Karnataka Police arrests suspended Congress MLA JN Ganesh month after assaulting Anand Singh during resort brawl

The Karnataka Police arrested suspended Congress MLA JN Ganesh on Wednesday for allegedly assaulting fellow legislator Anand Singh during a brawl at Eagleton Resort in Bidadi, according to several media reports. The incident reportedly occurred on 20 January after which Ganesh absconded and Singh was admitted to a private hospital for treatment. CNN-News18 reported that disgruntled Congress MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi was seen leaving Ganesh’s house in Kampli on Tuesday, which raised suspicion among the police who then traced the “missing” MLA.

#NewsAlert -- @INCKarnataka MLA J. Ganesh arrested for assaulting Anand Singh. The two got involved in a brawl at the Eagleton Resort. @StacyPereira89 with more details. | #MLAPoachingRow pic.twitter.com/fBQ1BJDegH

— News18 (@CNNnews18) February 20, 2019

The Bidadi police reportedly arrested Ganesh outside Karnataka, and is likely to bring to him to Bidadi by night. TV9 Kannada earlier said that Ganesh was to file his application for anticipatory bail on Wednesday. Around 76 Congress MLAs were made to camp in the resort in January when the party feared attempts by BJP to lure them in its alleged bid to destabilise the coalition government. The Congress initially refuted reports of the scuffle between the two lawmakers. However, after Singh filed an FIR against Ganesh on charges of attempted murder, Karnataka Congress’ general secretary VY Ghorpade suspended the Kampli MLA. [caption id=“attachment_5935781” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Suspended Congress MLA JN Ganesh. ANI[/caption] The party also constituted a special committee under the chairmanship of Karnataka deputy chief minister G Parameshwara to investigate the issue. Ganesh apologised to Singh’s family after the latter was hospitalised, but claimed he was also injured in the brawl. “I would like to apologise to Singh’s family, if they’re hurt. Whatever the media is reporting is false. We had a heated argument. The quarrel snowballed. He slipped and he has suffered these injuries,” Ganesh had said. “I, Bheema Naik and Anand Singh had a confrontation but we did not beat each other up. Whatever is reported in the media is false. Something happened and I apologise,” he further asserted. He later went missing and special police teams were formed to track him down. Ganesh was booked under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. With inputs from agencies