Drama rocked the already volatile Karnataka Assembly when BJP MLA Arvind Limbavali teared up during a speech claiming that he was a victim of a fake gay sex video.
"It is hard to even imagine such a situation where your family has been traumatised. Only I know what my children are facing because of this defamatory video," Limbavali was quoted as saying by The Times of India.
Limbavali, Karnataka BJP general secretary and Mahadevapura MLA, spoke about the incident after JD(S) MLA KM Shivalingegowda brought it up. Shivalingegowda had spoken about the decreasing popularity of Karnataka politicians due to the trust vote.
The JD(S) MLA claimed that the politicians are also being shamed in public. While he did not explicitly mention the video, it was understood and Speaker KR Ramesh tried stopping Shivalingegowda. He said that the issue was personal and need not be discussed on this platform.
However, Limbavali stood up and said that he would like to address the issue himself. He then spoke about how the video had traumatised and humiliated him and his family.
The video was circulated on social media earlier this month.
Limbavali added, "People are taking to devious ways to stop us. It could be someone from that side (referring to the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition) or this side (his own party) or both. Please order a probe."
Two separate cases were filed by Limbavali's supporters. On Friday, the HAL police also filed a case under the IT Act after a complaint was lodged by Limbavali's assistant Girish Bharadwaj.
"Girish alleged in his complaint that Limbavali's political rivals created a morphed video to assassinate his character. The alleged video was posted on Facebook pages of Suddi Samachara and SR Srinivas Gubbi (I Support Nikhil Kumar Swamy)," a police officer had said.
Jayachandra Reddy PK, a local BJP leader, also filed a complaint regarding the video with the Marathahalli police. "Miscreants have created the video and circulated it through WhatsApp groups and a FB page named Karnataka JDS," he said.
