Rape allegation against Gowda's son: Cong stages protest, women's panel to take action

Railway minister Sadanand Gowda’s son Karthik Gowda is finding himself in trouble after a model-turned-actress charged him with rape. The Bangalore police booked Karthik under Sections 376 (punishment for rape) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code.

With BJP backing the railway minister, the case has created quite a stir in Karnataka. Youth Congress workers staged protests in Bangalore on Thursday and state women’s commission is planning to take suo motu action against the minister’s son.

In a statement, Gowda said, “This is an attempt to tarnish my image. My son shares everything with me. Everyone knew about his engagement. I suspect political conspiracy but law will take its own. I am the last person to interfere.”

When asked, Zee News quoted Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah as saying, “Law takes its own course. What is the point of me saying anything when I don’t know the details.”

Karthik Gowda in a brief statement said, “I just go to office and come back home. They are using me to malign my father image.”

According to a report in the Zee News, a woman, who was a small-time model and has acted in a Kannada film as a heroine, has claimed that she is married to railway minister Sadananda Gowda’s son Karthik and demanded that the minister’s family accept her as their daughter-in-law.

The woman, who was a small-time model and has acted in a Kannada film as a heroine, claimed she is married to the minister’s son, who got engaged to another woman at a ceremony at Kushalnagar in Kodagu District on Thursday.

She claimed on Kannada TV channels that they came to know of each other through a common friend and later got married.