Bangalore: Court Declines to Stay Yeddyurappa's Graft Prosecution
Bangalore, Aug 25 (IANS) The Karnataka High Court Thursday rejected former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa's plea to stay his prosecution on corruption charges, dashing his hopes of avoiding appearing in a trial court Saturday.
Justice Ajit Gunjal and Justice B.V. Nagarathna also rejected his plea to stay the summons from a trial court to appear before it.
They declined to pass any order on his possible arrest after he appears in the trial court in illegal land deals cases filed by two Bangalore advocates.
The series of orders that went against Yeddyurappa came on a petition he filed challenging Governor H.R. Bhardwaj's Jan 21 permission to the two advocates to launch criminal proceedings against him and his kin over illegal land deals and corruption.
The advocates, Sirajin Bhasha and K.N. Balaraj, Jan 23 filed five complaints against Yeddyurappa, his two sons B.Y. Raghavendra and B.Y. Vijayendra, son-in-law R. Sohan Kumar and others, alleging several illegal and corrupt land deals.
Raghavendra is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha member from Shimoga, about 280 km from here.
Additional City Civil and Sessions Court Judge N.K. Sudhindra Rao, who constitutes the Lokayukta special court for speedy trial of graft cases, has summoned Yeddyurappa to appear before him Aug 27 (Saturday) in the cases filed by the two advocates.
Apprehending arrest after his appearance in the trial court, Yeddyurappa has sought anticipatory bail. The high court is to give its verdict on his plea Friday.
Yeddyurappa, the BJP's first chief minister in Karnataka, quit July 31 after the then Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde recommended his trial for corruption in illegal mining scam.
Besides cases filed by the two advocates, Yeddyurappa is facing probe by police attached to the Lokayukta in two other cases of corruption -- graft in illegal mining scam and in allotment of contract for an irrigation project.