In a midnight operation, Kalaburagi Deputy Commissioner Yeshwanth Gurukar caught two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers who were allegedly distributing money to voters after switching off the street lights in Kalaburagi South constituency on Monday, May 8. Yeshwanth, who is also the District Election Officer, was alerted about suspicious activity at Kalaburagi’s Sangamesh Colony by Congress members on Monday night, less than 48 hours before the Assembly elections scheduled for May 10.
When the DC rushed to the spot around 11.50 pm on Monday, he spotted a White Innova Crysta car with three people in it. According to a complaint filed by Yeshwanth, the people in the car drove away when he approached them. The DC then pursued the car and caught up with the vehicle near a Hanuman temple in Vidyanagar in Kalaburagi. However, one of the men managed to escape along with a bag.
Videos of the DC with the two BJP workers in Vidyanagar were shared widely on social media on Tuesday. One of the videos shows a bag with money and pamphlets of incumbent Kalaburagi South MLA Dattatreya Patil Revoor of the BJP. "There were pamphlets of the BJP MLA, liquor bottles and a small amount of cash found in another bag that was left behind," Allamprabhu Patil, the Congress candidate contesting the Assembly election from Kalaburagi South constituency, told TNM.
Congress leaders in Kalaburagi who alerted the Deputy Commissioner about the suspicious activity alleged that the man who escaped was MLA Dattatreya Patil himself, who is also Chairman of Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board. The incumbent MLA is once again contesting the election from Kalaburagi South on a BJP ticket.
The DC Yeshwanth urged Kalaburagi Commissioner of Police Chetan R to file a case against the BJP workers under section 171H (illegal payments in connection with an election), 321 (voluntarily causing hurt) and section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
BJP MLA Dattatreya Patil Revoor is defending the Kalaburagi South seat against Allama Prabhu Patil of the Congress and Krishna Reddy of Janata Dal (Secular) [JD(S)] in the state Assembly elections set to be held on May 10.