Preetham Gowda.
Credit: DH File Photo
Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Ccourt on Friday passed an interim order restraining the Special Investigation Team (SIT) from arresting/detaining former BJP MLA Preetham Gowda in connection with the Hassan pen drive distribution case.
Justice Krishna S Dixit has noted that it is not a case for stalling the investigation and said that the investigation can go on at the discretion of the SIT in a normative way.
The petitioner Preetham Gowda moved the petition challenging the FIR registered against him by the cyber crime police station under IPC sections 354A, 354B, 354 D and 506 and sections 66E and 67 of the Information Technology Act. Mentioning the matter, senior advocate CV Nagesh, appearing for Preetham Gowda, submitted that none of the IPC sections invoked in the FIR are applicable against the petitioner.
The complaint and the subsequent FIR were with regard to transmitting certain explicit material involving the complainant woman and former Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna through electronic form. The counsel for the petitioner stated that the complainant has no personal information about his involvement in such transmission of the content.
The complaint only states that she had heard others talking about the involvement of the petitioner, the counsel said. “The FIR is registered against me since some people were talking that I was involved in the circulation of the video. This is political witch hunting,” CV Nagesh said.
“There shall be no arrest and detention of the petitioner, unless he co-operates with the investigation. This order shall not come in the way of any material discovered from the police. The petitioner shall be at the doorstep of the investigation agency from 7 am to 9 pm,” Justice Krishna Dixit said.