Chaitra admits to fraud of crores of rupees during CCB inquiry

BENGALURU: Accused of cheating businessman Govinda Babu Poojary to the tune of Rs 5 crore with the promise of getting him a BJP ticket for the Assembly elections held in May this year, Chaitra has reportedly confessed to fraud during the CCB inquiry.

During the interrogation, she said that she met Abhinava Halashri in 2018. Chaitra said she knew some BJP leaders and Abhinava Halashri had succeeded in getting tickets to six out of 10 people. He also promised to get tickets to four more people and asked her to inform him if there were any aspirants, she claimed.

Chaitra told the CCB that she got in contact with businessman Govinda Babu Poojary, a BJP ticket aspirant from Byndoor, through Prasad Byndur. Then, she joined hands with Gagan to cheat Govinda Babu Poojary. Ramesh and Dhanraj decided to introduce themselves as central BJP leaders and rehearsed for three hours. On July 4, 2022, Gagan called Govinda Babu Poojary to a guest house in Chikkamagaluru and introduced Dhanraj and Ramesh as close associates of the Prime Minister and Home Minister. Gagan demanded Rs 50 lakh during the first meet.

“Govinda Babu quickly agreed to give the money. We were happy with the unexpected response of Babu. Then we continued with our role — Rs 2 lakh had been given to Dhanraj and Ramesh, who were to act as the leaders of the high command. Then we again asked Babu for Rs 3 crore and called him near the Shivamogga RSS office again. The cash of Rs. 3 crore was brought to Mangaluru through Prasad Byndur. Out of the Rs 50 lakh given by Govinda Babu, Rs 12 lakh was given to Gagan Kadur”, Chaitra told the police. She also reportedly confessed before the CCB that she cheated Govinda Babu using Chenna Naik to pose as Vishwanath ji, a central BJP leader.

During the investigation, she admitted that she cheated Govinda Babu of Rs 5 crore. Out of this, Rs 3.2 crore was shared between Chaitra and Srikanth, Rs 1.5 crore was given to Abhinava Halashri, Rs 39 lakh to Gagan Kadur, Rs 2 lakh each to Ramesh and Dhanraj, finally Rs 1 lakh for Chenna Naik.