Hours after the city police registered an FIR against the former Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi for sexual abuse, a purported recording of a telephonic conversation between the victim and her family was leaked to the media where she is heard dropping the name of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D.K. Shivakumar thrice in the seven-minute clip.
This triggered a political storm and lent yet another twist to the case.
However, The Hindu could not independently verify the veracity of this audio clip.
Repeated references
In the conversation that purportedly took place on the night the sex CD was leaked to television channels, the woman is heard telling a man on the other end (said to be her brother) that “DK [Mr. Shivakumar] himself” is meeting her and she had “now come near the house of D. K. Shivakumar” and was going to speak to him.
She is heard reassuring the family that she was safe and repeatedly claimed the video and audio clips aired on television were “fake, morphed and voice modulated”.
She is heard promising to send a video to prove she was innocent “after D.K. Shivakumar’s people give it to her”.
Days after the alleged sex video showing intimate moments of Mr. Jarkiholi came to the public domain, he alleged that a “mahanayaka” (big leader) was behind the conspiracy to defame him. The State government formed a SIT to probe this “conspiracy” and an FIR was registered against unidentified individuals for “conspiracy to defame Jarkiholi, forgery and extort money”. The audio clip will now be part of the probe, sources said.
In a series of tweets BJP, Karnataka, attacked Mr. Shivakumar and demanded that the Congress should seek his resignation as party chief. “The Congress that sought to capture power misusing a woman must apologise to the people,” it demanded. The party also taunted Congress leaders who attacked Mr. Jarkiholi and the State government in the Legislative Assembly and asked “if the conspiracy was hatched in KPCC office”.
‘More to come’
Mr. Jarkiholi, speaking to presspersons on Friday evening, said he had not listened to the purported audio clip and when quizzed as to whether the “mahanayaka” he was referring to was indeed Mr. Shivakumar, he said the KPCC president had been a dear friend who had been with him through thick and thin and he only wished him well. He further claimed he would make a “big revelation” on Saturday evening.
