Court gives nod for probe against BSY, Eshwarappa

HC ordered the Lokayukta police to probe them in separate cases

Bengaluru, Oct. 21: The Karnataka high court on Tuesday allowed the Lokayukta police probe against BJP national vicepresident B. S. Yeddyurappa and former deputy CM and state senior BJP leader K. S. Eshwarappa on petitions challenging the Lokayukta court order dismissing complaints against them in a land denotification case and a disproportionate assets case, respectively, in Shimoga district.

Justice Anand Byrareddy set aside the court orders which had dismissed complaints against Mr Yeddyurappa and his son and MLA B. Y. Raghavendra accusing them of purchasing land through illegal means, and ordered the Lokayukta police to initiate an inquiry into the matter.

The Lokayukta court had dismissed the complaints against Mr Yeddyurappa and others filed by B. Vinod, a Shimoga- based advocate, on the grounds that he had not availed himself of sanction from the governor for prosecution prior to filing the complaint.

Challenging the Lokayukta court orders, Mr Vinod filed a criminal revision petition in the high court contending that Mr Yeddyurappa is not in a similar position ( CM) as he was at the time of the alleged commission of offence and hence there is no requirement for him to avail sanction from the governor prior to filing the complaint. This order was repeated in the case against Mr Eshwarappa.

In the petition against Mr Eshwarapa, the court set aside the order accusing him of amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income and ordered that the Lokayukta initiate an inquiry into the matter.