Hindutva activist Chaitra Kundapura released on bail

Hindutva activist Chaitra Kundapura, accused of defrauding a businessman by promising a BJP ticket worth Rs 5 crore for the Assembly election, has been released on bail.

The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Bengaluru granted bail to Chaitra Kundapura and her associate Srikanth on Tuesday, December 5.

Chaitra Kundapura was arrested on September 13 for allegedly deceiving businessman Govind Babu Pujari with assurances of securing a BJP ticket for him in the Karnataka Assembly elections. The accusations involve suspicious financial transactions from July 2022 to March 2023.

According to the FIR, Pujari became suspicious when Chaitra mentioned that the funds were held by an RSS leader named Vishwanath, who was later found to be non-existent. Following this, Chaitra and her associate Gagan Kadur went missing. Gagan Kadur, the secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) in Chikkamagaluru, remains at large.

The complainant also claimed to have given Rs 1.5 crore to a seer named Abhinava Halasri, the head pontiff of the Halashri Math in Vijayanagara. Halasri was arrested in Odisha, and Chaitra, post-arrest, mentioned that the involvement of prominent leaders in the fraud would be disclosed upon Halashri seer’s arrest.

The court has granted bail to Chaitra and Srikanth under specific conditions, including the submission of two sureties and a Rs 2 lakh bond each. The case has garnered attention for its political implications and the alleged involvement of prominent leaders.