In a setback to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, the Karnataka High Court dismissed a petition seeking to quash criminal proceedings against him in the illegal land denotification case while coming down heavily on the Lokayukta police for not completing the probe in the past five years. Declining to quash the case against Yediyurappa on Tuesday, Justice Michael Cunha directed the Lokayukta special court to monitor the investigation ordered by the courts with regard to the misconduct of MPs, MLAs involved in criminal offences.
The case pertains to the illegal denotification of large tracts of land in Whitefield IT Corridor, which was acquired for an infotech related project in 2006-07 when he was the Deputy Chief Minister in the BJP-JD(S) coalition government headed by H D Kumaraswamy. The case was registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act on the direction of the Lokayukta Court to Lokayukta police on February 21, 2015, based on a complaint by Vasudeva Reddy, a resident of Bellandur in the city.
Though, at this juncture, it cannot be said that Lokayukta police succumbed to pressure from Yediyurappa, who holds the position of Chief Minister. However, being an independent and impartial body entrusted with the duty to inquire into the misconduct of public servants objectively, they cannot give rise to an impression in the minds of public that it is playing into the hands of the political bigwigs, the judge noted.
Sources close to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said he will move the Supreme Court challenging the order.
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