Attempts being made to hush up Haveri gangrape case by offering money, alleges Bommai

Hubballi: Former Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday said that attempts have been made to hush up the moral policing incident of Haveri in which the police have charged the accused with gangrape, by offering money to the victim.

According to a video that has gone viral, six people barged into a hotel room and assaulted an interfaith couple during their stay in Hangal Taluk of Haveri district on January 8, following which two of the accused were arrested.

In a statement, Bommai claimed that Haveri police have offered money to the victim to close the Hangal incident.

"The government must constitute a Special Investigation Team to probe this incident. As Chief Minister Siddaramaiah would visit Haveri on Monday, the BJP expects him to make an announcement in this regard," he said.

Bommai said that under the garb of investigation, the victim was taken to Sirsi after the local police got information about the visit of the BJP women's delegation to Haveri.

"The Congress party had been doing this kind of politics. What more can be expected from them," he remarked.

According to the survivor, a 26-year-old married woman who belongs to a minority community, the incident took place on January 8. She checked into a hotel room at 1 pm with a KSRTC driver aged 40, with whom she has been in a relationship for the past three years, police said.

The police added gang rape charges on the basis of a complaint by the woman. She had also deposed before the magistrate.

The woman has also said that people close to the accused are pressuring her to withdraw the case, offering her lakhs of rupees.

The entire incident of assault inside the hotel room was filmed by the gang.

The videos later became viral after they got circulated on social media platforms, police said.

In one of the purported videos, six men are seen knocking on the door of a room. When a man opens the door, the assailants are seen barging in and heading towards the woman. The gang verbally abuses the couple, assaults them and films the woman while she tries to cover her face with a burqa.