Honeytrap bid on MLA Thippareddy? Police launch hunt for video caller

CHITRADURGA: In what is being seen as an attempt to honeytrap Chitradurga BJP MLA G H Thippareddy, a woman posing nude apparently made a WhatsApp video call to the lawmaker. A complaint has since been lodged with the Chitradurga cyber crime police.

The call, made from the number 84******33, reportedly originated from some northern state, possibly Odisha, West Bengal or Rajasthan. Some obscene videos were also sent to Thippareddy’s phone. The police are now on the lookout for the sender of the videos.

Speaking to Public TV in Bengaluru, Thippareddy said, “When I was going through the newspapers around 8 am on Monday, I received a WhatsApp call. I couldn’t understand what the caller was saying. So I asked ‘aap kaun hai’, ‘who is there?’. Then the call got cut. Some time later, there was another call, which was when I saw the screen and there was a woman posing nude. But I kept the phone aside. After some time, there was yet another call, so I gave the phone to my wife who blocked the caller.” There were three calls in a span of 2-3 minutes, he noted.

Chitradurga MLA G H Thippareddy said he does not suspect a political conspiracy behind the video call.

Further, he said, there seemed to have been another such call on Tuesday, but he did not respond. “I met a police inspector at a function, who advised that it would be better to inform the cyber crime police. I spoke to the SP also and he too suggested the same. The cyber crime police have taken pictures of the call log from my phone. Apart from this, I have not paid much attention to the incident”, he said.

To a question whether it could be a political ploy to trap him, he said, “I have not even considered that. It’s not right to doubt anyone just like that.”

On whether he had any such experience earlier, Thippareddy said that he has been in politics since 1969 and those days, there were no such issues. “All these are recent developments and this was the first time it happened to me. I do not understand much about WhatsApp calls and the like. I take the help of my assistants, drivers or gunman”, he added.

“I have to be concerned only if I have done some mistake. I am not at all perturbed by what has happened. I haven’t even given it a thought if it could be a political conspiracy. There’s no need to bring it to the attention of the CM or the Home minister”, the senior leader said.