After brief hibernation, sex CD spat between Karnataka Congress chief and former BJP minister surfaces again

Jarkiholi’s press conference followed soon after the Congress lodged a police complaint against him and other BJP leaders, alleging that they had offered Rs 6,000 each to some voters in Belagavi in the run-up to the state Assembly polls.

“I will get the extortion case transferred to the CBI. I have spoken to Amit Shah. I have proof of his [Shivakumar’s] role in the CD episode, of him saying he will spend Rs 40 crore to trap me. The audio is recorded. I will request the state and Union governments to hand over the CD case to the CBI,” Jarkiholi said in Belagavi.

He claimed members of a gang were deployed to honey trap him, and that police raids on the home of a gang member had unearthed 60-100 recordings of persons who had been caught on camera or audio in compromising positions. “The case must be probed by the CBI,” Jarkiholi said.

Shivakumar retaliated by saying whether he had asked Jarkiholi to be caught on camera in a compromising position. “This is politics. Did we ask him to collect bribes? Did we ask him to offer bribes to voters? Let him go and complain to whoever he wants,” Shivakumar said.

Initially, in March 2021, when the woman first lodged the complaint, Jarkiholi had claimed that the sex video that had emerged in the public domain was fake, but he later gave a statement to the SIT, saying he was honey trapped by a gang.
On February 4, 2022, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Bengaluru Police had filed a closure report in the sexual assault case filed against Jarkiholi by the woman, saying they hadn’t found enough evidence to file a chargesheet. The closure report was challenged by the young woman in the Supreme Court, after which a stay was imposed on further proceedings in the trial court.

The SIT said it had found no evidence to establish the woman’s claims that Jarkiholi had offered her a government job in return for sexual favours, police sources said. Opposing the anticipatory bail hearing in a sessions court of two accused of allegedly trying to target Jarkiholi, the SIT had said they were part of an organised attempt to trap the minister.