Hours after the arrest of pro-Hindutva activist Chaitra Kundapura and five of her associates, the Central Crime Branch (CCB) officials on Wednesday produced them before the court and have taken them into 10 days custody for further investigations.
The accused Chaitra Kundapura and seven others are accused of cheating hospitality entrepreneur Govinda Babu Poojari of ₹5 crore promising a BJP ticket from Byndoor Assembly constituency. The other accused have been identified as Gagan Kadur, BJP Yuva Morcha General secretary in Chikkamagaluru, Ramesh, Dhanraj, Prajwal, and Srikanth.
The CCB team headed by a senior officer of the rank of ACP is questioning the accused to ascertain their exact role in the racket .
Following a cheating complaint on Friday, a team of officials on Tuesday night arrested Chaitra from the parking area of Krishna Mutt in Udupi. Based on her information, the police arrested the other accused from in and around Chikkamagaluru.
The complainant had alleged that Kundapura, who claimed to be close to BJP and RSS leaders and also having links with the PMO office, and Gagan Kadur, assured him of a BJP ticket from Byndoor and took ₹5 crore from him and failed to get him a ticket.
According to the FIR, he had given the money in installments, including ₹1.5 crore to Abhinava Halashree of Ballari, who claimed to be a seer. The accused had disguised some people as RSS and BJP leaders and introduced them to Poojari to get the money. After getting the money, the complainant said that the accused informed him that an “RSS leader” named Vishwanathji, whom they had introduced to him, had passed away and his ₹3.5 crore was with him.
The accused had even trained Ramesh to pose as an RSS leader and paid him ₹1.2 lakh for the acting. The other “BJP leader,” enacted by Dhanraj, sells kebab on the roadside in K.R. Puram.
The police said the accused Chaitra threatened to end her life and threatened the complainant with dire consequences when the latter demanded the money, following which he approached the police.
