Aravind Limbavali lands in controversy after verbal spat with woman

Bengaluru: MLA Aravind Limbavali has landed in another controversy over the verbal abuse of a woman. The woman, identified as Ruth Sagai, said she would take legal recourse against the alleged abuse by the lawmaker.

According to an ANI report, the BJP MLA was caught on camera getting aggressive with a Congress party worker who was complaining to him about the demolition of her property in Bengaluru’s Varthur area. “I am Ruth Sagai Mary Ameela. I have been in Congress for eight years now. A compound connected to our home and Rajakaluve was demolished without intimation. I asked officials to stop as it’s not encroached as per documents,” ANI quoted the woman as saying.

The MLA, expressing his willingness to apologise, maintained that the woman has encroached on the area, causing problems to the people. “I am ready to apologise for this. But this same worker of your party, Ruth Sagai Mary, has occupied Rajkalu for many years and caused problems to people, ask her to vacate it. Ask your activist to stop her stubbornness right here,” Limbavali tweeted in Kannada and English, with images showing waterlogging in the area, while responding to a tweet by Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala.

The aggressive verbal spat between the ruling party MLA and the opposition party’s worker reportedly happened on Friday, September 2 and was caught on a camera, the video of which went viral. In the clip, the MLA is seen trying to snatch what looks like a complaint letter from the woman multiple times in front of a crowd.

During the altercation, when the woman asked him to speak respectfully, Limbavali called for a lady cop to intervene and take her away. She was later taken to the police station by a woman cop. Earlier on Thursday, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board demolished the boundary wall of a commercial building stating that it was built on a spruit that takes away rainwater.

Ruth Sagai Mary Ameela, the owner of the complex, opposed the move, claiming that the wall was built after necessary government approval. She further claimed that the Limbavali MLA abused her husband and asked police to take him away.

“At 3 pm, MLA Limbavali came to our place and abused my husband. He asked the police to take him away. Then my husband called me. I went to speak to MLA but his PA and supporters stopped me. He asked his supporters to attack me,” she alleged “Now FIR has been filed against my husband, son and me,” Mary Ameela told ANI.

She also alleged that the police did not lodge her complaint for five hours and made her sit at the station. “Police did not take our complaint for five hours. They made us sit in the station for five hours. I will fight it legally. I am a social worker and Congress member. My party came in support later,” she added.

Following incessant rains, many parts of the Mahadevpur constituency got inundated. The MLA visited the Rajkaluve encroachment site and the compound wall of the commercial building adjacent to the Rajkaluve was demolished with bulldozers.

(With ANI inputs)