It will be ʼgoodʼ if Yediyurappa appears before CID in POCSO case soon: Minister G Parameshwara
Bengaluru(PTI): Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Friday said that with a non-bailable arrest warrant against him in a POCSO case, it will be "good" if former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa comes back to Bengaluru soon and appears before the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which is probing it. According to reports, the veteran BJP leader has gone to an “undisclosed” location in New Delhi.
"Warrant has been issued, he will be brought and information will be gathered from him, and further action will be taken in accordance with law," Parameshwara told reporters.
On Yediyurappa's whereabouts, Parameshwara said he is said to have gone to Delhi and has informed that he will be back on June 17.
"Now that a warrant has been issued, it is good if he comes back soon," he said.
A Bengaluru court on Thursday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Yediyurappa in the case registered against him under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act on March 14 this year.
The Special Investigation Team of the CID had moved the First Fast Track Court seeking an arrest warrant against him since he failed to appear for questioning on Wednesday.
Yediyurappa had sought time to join the probe.
When asked about BJP alleging "vendetta politics" on the part of the ruling Congress, Parameshwara said: "They have to say such things, what else can they say?"
Answering a question as to why the police was "silent" for three months and all of a sudden is now acting on the case after the Lok Sabha election polls are over, the Minister said: "investigation was on, FSL reports had to come. Procedurally what has to be done is being done, because he (Yediyurappa) is a senior leader, a VIP. So after proper verification they (police) are going ahead because if anything is wrong it will come on them."
Asked about "reports" that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had allegedly instructed for Yediyurappa's arrest, during his recent visit to Bengaluru, Parameshwara outrightly rejected them and said: "No, why will he (Rahul) involve himself in this? There is no use in simply cooking up a story. It is a local issue....there is no pressure from anyone."
Meanwhile, hitting out at the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government, the Karnataka BJP said following the "humiliating defeat" in the Lok Sabha elections, Congress leaders have become busy plotting various conspiracies against the BJP.
"Congress, resentful towards the BJP, is now attempting to arrest our respected leader, Yediyurappa ji, based on a complaint from a mentally unstable woman. This comes after Rahul Gandhi faced court proceedings for spreading misinformation against Karnataka BJP," it said in a post on 'X'.
BJP alleged that In light of the corruption charges involving Minister B Nagendra (who subsequently resigned) in the Maharshi Valmiki Development Corporation and the subsequent allegations against the government itself, the Congress has devised a conspiracy to divert attention by maligning Yediyurappa.
"Previously, the Home Minister Parameshwara himself had stated that the complaint from the mentally unstable woman was malicious and without merit. It is absurd that the case is being revived after three months," it said.
"Why is the government focusing on Yediyurappa ji’s only, among 53 complaints filed by the woman, including against her own children and husband? Why plot a sudden arrest three months after the complaint was filed? If Congress leaders in Delhi succumb to such vile, vindictive politics and target Shri Yediyurappa ji, there is no doubt that Congress will be thrown out of Karnataka," BJP added.
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi too, hitting out at the state government, said the Congress, unable to "digest" its defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, is showing its "political hate" against Yediyurappa.
He accused the Congress government of running a conspiracy by filing a false case against the 81-year-old Yeddyurappa to hide its mismanagement.
According to police, Yediyurappa has been booked under the POCSO Act and Section 354 A (Sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) based on a complaint by the mother of a 17-year-old girl who alleged that he molested her daughter during a meeting on February two this year, at his residence in Dollars Colony here.
The victim's brother had filed a petition in the court earlier this week alleging that though the case was registered on March 14, no progress has been made in the investigation. The petitioner prayed that Yediyurappa should be arrested and interrogated.
After the Sadashivanagar police registered the case in March, the Karnataka Director General of Police Alok Mohan had issued an order transferring it to the CID for further investigation.
The 54-year-old woman, who had leveled the charge against Yediyurappa, died at a private hospital here last month, due to lung cancer.
Yediyurappa has denied the charge and said he would fight the case legally.
In April, the CID collected the voice sample of Yediyurappa after summoning him to the office. The government, meanwhile, has appointed Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Ashok H Nayak to represent the CID in the case.
Yediyurappa has filed two separate petitions in the High Court, seeking anticipatory bail and quashing of the FIR.
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Woman, 2 sons found dead in Delhi home; suicide suspected
New Delhi (PTI): Three members of a family were found dead inside their home in southeast Delhi's Kalkaji on Friday, with police suspecting it to be a case of suicide, officials said.
Police said the incident came to light around 2.47 pm when a police team reached the premises to execute a court order related to possession of the property. When repeated knocks went unanswered, the staff used a duplicate key to open the door.
Inside, officers found Anuradha Kapoor (52) and her sons, Ashish Kapoor (32) and Chaitanya Kapoor (27), hanging from the ceiling, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Hemant Tiwari said in a statement. All three were declared dead.
A handwritten note was recovered from the room, suggesting the family had been struggling with depression.
"The handwritten note indicates emotional distress faced by the family due to which the family may have taken the extreme step," the officer said.
The bodies have been shifted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) mortuary for post-mortem and other legal formalities under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), police said.
Residents of the neighbourhood said they were shocked to learn about the deaths, adding that the family kept largely to themselves.
Pankaj Kashyap, a resident of Girinagar, said he learnt about the deaths while leaving for work. "I live and work here and was leaving for work when I saw many people standing outside and talking. That is how I got to know that three people had committed suicide. I also saw several police vehicles outside, but I do not know much beyond that," he said.
Baldev, another neighbour, said the family had been living in the newly constructed house for around two years. "We only knew that a mother and her two children lived there. They had moved into the newly built house around two years ago. We did not interact much with them. Today we heard that all three have committed suicide, and whatever we know is based on what people here are saying," he said.
Another neighbour, Ramesh Kumar, claimed the family had earlier attempted suicide.
"About fifteen to twenty days ago, the two sons in the family had attempted suicide and police and ambulances had come. That was when I first got to know who they were. I do not recognise them by face, but we saw the ambulances and police take the two sons that day. Today again we saw ambulances and police arriving, so everyone came out to see what had happened. I do not know how long they had been living here, but this is all we know," he said.
Police said they are examining the family's financial condition, social circumstances, and other factors that may have contributed to the incident. Further investigation is underway.
