Karnataka CID seeks custodial probe of Bengaluru woman accused of cheating, urges high court to withdraw protection from arrest

On March 2, the special prosecutor’s submission that the CID “intend to conduct custodial interrogation of all accused persons for a continuous period of 15 days” before filing a charge sheet against Aishwarya Gowda and others was noted by Justice S R Krishna Kumar of the high court.

While the accused has been insisting on being subjected to limited daily interrogation with conditions imposed by the court, the CID has emphasized that the investigations in the cases of cheating against Gowda, her husband K N Harish, and others cannot progress toward filing a chargesheet without exercising the investigating agency’s power for a custodial probe.

An anticipatory bail application filed by Aishwarya Gowda was rejected by a magistrate’s court last month, and the accused approached a district court last week with anticipatory bail pleas in as many as four cases of cheating the public.

Aishwarya Gowda and others were granted protection from arrest by the HC on April 15, 2025, even as petitions for quashing the FIRs were allowed to be withdrawn. However, after it was pointed out by the prosecution that the Supreme Court has stated that protection against arrest cannot be sustained if a plea is disposed – the April 15, 2025, order was recalled, and the withdrawn petitions were reinstated on April 23, 2025, with interim orders of protection from arrest.

The HC bench stated on February 16 this year after a magistrate’s court expressed doubts over the legality of the interim protection granted by the HC that “the interim order passed by this Court directing the respondent-prosecution not to take precipitative/coercive steps against the petitioners or arrest them pending disposal of the present petition, has no nexus or connection and is neither relevant nor material for the purpose of the Magistrate considering the bail applications in accordance with law.”

Last year, the special prosecutor told the HC that the CID was unable to complete investigations of the cases against Aishwarya Gowda and others due to court orders on the probe and sought orders to continue the probe against others apart from Aishwarya Gowda.

Aishwarya Gowda, who often posed as the sister of Karnataka Congress leader D K Suresh and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar, to gain access to wealthy doctors and businessmen, has been booked by the Bengaluru police in as many as four cases of cheating in 2024-25.

The CID has obtained voice samples of a small-time actor in Bengaluru who is alleged to have posed as former MP D K Suresh while speaking to some victims in the cheating cases.

D K Suresh, who was questioned by the ED after some victims claimed that his name was used to lure them, has stated that Aishwarya Gowda misused his name to approach people.

‘Using police contacts’

Aishwarya Gowda is also accused of using police contacts to access the call record details of one of her alleged victims – the owner of a jewelry store, Vanitha Aithal, who has accused Gowda of taking gold and money worth over Rs 8 crore with the promise of high returns and then betraying her trust.

Among the persons Gowda is alleged to have cheated, apart from the jeweller, are two doctors who run a plastic surgery centre, a maternity doctor, and a businessman’s family in Mandya. All cases against Gowda were handed to the CID police in 2025.

Last year, on April 24, the ED arrested Aishwarya Gowda on charges of laundering the money she allegedly obtained by cheating people. The ED has attached properties worth Rs 3.98 crore following its probe into the money laundering aspect of police cases.

The ED has found that Gowda was given a loan of Rs 24 crore by Congress MLA Vinay Kulkarni. Gowda is alleged to have failed to return the money to Kulkarni and later negotiated a deal for influencing a witness in a murder case in which the MLA is accused. She is also alleged to have been involved in a Rs 60 crore transaction with Congress leader Tibbegowda.

The woman reportedly posed as a real estate dealer to gain access to wealthy people like doctors, businessmen, and politicians before targeting some of them for fraud, said the police. She allegedly used a suite at a luxury hotel in north Bengaluru to convey the impression of being very wealthy. She had bodyguards and a fleet of luxury cars to further the impression of being a wealthy businesswoman.

The Bengaluru police first arrested Aishwarya Gowda and her husband in December 2024 in one of the cases, but they were granted bail by the HC because no reasons were provided by the police at the time of the arrest, as mandated by the Supreme Court. The couple was later granted blanket protection from arrest by the Karnataka HC in 2025.