The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of Bengaluru Police has arrested a man in connection with the alleged sting operation targeting former Karnataka chief minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah, in what police describe as a major breakthrough in the case, news agency ANI reported on Sunday.

Source: ANI via Latestly

The accused has been identified as Ritesh Pandey, a resident of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh who was reportedly working at the camp office of Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel H.D. Kumaraswamy, according to ANI. According to CCB sources cited by the agency, Pandey was produced before a local court on Friday afternoon and was subsequently granted bail.

Investigators suspect Pandey was the primary person who uploaded the controversial sting video on social media. Police said he allegedly purchased a second-hand smartphone in Delhi specifically for the upload, did not insert a SIM card into the phone and instead used a Wi-Fi connection to circulate the footage, ANI reported. Police said the video was handed to Pandey on a pen drive and then transferred to the device. The CCB has seized the mobile phone and sent it for forensic analysis.

In an earlier report, news agency IANS said the CCB had detained and questioned a 22-year-old, named as Ritesh Kumar Pande, in connection with the same video, and that police suspected the footage was circulated through social media accounts on YouTube and X. IANS reported that other phones found in his possession were also seized for examination and that the case was registered following a complaint by Siddaramaiah with the Cyber Crime Police.

Source: IANS via BizzBuzz

During scrutiny of Pandey's online activity, police found that his account on X followed only four profiles, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, ANI reported. Further investigation is underway, police said.

The arrest has sharpened the political row around the case. Kumaraswamy has alleged — an allegation, not an established finding — that Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and Home Minister Priyank Kharge conspired to implicate him in the sting case, IANS reported on Saturday. He claimed the state government was diverting the investigation towards him and the JD(S). The Karnataka government has not, in the reports cited here, responded to that specific allegation in this development.

Source: IANS via HiIndia