Yeddyurappa bail plea to be heard on Friday

No prima facie case has been made out against former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa under the Prevention of Corruption Act in an alleged land scams, his counsel told the Karnataka high court on Thursday. The court adjourned till Friday hearing on Yeddyurappa's application seeking bail following his arrest for alleged irregularities in denotification of government lands.

Justice B V Pinto, who heard the arguments by Yeddyurappa's counsel K Uday Lalith, had adjourned hearing till October 24, but agreed to advance it to Friday following a plea by him. Lalith told the court that Yeddyurappa had not benefited from the denotification of land as alleged by the complainant Sirajin Basha.

Arguing that the case did not attract Prevention of Corruption Act under which allegations have been levelled against Yeddyurappa, he said, "There is no prima facie case made out so far." Yeddyurappa only exercised the powers vested in the chief minister to denotify lands and it was the various departments that issued the orders.

Arguing for bail, he said since Yeddyurappa has already demitted office there was no question of his misusing office. Senior counsel C H Hanumantharaya representing the complainants opposed the interim bail plea on the ground that it cannot be entertained "on merits of the case" and the accused can only apply for regular bail.

Yeddyurappa was remanded to judicial custody by a Lokayukta court in connection with two private complaints filed against him on alleged land scams on October 15. The former chief minister, who spent three days in the Jayadeva Cardiology hospital, was shifted to the state run Victoria hospital on October 18. He was discharged from hospital on Wednesday and returned to Parappana Agrahara prison.

The judge granted two weeks exemption from bail conditions imposed by Lokayukta court on Yeddyurappa's sons, B Y Raghavendra, Lok Sabha member and B Y Vijendra, who are among the other accused. The orders came on a plea filed by Raghavendra and his brother seeking relaxation in bail conditions that they should surrender their passports. On October 15, the Lokayukta court had granted them conditional bail.