NEW DELHI, June 14: In a relief to the former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, the Karnataka High Court on Friday restrained the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the state police from either arresting or detaining him while directing the BJP veteran leader to appear before the investigating officer on June 17.
A fast track curt on Thursday had issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Mr Yediyurappa in connection with an FIR filed by a woman who had alleged that the former chief minister had sexually exploited her 17-year old daughter when they had gone to his residence in Dollars Colony, Bengaluru on February 2 for some favour.
On Friday, Justice Krishna S. Dixit passed the interim order while hearing two separate petitions filed by Mr Yediyurappa, who had questioned the legality of the First Information Report (FIR) registered in March by the girl’s mother, and had also sought anticipatory bail after a sessions court issued an arrest warrant on Thursday based on a request by the CID.
The court noted that 81-year old Mr Yediyurappa did appear before the CID, cooperated in the investigation, and gave his voice samples for assisting the investigation. However, Mr Yediyurappa did not appear on June 12 in response to a summons, but wrote to the CID on June 11 stating that he would appear on June 17 due to some prior engagements in New Delhi.
Noticing that Mr Yediyurappa’s counsel undertook that he would voluntarily appear on June 17, as per the assurance given in the letter, the court said it “cannot jump to the conclusion that a case is made out for arrest and detention, or for custodial interrogation of Mr Yediyurappa,” who happens to be a former CM and in the late evening of his life, perhaps with ailments natural to that age.
(Manas Dasgupta)