Ayyanna Reddy
Credit: Special Arrangement
Bengaluru: A serving police inspector was arrested in Bengaluru on Thursday for allegedly aiding and abetting rape-suspect BJP MLA Munirathna in his "criminal conspiracies".
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) picked up Ayyanna Reddy, who was on duty as the inspector at the Hebbagodi police station, for allegedly assisting Munirathna in criminal conspiracies, a well-placed police source told DH.
This is the second arrest related to the rape case filed against Munirathna in September. Munirathna was the first to be taken into custody but is currently out on bail.
Reddy, posted at Hebbagodi for a year now, previously served at Peenya, Rajgopalanagar and Yeshwantpur police stations for over a decade, said a senior police officer under whom Reddy worked.
All of these police stations fall within Munirathna's assembly constituency of RR Nagar.
Reddy's arrest came after the SIT interrogated several close confidantes of Munirathna's, sources said.
On September 18, a 40-year-old woman filed a complaint with Kaggalipura police, alleging that Munirathna had raped her multiple times, including in his Vikasa Soudha chambers as well as in his official car.
She also accused him of honey-trapping politicians and police officers to blackmail them. Reddy is believed to have assisted Munirathna in these conspiracies.
In all, Munirathna faces three cases: two filed at the Vyalikaval police station and one at the Kaggalipura police station in Ramanagar.
He has been booked under IPC sections related to rape, sexual harassment, voyeurism, criminal intimidation, extortion, promoting enmity between different groups, word, gesture, or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman, as well as under sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The SIT has intensified its investigation into these cases and conducted mahazar (recreation of crime scene) inside Munirathna's Vikasa Soudha chamber last week.