Karnataka Congress MLA booked for abduction, rape, criminal intimidation

The Bengaluru Police on Tuesday booked Congress MLA Vinay Kulkarni on the complaint of a 34-year-old woman who accused him of rape, kidnapping and criminal intimidation, reported The Hindu.

The first information report filed at Sanjayanagara Police Station names Kulkarni and his associate, Arjun, as the accused persons said the police.

The woman, a social worker, claimed she first met the Dharwad MLA in 2022. He allegedly contacted her after acquiring her phone number from a farmer.

Kulkarni has been accused of making inappropriate video calls to the woman and pressuring her to visit his home, threatening serious consequences when she refused.

On August 24, 2022, Kulkarni allegedly drove the woman to a secluded area near Kempegowda International Airport and raped her.

In March or April, Kulkarni allegedly invited the woman to a circuit house in Belagavi on some urgent pretext, reported the Deccan Herald. He reportedly raped her again when she arrived.

The woman alleged that the MLA threatened her into silence while also promising to help her launch a political career, reported The Hindu.

The case has been filed under sections of the Indian Penal Code dealing with criminal intimidation, insult, destruction of evidence, rape, abduction of a woman, causing hurt and using force to outrage a woman’s modesty. It also invokes provisions of the Information Technology Act.

Kulkarni, however, filed a counter-complaint against the woman and the head of a Kannada-language news channel, accusing them of blackmail and extortion, reported The Indian Express.

Kulkarni claimed that they tried to extract from him a sum of Rs 2 crore by threatening him with false allegations. A case has been registered on his complaint.

The Kannada-language news channel recently aired the woman’s accusations along with a purported recording of Kulkarni’s alleged explicit video calls to her.