Karnataka sting probe: Home Minister points to Kumaraswamy's people, he says the inquiry is built to mislead

Bengaluru's police commissioner said on 1 November that an investigation into a hidden-camera video targeting former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had led to people working for a social media team, with the trail passing through a road in New Delhi where Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has his official residence. Kumaraswamy said on 2 November that the probe is meant to mislead.

No court has ruled on any of the claims below.

What the police say

Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh told reporters that one man had been arrested in Delhi the previous week and that two others remained at large. According to his account in ThePrint, two of them bought a phone at a shop in Karol Bagh and handed it over at Kushak Road to the third.

Singh said all three work for the social media team of "that office," without saying which office. ThePrint's report described one of them as an aide working in Kumaraswamy's social media wing. "We have got technical evidence in terms of CCTV and other technical details," Singh said, adding that financial transactions between two of them were part of it. He said the two at large had not replied to notices, and had, as per police information, applied for anticipatory bail.

ThePrint reported that police had investigated the video, uploaded in September, and declared it fabricated. Siddaramaiah has denied its allegations and called it politically motivated, The News Minute reported. A Bengaluru civil court has granted an interim injunction restraining certain media organisations and platforms from publishing allegedly defamatory content linking him to it.

Kumaraswamy's response

Kumaraswamy said the probe's aim was to "protect those who produced this video" and clear Siddaramaiah. He said police were being pressured to focus on him and that call logs were being selectively leaked. "Why so hurriedly, commissioner in front of you, he leaked several developments," he said of the police briefing. ThePrint noted that he did not overtly deny links with the main accused.

He also called Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar the "root cause" of sting operations in the state, and alleged a role for him in the leak of the Prajwal Revanna videos in 2024. Those are his allegations; ThePrint's report did not carry a response from Shivakumar to them.

How the row began

On 6 October, Shivakumar reportedly cautioned ministers about possible sting operations at a Cabinet meeting. The next day, Kumaraswamy alleged that Shivakumar had used a sting against Siddaramaiah to force him from office. "Shivakumar became Chief Minister after carrying out a sting operation," he said, without giving details of it.

The Congress's Ramesh Babu, who chairs the party's state media department, called this a "politically motivated and baseless attempt" and said Kumaraswamy was trying to please the BJP.

On 15 October, Kumaraswamy held a sit-in at the police commissioner's office after he said two members of his party's social media team had been picked up for questioning. Later that month, The News Minute reported, Power TV head Rakesh Shetty was taken into custody for questioning and released, and he sought anticipatory bail. Siddaramaiah had named Shetty in his complaint, and Kumaraswamy has also called him the prime accused. We found no outcome of that bail application.

The government's line

Home Minister Priyank Kharge said on 1 November that technical findings pointed to Kumaraswamy's people. "irrefutable evidence is available. They cannot deny it all," he said. On 2 November, without naming Kumaraswamy, he accused a Union minister of pushing the Centre to use the Income Tax Department and Enforcement Directorate against Karnataka ministers. Minister Krishna Byre Gowda wrote on X that "Mr Kumaraswamy himself was the mastermind." These are political claims that have not been tested in court.

The commissioner said the investigation can move forward only once the two men at large are questioned.