JOIN USEven after being granted bail and anticipatory bail by the High Court in all the private complaints, former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa is still a worried man as he is on the lookout for advocates to defend him in trial court.
Even as the former chief minister is lobbying for the post of the party’s State chief in New Delhi, telling the high command that he will come clean in all the cases, sources close to him have revealed that he is a worried man as he is struggling to get an appropriate counsel to defend him in the trial court.
According to legal experts, Yeddyurappa - whose cases are in various stages - is desperately searching for advocates. According to a City-based advocate, Bangalore has few advocates dealing with criminal cases.
“Prominent names handling criminal cases include C V Nagesh, C H Hanumantharaya, M T Nanaiah and Hashmath Pasha. Nagesh has already been engaged by Yeddyurappa, Hanumantharaya is an advocate for Sirajin Basha and M T Nanaiah has appeared for Lokayukta. Pasha, having retired from the case, is now disabled,” explained a counsel.
Pasha, who represented Sirajin Basha in the High Court in one of the private complaints against Yeddyurappa pertaining to illegal denotification of land, later retired from the case. As a result, Pasha cannot represent Yeddyurappa also.
Though Yeddyurappa availed the service of senior counsels like Ram Jethmalani and Uday U Lalit to argue on his behalf in the High Court, where he managed to get temporary relief in all the cases, the same cannot be repeated in the trial court considering the trial court’s hearing schedule.
“Money is not a problem here, but schedule of hearing is. The arguments will go on for long and the adjournment cannot be predicted,” said a source on condition of anonymity.
Some of the advocates close to the former chief minister said Bangalore had very few people practising on the criminal side and prevention of corruption cases were very sensitive to be handed over to any advocate. The advocate opined that one had to be an expert in Criminal Procedure Code to argue in matters pertaining to Prevention of Corruption Act.
There are presently eight cases involving Yeddyurappa in the Special Lokayukta Court. While he is the main accused in six of the cases, two others have him as co-accused- one with Home Minister R Ashoka and another with Housing Minister V Somanna.
Of these eight, four have been handed over to the Lokayukta police for investigation. In one case filed by Sirajin Basha, the police have held him guilty of two offences, while in another case along with Ashok, he has been absolved of any wrongdoing.
Two more cases against Yeddyurappa, one related to the Upper Bhadra project and the other involving Somanna, are under investigation. Yeddyurappa has obtained anticipatory bail in most of the cases filed against him.