Karnataka police have registered a sexual harassment case against BJP leader Arun Kumar Puthila following a complaint by a 47-year-old woman.
The complainant has alleged that the BJP leader sexually assaulted her at a Bengaluru hotel in June last year.
According to the complainant, the accused took pictures and recorded videos during the assault and used them to blackmail her.
According to a report by India Today, the BJP leader has been booked on charges of cheating, sexual harassment, and criminal intimidation. The FIR against Arun Kumar has been registered in Dakshina Kannada district.
Last year, Puthila unsuccessfully contested the Karnataka assembly election as an independent candidate against BJP's Asha Thimmappa and Congress's Ashok Kumar Rai. Despite being an independent candidate, he gave a tough fight to Congress's winning candidate Ashok Rai, who secured over 66,000 votes, while Puthila got 62,458 votes and came in second. Later, he joined BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
In other news, the Karnataka State Women’s Commission has requested a police investigation into the death of a woman who had accused senior BJP leader and former Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa of sexually abusing her minor daughter. The commission has also asked the Bengaluru Police for a report, as there are suspicions surrounding the woman's death and burial.
The woman, who had alleged that the BJP leader molested her minor daughter in February at his residence in Bengaluru, passed away in May. Doctors reported that her cause of death was lung cancer.
