Activist to take back complaint against ex-minister Jarkiholi

Bengaluru: In a surprise volte-face a day after a city court issued a restraint order on media from publishing any 'defamatory' and 'unverified' content against ministers, social activist Dinesh Kallahalli on Sunday said he would withdraw his complaint lodged against former minister Ramesh Jarkiholi alleging that the latter had sexually exploited a woman by promising her a job in Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation.

The infamous "sex-for-job" scandal had shaken the BJP government and led to the resignation of the water resources minister. Six ministers in the BSY government on Friday approached the court and sought an injunction against newspapers, TV channels and social media from publishing or airing any 'defamatory' and 'unverified' content against them.

The alleged video showing Ramesh Jarkiholi in a compromising position with a woman went viral and left the B.S. Yediyurappa government red-faced.

The activist enclosed a CD of the video with the complaint he gave to the Cubbon Park police station on March 2, according to sources, As the matter snowballed into a major controversy and the video went viral on social media and TV channels, Jarikiholi tendered his resignation to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa.

Dinesh sent a letter through his lawyer to the police station conveying his decision to formally withdraw the case.

Speaking to the media on Sunday, Dinesh Kallahalli said, "I will withdraw the complaint as I was hurt by allegations made by JD(S) leader and former CM H D Kumaraswamy that I had a Rs 5-crore deal to defame the minister.

This definitely is a damaging statement because people will start losing the trust in my work. Kumarswmy should think before making any such baseless allegation."

Kumaraswamy on Friday alleged that the entire expose was a "Rs 5-crore deal" and demanded that those claiming to have the objectionable video clips should be arrested immediately as it was a ''blackmail tactic". "According to my information, this is a case of a Rs 5-crore deal gone wrong.

A lot of black money has been floating around. The government should first arrest the blackmailers like him (Kallahalli) and get all the information and then probe against the minister," said the former CM.

However, the activist's lawyer said there were some technical problems due to which the decision was taken to take back the complaint. "My client is not the one to give up his struggle. His objective is to get justice to the victim.

Amid apprehensions of a ''political conspiracy'' being hatched to defame them, six ministers of the Yediyurappa-led cabinet have secured a court injunction restraining media from airing or publishing any defamatory content against them, Kumar Patil, Kallahalli's lawyer said.

Initially Dinesh refused to appear before the Cubbon Park police to face investigation into his complaint, claiming threat to his life on Thursday. However, in a turn of events, on Friday, he appeared before the police station.

The activist had also threatened to release sleaze videos of three more ministers. Following these events, two policemen were deployed to provide security at his residence.

Dinesh had directly contacted Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant and sought a detailed probe into the "sex-for-job" scandal.