Bengaluru, Mar 28 (IANS): Former Karnataka Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, who was booked after a woman had accused him of sexually harassing her and released a video where both of them were purportedly seen in a compromising position, has said that as it came to light who the real 'mahanayak' (big leader) is in this case, he will soon file a complaint against state Congress chief D.K. Shivakumar.

Jarkiholi was forced to resign on March 3 after the CD was released to several news channels on March 2, in which he could be allegedly seen in a compromising position with a woman. Since March 2, the sleaze CD saga has witnessed many twists and turns with the woman in the alleged CD releasing video clips one after the other from an undisclosed location, accusing the former minister of exploiting her sexually besides threatening her family. So far she has released five video clips since March 13.

Jarkiholi alleged that in this case Shivakumar is a criminal-minded politician and he would pay the price for this.

"I have gathered as many as 11 pieces of evidence and I will soon hand over these to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that is probing the case," he said.

The former Minister said that now that everybody knows who the "mahanayak" is and what he's done.

"I will take him to court for sure," he said and vowed that he would neither forgive him nor allow him to forget what he has done to him.

Using a cuss word against the Karnataka Congress chief on multiple occasions, he charged that Shivakumar is unfit to politics and there will be no chance of forgiving him this time.

"No one should indulge in such politics. It's best if Shivakumar retires," he said.

Jarkiholi claimed that the parents of the woman in the CD case have also confirmed who is the mahanayak.

"Neither my family nor I have ever cheated any woman. If anyone proves that I have cheated any woman, I will hang myself. Let the police kick and drag me to the police station, if I am proved guilty even slightest," he said.

Jarkiholi pointed out that with Shivakumar already admitting to his close association with Naresh Gowda, who is one of the accused in the scandal, it is clear that he was actively involved in a conspiracy against him.

Repeatedly claiming that he was 'innocent' in the Sleaze CD case, Jarkiholi said that he would provide all required support to defeat Shivakumar in the next Elections in Kanakapura, whoever is ready to fight him.

"I will join anyone who is ready to fight and defeat him in Kanakapura, which is home turf for a long time," he said.

Jarkiholi and Shivakumar had been nursing grudge against each other since 2018, after the former opposed his interference in matters of Belagavi district, that sends 18 MLAs to Assembly, where Jarkiholi family comprising of five brothers - Ramesh, Bhimshi, Balachandra, who are with BJP and Satish and Lakhan with Congress party, whose influence runs large in the sugar bowl of Karnataka.

Jarakiholi's spat with Shivakumar became public in 2018 ultimately led to fall of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government headed by H. D. Kumarswamy.

He joined BJP with one condition that he be given the water resources portfolio that Shivakumar held and his office that allotted in Vidhan Soudha to prove a point.

Sleaze CD case: Woman's parents name Shivakumar before SIT 

The sleaze CD case took another turn on Saturday with the family members of the woman who has been accusing former Karnataka minister, Ramesh Jarkiholi of sexual exploitation, squarely blamed Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president, D.K. Shivakumar for playing a major role in releasing the CD.

As the woman released her fifth video clip and blamed Jarkiholi for harassing her family, the family members suddenly surfaced and appeared before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that is probing into the sleaze CD case.

After giving their statement to the SIT, the father and brother of the woman told reporters that they spoke with the SIT officials and gave their statement to them.

We have an audio clip of our sister and the same has been given to SIT officials. During the conversation, my sister had told us that she is at D.K. Shivakumar's house and he is sending her out from the state, for her safety. Making such videos, keeping a woman to take their political revenge is not the right thing, the brother said.

Falling short of using kidnap word, he alleged that Shivkumar was playing his own games by holding his sister in his control.

I appeal to Shivakumar not to play with our lives, he said.

While her father said that he being an ex-serviceman, he knows how to take care of his daughter as all his life he spent to protect this country and he knew better than anyone how to protect his daughter.

On the purported audio clip that was released on Friday evening, her brother said that as his sister's mobile phone was switched off on March 2, the sleaze CD released was shown all over news channels.

"After seeing these videos, we called on her friend's phone and spoke with her. She told us that the videos are morphed and edited and D.K. Shivakumar is sending her to Goa safely," he said.

Intervening at this juncture, her father said that using a Schedule Tribe (ST) woman for their political gain is a bad idea and it's dirty politics.

"We don't want to make any more allegations, we just want our daughter back home. We need the support of policemen and media persons to bring her back home. She had come home last on February 5, but after March 2, she spoke to us over the phone. The suspected kingpin media statement about the incident is false," he said.

Her brother added that if Shivakumar wants to settle any scores with anyone, let him do it on his own, but not use his sister as his pawn in this dirty game of politics.

"I only one thing ask Shivkumar, he should allow my sister to go free from his clutches," he said.

The SIT had subjected parents to questioning in the Interrogation Cell in Adugodi based on their complaint of kidnap and the woman's video clip. The SIT questioned them for over six hours from 11 a.m. to 5.30 p.m.

Senior officials including Soumendu Mukherjee, additional commissioner of police (West) (head of SIT), Sandeep Patil, joint commissioner of police (Crime), and others visited the Interrogation Cell.