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Not new to controversy, the BJP MLA from R R Nagar, Munirathna Naidu, finds himself in the middle of another one.
The Bengaluru Police arrested the MLA, a former state minister, on Saturday night in connection with the alleged harassment of a contractor and the use of abusive language against members of the Scheduled Caste (SC) community. On Sunday, an MP/MLA court remanded Munirathna to two days’ custody.
In March 2023, the police booked Munirathna for an alleged hate speech against Christians. Initially, his opponent from Rajarajeshwarinagar, Kusuma H of the Congress filed a complaint with the city police over the speech and a case was registered based on a complaint of a gazetted officer, who accused him of promoting enmity between people.
The following month, a letter demanding the immediate arrest of Naidu, who was the Horticulture Minister then in the BJP government, in a hate speech case marked the beginning of a new chapter in the row between him and the Karnataka State Contractors’ Association.
Later that year, the association’s president, D Kempanna, and four other office-bearers were arrested in connection with a defamation case that Munirathna had filed against them. Kempanna had implied, without naming Munirathna, that the minister was threatening officials to extort money.
Munirathna began his political career as a councillor from Yeshwanthpur in North Bangalore and first became an MLA in 2013. “From being a rowdy who was kicked around by the Bangalore police, he is now kicking policemen around,” sources in the police said.
A legislator from the Rajarajeshwarinagar constituency, Munirathna was elected twice – in 2013 and 2018 – on a Congress ticket. He jumped ship to the BJP during the political turmoil in 2019 and a year later won the bypoll as the BJP nominee. The following year, in August, he was inducted into the Cabinet as the Minister of Horticulture, and Planning, Programme Monitoring and Statistics.
In 2018, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) named the 58-year-old film producer and contractor-turned-politician in connection with a fake bill scam in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). The scam, dating back to 2014, was related to the execution of civic works worth Rs 1,500 crore in the Rajarajeshwarinagar, Malleshwaram, and Gandhinagar constituencies. It was alleged that bills were raised more than once for the same work in some cases, while in others they were claimed for projects that were not even taken up. Munirathna who was a Congress MLA at the time was accused number four in the chargesheet.
Another major case in 2018, where Munirathna found himself entangled was the seizure of around 9,800 voter IDs from an apartment in Jalahalli. Munirathna and 13 others were accused and booked. In 2020, the Karnataka High Court ordered a re-examination of chargesheets filed in connection with the case in response to a Public Interest Litigation plea which alleged lapses in the investigation.
Munirathna is known to be associated with contractors in Bengaluru city who control various city projects and was seen to be closely associated with Congress leaders like Ramalinga Reddy and D K Shivakumar.
The former minister has also dabbled in films. He is seen to be close to former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and produced a film featuring his son and actor-turned-politician Nikhil Kumaraswamy. He also produced the Rajnikanth blockbuster Lingaa.
Munirathna is also infamous as the contractor associated with the BBMP wall collapse case in central Bengaluru on June 1, 2010, in which a 17-year-old college girl Sanjana Singh died.
