Reel villain in a soup for real

PUNE, NOV 12: The Crime branch of the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has launched a probe into allegations by Ranga Gangadhar Kulathoor, a city-based builder-turned-actor who plays the role of a villain in South Indian films, that he was falsely implicated in a rape case by the former in-charge of Sahakarnagar police station Inspector R S Kondhalkar.

Kulathoor alias Rangaseth claimed that Kondhalkar had falsely accused him of raping and assaulting his former telephone operator. “I never harmed her. In fact, it was she and her relatives who attacked me with a kukri on February 4, 1997,” Rangaseth said while justifying his use of a revolver to defend himself. “Mai to kabhi gunehgar thach nahi. Mereku policewalone khamkha fasaya,” (I was never a criminal. I was implicated falsely.) he said. Admitting that the girl was his employee, Rangaseth claimed that in June 1994 she had borrowed Rs 25,000 from him, a sum she never repaid. “She had written a love letter to me in 1996. I showed the letter to my wife who retaliated by sacking the telephone operator,” he said.

“On February 4, I was attacked by the girl and her relatives. I fired a few rounds into the air from my revolver in self-defence,” said Rangaseth, adding that he then went to Sahakar Nagar police station to lodge a complaint. “Kondhalkar refused to take down my complaint,” Rangaseth said, alleging that Kondhalkar had demanded Rs 2 lakh from him. “When I refused, he arrested me,” he added. After a month in custody, Rangaseth was granted bail. Later, he approached Gopinath Munde and the NHRC to protest against the harassment, he said.