HC rejects bail pleas of Katta, son

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday rejected the bail appeal of former minister Katta Subramanya Naidu, his son Jagadish and S V Srinivas of Itasca company, dashing their hopes of getting out of jail soon.

The three men are lodged in Parappana Agraha jail in connection with a scam involving the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board.

The Kattas  and Srinivas, their associate, will have to stay in jail for some more time as the bail plea hearing which went on for several weeks has now concluded with the single judge Justice V Jagannathan rejecting the bail plea considering the seriousness of the case, huge amount of money which runs over Rs 111 crore rupees involved in the scam and possibilities of tampering evidence and threatening  the witness.

In his lengthy order, whose dictation began from Monday noon, Justice Jaganathan stated that there is a prima facie case against the petitioners and said their release on bail was not warranted.

“They are star performers in the episode. They conspired together, forging documents and cheques,” he observed.

Describing the scam as the biggest involving KIADB, Justice Jagannathan said: “In view of nature and seriousness of the offence alleged and considering the huge amount involved in crore and likelihood of witness being threatened and presence of accused 4 and 5 (Jaggaiah and Venkaiah) being made still difficult for prosecution and in the large interest of public, bail cannot be granted.” The order runs into several pages.

Taking note of the Kanimozhi case in the Supreme Court where she was denied bail and remanded to judicial custody in the 2G spectrum case, the bench said: “When the court issued summons to the accused under Sec 204, it cannot be viewed as the courts will grant bail to them.”