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. [caption id=“attachment_1686173” align=“alignnone” width=“380”] Railway minister Sadanand Gowda. PTI[/caption] 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.