In further relief to former Karnataka Chief Minister B. S. Yeddyurappa, the High Court on Tuesday granted him anticipatory bail in a case relating to an alleged land scam, holding no allegation of monetary benefit has been made out in the complaint.
Justice Subhash B. Adi also allowed the anticipatory bail pleas of housing minister Somanna, his wife Shailaja and land owner Lingaraju in the case pertaining to alleged irregularities in denotification of land by Yeddyrappa.
The court directed all of them to furnish personal bonds of Rs two lakh each and two sureties and told them not to tamper with witnesses or leave the country without its permission and asked them to cooperate with the investigating agency.
The Judge observed, "It is not that all of a sudden that denotification has taken place, denotifications have taken place since 2005...even in case of conspiracy, (the offence alleged in FIR) there has to be an agreement to do an illegal act. Even if the act is illegal, it does not constitute an offence unless abuse of power is shown. What is the illegal act committed is not made out in the complaint."
"No allegation of monetary benefit or pecuniary advantage to Yeddyurappa is made out in the complaint... however, if there is a possibility of getting the accused arrested with an intention to lower the image of the accused ... it would be very dangerous," the court said.
Complainant Ravi Krishnareddy, a software engineer, had alleged that Somanna secured denotification of 22 guntas (one gunta is about 1,086 sq ft) of land in Nagadevanahalli in Kengeri Hobli for an educational institution run by his wife violating rules when Yeddyurappa was Chief Minister.
After the Lokayukta court took cognisance of the complaint, all the four had moved the High Court for anticipatory bail.
Earlier, Yeddyurappa obtained bail in two of the five corruption cases filed by city based advocate Siranjin Basha and anticipatory bail in the remaining three.