KUMAR QUESTIONED AGAIN

SHILLONG: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) questioned Kolkata Police commissioner Rajeev Kumar for the second day in Shillong on Sunday in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam, an official of the agency said.

During interrogation, Kumar was brought face to face with former Trinamool Congress parliamentarian Kunal Ghosh, who too has been brought to the Shillong office for investigation. Ghosh was arrested in 2013 and subsequently suspended by the party. CBI is probing allegations against Kumar relating to the chit fund scam.

Another ruling Janata Dal (Secular), or JD(S), lawmaker in Karnataka on Sunday claimed that opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders allegedly paid him money to switch loyalties.

K Srinivasa Gowda, the JD (S) lawmaker, told reporters in Kolar that BJP leaders CP Yogeshwar and Ashwathnarayana paid him ₹5 crore and promised to give another ₹25 crore. “They asked me to resign from the assembly, but I refused their offer,” he said.

Despite repeated attempts to reach BJP spokespersons, they were not available for comment.

The fresh allegation comes in the backdrop of a clip purportedly recorded during a meeting between BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa and another JD (S) lawmaker Nagangouda Kandkur’s son, Sharangouda.

In the clip, Yeddyurappa is purportedly heard asking Sharangouda to switch his allegiance and promises to pay ₹25 crore and a ministerial berth to his father if he agreed to join the party. Later, another person is heard claiming that speaker K R Ramesh Kumar has been influenced with the promise of ₹50 crore, a charge he has refuted.

Yeddyurappa rubbished the clip and alleged Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy has produced it. He said he was ready to resign if it is proven that the voice in the clip was his even as Yeddyurappa admitted to having met Sharangouda on Friday.

On Sunday, Yeddyurappa condemned Kumaraswamy’s “blackmail politics”. “Kumaraswamy is doing third-grade politics. Blackmail, conspiracies have begun. On the instructions of CM, Sharangouda was sent to guest house where I was staying where he recorded the conversation. Only a part of which [the conversation] was released,” he told journalists at Hubballi ahead of PM Narendra Modi’s visit on Sunday.

Yeddyurappa attacked Kumaraswamy for admitting to having asked Sharangouda to go for the meeting.

K SRINIVASA GOWDA, THE JD (S) LAWMAKER, SAID BJP LEADERS PAID HIM ₹5 CRORE AND PROMISED TO GIVE ANOTHER ₹25 CRORE