Old man's a blackmailer

Advocate Santosh Kumar and his alleged 'girlfriend' accuse neighbour of harassing them for money

Manoranjini, who was accused by her neighbour Srinivasa Rao of having an illicit affair with advocate Santosh Kumar, told the city police commissioner it was 70-year-old Srinivas who was harassing her and not Santosh.

After meeting commissioner SM Bidari, she told the media, "Rao is a blackmailer. He has filed 10 cases against me in different police stations and extracted Rs 23 lakh till date."

Lakshman from Banashankari endorsed the allegations saying he had filed a false attempt to murder case against him to extract money.

Srinivasa Rao filed a complaint against Santosh Kumar alleging that he threatened to rape his daughters.

Head constable Manjunath from JP Nagar police station picked up Santosh from Cubbon Park and took him to the police station. Santosh in the meantime managed to garner support from the advocate association saying the sub inspector verbally abused him. His colleagues staged a protest at the police station demanding the officer justifies Santosh's detention.

Buying time

According to sources, Santosh knew he was going to be arrested since the complaint filed against which is serious in nature. "Since he did not have anticipatory bail he wanted to buy time to avoid arrest," said a police officer.

The officer said Santosh was involved in similar cases pending in Banashankari, but he had obtained bail for that case.

However, police commissioner Bidari said he did not know if Santosh had got bail for the current case against him. He has asked them to give their complaint in writing so that he could initiate appropriate action against the one found guilty.

The case so far

Rao, a retired LIC officer, alleged that Santosh Kumar had an illicit relationship with his neighbour; Manoranjini but they broke up after having 10 months. Santosh Kumar accused Rao of being responsible for the break up and threatened to destroy his family.

Manoranjini also accused Rao of playing a major role in her divorce from her husband, KS Kedarnath, a jeweler.