Special Court orders registration of 'criminal case' against former CM Yediyurappa
Bengaluru, Mar 30: A Special Court in Bengaluru has ordered the registration of a 'special criminal case' against former Karnataka chief minister B S Yediyurappa regarding alleged corruption in a land denotification issue when he was the deputy CM in the BJP-JDS coalition government in 2006-07.
Sessions Judge B Jayantha Kumar of the special court, set up exclusively to deal with criminal cases related to elected MPs/MLAs in Karnataka, has issued the order on March 26, based on a private complaint by one Vasudeva Reddy.
"Register a Special Criminal Case against the accused No.2 Sri B.S.Yediyurappa for the offence punishable under Sec.13(1)(d) R/w Sec.13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Issue summons to accused No.2 for his attendance only after filing of list of witnesses as required under Sec.204(2) Cr.P.C., and process fee is paid," the order says.
According to the complainant, the state government under the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Act acquired 434 acres of land in Bellandur, Devarabeesanahalli, Kariyammana Agrahara and Amanibellandur Khane to establish an Information Technology park. The same was however denotified by Yeddiyurappa "in favour of private persons without any public benefit."
The court in its order said the complainant has made a prima facie case against Yediyurappa, who has to be summoned to the court after due process.
"I am of the considered opinion that there are sufficient material to proceed against the accused by registering Special Criminal Case and summoning the accused No.2 for his attendance and give an opportunity to the complainant to establish his allegations against the accused No.2.
"I am of the considered opinion that there is nothing on record to disbelieve the case of the complainant at this stage. He has made out a prima facie case against the accused for the offence punishable under Sec.13(1)(d) R/w Sec.13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988," the court noted.
Yediyurappa was the second accused in the original complaint filed by Vasudeva Reddy in 2013 with the then Industries Minister R V Deshpande being the accused number one. The case against Deshpande, however, came to be quashed by the High Court in 2015.
Yediyurappa remains the sole accused in this case now. The Lokayukta police which investigated the case filed a 'B' Report in the case giving a clean chit to Yediyurappa citing that there was no evidence of illegal gratification.
In a criminal case, the B Report submitted in court means that the police has completed the investigation and there is no offence made out against the accused.
The Special Court, though, had rejected the B Report in 2021.
In its latest order, the court has specified that the lack of evidence of illegal gratification to the accused does not prohibit initiating investigation under Section 13(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
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Priyank Kharge backs AICC chief’s ‘snake’ remark, hits out at Assam CM
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Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge on Wednesday defended his father and AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge’s "poisonous snake" remark against the BJP and RSS.
He also hit out at Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, calling him "frustrated" and accusing him of "caste privilege" over his remarks on Mallikarjun Kharge.
"What has he (Mallikarjun Kharge) said? He said one must act if one encounters a poisonous snake. If you find a poisonous snake, will you feed it milk and nurture it, or will you drive it away?" Kharge asked in response to a question.
Speaking to reporters, he said, "Who is sowing the seeds of communal poison in our society? Why? Should we save and nurture such ideologies and principles? No. That is what he (Mallikarjun Kharge) has said. We have been saying this for a long time, not just now."
Terming the RSS ideology and principles detrimental to the country’s and society’s progress, the minister said their perspective does not accommodate the Constitution, minorities, backward classes, Adivasis, Dalits, or even women. "They believe in Manusmriti; we follow the Constitution," he said.
Questioning what one would do upon encountering a poisonous snake, Kharge said, "Will you call a conservationist? They would take it and release it in the forest. If you don’t find a conservationist, what will you do? What do people in villages do? If an ideology is not good for the progress of the country, it should not be adopted."
At an election rally in Assam’s Sribhumi district on Monday, citing the Quran, Mallikarjun Kharge said that if a poisonous snake passes in front of someone offering namaz, the person should stop the prayer and kill the snake.
"I would say that breaking the namaz does not matter. The RSS and the BJP are that poisonous snake. If you don’t kill this snake, you will not survive," he said.
Calling Sarma "frustrated" over his remarks against the AICC chief, Priyank said Mallikarjun Kharge has been in politics for about 50 years, and that neither the BJP nor the Prime Minister has answers to the questions he raises in Parliament and outside.
"The sense of caste privilege instilled in Sarma after his RSS training was not there when he was in the Congress. Sarma belongs to the Brahmin community. He has that privilege and believes whatever he says is acceptable, whether it is against Dalits or Dalit leaders," he claimed, adding that this reflects RSS ideology and its adherence to ‘Chaturvarna’ (the four-fold varna system) thinking.
He further said Sarma comes from an "enlightened and awakened community" and believes he can speak against those from other communities.
He asked, "What does Prime Minister Modi have to say about this? Will he defend it? Will he accept comments made by his chief minister against the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha?"
Sarma triggered a row on Tuesday when he hit out at Mallikarjun Kharge, saying he was "speaking like a madman" due to old age, after the latter called for central agencies to probe allegations against the Assam CM.
Reacting to the RSS filing a police complaint against Mallikarjun Kharge over his "poisonous snake" remarks, Priyank Kharge questioned how the organisation could do so if it is not registered.
"How can the RSS file a complaint? On what letterhead has it been filed? Individuals can file complaints, but I don’t know how the RSS can do so, as it has itself said it is unregistered. On one hand, they say they are unregistered; on the other, they claim their organisation has been insulted. Does this organisation exist or not?" he said.
He alleged that while the RSS has a structure and incurs expenditure, it does not pay income tax.
"What kind of patriotism is this? Is tax evasion patriotism? Then everyone will start doing it," he claimed.
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