Katta gets temporary bail for three months
He can go abroad for treatment, but has to furnish details to court every week
The High Court on Monday granted temporary bail to former Minister Katta Subramanya Naidu for three months to enable him to get treatment abroad for non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a form of cancer.
The former minister, a prime accused in the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) scam, was granted conditional bail by Justice B V Pinto.
Accordingly, Naidu has been directed to furnish a bond for Rs five lakh and submit the details pertaining to the treatment every week.
The court has also directed Naidu to surrender before the Special Lokayukta Court after 90 days, when it will decide about granting him further bail considering his health.
Naidu, whose bail petition was rejected earlier in the High Court and the lower court, had filed a fresh bail petition before the Special Lokayukta Court.
The Special Lokayukta Court rejected the bail application of Naidu, but allowed him to seek treatment for his ailment anywhere in Bangalore or in the country, provided he was under surveillance and police guard.
The bail was rejected on the ground that he might tamper with evidence as he still held an influential position in society. During the course of medical investigations, the court was informed that Katta had a recurrence of non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
He was treated for it earlier in London and has now sought to get treatment at the same hospital, as his stem cells have been preserved there for further treatment.
Naidu and his son Katta Jagadish are facing charges of accepting a bribe of Rs 87 crore to allot 325 acres of land to Itasca Software Development Company.
Irregularities
The Lokayukta police, who filed a charge sheet on July 8, 2011, had detected large-scale irregularities during the time the KIADB was asked to acquire land for Itasca, a supposed front company belonging to the duo.
The bail plea of S V Srinivas, Managing director of Itasca, along with those of Katta and his son, had been rejected earlier by the Lokayukta court, and lodged in the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison.
Krishna case adjourned
In another case, Justice Pinto adjourned the hearing of the bail plea filed by former Information Commissioner H N Krishna, who has moved the High Court challenging the rejection of his bail plea.
Krishna is facing allegations of misappropriation of funds, favouritism and threatening some of the candidates during the recruitment of grade one officers in 1999, 2000 and 2004, when he was chairperson, KPSC.
The matter was adjourned after the CID sought more time to file objections.
BSY case put off
The hearing of the bail petition of former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa was also adjourned to Wednesday by Justice Pinto.
Counsel for Sirajin Basha, C H Hanumantharaya, submitted that the former chief minister bypassed and ignored the denotification committee, to get a desirable result for him.
“Files left the chief minister’s office the very day the case was filed. Even the special judge has observed that the files appeared to have moved with great velocity. He has bypassed the denotification committee. Administration is not an unfettered privilege bestowed upon any chief minister,” he said.
Reacting to the petitioner’s claim that denotification was done even during the regime of H D Kumaraswamy, he said one illegality cannot be a licence to another. He said there is prima facie against Yeddyurappa.
