Karnataka ex-minister to undergo DNA test over rape charge

BANGALORE - Former Karnataka minister Haratalu Halappa, facing rape charge, will be subjected to a DNA test as his plea against it was rejected by the Karnataka High Court Thursday.

Halappa, who quit as food and civil supplies minister May 2 after he was accused by his friend’s wife of raping her, opposed the plan of Karnataka police to conduct a DNA test on him.

He had moved the high court against the order of a magistrate’s court in his home district Shimoga, about 270 km from, permitting the test.

Justice C.R. Kumaraswamy of the high court Thursday upheld the Shimoga magistrate’s order and dismissed Halappa’s appeal.

Halappa surrendered to Shimoga police May 9 and has been remanded in judicial custody till June 7.

But he has not stayed in jail and got himself admitted to a Shimoga hospital the same day complaining heart, blood sugar and vertigo problems.

At present he is in a government hospital in Bangalore. He has filed a petition in the high court seeking bail.

Chandravathi, wife of Venkatesha Murthy, a financier in Shimoga, has alleged that Halappa invited himself to dinner to their home in Shimoga Nov 26 last year, stayed back in the night and raped her after sending her husband out to get medicines.

Halappa has denied the charges.