A CCB official said the charge sheet was basically in the same order and narrative that complainant Govind Poojary had filed.
Published Nov 09, 2023 | 3:43 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 09, 2023 | 6:01 PM
Seer Abhinav Halasree and Hindutva hardliner Chaitra Kundapura. (Sourced)
The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the Bengaluru City Police probing the cash for BJP MLA ticket scandal in Karnataka after the arrest of right-wing activist Chaitra K and her associates including a seer, submitted the charge sheet in the case to the 3rd Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Court on Wednesday, 8 November.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka High Court granted bail to the seer Abhinava Halashree of the Hirehadagali Halaswamy Math on Thursday.
The charge sheet, running to around 8,000 pages, has records of the statements of around 75 witnesses and seven accused parties, along with supporting evidence in the form of audio and video files.
“Mobile data that was retrieved, chat history, and other digital evidence that corroborated their criminal activities and conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, criminal conspiracy, cheating, and impersonation, also have been included in the charge sheet,” CCB officials told South First.
A senior CCB official said that around 90 percent of the cheated money has been recovered with documentary evidence.
The officer added that the fact that the accused parties could not show the source of the money in their accounts, the contents in the charge sheet were water-tight and the investigating officials were confident that the case would go for conviction.
The official further said that the charge sheet was basically in the same order and narrative that complainant Govind Poojary had filed with the CCB police.
“Since all his allegations have been proved after the arrests of the accused, we have collected the evidence ourselves along with supporting documents and communications between the accused, and the charge sheet has been filed in a conclusive manner,” the officer claimed.
On Wednesday, the high court bench of Justice Vishwajit Shetty ordered granting bail to Halashree Swami, after hearing the arguments of the seer’s advocate and the government prosecutor.
During the hearing of the petition, the government prosecutor brought to the notice of the bench that the investigating officers had filed a charge sheet to the trial court on Wednesday.
Arun Shyam, senior advocate for the seer, argued that since the charge sheet had been submitted, the investigation had been completed. This made it unnecessary for the seer to be in custody or face an investigation.
The money alleged to have been received by the petitioner had already been seized by the investigating officers and handed over to the magistrate court.
The charges against the petitioner were punishable by less than seven years of imprisonment, and the veracity of the allegations against him was yet to be proved, noted Arun. Therefore, he should be granted bail, the senior advocate said.
Accepting the arguments, the court granted bail to the seer.
It has been nearly two months since prime accused Chaitra K and her six associates were arrested in a scam in Karnataka.
Seven people, including, Chaitra, Srikanth, Gagan Kadur, Halashree Swamir, and Dhanraj are named in the chargesheet for cheating Govinda Babu Pujary promising an MLA ticket claiming that they had close proximity with the RSS and top BJP leaders.
At present Chaitra and all of her associates are in judicial custody waiting for the CCB to complete the investigation and file the charge sheet so that they can apply for their bail.
(With PTI inputs)
