Sex scandal: Have not met woman in the purported video, says D K Shivakumar
Bengaluru, Mar 27: Karnataka Congress President D K Shivakumar on Saturday said he has never met the woman in the purported sex video allegedly involving former Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, as the row took a new twist with the surfacing of an audio clip in which she can be heard taking his name.
This even as the woman, who believed to be in the video, has released a fourth video statement seeking protection to her family members and stated that she was feeling tortured to the level that she wanted to kill herself.
Hours after the city police registered an FIR against Jarkiholi for sexual abuse based on the woman's complaint on Friday, a purported unauthenticated recording of a telephonic conversation between her and family members had surfaced in which she can be heard talking about going to Shivakumar's house to meet him.
The audio clip had triggered sharp reactions, with Karnataka BJP attacking Shivakumar and demanding that the Congress should seek his resignation as the party's state unit chief.
"We are in public life, you (media) work as a bridge between people, we politicians too try to help people who are in distress.
That woman has said that she has tried to meet me," Shivakumar told reporters.
Noting that daily at least 10 people meet him with personal problems and seeking help, he said, so in that way she might have come, but has never met him.
"If she comes even today, I will know details and verify things," he said.
The conversation in the purported audio clip is said to have taken place on the night (March 2) the sex CD was leaked to television channels.
In the conversation with her family members including brother and mother, Shivakumar's name has been referred a couple of times as the woman tries to repeatedly convince family members that she was safe and the video and audio clips aired on television were fake, morphed and voice modulated.
Observing that it was true that he was "tracking" Jarkiholi when some senior Congress leaders were defecting from the party (during 2019 political turmoil leading to collapse of Congress-JD(S) govt), to know about their movements, Shivakumar said, "but this (alleged sex CD) is his (Jarkiholi) personal matter."
"We don't want personal issues.... I had got to know about things from those in the media about what all was happening, but it is their personal issues. I don't need it," he said.
In her fourth video statement released today, the woman too has authenticated the conversation in the audio clip and said she had gone to meet Shivakumar, but could not.
The woman said she got scared when the video was aired by news channels and got in touch with a person named Naresh, who works in the media for help.
The man then advised her to seek state Congress President D K Shivakumar's help, using the contacts he has.
"... as I was getting repeated calls from family members who were frightened and my parents were crying.
I tried convincing my mother and told that I was going to Shivakumar's house to talk to him," she said, adding that she had gone to the Congress leader's residence along with Naresh but was unable to meet him, and had to return as things were developing fast.
To a question, whether he knew Naresh, whose name has been linked with the CD row, Shivakumar said, "Yes, he is someone known to me, he is from the media, I have been to his house also.
He had met me several times and informed me about things."
Asked about BJP demanding for his resignation, Shivakumar merly said, he was really happy to hear it.
On the woman seeking protection for her family, he said the government has to provide it, we have good police officers who will take care.
The woman in her latest video statement expressed fear about the safety of her family and wondered whether to live or die.
She requested the SIT not to provide security to her family at their current location, but to bring them to Bengaluru.
"I don't know where my parents, my brothers and grandmother are, I want them to be in Bengaluru. This is my request to SIT.
I want them to be in front of me if I have to give my statement," she said, adding that she was safe and no one has kidnapped her.
The woman said that she was going through torture for the last 24 days.
"I don't know what to do... I want to mention Ramesh Jarkiholi's name and kill myself over the torture."
"Ramesh Jarkiholi is saying that he can make the government collapse in one day and is ready to spend any amount to put everyone behind bars. What does this mean?" she asked.
"People should understand it. They are ready to do anything, they can harm my parents or kill me," she said.
Commenting on the development, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said the series of audio and videos are coming like a television serial, and the SIT will investigate the CD, audio and video in detail and examine it scientifically also.
"As I have already said, the SIT will not buckle under any kind of pressure or influence or attempts to mislead.
It is working systematically as per law without favouring any one to find out the truth and will continue to do so," he added.
Meanwhile, the woman's family members appeared before the SIT and officials are gathering information from them, sources said.
Her father and two brothers have appeared before SIT which is investigating the sex scandal, they said.
A day after news channels aired videos of the alleged sex scandal, Jarkiholi, who was Water Resources Minister in Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa-led cabinet, had resigned on March 3.
Jarkiholi has repeatedly claimed that he was innocent and that the video was "fake".
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Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
