Bangalore Mirror: Bangalore:
Friday, March 07, 2014.
Conspiracy to
replace special prosecutor to facilitate bail for the accused foiled by
diligent sleuths at Upparpet police station.
A BBMP
corporator's husband who is an accused in the sensational RTI activist
Lingaraju's murder case which took place in the city more than a year ago, is
now in the spotlight for allegedly blackmailing a high court appointed Special
Public Prosecutor (SPP) after his bail petition was rejected four times in
different courts because of the strong arguments put forth by the latter.
Apparently,
the murder accused, lodged in a jail, instigated a false rape complaint using a
crime syndicate by a paid litigant against the SPP to engineer the latter's
exit from the case to facilitate his bail. But sustained investigation by
sleuths at the Upparpet station has exposed the murder accused's plot, and the
false rape complaint has fallen flat.
RTI activist
Lingaraju was murdered in broad daylight at Chamarajpet on November 20, 2012.
Azadnagar corporator Gowramma of the Congress party, and her husband C
Govindaraju, along with eleven others, were held responsible for the murder.
All of them were arrested subsequently.
The high
court wanted to hand over the case to the CBI (Central Bureau of
Investigation). But the state government pleaded with the court that they will
form an SIT to investigate the sensational murder case. Following the High
Court's acceptance, an SIT was formed under the leadership of Additional
Commissioner of Police (Crime) Pronab Mohanty and Additional SP of Bangalore
District, Abdul Ahad. The High Court appointed a retired Director of
Prosecution, Sadashiva Murthy, who had 90% conviction rate to his credit, as
the SPP in the case.
As a result
of the efforts made by the SIT and Sadashiva Murthy, the bail plea of
Govindaraju was rejected twice in the High Court and twice in the Sessions
Court. On January 21, 2014, High Court for the second time decided against
granting bail to Govindaraju. After this, a series of events seem to have
occurred.
Rape Case
Against Upright SPP
A mysterious
rape case was registered against Sadashiva Murthy at Upparpet Police Station by
a woman (who shall go unnamed here), on January 30, 2014. The complainant
alleged that she was raped twice by the 64-year-old SPP who has an exceptional
track record. The probe by Upparpet police led by Investigating Officer R
Prakash, however, found that it was a plot engineered by the accused in the
case using a crime syndicate, wherein a woman by name Rita (who has filed fake
complaints more than 20 times, six of which have been closed with 'B' [closure]
reports) was used to file a rape case through the complainant.
The probe
found that Rita was in touch with Govindaraju and had also visited him at
Parappana Agrahara Central prison claiming to be his 'friend' on September 29,
2013, when the plot to 'fix' was supposedly hatched. Police have found it
comforting that everything was caught on camera, and intent to use it as an
evidence. The plot, however, was actually executed only after Govindraju's bail
plea was rejected for the second time by the High Court (fourth time in all) on
January 21.
The Complaint
and the Probe The complainant alleged that Sadashiva Murthy, who assured help
to her in a matrimonial case in December 2013, had raped her twice - first on
December 21, 2013 at Rama Krishna Lodge, and for the second time on January 5,
2014, at Mysore. The complainant also alleged that Sadashiva Murthy on January
27, 2014, called her and threatened that the visuals would be made public if
she went public with her complaint. Subsequently, a complaint was lodged with
Upparpet police on January 30, 2014. Upparpet police found after a month's
probe that the charges made were all false, and filed a B (closure) report on
March 5. The charges have been framed and the date of trial will be decided in
the next hearing on March 10 by a city fasttrack court.
The probe
found that neither had Sadashiva Murthy booked the said room no.208 at Rama
Krishna Lodge, where the complainant alleged she was raped, nor was he in the
vicinity. Also, the footage from the High Court CCTV cameras didn't support the
complainant's claim that Sadashiva Murthy approached her on December 18, 2013.
It was even found during the probe that Court Hall no.39, where, as alleged by
the complainant, the SPP summoned her on the first day they met (December 18,
2013), did not exist.
The mobile
tower location of the complainant and Sadashiva Murthy never matched. On the
day she claimed to have met the SPP on December 18 , 2013, Murthy was found to
be in Mysore and had never come to Bangalore. The complainant had alleged that
the SPP had called her on December 18, 2013, and asked to meet him on December
21, 2013. But the latter's call records showed he had never called the
complainant, again finding her charges false.
During the
time of the alleged rape (between 8 pm - 9 pm at Ramakrishna lodge on December
21 , 2013) the tower location showed Murthy's presence at Koramangala, while
the complainant had come and roamed around for 18 minutes at Gandhinagar and
went away.
On the second
instance of the alleged rape, the complainant had alleged that she was at SPP
Sadashiva Murthy's residence at Sharadadevinagar in Mysore between 7 pm on
January 5 , 2014, till 11 am on January 6 , 2014. But the probe found she was
present at N R Mohalla and Lashkar Mohalla in Mysore. The sleuths considered
this as an attempt to create evidence. The subsequent medical examination also
found no evidence on the alleged sexual act or physical abuse.
Further, it
was found that the complainant, along with others including Govindraju's wife
Gowramma and Rita, had gone to Murthy's residence on September 27, 2013 (two
days before Rita met Govindaraju in jail) and had requested help to ensure that
Govindaraju comes out, and had promised property in exchange. It is reported
that the accused also threatened Murthy and his family with dire consequences.
Further the
address given by the complainant was also found to be false. It was found that
a group of women had acted at the behest of Govindaraju. The complainant,
instigated by Rita along with other women, after filing the rape complaint also
submitted petitions to the High Court Chief Justice and the Karnataka
Advocates' Council against Murthy, along with the FIR copy.
Another
clinching evidence is the finding that the complainant's handwriting in the
complaint was that of Rita's. This was identified by matching the complaint
with Rita's previous frivolous complaints. Upparpet police have now filed a B
report giving a clean chit to the SPP, who would have been fixed had it not
been for the careful investigation by the police.
BID TO BUY
OFF WITNESSES
It was found
that attempts have also been made to change the course of the case after filing
the false complaint. Lingaraju's wife Umadevi and son Karthik, who are the only
eyewitnesses to the murder, are being influenced by Govindaraju and Gowramma,
the probe has found. Apparently following this, Umadevi has filed a petition
with the government expressing her desire to replace Sadashiva Murthy with
another advocate. This, however, is not possible as Murthy is appointed by the
High Court and his removal is vested with the court.
Reactions
: Sadashiva Murthy
"I thank the police officers who took all efforts to bring out the truth,
which would otherwise have spoiled my life. These people tried to purchase me
in several ways. They also offered land worth up to Rs.2 crore with the
intention of facilitating my withdrawal from the case. After all this, they
stooped to such a low level and lodged a false complaint.
Abdul Ahad I
came to know about it from the court constable that a B report has been filed.
I will have to study and know the details once it reaches me.
What
happens next? Advocate K B K Swamy told Bangalore Mirror: "As it is a rare case of using a
crime syndicate and a paid litigant to systematically implicate an SPP in a
false case, those under the scanner - Rita who operates under 6 different
names: Rita, Rita Kumar, Sneha Latha, Rita Anand, Rita Thyagarajan, and was
also a scribe in the complaint lodged under the complainant's name can be tried
under the Karnataka Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug
Offenders, Gamblers, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders, and Slum Grabbers Act,
1985, as a goonda means a person who either by himself, or as a member, or as
leader of a gang, habitually commits or attempts to commit or abets the
commission of offence, read with relevant IPC sections. She can be booked under
this Act which will can land her in jail for up to 7 years."
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