Former MLA was ready to marry ‘fraudster’ Shweta Gowda

Bengaluru: Former minister and Kolar district BJP leader Varthur who is an accused in a Rs 2.5 crore fraud case to a jewellery businessman, on Tuesday returned Rs 12 lakh in cash and 100 grams of gold ornaments given by his friend Shweta Gowda to the Pulakeshi Nagar Sub-Division ACP. Meanwhile, police investigation has revealed that Varthur Prakash, who was about to marry Shweta Gowda, had also made preparations for the engagement in Tirupati.

The former minister appeared before Pulakeshi Nagar Sub-Division ACP Geetha, who is the investigating officer, at around 10.15 am following the issuance of a notice for the investigation into the fraud case. The investigating officers questioned the for-mer minister for four hours regarding this case and recorded his statement.

At this time, the accused confessed to his association with Shweta and returned the Rs 12 lakh cash, three bracelets and a ring, along with 100 grams of jewellery that she had given him, top sources said.

‘I did not know that Shweta was a fraud. I made a mistake by befriending her. I did not know her business completely’ Prakash said. It is learnt that Varthur Prakash had confessed during the interrogation that he did not know that she had brought jewel-lery to my house. I had met Shweta through Facebook five or six months ago. She had said that she would run a jewellery business. So I went with Shweta to buy gold at the shop of Navratna Jewellers owner Sanjay Bhapan. But he clarified that he did not know about her fraud.

ACP Geeta, who recorded this statement, has asked him to appear for questioning if it is necessary for the investigation at the next stage. He stated that he did not know anything at the beginning of the interrogation. Since he is a politician, he added many people come to my house every day. Shweta Gowda is not my friend.

The ACP has presented the former minister with his chat history with Shweta, who was calling this a false allegation. Surprised by this information, he is said to have finally opened up about their friendship in detail.