After honey-trapping allegations, Karnataka Cooperation Minister K.N. Rajanna’s son and MLA, Rajendra, on Thursday, claimed there had been an attempt on his life five months back. The delay in filing an FIR and the state government’s lacklustre response to a serious allegation made by a senior minister has raised suspicion that there is a bid to cover up the issue as it has caused huge embarrassment to the ruling Congress in the state and at the national level.
Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, Leader of Opposition in Karnataka Legislative Council and BJP leader, slammed Rajanna and said the minister was only trying to “mislead” and “fool” the people. The reluctance of the minister to file a police complaint and his sudden u-turn stating he had no evidence against the honey-trapping gang, have raised questions over the serious lack of legal literacy among the lawmakers and also the possible larger political conspiracies that could be at play.
While no FIR or police complaint has been lodged in the honey trapping case, the CID started its investigations reportedly based on a government order as the minister had met Home Minister G. Parameshwara five days after the issue was raised in the assembly.
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Meanwhile, Rajendra who had earlier claimed that there had been two attempts to honeytrap him and his father, met DGP Alok Mohan in Bengaluru and filed a complaint alleging two men had come to his Tumakuru residence to erect shamiana (tents) for the birthday celebration of his daughter on November 16 last year, with an intent to kill him. He submitted the complaint along with a pen drive.
“My father has submitted his complaint to the home minister. No honey-trapping attempt was made against me. But two men, who came to put up shamiana for my daughter’s birthday, had attempted to murder me at my house last November. I also came to know this January that these men had been given a supari (contract to kill) for Rs 5 lakh; a well-wisher shared an audio clip exposing the plot to kill me,” claimed Rajendra, adding that the money had been transferred to the bank accounts of the two men – Soma and Bharat from Tumakuru.
Meanwhile, the CID team inspected the minister’s official residence in Bengaluru, but got no clue to ascertain the identity of the honey-trap team as the minister’s official quarters do not have a CCTV camera.
