Yeddyurappa, Somanna granted anticipatory bail
Asked to furnish a personal bond for Rs two lakh each, 2 sureties
The High Court on Tuesday granted anticipatory bail to former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, Housing Minister V Somanna and others, in connection with the denotification of land in Nagadevanahalli.
Hearing the plea by Somanna, Justice Subhash B Adi allowed the petition with a direction to furnish a personal bond for Rs two lakh each, along with two sureties. “The petitioners are not supposed to tamper with evidence and threaten the witness. They should co-operate with the investigation and cannot leave the country without the permission of the court,” the court said.
While granting bail, the court also warned the petitioners against indulging in any violation of its orders.
“It is not that all of a sudden denotifications have taken place; denotifications have been taking place since 2005... since the days of the previous government, as the owner of the land had applied for denotification.”Referring to the allegations of conspiracy by the complainant, the court said, “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. The illegal act committed is not made out in the complaint.”
On the submission by the petitioners that the complaint was aimed at achieveing political mileage, the court said, “This court does not doubt the bona fides of the complainant. He has the right to file a compliant and bring the accused facing allegations of misuse of power to the court for investigation. But if the accusation is indulging in tarnishing the reputation of people in public life, it will lead to a great danger where unnecessary complaints against people in public life will rise.
”Stating that the accused do not have criminal antecedents, Justice Adi observed, “No allegation of monetary benefit or pecuniary advantage to accused No. 1 is made out in the complaint. Moreover, Section 48 of the Land Acquisition Act does not prevent any government from denotifying land.”
The court said if the averments were considered, the nature and gravity did not show or warrant any arrest in the case.
Software engineer Ravi Krishna Reddy had filed a complaint in the Special Lokayukta Court and named Yeddyurappa, V Somanna, Shylaja, wife of Somanna, and D Lingaiah as the accused. He accused Yeddyurappa of denotifying 22 guntas of land at Nagadevanahalli in Kengeri hobli, Bangalore South, to favour Somanna.
