The House committee, which probed the Porn film episode, has indicted former cooperation minister Laxman Savadi, while giving clean chit to C.C. Patil and Krishna Palemar, the other two BJP legislators allegedly involved in the incident. All three who were ministers in the Sadananda Gowda cabinet, resigned following the national uproar over the shameful episode.
The committee headed by Srishailappa Bidarur, submitted its report with findings and suggestions to Speaker K.G. Bopaiah. Speaking to reporters, Mr Bidarur said it was now upto the Speaker to decide on the future course of action. “We have conducted a fair inquiry and submitted a report running into 30-40 pages. Our decision is neither unilateral nor swayed by party positions. We have gone into all angles of the case. The Opposition members who were made part of the committee, should have attended the proceedings,'' he said.
Sources said the committee gave a clean chit to Patil and Palemar, saying that there was no evidence against the two to prove they had watched the porn video. Though Patil was seen peeping into the mobile handset, he did it only for a couple of seconds before walking away. The panel also pointed out that there was no evidence to suggest that the handset belonged to Mr Palemar, as claimed by Mr Savadi earlier.
The committee indicted Mr Savadi saying he himself had admitted to watching the video clipping inside the House. The evidence also pointed to him watching the objectionable video, the committee report said. Mr Savadi had admitted to watching the video by mistake and had apologised for his act. In these circumstances, the Speaker was free to decide on the action to be initiated against the member, the report stated.