Lok Ayukta Special Court judge NK Sudhindra Rao adjourned the hearing of in two of the five complaints consisting of 15 cases filed by advocate Sirajin Basha.
Karnataka Lok Ayukta Court Monday adjourned to tomorrow the hearing of bail applications of former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa and others in two complaints alleging irregularities in denotification of government land by him. Lok Ayukta Special Court judge NK Sudhindra Rao adjourned the hearing of the bail applications in two of the five complaints consisting of 15 cases filed by advocate Sirajin Basha.
In both the complaints Yeddyurappa is the main accused. While in the first complaint, apart from Yeddyurappa,14 of his family members are the accused. In the second complaint, nine others including his sons and son-in-law are the accused.
When the hearing of the bail applications in the first complaint commenced, all the 15 including Yeddyurappa were present in the court.
Making his submissions, senior counsel for Yeddyurappa, the first accused, Ravi B Naik said Arkavathy Layout is very big and the one acre 24 guntas (a gunta is 1/40 of an acre) of land, that was denotified in this case, was "just a small part whereas the 60 acres of land surrounding this pocket was already notified for Manyata builders by former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and former Governor Rameshwar Thakur."
Naik submitted he could produce documents to substantiate his argument.
"When the remaining land can be denotified for a big builder, what is wrong if land is notified for an agriculturist," Naik asked.
On the submission by senior counsel for the complainant CH Hanumantharaya in the last hearing that the land bought was sold the very next day, Naik argued that "who is the complainant to question the sale, it could be for any reason like a daughter's marriage or any other emergency."
Objecting to Hanumantharaya's contention that the second and ninth accused in the case were Yeddyurappa's "henchmen", he questioned "just because they also belong to Shimoga, which is the native place of my client, does it make them his henchmen".
"Corruption cannot be presumed, it has to be proved," Naik submitted, adding, keeping the accused behind bars "at this stage would be very harsh".
He further submitted that since no prima facie case is made out, bail cannot be refused.
Citing a recent High Court order,where Yeddyurappa has been granted anticipatory bail in another private complaint filed by JDS spokesperson YSV Dutta on the basis that evidence cannot be tampered as "everything is in the form of documents", he should be granted bail in this case where there is every documentary proof.
In his objections to submissions by Naik, Hanumatharaya pointed out that Lok Ayukta police, whom the complainant approached first, "were not even prepared to look at the complaint as the then Chief Minister's name figured on top as he was the benefactor and the other accused, the beneficiaries. They just could not muster the courage".
He further submitted that "complaint before the Lok Ayukta Court was a part of the petition filed before Governor HR Bhardwaj".
Referring to the second complaint in which Yeddyurappa's son BY Raghavendra is the second accused, Hanumatharaya submitted "when a complaint is filed against a Member of Parliament, the permission of the Speaker is required".
The judge then adjourned the hearing to tomorrow as Hanumantharaya's objections remained inconclusive.
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