Bengaluru: A fast-track court issued a non-bailable warrant against four-time Karnataka chief minister B.S.Yediyurappa after he failed to record his statement in connection with an alleged case of molestation involving a minor.
The warrant was issued based on the application filed by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) probing the POCSO case against the former chief minister.
Yediyurappa was to appear before the court and record his statement 14 March in the case lodged under the stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.
On 15 March, Karnataka Director General of Police Alok Mohan ordered the case to be transferred to the CID. Yediyurappa has been booked under Section 354A (sexual harassment) of the IPC and section 8 of the POCSO. Both are cognizable and non-bailable offenses.
Yediyurappa is currently in Delhi and is likely to return Monday, according to his office. He had earlier denied all charges against him.
A senior government advocate confirmed the developments in the case filed against the 81-year-old BJP veteran.
“There are three petitions in the high court, and the main order is likely to be out tomorrow. One petition was filed by the main complainant’s brother for ineffective investigation by the police in the earlier filed case. Another was by Yediyurappa, asking the court to quash the FIR over lack of evidence, and the third is for anticipatory bail,” the advocate said.
In the case filed for quashing the FIR, Yediyurappa alleges that it was a case of conspiracy against him. “Certain leaders from the opposition political parties as a part of a large conspiracy, certain individuals were set up to host false criminal complaints against the petitioner only to bring down his popularity (sic),” the petition states.
Yediyurappa is a member of the BJP’s national parliamentary board. His elder son B.Y.Ragahvendra is a four-time MP from Shivamogga, while the younger son B.Y.Viajendra is an MLA and the BJP state president.
Lodged 14 March at Sadashivanagar police station in Bengaluru, the POSCO case accuses Yediyurappa of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl on 2 February.
The complainant, who was the mother of the mother, died 26 May allegedly after her long battle with cancer. Her death had raised suspicion of foul play.
The mother was scheduled to meet senior counsel S.Balan the next day. “She called me on Friday and wanted to meet on Saturday. I told her I am going to Koppal and you can meet me Monday (27 May) by 5.30 pm…that is today. Today she is dead,” Balan had told ThePrint.
When she spoke to Balan, she had allegedly mentioned that her lawyer had advised her not to pursue the case against Yediyurappa.
Balan raised questions regarding the circumstances in which the woman died and added that her body was given to the family without conducting a post-mortem.
At the time of the case being registered, Karnataka home minister G. Parameshwara had said that it was a sensitive issue as it pertained to a former CM and that investigation would ascertain all the details.
On Thursday, Parameshwara said that all procedures would be followed and an arrest would be made “if required”.
“It is not right to politicise anything, and everything for political reasons. It was a false case filed three months ago. No one bothered about it until the election results came. He (Yediyurappa) has already appeared for investigation 3-4 times. If called, he will go again,” BJP general secretary P. Rajeev said in a press statement Thursday.
Rajeev added that Parameshwara himself said that the complainant filed 53-54 cases against other political leaders and senior government officials and that “filing false cases is a habitual behaviour of that woman.”
In a 7-minute video, purportedly taken by the 17-year-old girl and her mother, shows them initially confronting the former chief minister at his Dollars Colony home in Bengaluru.
The woman keeps asking why Yediyurappa did what he did and the former CM gestures to her to sit. She refers to Yediyurappa as “Appaji” (an endearing term in Kannada) as Yediyurappa holds her hand seated next to her.
ThePrint could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
The complainant filed over 50 cases in the past against several senior police officials, including former Bengaluru Police commissioners Alok Kumar and Bhaskar Rao, according to the police.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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