Police have registered a sexual harassment case against Karnataka BJP leader Arun Kumar Puthila based on a 47-year-old woman’s sexual abuse complaint. The woman alleged that the politician sexually assaulted her against her wish after threatening to commit suicide at a Bengaluru hotel in June 2023. “He took photos, selfies, and videos during the alleged assault and used them to blackmail”, the woman alleged in her complaint.

The FIR includes multiple offenses, including threatening to kill, forcibly taking the victim to a hotel in Bengaluru, sexually harassing her, cheating, and physical and mental torture. The complainant stays in a rented facility in the city. The woman said that he used to support the politician on social media.

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“In the first week of June 2023, he asked me to come to a hotel in Bengaluru and sexually harassed me. Later, he blackmailed me and used to call me wherever he went. He exploited me physically and mentally, assuring me that he would provide everything for my daughter throughout her life. Arun used to get his work done by threatening me with photos, selfies, audio, and videos recorded when I was with him. After the 2024 Lok Sabha election, he reduced contact with me. Now, I don’t even have money to pay rent and have no job either,” a news portal, Daijiworld, quoted the victim.

However, the BJP leader has denied the allegations, calling them false and a pre-planned act. “Political vengeance also appears to be involved in this plot. Any accusation should be truthful. This is not something that will please God. He will decide everything,” the media house qoated Puthil.

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Puthila had gained fame after contesting the Puttur Assembly elections as a rebel candidate against the BJP. Notably, he joined the saffron party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.