Santro Ravi 'reveals' BJP connect in affidavit to cops

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: It has come to light that rape and human trafficking accused Manjunath KS alias ‘Santro’ Ravi had claimed to be a BJP worker in an affidavit submitted to the Raja Rajeshwari (RR) Nagar Police Station in January 2022.

The accused is still on the run due to a case filed by a Mysuru-based Dalit woman whom he had gone on to marry. He is being pursued by Mysuru’s Vijayanagar police over rape charges and for offences under the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) Atrocities Act and Dowry Prevention Act.

One Jagadish had approached RR Nagar Police Station and accused Ravi of promising a government employee a transfer in return for cash and not fulfilling it. In response, Ravi had filed an affidavit with the same police station vehemently denying that he took money for transfers.

Instead, he claimed that he had been a BJP worker and had helped some officers with transfers with the help of his friends in the party. In the very same affidavit, he had promised that he would no longer be using his clout to arrange transfers for people.

However, recently, two audio clips emerged of Ravi bragging about the chief minister calling him 'sir' and claiming to set up meetings at the Kumara Krupa Guest House in the premises of the CM’s official residence. 

In another clip, he claimed he had gotten police officers transferred. The revelation about his BJP ties comes in the backdrop of pictures of Ravi with saffron party bigwigs like State Home Minister Araga Jnanendra, Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar and Education Minister BC Nagesh.

Opposition parties had latched on to the case with former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy claiming that Ravi had used prostitutes as allurement to win rebel MLAs over to the BJP at the behest of the party top brass.

Congress MLA from Chittapur Priyank Kharge had even demanded a CBI investigation into Ravi’s dealings. Moreover, an inspector named Prashanth, previously of Cottonpet Police had been suspended from the intelligence department for his ties with Ravi.

The inspector had filed an allegedly bogus case against Ravi’s second wife (the complainant in the case in which Ravi is being pursued) and her sister for which he served jail time.