Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Dec 6: Hindutva activist Chaitra Kundapura, accused of defrauding a businessman with promises of a BJP ticket worth Rs 5 crore for the Assembly election, has been granted bail. Alongside her, associate Srikanth was also released on bail by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Bengaluru on Tuesday, December 5.
Chaitra Kundapura faced arrest on September 13 for allegedly deceiving businessman Govind Babu Pujari. The accusation centered around assurances of securing a BJP ticket for Pujari in the Karnataka Assembly elections. Known for delivering provocative speeches targeting the Muslim community, Chaitra faced charges related to suspicious financial transactions spanning from July 2022 to March 2023.
According to the FIR, Govind Babu Pujari grew suspicious when Chaitra mentioned that the funds were held by an RSS leader named Vishwanath, who, upon investigation, was found to be non-existent. Subsequently, Chaitra and her associate Gagan Kadur went missing, prompting Govind Babu to seek police intervention. Gagan Kadur, the secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) in Chikkamagaluru, remains at large.
The complainant also claimed to have handed over Rs 1.5 crore to a seer named Abhinava Halasri, the head pontiff of the Halashri Math in Vijayanagara. Halasri was arrested near Cuttack in Odisha a week later and obtained a gag order from a civil court against defamatory media reportage. Chaitra, post-arrest, asserted that the involvement of prominent leaders in the fraud would be disclosed upon the Halashri seer's arrest.
The court has granted bail to Chaitra and Srikanth under specific conditions, including the submission of two sureties and a Rs 2 lac bond each.