‘Velu cooked up the kidnap story’

Refuting charges levelled against his brother Srinivas, corporator and movie producer B Govindaraju of the BJP on Thursday said businessman Velu cooked up the kidnap story to gain publicity, since his Lahari Audio company was in the doldrums.

He also said that if he was involved in the offence, he would have switched off his mobile like another corporator N Chandra, who had gone into hiding for 18 days after an assault on senior government officials.

Govindaraju’s statement also hinted that all was not well in the Kannada film industry, currently in the news for reasons other than cinema.

The corporator said he had advanced Rs50,000 to Velu for releasing the audio CDs and cassettes of his romantic flick, Olave Mandara, with Srikanth and Akanksha Mansukhani in lead roles.

Velu, however, released about 20 to 30 CDs only in Bangalore, Govindaraju alleged. “Not a single CD has been released in other districts. When I questioned him, he said he had released the CD. So I demanded a cancellation of the December 9 agreement, and a refund of the advance amount, which he has not returned till date,” Govindaraju said.

He said he had complained to the film chambers, but when there was no action on it, he lodged a complaint of cheating with the KG Halli police on Wednesday afternoon. Later that night, Velu lodged a complaint that a gang attempted to kidnap him as he was returning home from an awards function at Ambedkar Bhavan.

“My brother Srinivas and I also attended the function. Later my brother met Velu outside the venue, and demanded the advance money. There was a heated argument,” Govindaraju said.

Questioning Velu’s version of the kidnap, the corporator said that neither he nor his brother need abduct anyone. “God has given me enough,” he said.

“Velu complained that we had kidnapped and released him in just 15 minutes. Can anyone, with an intention to kidnap, let his victim go so soon? Much before Velu complained to the High Grounds police, Srinivas had lodged a complaint against him with the Shivajinagar police,” Govindaraju said.

“Even though there are more than 300 buildings coming up in my ward, I haven’t demanded money from any of the builders. I am here for social service, not for making money,” he said.