When the fake call recording started to make rounds in the media, a complaint was filed, claimed Gowda.
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Bengaluru: Film producer Umapathi Srinivas Gowda has filed a complaint of extortion and criminal intimidation against RTI activist Vijay Dennis. However, Dennis denied the allegations.
The complaint was filed after the media platforms were flooded with purported audio of a call record between Gowda and Dennis. In the audio, Gowda was heard answering Dennis’ plea to reverse the transfer order of his cousin, which was mediated by Gowda.
“I have already given the letter to the Home Minister. It won’t look good if I go with a change now,” Gowda was heard saying in the purported call record audio. “It was a commitment from his (Dennis’ cousin) end and I have facilitated it. Now, it cannot be reversed. I keep my words; I am a man of words.”
Dennis spoke to DH and said, “Gowda had facilitated the transfer of a friend for Rs 20 lakh. He started demanding money from my friend who was in the traffic department. As he doesn’t get such a sum even in his annual salary, he couldn’t pay. But Gowda was persistent in demanding the sum.”
Gowda denied all the claims and said the audio was fake. He claimed that Dennis called him and started threatening him for money.
Gowda told DH that he knew Dennis for the last six years or so and said, “A few weeks ago Dennis called me and asked for Rs 10 lakh. I offered to give him one lakh as I didn’t have such a huge sum. But he disconnected the call abruptly.”
Gowda claimed that Dennis called him again and threatened him. “Dennis said he was going to send an audio call recording to the media and show what he can do. I asked him to do whatever he can.”
When the fake call recording started to make rounds in the media, a complaint was filed, claimed Gowda.
C K Baba, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) told DH that based on Gowda’s complaint, an FIR has been registered in HSR Layout police station under Sections 384 (extortion) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC. “We have issued a notice to Dennis to appear in the police station for questioning,” Baba said.