New Delhi:
Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa and his former industries minister Murugesh Nirani on Wednesday had been granted protection from arrest by the Supreme Court, which took up their petition against the revival of a criminal case against them.
The court, having said that, refused to override an order by the Karnataka High Court which had permitted the case to be restored earlier this month that accused them of not honouring a commitment to grant 26 acres to a private investor in 2011. The court issued a notice to the complainant as effectively.
Hearing the petition by Mr Yediyurappa, Chief Justice SA Bobde remarked, “You are a sitting Chief Minister. Who will issue a warrant against you? At most, they can issue a request for you.”
However, former lawyer common Mukul Rohatgi representing the BJP leader, stated the restoration of the case left the possibility of an arrest warrant on the table.
In a twin blow for Mr Yediyurappa, the Karnataka High Court on January 6 restored a complaint alleging forgery more than the withdrawal of approval for the plot of land and refused to quash an FIR filed against him in an “illegal” land de-notification case of 2015.
The court permitted in element a petition by an investor Alam Pasha and set aside the August 26, 2016 order of an more city civil and sessions judge associated to 3 of the 4 accused, like Mr Yediyurappa.
The case involved charges of criminal conspiracy and forgery of documents purported to have been issued by Alam Pasha in 2012 when Mr Yediyurappa was the chief minister in his very first term.
Besides Mr Yediyurappa and Murugesh Nirani, former principal secretary V P Baligar and former managing director of Karnataka Udyog Mitra Shivaswamy K are the other accused.
They have been accused of committing forgery of documents purported to have been issued by her in search of to withdraw the approval granted for allotment of 26 acres of land at Devanahalli Industrial Area in Bengaluru Rural District.
(With inputs from PTI)