Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh said on Sunday that investigators had found evidence suggesting a mobile phone was exchanged at the Delhi residence of Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel H.D. Kumaraswamy in connection with the alleged sting operation case targeting former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah. Calling it a major development in the investigation, the Commissioner said one Ritesh Pandey had stayed at Kumaraswamy's address and that a video was uploaded on the instructions of Prajwal Prasad, IANS reported.
Source: IANS via The Freedom Press
Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge, speaking to the media in Kalaburagi on Sunday, said technical evidence and crucial documents had emerged during the investigation and that legal action would be taken against anyone found involved, irrespective of their influence or position. Investigators had found technical evidence linking people associated with Kumaraswamy with the acquisition and handling of a mobile phone linked to the spread of the alleged sting video, he claimed. “This is just a teaser; the full picture is yet to come,” Kharge said, alleging — as an allegation, not a proven finding — that people who had worked with Kumaraswamy and his close associates were not appearing for questioning.
Source: The Hindu via Tech Word News
Kumaraswamy hit back the same day in Bengaluru. “The administrative machinery and officials of this government cannot take on or touch Kumaraswamy so easily,” he told reporters, questioning the Commissioner's conduct and alleging the statement was made at someone's behest — his allegation, which the Commissioner has not been reported as answering. Responding to Kharge's “trailer” remark, Kumaraswamy said he was a film producer by profession and did not need filmmaking lessons, and announced a press conference at 11 a.m. on Monday, November 2, at which he promised to present documentary evidence on who would ultimately be hit by the investigation, whom the state government was protecting and where the probe was heading.
Source: IANS via Nation Press
The Sunday exchange is a new development in a case the site has reported in its earlier phase: Siddaramaiah had alleged the sting video targeting him was fabricated, obtained a court stay in connection with the case, and his son Yathindra Siddaramaiah alleged the operation was carried out to blackmail and tarnish their image — allegations that remain unproven. Kumaraswamy had earlier demanded a central probe and had marched to the police chief's office after his name reportedly figured in the investigation, Kharge noted on Sunday.
What happens next turns on Monday's press conference and on whether investigators act on the evidence the Commissioner and the minister described on Sunday. No charge or court finding against Kumaraswamy or any other person was reported in Sunday's statements; the phone-exchange account is the police's stated line of investigation, the links alleged by Kharge are allegations, and Kumaraswamy's counter-claims are likewise unproven at this stage.