'Fake' letter: Shobha Karandlaje comes out in support of scribe

Bengaluru: BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje Tuesday came out in support of a journalist who was arrested recently for allegedly circulating a ‘fake letter’ purportedly written by State Home minister M B Patil to Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi two years ago on religious minority tag to Lingayats.

Patil had termed the letter fake and alleged that it was a conspiracy against him by his rivals.

The MP wanted to know why the ‘fake letter’ based on which journalist Hemanth Kumar, reportedly a BJP sympathiser, was arrested, not investigated when it first surfaced in 2018.

“Why cases were not registered when the letter first surfaced in 2018..It is a proof that a political conspiracy is going on in the State against the BJP rank and cadre,” Karandlaje told reporters.

She also trashed the charge that the letter originated in the BJP office.

BJP leader Shivakumar said Karandlaje met Kumar at the Criminal Investigation Department office here while he was being taken to court as his police custody ended Tuesday.

Cases have also been registered against two women for allegedly circulating the letter.