Karthik Gowda, son of Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, Saturday moved a court for anticipatory bail in a rape and cheating case filed against him by Kannada actress Maithreyi.The actress had filed the case after 30-year-old Karthik got engaged to another woman at Kushalnagar in Kodagu district.The city sessions court, however, adjourned the case for further hearing to Sep 4 after issuing notice to the R.T. Nagar police station where the complaint was filed Wednesday.The court also asked the police station if it would file objections to Karthik's anticipatory bail plea.
Though police summoned Karthik Friday for questioning in the case registered under sections 376 (rape) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code, he did not appear till Saturday evening.The summons to Karthik was issued after the probe team began recording Maithreyi's statement Thursday.Police also asked Maithreyi to submit some documents and audio proof of conversations between her and Karthik that she said were recorded in her smartphone in the last two-three months.
Maithreyi claimed that Karthik tied the wedding knot (mangalasutra) with her June 5 at his other house in Mangalore, about 350 km from Bangalore, and that they consummated the informal marriage after he forced himself upon her.The minister and his son, however, refuted Maithreyi's charge and said her claims were part of a conspiracy to malign the family's reputation."I am pained and disturbed by Maitheryi's allegations. I will not interfere with the investigation. Truth will come out soon. Law will take its own course," Gowda reiterated Saturday on the sidelines of an event here.Meanwhile, Siddaraju, convenor of the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the BJP's youth wing, filed a police complaint against Maithreyi, seeking a probe into her allegations and accused her of blackmailing Gowda and his family.