A former city councillor G.K. Venkatesh, presently with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has been arrested by the Central Crime Branch of the city police in a case of abduction and extortion.
Mr. Venkatesh is a close associate of R.R. Nagar BJP MLA Munirathna and moved with him to BJP from the Congress in 2019. He represented Yeshwanthpur ward in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Council from 2015 to 2020, when he was in Congress.
A contractor, Chandru, who bagged a tender and was carrying out civic works in Yeshwanthpur ward, was allegedly abducted by Mr. Venkatesh’s henchmen and held captive for a few days recently. The contractor, in his complaint, alleged that he was assaulted in captivity. He said the former councillor was upset that he was carrying out works in his ward without his permission. The contractor alleged that he was let go only after he gave a cheque of ₹3 crore to Mr. Venkatesh.
Acting on a complaint by the contractor, the Yeshwanthpur police registered an FIR against Mr. Venkatesh and his associates, following which the case was transferred to CCB. Sleuths from the CCB arrested Mr. Venkatesh on Friday morning. A senior official overseeing the probe said preliminary investigations indicated that there was no financial dispute between the victim and the accused and the former councillor’s actions seem to be borne out of “sheer high-handedness”. However, he was quick to add that the probe into the case was still in preliminary stages and only further investigations would reveal the full truth in the case.
Mr. Venkatesh has had a controversial career as a councillor as well. BJP had held a protest against him for “ill-treating” women councillors in 2016. A complaint was filed against him in the now disbanded Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in 2018, and an FIR was registered against him in May earlier this year for allegedly assaulting Congress workers during an election campaign.
D. Kempanna, president, Karnataka State Contractors’ Association, said that the case laid bare the challenges faced by contractors and how pervasive corruption was in the city. “We condemn this incident. We demand that the city police probe into the case thoroughly and bring to book all forces who may have been behind this case,” he said.
