JOIN USThe video of the sexual act involving Bagalkot MLA H Y Meti and a woman is said to have been shot at his Navanagar residence here.
The undercurrents of a suspected blackmail operation - involving District Armed Reserve constable Subhash Mugalakhod who is said to have shot the video, the victim herself, RTI activist Rajashekhar Mulali and a former police officer - make for an interesting plot.
The sex scandal going public, it is said, had its genesis in the refusal by the government - or rather Home Minister G Parameshwara - to take the former police officer back into service. Efforts were made on November 22 - when the winter session of the legislature was on in Belagavi - to release the video CD to embarrass the government, even as backroom manoeuvres were on to strike a deal.
The former police officer is said to have been the go-between in the telephonic conversation that Mugalakhod had with Mulali. In fact, Mugalakhod handed over the CD to Mulali at the instance of the former police officer.
Among the demands the group had put forth were providing a permanent job for the woman (a therapist working on contract basis at the Bagalkot district Ayurveda hospital), money for Mugalakhod and re-appointing the police officer into service.
Though the first two demands came close to being fulfilled, the last one did not materialise as Parameshwara did not want to land in a controversy as he came to know that the CD was in possession of the Opposition parties. Efforts were made to silence the woman and constable through inducements and threats, it is said.