'Venkateshmurthy is no saint himself'

Moneylender, who accused minister of raping his wife, has not divorced his first wife and had allegedly forced his second wife to marry him. B V Shiva Shankar reports

Moneylender, who accused minister of raping his wife, has not divorced his first wife and had allegedly forced his second wife to marry him. B V Shiva Shankar reports

Moneylender Venkateshmurthy, who has accused former minister Haratalu Halappa of raping his wife Chandravathi, has had a checkered personal life himself.

Sources close to the family alleged that Venkateshmurthy married Chandravathi without divorcing his first wife Sumitra.

He reportedly dumped Sumitra three years after he married her in 1993 because he felt she was not pretty.
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Sumitra leads a secluded life in a hamlet in Tirthahalli where her parents' live with her younger son. The couple's elder son is allegedly with Venkateshmurthy.

Venkateshmurthy allegedly dumped Sumitra, his first wife, in 1996 and forcefully married Chandravathi, who was in love with his brother Mukunda.

"She got Rs 1.1 lakh from Venkateshmurthy but not divorce," said Ramakrishna, a family friend, and well-wisher of Sumitra.

"Sumitra is so innocent that she doesn't know that it is illegal for a Hindu male to marry for the second time without dissolving the first marriage.

While she wanted to keep both her sons with her, Venkateshmurthy would not part with their elder son," Ramakrishna said.

Chandravathi was, in fact, in love with Venkateshmurthy's brother Mukunda and had wanted to marry him.
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"Venkateshmurthy forcefully married her after calling her to a place. She was led to believe that it was Mukunda who had called her," alleged Ramakrishna.

u00a0"If Sumitra decides to lodge a case against him, Venkateshmurthy will be in real trouble," said Ramakrishna. "But, she does not have the courage because she is poor and has very little knowledge."

Venkateshmurthy, who is known to be associated with the BJP, is known to locals as a moneylender in Shimoga.

While locals said he has many cases of cheque bouncing against him, the police refused to confirm if this was the case. An officer said the situation was fraught with too many risks for him to divulge the details.

Repeated attempt to contact Venkateshmurthy failed as he did not answer calls made on his mobile phone.

The controversy

Venkateshmurthy is understood to have pestered Halappa for money owed to him. He is believed to have done so even after he recorded alleged visuals of the former minister raping his wife.
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Halappa, who was trying to resolve the issue through political means had approached senior BJP leaders, including state party president KS Eswarappa and CM Yeddyurappa.

While the leaders were making unsuccessful efforts to resolve the issue, the recording fell into the hands of Yeddyurappa's opponents, who shared it with a Kannada daily.u00a0

Party sources suspect that the Bellary Reddy brothers had a hand in kick-starting the chain of events that culminated in Halappa's ouster.

Is Chandravathi Lying?

Chandaravathi said in her complaint that she was taken to Raikar Hospital on November 27, 2009 after popping sleeping pills following the rape. She also claims to have been hospitalised in D R Hospital on February 8, 2010 after she tried to strangulate herself. The records show Chandravathi had come to Raikar Hospital on April 26, 2009, much before the incident, complaining of headache. Sources in D R Hospital said she had never come to the hospital.