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voter data theft case
The accused Maruthi Gowda and Abhishek, arrested by Halasuru Gate police , are the project in-charge and accounts officer of the trust and were close to the prime accused, Ravi Kumar, co-founder of the trust, said the police
Bengaluru:
Two more people from Chilume Educational Cultural and Rural Development Trust were arrested on Wednesday in connection with the voters’ data theft case, taking the number of accused in the case to 14, police said.
The accused Maruthi Gowda and Abhishek, arrested by Halasuru Gate police , are the project in-charge and accounts officer of the trust and were close to the prime accused, Ravi Kumar, co-founder of the trust, said the police.
The two are said to have assisted Ravi Kumar in the alleged impersonation and tampering of data. “Based on circumstantial evidence and records, we secured Gowda and Abhishek from outside the city on Wednesday and arrested them after investigation. The accused will be produced in court,” said an officer from Halasuru Gate station.
The accused were not only supervising the survey but also looking after the finance of the project, including the salaries of the staff hired for the exercise. The duo was summoned by the police on Tuesday for questioning and arrested on Wednesday after their role in the case was established.
Meanwhile, the police have continued questioning BBMP officials in the case and have issued notices to two senior officials to appear for questioning. As the Bengaluru police intensify the probe into the voter data theft case, the BBMP Officers and Employees’ Association on Monday said it is considering seeking anticipatory bail as more officials are likely to be arrested.
“We are thinking of seeking anticipatory bail for our officials and a decision in regard will be taken soon,” a BBMP official said.
Four BBMP officials were arrested on the charges of providing fake ID cards to representatives of NGO Chilume trust in connection with the voter data theft case on Saturday.
The Halasuru Gate police arrested revenue officers (ROs) Chandrashekar K (Mahadevapura), Suhail Ahmed (Shivajinagar) and Bheemashankar (Chickpet) and assistant revenue officer (AR) Mahesh (RR Nagar).
Responding to the BBMP employees’ union’s move, Srinivas R Gowda, deputy commissioner of police (central), said, “BBMP commissioner is the complainant here. So, we are not responsible. They can go and fight against the BBMP commissioner.”
On Monday, the BBMP association also wrote to chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, alleging that its officials were being harassed in the investigation process and urged him to hand over the probe to one agency.
Amruth Raj, president of BBMP Officers and Employees’ Association, said, “Officials from multiples police stations are calling BBMP officials for investigation. Let one agency investigate the issue. We are not saying that we will not cooperate. We will respect the law and abide by it.”
