimate the electoral process" and "hijack democracy" by offering bribes.
Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala also gave a representation to the EC against Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, state BJP chief Nalin Kumar Katil and the saffron party's MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi for allegedly offering bribes for votes in the upcoming Assembly polls.
He said on January 22, former Karnataka minister Jarkiholi announced in Belagavi that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would pay every voter in the upcoming state election.
Surjewala said the announcement was caught on camera and the Congress presented the video footage to the EC as evidence.
"This is part of a concerted conspiracy hatched at the highest levels in the BJP with the obvious sanction and blessings of the Chief Minister and Legislature Party leader of the BJP, Basavaraj Bommai, the national president of the BJP JP Nadda and the state BJP president Nalin Kumar Katil," Surjewala said in his memorandum.
He alleged that there is a whole ring of people behind this "concerted design to bribe voters".
"This is a blatant and brazen attempt to hijack democracy and amounts to obvious criminal offences," the Congress leader said.
"The commission is requested to conduct an immediate and expeditious inquiry into the sinister conspiracy being hatched by the BJP government of Karnataka and the central leadership of the BJP to decimate the electoral process and hijack democracy by offering bribes," he added.
Surjewala called for the registration of an FIR against the four people named above and any other individual found to be involved in offering bribes to the voters in the southern state.
"Issue a notice for disqualification of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Nalin Katil and Ramesh Jarkiholi as members of the legislative assembly and JP Nadda and take immediate measures to ensure the fairness, integrity and independence of the electoral process in the upcoming Assembly election," he said, while calling for appointing special observers to prevent bribery.
"We urge the commission to treat this matter with the urgency it deserves and take all necessary steps to ensure that the integrity of the upcoming state election is maintained," the Congress leader said.
The Karnataka Assembly polls are due in a few months.
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Deaf and mute woman breaks 16-year silence, exposes serial sexual abuse, blackmail in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): A deaf and mute woman's complaint about a sexual assault that took place 16 years ago in Mumbai has unmasked a serial predator, revealing a disturbing pattern of abuse and blackmail he perpetrated on several women from the community.
The accused was arrested on December 13 after the survivor broke her silence recently following the suicide attempt by one of the women he allegedly sexually harassed.
Disturbed by the suicide attempt, she confided in her friends during a video call about the assault that occurred in 2009.
According to the police, the survivor, a resident of the western suburbs, communicated in sign language during a video call with her friends and colleagues, who were part of a WhatsApp group, that the accused had drugged and raped her when she was a minor.
She also took her husband into confidence, and with support from Thane Deaf Association president Vaibhav Ghaisis, activist Mohammed Farhan Khan, sign language interpreter Madhu Keni, and a retired officer from the Ali Yavar Jung National Institute of Speech and Hearing Disabilities Divyangjan, the survivor approached the police.
The survivor, her husband and a few of her friends went to the Kurar police station, where her statement was recorded in camera, with Keni as interpreter, and the accused, Mahesh Pawar, was arrested a few hours later from Virar, a suburb in Palghar district.
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Recalling the trauma she endured 16 years ago, the survivor said that a female friend had invited her to explore the city in July 2009 and took her to Pawar's home in Vakola, Santacruz, an official said.
The accused allegedly offered her samosas and some beverage to celebrate the female friend's birthday. The survivor said she was forced to have the drink, which Pawar had allegedly spiked, and after a while, her friend left her alone with him.
The accused allegedly overpowered and raped her, and later blackmailed her with the recorded video of the assault.
The trauma of assault stayed with her over the years, and the attempted suicide of another woman from the community, allegedly assaulted by Pawar, propelled her to come forward.
A probe has revealed that the accused had similarly drugged and assaulted speech and hearing impaired women and threatened them into silence by blackmailing them with obscene videos, a senior police officer said.
The accused allegedly shot obscene videos of several women, using which he blackmailed them and extorted money, gold and mobile phones, he said.
He allegedly forced women into participating in nude video calls with him and recorded these to threaten them, the official said.
"As per initial investigation so far, we have evidence of his abuse of seven women, but the number can increase to more than 24," the official told PTI.
While Pawar has been remanded in judicial custody, no other woman has come forward with a complaint against him as yet, he said.
Talking to PTI, Keni said all women who have survived abuse and harassment by Pawar want to lodge a complaint against him.
She claimed that the accused had extorted money from one of the women he abused, but did not return the sum even when she needed it for a medical emergency.
