Bengaluru Police books former Karnataka CMs Siddaramaiah, HD Kumaraswamy for sedition, defamation

Ahead of the 15 December Karnataka bypolls, the Bengaluru Police has lodged an FIR against former Karnataka chief ministers Siddaramaiah and HD Kumaraswamy on charges of sedition and defamation based on a lower court order, reports India Today. Twenty-three other Congress and JD(S) politicians and nine police officials have also been charged along with Siddaramaiah and Kumaraswamy for protesting outside the Income Tax Department Office in Bengaluru during the Lok Sabha elections. [caption id=“attachment_4470961” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Siddaramaiah and HD Kumaraswamy. PTI.[/caption] According to The NewsMinute, a complaint was filed before the court by activist A Mallikarjuna, alleged that then chief minister Kumaraswamy had leaked information about I-T raids on the premises of the JD(S) and Congress leaders even before the agency could conduct the raid. The FIR was registered on 22 November.see if In his complaint, Mallikarjuna said that the leaders raised slogans against I-T officials saying they were “BJP agents”, which he stated amounted to obstruction of duty, reports India Today. The Commercial Street Police told The News Minute that it has booked Siddaramaiah, Kumaraswamy, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President Dinesh Gundu Rao, Korategere MLA Congress Dr G Parameshwara, Kanakapura Congress MLA DK Shivakumar, Krishnaraja Nagar JD(S) MLA Sa Ra Mahesh, Maddur JD(S) MLA DC Thammanna, Mandya JD(S) MLA Shivalinge Gowda, disqualified MLA from Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Munirathna Naidu; and 10 other Congress and JD(S) leaders. In addition to this, the former Bengaluru Police Commissioner T Suneel Kumar, former DCP East Rahul Shadpurwad, former DCP Central Deveraju and six other police officers have also been charged. The New Indian Express quoted the complainant which stated: “While hundreds of workers of both the political parties gathered, the leaders made speeches calling the I-T department an ‘agent of the BJP’. This amounts to obstructing I-T officials from discharging their duties. Besides, this led to major traffic snarls in the area. The police personnel who were present at the spot did not do anything to stop the protest." With inputs from agencies