Bengaluru: City-based journalist S.A. Hemanth Kumar, who was arrested for allegedly circulating a 'fake letter', purportedly written by home minister M.B. Patil, was sent to judicial custody here on Tuesday.
The 'letter' was addressed to Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi in 2017, seeking a separate religion tag for the Lingayat community.
A special court passed the orders following the expiry of three days police custody. The court has directed the prosecution to file objection in the matter including the application filed by the accused seeking bail.
He has been sent to judicial custody till May 9, and the hearing for bail plea is scheduled for Thursday.
As for the case, Mr Patil has termed the letter fake and alleged that it was a conspiracy hatched against him by his rivals.
The journalist was arrested "based on credible evidence corroborated by an oral statement," police said.
The 'letter' had first emerged during the Karnataka Assembly elections in 2018. It resurfaced during the current Lok Sabha election with BJP first publishing it on its Twitter handle on April 15.
Meanwhile, former minister and Member of Parliament, Shobha Karandlaje, who met Hemanth Kumar while he was in police custody on Tuesday, accused the state government and home minister M B Patil of resorting to witch hunt against BJP sympathizers and party workers.
In a statement released to the media, she said Mr Hemanth Kumar was detained in CID office since four days, and subjected to mental torture. "We have faith in the judiciary. Mr Hemanth Kumar will be proven innocent in court, she added.
Clarifying that she has not met any police officer in this regard so far, she said the BJP has lost faith in the police department as officers were functioning like "agents of Congress-JD (S) government."
