A Bengaluru court has taken serious exception to the large-scale voter data theft investigated by The News Minute and rejected the anticipatory bail pleas of officials of a private company, an IAS officer, and two Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials. A sessions court in Bengaluru rejected the bail pleas of Kotresh, an official from Chilume as well as the anticipatory bail pleas of K Srinivas, former Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner and two other BBMP officials - Gultaj Fatima and Jyothilakshmi.
TNM had earlier reported on November 16 that a private company – Chilume Educational Cultural and Rural Development Trust – had misused a government order to carry out large-scale voter data theft in Bengaluru. Following the investigation, the Election Commission of India (ECI) ordered the re-verification of electoral rolls in three Bengaluru constituencies while two police cases were filed against the private company and government officials who allowed the collection of voter data.
The Indian Express reported that a sessions court in Bengaluru noted, “During the course of investigations, it is revealed that the NGO Chilume has collected the personal information and details of the voters which violates the fundamental right of the person as such the allegation is serious and affects the right of a person who casts his vote,” while rejecting the anticipatory bail pleas.
The bail pleas of Prajwal and Kempegowda, two others from Chilume, were also rejected on Thursday. Three others from Chilume Enterprises including its director Ravikumar Krishnappa have been arrested by the Bengaluru police in connection with the case while the four BBMP officers arrested in the case - VB Bheema Shankar, K Chandrashekar, Suhail Ahmed, and S Mahesh — have also approached a sessions court for bail.