Hindu activist Chaitra Kundapur, six others arrested by CCB for cheating businessman

UDUPI: The Central Crime police, Bengaluru division  have arrested seven accused, including Hindu activist Chaitra Kundapur, for allegedly duping a businessman in Kundapur. The police have also issued a notice to Congress spokesperson Anjum Suraiyya to present herself for an inquiry, as she had given shelter to Chaitra at her apartment in Udupi.

The others arrested in the case are Srikanth Nayak, Ramesh, Vishwanath, Gagan Kadur, godman Abinav Halasree, Dhanraj and Prasad Byndoor. Chaitra Kundapur is accused of duping Govinda Babu Pujari, a businessman from Byndoor and BJP leader, of Rs 7 crore after promising to get him tickets for the last Karnataka Assembly elections.

She was absconding for the past one week. She had even switched off her mobile phone and was in hiding at Congress spokesperson Anjum’s apartment. Anjum is Chaitra’s friend and the two were earlier colleagues.

The arrested were brought to Bengaluru and the police were produced before a court on Wednesday afternoon, which remanded her to 10 days police custody

On Tuesday night, when the police landed at the Udupi apartment, Chaitra tried to swallow a broken bangle and finger ring. Due to this, the police had kept her under watch the whole night in a remote location.

Chaitra and the others had escaped after a case was registered at Bandepalya police station on the September 8. After the case was registered, it was transferred to the CCB for further investigation. The police had formed three teams in Kalaburgi, Udupi and Chikkamagalur to nab the accused.

Her close friend Prasad Byndoor was caught by the CCB team in Chikkamagalur. Prasad had agreed to give Chaitra a mobile phone and a new SIM card. Chaitra had asked Prasad to meet her near the Udupi temple park. The police nabbed her at this moment.

Chaitra thought that as she is a staunch Hindu activist, there would be no doubt if she stayed in a Muslim friend’s house. She had even cancelled a programme on Sunday fearing arrest.

Govinda Babu Pujari had filed a complaint with the CCB police regarding the fraud. The police have arrested seven people in connection with the case and are interrogating them.

The deal was allegedly struck at the Kumara Krupa Guest House where Chaitra introduced Govinda Babu to one of her friends, Gagan Kadur. She said Gagan was a member of the BJP election committee in Delhi and convinced the businessman that a recommendation would be sent to Prime Minister Modi to issue tickets. She also promised Govinda Babu that she would recommend his name through RSS senior Pracharak Vishwanath ji, who has served for the past 45 years.

In Bengaluru, Police Commissioner B Dayananda said, “We had handed over the case to the CCB as soon as the complaint was registered at Bandepalya police station by Govinda Babu Pujari at Bandepalya police station”.