BJP MLA Munirathna accused of orchestrating gang rape, urinating on woman

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, May 21, 2025: In fresh trouble for BJP MLA Munirathna, police have named him in a new FIR after a woman accused him of getting her gang-raped, urinating on her face and injecting her with a deadly virus.

The FIR, registered by the RMC Yard police on Tuesday, also names Munirathna’s three accomplices Vasantha, Channakeshawa and Kamal.

The 40-year-old victim, said to be a BJP worker, stated that the alleged incident took place at Munirathna’s office near JP Park in Mathikere on June 11, 2023. She was allegedly taken there by Vasantha and Kamal in a Toyota Innova on the MLA’s orders.

The woman told the police that Munirathna, Vasantha and Channakeshawa stripped her despite her protests and threatened to kill her son if she didn’t cooperate. "Munirathna then egged Vasantha and Chennakeshawa on to rape me.. Later, he urinated on my face," she said in her statement to the police.

She further alleged that during the ordeal, an unidentified man entered the room and gave Munirathna a white box. Munirathna pulled a syringe from the box and injected it into her. He threatened to destroy her family if she spoke about the incident.

The woman also alleged that prior to the incident, she had been arrested in "false cases" filed at the Peenya and RMC Yard police stations at Munirathna’s behest. After her release, Vasantha and Kamal visited her home and took her to Munirathna’s office, promising that the MLA would get all cases against her dropped.

The woman told the police that she was hospitalised in January and discovered that she had contracted a virus. Depressed at what had happened to her, she popped pills on May 19 and fell unwell.

Police have invoked IPC sections 376D (gang rape), 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 509 (word, gesture, or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman).

A senior police officer overseeing the case said a requisition would be sent to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to take over the case. The SIT is already probing multiple cases against Munirathna.