Bengaluru police search news channel head's premises in Siddaramaiah sting case
The Central Crime Branch conducted searches at the residence and office of Rakesh Shetty regarding alleged sting operation videos targeting the former Chief Minister.
The Bengaluru Police Central Crime Branch (CCB) conducted searches at the residence and office of Kannada news channel head Rakesh Shetty on Monday. According to ThePrint, the searches were carried out in the city since Monday morning in connection with an alleged sting operation targeting former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Police have questioned Shetty and expelled Congress leader Kripa Alva, who are allegedly behind the sting videos. The case involves two videos containing serious allegations against Siddaramaiah that were reportedly uploaded to YouTube in September.
The Congress leader previously obtained a court injunction to restrain the media from reporting on the videos and lodged a police complaint seeking an investigation.
Bengaluru Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh said on Sunday that the mobile phone allegedly used to upload the videos was purchased in New Delhi. He stated that the phone was handed over to a person named Prajwal Prasad at the official residence of Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy.
The Commissioner said the handover occurred on the instructions of Prajwal Prasad, according to a statement from arrested accused Ritesh Pandey. Pandey, a Delhi-based man, was arrested on October 24 and was the first person arrested in the case.
The CCB had apprehended Pandey in Delhi and brought him to Bengaluru for questioning.