PUNE, NOV 12: The Crime branch of the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has launched a probe into allegations by Ranga Gangadhar Kulathoor, a city-based builder-turned-actor who plays the role of a villain in South Indian films, that he was falsely implicated in a rape case by the former in-charge of Sahakarnagar police station Inspector R S Kondhalkar.

Kulathoor alias Rangaseth claimed that Kondhalkar had falsely accused him of raping and assaulting his former telephone operator. ``I never harmed her. In fact, it was she and her relatives who attacked me with a kukri on February 4, 1997,'' Rangaseth said while justifying his use of a revolver to defend himself. ``Mai to kabhi gunehgar thach nahi. Mereku policewalone khamkha fasaya,'' (I was never a criminal. I was implicated falsely.) he said. Admitting that the girl was his employee, Rangaseth claimed that in June 1994 she had borrowed Rs 25,000 from him, a sum she never repaid. ``She had written a love letter to me in 1996. I showed the letter to my wife who retaliated by sacking the telephone operator,'' he said.

``On February 4, I was attacked by the girl and her relatives. I fired a few rounds into the air from my revolver in self-defence,'' said Rangaseth, adding that he then went to Sahakar Nagar police station to lodge a complaint. ``Kondhalkar refused to take down my complaint,'' Rangaseth said, alleging that Kondhalkar had demanded Rs 2 lakh from him. ``When I refused, he arrested me,'' he added. After a month in custody, Rangaseth was granted bail. Later, he approached Gopinath Munde and the NHRC to protest against the harassment, he said.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.