Hartal Halappa was accused of allegedly raping the wife of his financier-friend Following the accusations, Halappa had to resign from the cabinet to save the first -ever BJP government from embarrassment Halappa was the food and civil supplies minister in the then BJP government led by BS Yeddyurappa
The fate of former BJP minister Haratal Halappa who is facing the alleged sexual misconduct with the wife of his financier-friend will be decided today as the Shivamogga court will pronounce the judgement in a few hours.
Halappa was the Food and Civil Supplies minister in the then BJP government. Halappa was accused of allegedly raping the wife of his friend when he stayed in their residence on November 29, 2009.The BJP government was in severe embarrassment when a Kannada daily then broke the story.
Interestingly, even before a formal complaint was lodged against him, Halappa had quit the ministry reportedly to save the Yeddyurappa-led government from the embarrassment. The victim has been identified as Chandramathi. Her husband Venkatesh Murthy had later lodged a complaint against the minister seeking punishment for Halappa.
Halappa who had vehemently denied these allegations (even after resigning) had later stated that it was a political conspiracy by his political rivals. He had suspected his rivals Beluru Gopalakrishna, former chief minister S Bangarappa and his sons behind the incident.
Halappa, considered a close lieutenant of former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa, was a three-time MLA from the Sorab constituency in Shivamogga district. Shivamogga is the home district of BJP stalwarts both Yeddyurappa and KS Eshwarappa. With Assembly elections scheduled for next year, Halappa wants to come clean on the charges made on him. The Shivamogga court that had adjourned the matter on August 8 will take up the case again on August 17 and is expected to give the verdict by 11 am.
