A sleaze video footage aired on news channels on Friday, in which a few local BJP leaders were allegedly seen, led to the Bidar police registering two cases.
While the first was a suo motu case against unidentified persons for outraging the modesty of women, the second was a defamation case based on a complaint by the BJP leaders against the news channels that aired the footage.
Trouble began when some channels aired clip of a striptease and identified the men in the clip as Babu Wali, former general secretary of the BJP district unit, and B.S. Kudre, BJP leader and former general manager of the District Central Cooperative Bank.
The news item on channels featured a woman, who was identified as the dancer in the footage. This woman was also quoted as saying Rajshekar Patil, Humnabad MLA, along with Mr. Wali and Mr. Kudre, were regular visitors to nude dance parties in Hyderabad.
‘Political conspiracy’
The BJP leaders, however, said it was a four-year-old clip uploaded on video streaming websites from a user who claimed to be from Pakistan. Mr. Patil and Mr. Wali suspected a political conspiracy behind the issue. The police said they were focusing on all aspects of the case, including the conspiracy angle.
Mr. Patil sought a high-level inquiry into the incident and demanded that the matter be referred to the privileges committee of the Legislative Assembly.
To approach court
The BJP State media cell in Bangalore issued a press release stating that the party would approach the courts against the “attempt at defaming” its leaders.
Basavaraj Patil Ashtur, State executive member of the BJP, regretted that some State leaders, including Pralhad Joshi, State unit president of the party, had initially disowned Mr. Wali and Mr. Kudre by saying they were not party office-bearers, rather than support the party workers.
