Bengaluru, Mar 31: A special court has directed the Doddapete police in Shivamogga district to investigate a complaint against Karnataka Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K S Eshwarappa for charges including sedition and promoting enmity between different groups.

The order, dated March 30, by the special court for trial of cases against sitting as well as former MLAs and MPs, came on a private complaint filed by a Shivamogga resident, Riyaz Ahamed.

The complainant had approached the Doddapete police and higher authorities with his complaint, which was not acted upon. So, he approached the special court with a private complaint.

Ahamed alleges that after the murder of Hindu activist Harsha on February 20 this year, before the police could investigate the case, Eshwarappa and Channabasappa (a BJP leader), started propagating publicly that the murder was a result of political and religious causes.

This was done with the intention of creating enmity between Hindus and Muslims and it resulted in rioting on February 21 leading to the loss of public and private property. Apart from sedition and promoting enmity, Ahamed alleges that the actions of Eshwarappa amounted to causing disharmony and outraging religious feelings.

Holding that the complainant had made out grounds to refer the case for investigation, the court in Bengaluru directed the same to the police in Shivamogga.

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Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday. 

The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said. 

A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said. 

Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.

Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.

Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.

Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.

Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.

The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.

According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet. 

"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.