Phone used in Siddaramaiah sting operation was taken to Kumaraswamy home: Police chief

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Nov 2, 2026: The mobile phone allegedly used in the sting operation targeting former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was purchased in New Delhi and changed hands at the official residence of Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Bengaluru Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh said on Sunday.

The Union Minister rejected the allegations, saying that neither the state government nor its officers can touch him.

Citing arrested accused Ritesh Pandey’s statement, the police commissioner said that the handover of the mobile phone took place on the instructions of one Prajwal Prasad, who was present at the Union Minister’s residence. Last week, the Central Crime Branch (CCB) had arrested Pandey from Delhi and brought him to Bengaluru. Eventually, Pandey secured bail but the police had recorded his statement.

Singh said, “The investigating teams are doing different investigations from various angles… Ritesh Pandey, one of the accused from Delhi, has disclosed in his statement that he, on the instructions of one Prajwal Prasad, had gone along with Vinod Sharma to a mobile shop in Karol Bagh in Delhi and purchased a mobile.”

“After the purchase, both Ritesh Pandey and Vinod Sharma returned to Kushak Road in New Delhi – to the residence of Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy – and handed over the particular mobile to Prajwal Prasad, who was inside. This is as per the statement of Pandey, who was working on the instructions of Prasad. All these three people are supposedly working for the social media team of that office,” the Police Commissioner added.

Sharing more details of the investigation, Singh said, “As of now, we have issued notices to Vinod Sharma and Prajwal Prasad. Both of them have not replied to the notices and they are absconding, and they have, as per our information, applied for anticipatory bail. Further investigation in this will only be possible once we interrogate these two persons. We have got technical evidence which may be in terms of CCTV, in terms of other technical details, and financial transactions between Prajwal Prasad and Ritesh Pandey. So, whatever the statement as of now given by Ritesh Pandey regarding the mobile phone… he has repeatedly said the name of Prajwal Prasad and that he had gone along with Vinod Sharma. These are being verified.”

Asked whether Kumaraswamy had been issued any notice or whether his direct involvement in the alleged sting operation had been established, Singh said that investigation is underway and it is too early to draw conclusions.

On Sunday, addressing the media at Kalaburagi, Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge said, “The police have collected technical evidence and it has indicated the residence of Kumaraswamy and his associates. What I am saying is not circumstantial evidence, but hard, technical and irrefutable evidence that a Union Minister is indulging in dirty politics to malign senior leaders like Siddaramaiah, DK Shivakumar and Mallikarjun Kharge.” He added: “This is just the trailer; the movie is yet to come.”

Kharge’s statement comes at a time when Siddaramaiah is in New Delhi and is expected to meet Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

Responding to the police commissioner’s statement, Kumaraswamy on Sunday evening said, “I will give full details on Monday. I will tell you who this sting operation will boomerang on. Who is this police commissioner? Is he a police commissioner? He has given a statement worse than that of a head clerk. Whose obligation is he working under?”

He added: “I know what the commissioner is doing to save his post. I will tell you what is going on inside the department… I know which direction the investigation into the sting operation is taking and how far it is going. I will tell you how this government is functioning. This government and these officers cannot touch Kumaraswamy. They cannot take on Kumaraswamy so easily.”

Reacting to Home Minister Kharge’s “trailer” remark, the Union Minister said, “What ‘trailer’ is all this? I am the one who has made films. They have just started making films now. I will explain their film in detail tomorrow.”

The Controversy

In early October, two videos started doing the rounds on YouTube in which a woman from Keralam spoke of her association with Siddaramaiah in 2011, when she was, reportedly, still a minor.

On October 6, Siddaramaiah filed a police complaint in which he stated that some unidentified creators of a YouTube video were spreading fake news. “On 27-09-2026, some unknown persons made false, malicious and false allegations against the complainant on a YouTube channel, secretly filmed a (clandestine) video on the social media platform, published the video on YouTube and circulated it publicly, causing damage to the public honor and life of the complainant, and an investigation should be conducted against the persons who created it with malicious intent and disseminated it on YouTube,” says the FIR registered on the basis of Siddaramaiah’s complaint.

The police, while investigating the case, questioned several persons including Power TV MD Rakesh Shetty, ousted Congress leader Krupa Alva and certain individuals connected to the social media wing of Janata Dal (Secular). Recently, the city police had questioned the woman who claimed that she had never actually met Siddaramaiah and had spoken in the video as per the instructions of “certain people.”