Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday, January 7, said that he has directed the Mysuru police to conduct a thorough probe into notorious sex trafficker KS Manjunath alias ‘Santro’ Ravi. “A woman has filed a complaint against him. Based on this, I have asked the Mysuru police to conduct a thorough probe into his activities and other cases he is involved in. Reports call him highly connected, so I have told the police to consider this a serious case and bring him under the law,” Bommai said.
‘Santro’ Ravi came into the spotlight recently, after pictures of him with various ministers of the BJP government surfaced. Audio clips also emerged, in which he was heard bragging about his connections to party leaders and the police. Pictures of him with Primary Education Minister BC Nagesh, Home Minister Araga Jnanendra and Health Minister K Sudhakar. However, CM Bommai denied the ministers’ links with Santro Ravi, claiming that the pictures and audio clips could have been doctored. The Chief Minister said that several people visit ministers every day, and that it is impossible to keep a track of all their backgrounds. He said the photos do not prove anything, however, since the complaint was filed, an investigation will take place.
The complaint was filed by a Dalit woman who alleged that Ravi raped her and threatened her to marry him. She alleged that when she responded to a job advertisement he had placed in a local newspaper, he drugged her with sedatives and then blackmailed her into marrying him. He was subsequently booked under the SC/ST (prevention of atrocities) Act.
After the pictures surfaced, Bommai denied links to Santro Ravi, and Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said that police will look into any pending cases against the latter. Manjunath got the prefix ‘Santro’ purportedly because he used a Hyundai Santro car to kidnap women who were then forced into the flesh trade. He has a series of cases from dowry harassment to human trafficking against him across Karnataka, dating back to 2003.