Karnataka ex-minister attempts suicide

Karnataka's former BJP minister S.A. Ramdas attempted suicide by hanging himself soon after checking into a guesthouse here, BJP sources said Wednesday.

But Ramdas survived and was out of danger though he was under observation in a hospital, a party source told IANS. The incident happened late Tuesday.

Ramdas, a 54-year-old bachelor, was reportedly upset after learning that a woman claimed that they had got married recently and threatened to expose their relationship with audio and video evidence.

"He (Ramdas) threatened to commit suicide if I spoke to the media and revealed our conversations which I had recorded on my mobile handset," she said.

Ramdas, who held the medical education portfolio in the first Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state, lost to the Congress in the May 2013 assembly elections from Krishnaraja in the Old Mysore region.