Bengaluru, Oct 9 (IANS): Congress MLA Vinay Kulkarni from the Dharwad constituency has been booked on the charges of raping, kidnapping and threatening a 34-year-old social worker, here.

On Tuesday, Sanjaynagar Police booked Kulkarni, who is on bail in the murder case of a BJP leader.

The MLA has also been booked for criminal intimidation, intentional insult, destruction or concealment of evidence, kidnapping, rape, voluntarily causing hurt, and use of criminal force against a woman with intent to outrage her modesty.

Kulkarni has been named as the accused number one and his associate Arjun is named as the second accused in the case, police said.

The complainant said she was introduced to MLA Vinay in January 2022 and met him at his residence in Hebbal, Bengaluru.

After the meeting, Kulkarni frequently called her late in the night and sought sexual favours.

When his advances were denied, the accused used to send criminals to her place and threatened to assassinate her character.

The complainant said that she was so frightened that she agreed to meet Kulkarni at his residence, where he raped her.

Later, Kulkarni threatened her not to reveal the incident to anyone failing which he would kill her. Meanwhile, the accused promised her help so that she could make a foray into politics.

In between, audio conversations between the Congress MLA and the victim became viral.

Kulkarni's associate Arjun asked the victim to come to Bengaluru to meet the MLA. After the victim met Kulkarni, the accused snatched her phone and took her to Dharmasthala, where he again raped her.

Later, the accused took her to Dharmastahala temple and made her take a vow before God not to reveal his crime to anyone.

The complainant said that Kulkarni had claimed that he was already involved in the murder case, and if this matter came out, it would pose a great difficulty for him.