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Voter data theft case: Police arrest NGO director Ravikumar
Bengaluru police have arrested the main accused in the alleged voter data theft case, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) (central) R Srinivas Gowda said on Monday.
Bengaluru police have arrested the main accused in the alleged voter data theft case, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) (central) R Srinivas Gowda said on Monday.
Krishnappa Ravikumar, founder-director of non-governmental organisation (NGO) Chilume Educational Cultural and Rural Development Trust – which is at the heart of allegations of voter data theft – was arrested from near Lalbagh area on Sunday night. He had gone missing after a first information report (FIR) was registered on Friday, the DCP said.
Earlier, four people were arrested in the case.
Ravikumar was continuously on the move around Tumakuru, Uttara Kannada and Sirsi, Gowda said. “He will be interrogated along with four others who have already been arrested,” he added.
Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday said he has directed concerned officials to probe the case after the Congress, on November 17, alleged the NGO hired many private people who were given fake identity cards that showed them as booth-level officers (BLOs) of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), for a voter awareness drive to revise electoral rolls ahead of the assembly elections next year.
The allegations were based on an investigation carried out by news portal The News Minute last week.
The opposition alleged the chief minister was directly involved in the electoral fraud and also sought his resignation in the matter.
Bommai denied the allegation, saying such surveys took place when the Congress was in power. The state’s chief electoral officer also assured a probe in the case.
Halasuru Gate police on November 18 arrested Ravikumar’s elder brother Kempe Gowda, NGO director Renuka Prasad, HR executive Dharmesh and project executive Prajwal. One case has been registered by Halasur gate police under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating) and 468 (forgery) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The police have named Chilume Institute and Lokesh KM, a field worker deployed by Chilume, in the FIR. One more case has been registered at the Kadugodi police station, based on a complaint filed by Chandrashekar, the electoral registration officer in Mahadevapura.
The DCP said police issued notices to returning officers attached with BBMP and other Chilume employees for questioning on Monday.
Meanwhile, state Congress chief DK Shivakumar alleged the role of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs in the case. The Congress has all documents to show the involvement of BJP’s MLAs, he said.
“We have asked to meet the chief election commissioner tomorrow. We are waiting to see how the police officials will investigate the voter list scam. We have all the documents. It has been reported in the media that the election officers themselves admitted doing the work (fraud) after receiving orders from above,” Shivakumar said.
“Who ordered this? Arresting one or two people at the lower level does not solve the case. Action should be taken against those who are the culprits of the case, those who are the kingpins. We have the documents of the MLAs involved in this, the talks of the ministers and their transactions. An FIR should be registered against the election officers of all the 28 assembly constituencies in Bengaluru,” he added.
He also welcomed Bommai’s decision to probe the fraud, allegedly since 2013, saying: “If we have misused voter information, let us be punished too,” he said.
On Saturday, the opposition party had submitted a formal complaint with the state chief electoral officer, alleging fraud, malpractices and manipulation of the voters’ list.
Shivakumar and Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah had also sought a review of deletion of 2.7 million voters from the list as it alleged data was “stolen by the ruling BJP to suit its advantage”.
Bommai said the addition and deletion in the voters’ list is the job of the Election Commission of India and not the government.
