Senior Karnataka minister accused of seeking sex in return for favours

BENGALURU: A senior minister in the Siddaramaiah cabinet in Karnataka has been accused of seeking sex in return for favours in the first such scandal to hit the three-and-a-half year old Congress government in the state.

The minister, H Y Meti, 71, who holds the excise portfolio belongs to Siddaramaiah’s community and is the only other Kuruba (shepherd) in the cabinet. An RTI activist from Ballari, Rajashekar Molali, has released an audio file of a phone conversation he had with a person named Subash, who claims to be close to Meti. Subash refers to a video CD of the minister’s sexual escapades and tells Molali this should not be released. He talks of a monetary compromise and and also strong arm tactics to prevent release of such a CD.

Molali told ET from the police station in Ballari, where he had gone to file a complaint of criminal intimidation and harassment based on the audio file, “I do not have the CD, I was just shown it. I think the matter should come out in the public and that the minister should resign. I am not connected with any political party, I am an anti-corruption activist and a follower of Anna Hazare,” he said.

A woman, with a partially masked face, claiming to be the one in the purported sex CD, appeared on a private Kannada channel, BTV, stating that Meti demanded the sexual favours in return for carrying out a transfer in his department. “The woman herself has come forward to tell TV channels this. I am not sure of my future course of action as the minister is a part of this government,” Molali said, adding that he was uncertain about naming the minister in his complaint.

A furious Meti, speaking to media persons in his hometown of Bagalkote, rubbished the allegations. “Let them release the CD. I have not done anything wrong. I don’t know this person and nobody has threatened him. I am old, does that mean I cannot sleep? A video can be taken anywhere, even inside my house when I am with my wife,”” he said.


Siddaramaiah said he would find out details of the case before reacting.