Tumakuru Congress President Ramakrishnaiah, who has been accused of allegedly being involved in a sex work racket, was arrested by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) and later released on bail.
Ramakrishnaiah was caught as a customer at a guest house in Doddabidarakallu in Peenya on Saturday when police officials conducted a raid. The police have also arrested Raju, Mahantesh and Shilpa, who were the kingpins of the racket.
The police said that two women were rescued from the guest house in the raid.
The trio were produced before the 45th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate and sent to 14-day judicial custody while Ramakrishnaiah was granted conditional bail after he furbished a personal bond of Rs. 50,000.
The Central Crime Branch (CCB) acted on a tip off that they received about the racket being run in a guesthouse on 8th Main Road in Doddabidarakallu. Police officials at Peenya police station said that high profile clients including Ramakrishnaiah visited the establishment.
The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee has dismissed Ramakrishnaiah in the wake of the allegations against him. He was serving as the Tumakuru Congress District President.
The incident comes at a time when Congress President Rahul Gandhi is in the state, as part of a political tour, before the upcoming state Sssembly elections.
The BJP mounted pressure on the Congress in after the allegations against Ramakrishnaiah. Coming down heavily on the incident, the BJP quipped on Twitter that they now knew what Rahul Gandhi meant by ‘rape scam’.
Rahul Gandhi had referred to a ‘rape scam’ at a rally in Koppal on Sunday.
Yesterday we were wondering what @OfficeOfRG means by rape scam. Today, Tumkuru district President of @INCKarnataka has been caught running a brothel. Now we know what he meant #RapeScam https://t.co/aASBXZSQR8 via @DailyhuntApp
— BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) February 11, 2018
However, the Congress on the other hand, declined to comment on the issue and continued to maintain silence over the accusations against Ramakrishnaiah.
Karnataka is set to go to polls later this year in May and state politics has heated up, as the BJP and Congress have been publicly trading barbs.