Karnataka minister R B Thimmapur hints at role of ‘senior leader’ in BJP poll ticket fraud case

The excise minister made the remarks after a car belonging to the right-wing activist Chaitra Kundapura was seized in Karnataka’s Mudhol region, which is the Assembly constituency of the minister.

The sedan which was allegedly bought by Kundapura using proceeds of the crime was seized by the Bengaluru Crime Branch police from the custody of a local right-wing activist with connections to her.

Kundapura and seven associates are accused of cheating businessman Govindbabu Poojary of Rs 5 crore by promising to use their connections in the BJP and RSS to provide a poll ticket to contest the 2023 state polls.

“There may be a big network involved in this racket. What I have learned from authorities and officials is that the personal secretary of Chaitra Kundapura informed the police that a car belonging to her was brought from Sholapur and kept in Mudhol,” Thimmapur said.

Kundapura and six other accused named in the case have been arrested, including G M Abhinava Halaveerappajja, the chief pontiff of the Halashri Mutt in the Vijayanagara region of Karnataka.

Poojary filed a police complaint on September 8 in Bengaluru over the alleged cheating incident that happened in 2022 when he was aspiring to contest the Karnataka Assembly polls from Byndoor constituency in Udupi on a BJP ticket.

The Central Crime Branch police in Bengaluru have named Halaveerappajja as the third accused in the case based on Poojary’s allegation that he paid Rs 1.5 crore out of the total Rs 5 crore for the poll ticket to the seer on the suggestion of Kundapura and her associate Gagan Kadur, a BJP Yuva Morcha leader.

Members of the gang allegedly pretended to be BJP and RSS leaders to convince the businessman that he was being considered for a poll ticket by BJP leaders at the highest level. The gang allegedly referred Poojary to the seer on the grounds that he has connections with top leaders.

Pictures of the seer meeting former Karnataka chief minister and senior BJP leader B S Yediyurappa in the company of Poojary have emerged on social media since Kundapura’s arrest.

A right-wing ideologue, Chakravarthy Sulibele, who has been linked to the arrested right-wing activist, told the media on Monday that he had flagged the issue of the cheating of the businessman with the BJP’s former national general secretary C T Ravi a few months ago after the businessman wrote a letter about being cheated by Kundapura and others.

Ravi confirmed to the media that he had spoken to Sulibele two months earlier and had asked him “if he was aware of the payments and how this happened without even Srinivas Poojary (former BJP minister) being aware despite being close to the businessman”.

“I was of the view that this should be a lesson for all that the party does not encourage such actions. If such things can happen in a cadre-based party where there is strong linkages with leadership at all levels then imagine what happens in other parties where there is no connection between leaders at different levels and party workers,” Ravi said on Monday.