Karnataka govt 'covering up' Santro Ravi's case to prevent BJP ministers, alleges Siddaramaiah

Congress leader Siddaramaiah has alleged that the Karnataka government is "covering up" the Santro Ravi case to prevent BJP ministers from being exposed.

Santro Ravi, an accused in dozens of cases including human trafficking, was arrested last week from Gujarat after he fled from Karnataka.

"Santro Ravi is a notorious criminal and the case is being covered up so that BJP ministers are not exposed," Siddaramaiah said on Wednesday.

Earlier on Monday, Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said that the state government has directed the Crime Investigation Department (CID) to investigate the complaints against Santro Ravi.

The cases registered against him pertained to money transfer, fraud, and money lending, police said.

Additional Director General of Police, Alok Kumar had said that Ravi had escaped from the police and went into hiding in Gujarat, following which the police had ordered the formation of investigation teams under the leadership of senior police officers for his arrest.

Earlier, the Janata Dal-Secular leader Kumaraswamy also reacted to Santro Ravi's arrest from Gujarat.

He had alleged that state Home Minister Jnanendra "might have taken" Santro Ravi to Gujarat to "safeguard" him.

"Let's see what's next. Now after the arrest of Santro Ravi some names should come out. In my opinion, who took him to Gujarat and Rajasthan? Who took him there? Who allowed him to go there from the Karnataka border? How was it possible to go at this situation? How did he go there? I feel that the home minister might have gone with him to safeguard him," Kumaraswamy had said.

(ANI)

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