Siddaramaiah-led Congress rule is going on in Karnataka state. In this context, every member of the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) family in the state is given 10 kg of food grains every month under the Anna Bhagya scheme.
In this case, 6,077 quintals of rice worth over Rs 2 crore were stolen from the government warehouse in Shahapur, Yadgir district of Karnataka in 2022. The police registered a case in this regard. In this situation, the Karnataka state BJP President Manikant Rathod was arrested by the police on Wednesday yesterday, alleging that he was involved in the theft of rice for the Anna Bhagya project.
Read in English: Karnataka BJP leader arrested in Anna Bhagya rice theft case: Who is Manikanth Rathod?
Speaking to The Read in this regard, a police officer said that Manikant Rathod had not responded to several notices issued to him to appear before the inquiry committee.
Who is this Manikant Rathod?
BJP from Kalaburaki district. Activist Manikanth Rathod contested the 2023 state assembly election against Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge's son Priyank Kharge on behalf of the BJP. Priyank, who defeated Rathore in the elections, is currently the Minister for Electronics, Information Technology, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj in the Siddaramaiah cabinet.
Ahead of the assembly elections in May 2023, the Congress had accused Mallikarjun Kharge and his family of “conspiring to kill” him, according to Manikant Rathod.
At the time, AICC General Secretary in charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala released an audio clip of a conversation between Manikant Rathod and a local BJP leader. In it, Rathod said that Kharge would “fix” his wife and children.
Rejecting the Congress's allegation as “baseless” and “false”, Rathod termed the audio clip as “fake”. Rathod, 27, hails from Gurmitkal, a stronghold of Mallikarjun Kharge.
Several cases have been registered against Manikant Rathod, including attempt to murder, drug smuggling, possession of illegal weapons and threatening to kill. He is facing 40 criminal cases, of which he has been convicted in three cases and has served a year in jail so far. He is out on bail in the remaining cases.
Of the three convictions, he was charged in 2013 with reckless and reckless driving and endangering the public. Out of which he paid a fine of Rs.2,400. In 2015, she was booked and sentenced to a year in prison for stealing government-provided milk powder for children. In 2015, he had paid a fine of Rs 2,000 for giving false information to a government official.
In November 2022, Rathod allegedly threatened to kill Priyank Kharge. A case was registered against him in Kalaburki for that. He was later arrested in Hyderabad. He was released on bail in this case too.
In the affidavit submitted to the Election Commission while filing his nomination for the Assembly elections, Manikant Rathod had mentioned that his movable assets are worth Rs 11.34 crore, immovable assets worth Rs 17.83 crore and he has debts of Rs 15.33 crore. His immovable assets include agricultural land, a rice mill and residences in Hyderabad, Kalaburki and Thane in Maharashtra.
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