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Tuesday, Jun 24, 2008
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Padmapriya suicide case: police arrest Atul Rao

Staff Correspondent

He has been taken into custody on charges of kidnapping and abetment to suicide

Manipal: The police arrested Atul Rao, childhood friend of Udupi MLA K. Raghupati Bhat, who allegedly helped his (Mr. Bhat’s) wife Padmapriya Bhat to go to New Delhi, in Mangalore on Monday, on charges of kidnapping and abetment to suicide.

Padmapriya Bhat committed suicide in a flat in New Delhi on June 15. Mr. Rao was brought to Manipal at about 6 p.m.

Addressing presspersons here on Monday, the investigating officer B.G. Achar said that Atul Ram alias Atul Rao was arrested at 1.30 p.m. from a spot in Mangalore on Monday.

Asked if Mr. Rao was in a hospital in Mangalore when he was arrested, he said: “Atul was not in a hospital. We got information that he was at a place in Mangalore and we arrested him from there.”

Mr. Achar said Mr. Rao was arrested following a complaint given by Mr. Bhat and after seeking legal opinion. A case was registered on Sunday night.

Mr. Rao was arrested under Sections 365 (kidnapping) and 306 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.

He would be produced in a Udupi court on Tuesday.

“The investigations are going on. I will be interrogating him (Mr. Rao). Many witnesses are yet to be questioned. Evidence is being collected. We (the police) visited Kunjargiri with Atul Rao today (Monday). A first information report (FIR) has been filed and has been dispatched to the court,” he said.

When asked about Mr. Atul Rao’s health, Mr. Achar said: “We are following all the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in this regard. He will be produced before a doctor.”

Members of the Udupi Block Congress Committee staged a dharna in front of the taluk office and later staged a “rasta roko” for sometime here on Monday demanding a CBI probe into the death of Padmapriya Bhat, wife of Udupi MLA K. Raghupati Bhat.

Congress leader Pramod Madhwaraj said that though the Congress had faith in the State police, it had been reduced to “being a puppet in the hands of Home Minister V.S. Acharya.

KPCC spokesperson M.G. Hegde said that even a CBI probe might not reveal much as “all the evidence was systematically destroyed from day one by the police under the instructions of the Home Minister.”

The BJP was now saying that Mr. Bhat was grieving and a private matter should not be politicised. But it was the Sangh Parivar which had indulged in moral policing and made life difficult for people in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts.

BJP charge

The Udupi district unit of BJP has said that the Congress is trying to politicise the Padmapriya Bhat case.

In a press release issued here, the BJP stated that it was ready for any probe into the issue. The Congress wanted a CBI probe because it wanted to twist the case for its own benefit.

Ex-Minister’s demand

Our Delhi Special Correspondent reports:

Former Union Minister D.K. Tara Devi Siddhartha on Monday demanded that the Karnataka Government hand over the Padmapriya case probe to the CBI.

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