Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (SP)
Udupi, May 7: Keshava Suvarna (50), who happens to be the president of Hejmady unit of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and member of the managing committee of Hejmady Lord Mahalingeshwara Temple, was arrested by Padubidri police on Tuesday May 6. Suvarna, who owns Suvarna Fancy and Footwear shop near Hejmady bus stand, is said to have sexually harassed two minor girls aged seven and six, who had visited his shop on Tuesday.
It is said that Suvarna behaved indecently with the girls, who belong to a community different from Suvarna’s own, and reside at N S Road in Hejmady. Besides showing to them sexually explicit video clips from his cell phone, he also undressed himself in their presence to reveal his private parts, it is said. The girls, who had gone there to buy some fancy items from Suvarna’s shop, were flabbergasted at his strange behavior.
The girls then rushed home and told their family members what had transpired at the shop. Their family members, supported by a large number of locals from different communities, then reached his shop by evening. Seeing them, the shop owner took to his heels, but the people succeeded in chasing him and handing him over to Padubidri police station.
It is learnt that a case had been filed against Suvarna relating to mentally harassing a married woman residing in a rented house in Hejmady in 2012 by repeatedly making obscene calls over her phone. It is said that the said lady was running a beauty parlour, and Suvarna had obtained her cell phone number after introducing himself as an agent of Life Insurance Corporation of India. The lady had made an effort to commit suicide by consuming sleeping pills relating to this harassment, and thereafter, Suvarna was named in a complaint filed in this connection at Padubidri station. He had initially evaded arrest and then succeeded in getting bail. He was acquitted for want of concrete proof in the case. After he got identified with Hindu organizations since sometime, there had been no complaints against him.
After the above incident, district committee of VHP had issued a press statement, claiming that Suvarna did not have anything to do with their organization. However, it is claimed that he continues to be the Hejmady unit president of VHP.
It is said that he had also meted out sexual harassment to several ladies during the last three decades, and long back, he had been booked under provisions relating to atrocities on dalits, after a woman belonging to this category suffered sexual harassment at his hands.