Karnataka: Main accused in voter data theft case arrested

Bengaluru: The Bengaluru city police, probing into the alleged voter data theft case, on Monday said they have arrested the main accused.

Co-founder of the Chilume Educational Cultural and Rural Development Institute (Chilume Trust) Krishnappa Ravikumar was the main accused, according to the police. The police said they registered a case against the Trust and one of its employees. The trust has three directors.

The Congress party demanded that the government arrest the founders and directors by saying that they should be questioned first to bring out the truth.

The State president of the party D K Shivakumar said he has sought an appointment with the Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Tuesday to brief the latter on the scam. The Congress leader further said his party was monitoring the way investigations were taking place.

The Opposition party alleged that the Trust had hired many private people who were given fake identity cards that showed them as booth-level officers (BLOs) of the city civic body.

The party alleged that the private trust, assigned by the Bengaluru civic agency to spread awareness among voters, collected details of the voters such as name, mother tongue, gender, religion, caste, voter ID number, and Aadhaar number.

It has demanded Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s resignation by saying he was responsible for the illegal survey since he is in charge of the Bengaluru city development.

Bommai denied the allegation, saying that such surveys took place when Congress was in power. He said he has ordered the police to investigate the matter.