Bengaluru, 9 Oct

An FIR has been registered against Congress MLA and former minister Vinay Kulkarni on allegations of rape, kidnapping and criminal intimidation, police said on Wednesday.

The case was booked following a complaint by a 34-year-old social worker at Sanjay Nagar police station, accusing the Dharwad MLA of making phone and video calls to her, they said.

In the FIR, the legislator has been named as accused number one and his close aide Arjun as accused number two, police said.

The woman has alleged that she met the MLA in 2022 and accused Kulkarni of making video calls to her and having vulgar conversations with her.

She alleged that he took her to a deserted area near the Kempegowda International Airport in Devanahalli where he raped and sexually assaulted her inside the car. He also threatened her to remain quiet.

Based on her complaint, a case was registered against the MLA under IT Act and other sections, including that of rape, kidnapping, criminal intimidation, causing disappearance of evidence, voluntarily causing hurt and assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty, according to the police.