Founder of KJP Prasanna Kumar missing

Founder of Karnataka Janata Party, Prasanna Kumar with B S Yeddyurappa (File photo)

Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) founder Prasanna Kumar has been reported missing since Monday December 9.

Ashoknagar police said that his father Nanjundappa filed a complaint on Saturday afternoon.

The family told the police that Mr. Kumar had left his residence, at Tayappa Garden in Shantinagar, on Monday around 10.30 am for a meeting called by KJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa, but has not been heard from since then.

His family members said Mr. Kumar had left his cell phone at home as it was being charged. The family said they contacted his friends, but no one knows his whereabouts. The Ashoknagar police are investigating.

‘Fabricated’

Meanwhile, the KJP issued a statement terming reports linking its leader Mr. Yeddyurappa to the disappearance of Mr. Kumar as false and fabricated. KJP leader V. Dhananjay Kumar said Mr. Yeddyurappa had not met Mr. Kumar ever since the latter’s expulsion from the party about eight months ago.

The statement maintained that Mr. Kumar had nothing to do with the KJP and that this was evident from a notification issued by the Election Commission as well as the verdict of the Karnataka High Court.

Legal tussle

Earlier, Mr. Kumar was involved in a legal tussle with Mr. Yeddyurappa over control of the KJP and he had even taken the matter up with the Election Commission of India.