Bangalore: In further relief to former
Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa, the High Court on Tuesday
granted him anticipatory bail in a case relating to an alleged
land scam, holding no allegation of monetary benefit has been
made out in the complaint.
Justice Subhash B Adi also allowed the anticipatory bail
pleas of housing minister Somanna, his wife Shailaja and land
owner Lingaraju in the case pertaining to alleged
irregularities in denotification of land by Yeddyrappa.
The court directed all of them to furnish personal bonds
of Rs two lakh each and two sureties and told them not to
tamper with witnesses or leave the country without its
permission and asked them to cooperate with the investigating
agency.
The Judge observed, "It is not that all of a sudden that
denotification has taken place, denotifications have taken
place since 2005...even in case of conspiracy, (the offence
alleged in FIR) there has to be an agreement to do an illegal
act. Even if the act is illegal, it does not constitute an
offence unless abuse of power is shown. What is the illegal
act committed is not made out in the complaint."
"No allegation of monetary benefit or pecuniary advantage
to Yeddyurappa is made out in the complaint... however, if
there is a possibility of getting the accused arrested with an
intention to lower the image of the accused ... it would be
very dangerous," the court said.
Complainant Ravi Krishnareddy, a software engineer, had
alleged that Somanna secured denotification of 22 guntas (one
gunta is about 1,086 sq ft) of land in Nagadevanahalli in
Kengeri Hobli for an educational institution run by his wife
violating rules when Yeddyurappa was Chief Minister.
After the Lokayukta court took cognisance of the
complaint, all the four had moved the High Court for
anticipatory bail.
Earlier, Yeddyurappa obtained bail in two of the five
corruption cases filed by city based advocate Siranjin Basha
and anticipatory bail in the remaining three.
Meanwhile, the Court partly allowed the petitions seeking
relaxation of bail conditions filed by Yeddyurappa`s two sons
and his son-in-law in two corruption cases filed against them.
Justice Adi partly allowed petitions by BY Raghavendra
and BY Vijayendra (Yeddyurappa`s sons) and Sohan Kumar (son-
in-law) seeking relaxation of bail conditions in two of the
five corruption cases filed by city-based advocate Sirajin
Basha.
The petitioners sought relaxation of bail conditions,
which included impounding their passports, submission of all
their bank accounts and business records of two firms owned by
them.
The court while retaining the condition on impounding of
passports, allowed relaxation in the other two.
It is in these two cases that Yeddyurappa was issued
summons on August 8, 2011 by the Lokayukta Court while the
others, including his sons and son-in-law, were granted bail.
PTI
