BJP MLA Munirathna booked in gangrape case

Bengaluru: Karnataka Police have registered an FIR against BJP MLA N. Munirathna, who represents the RR Nagar Assembly constituency in Bengaluru, on the charges of orchestrating the gangrape of a party worker.

The RMC Yard police filed the FIR in Bengaluru based on a complaint of the 40-year-old victim.

In addition to MLA Munirathna, the FIR names his associates Vasantha, Channakeshava, Kamal and an unidentified individual as co-accused in the case.

According to the FIR, the police recorded the victim’s statement at the hospital in Bengaluru, where she is currently undergoing treatment.

The victim alleged that in 2013, Munirathna accused her of prostitution and got her jailed out of personal vengeance.

Upon her release, she claimed the MLA again targeted her by having his associates implicate her in a murder case, resulting in another imprisonment.

She was granted bail and released within a month.

On June 11, 2023, at around 7 p.m., the second and fourth accused allegedly visited the victim’s home, promising that the pending cases against her would be withdrawn if she accompanied them to Munirathna’s office.

The complainant alleged that at Munirathna’s office, she was sexually assaulted.

The FIR read: “The MLA got her raped by the first, second, and third accused. Later, Munirathna urinated on her face and injected her with a substance, telling her that she would suffer for the rest of her life.”

The FIR adds that the MLA warned her not to reveal details of the incident and directed his associates to drop her back home.

On January 14, 2025, the victim began experiencing severe abdominal pain. Following a blood test, doctors informed her that she had contracted a virus. This diagnosis was confirmed at Victoria Hospital.

Subsequent medical consultations revealed that she was suffering from an incurable disease, according to the FIR.

Unable to endure the pain, the victim allegedly consumed sleeping pills on the night of May 19. A neighbour found her and admitted her to the hospital.

The police have registered the FIR under IPC Sections 376D (gang rape), 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 354 (assault or criminal force to outrage modesty), 504 (intentional insult), 506 (criminal intimidation), 509 (insulting the modesty of a woman), and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).

IANS