HC refuses to hear former Lokayukta PRO's bail plea

The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday refused to hear the petition filed by Syed Riyazathula (Riyaz), former public relations officer of the Karnataka Lokayukta.

Riyaz sought relaxation of his bail conditions to allow him to fly to Medina in Saudi Arabia to perform obsequies for his late mother. Justice Rathnakala, refusing to hear the matter, said the petitioner can approach the court during the vacation.

At the time of granting conditional bail, the court had asked Riyaz to surrender his passport. Riyaz was one of the accused in the extortion scam in the Lokayukta office.

The judge ordered notice to the Special Public Prosecutor and directed him to file objections in two weeks.

Filing its statement of objections, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) said that relaxing the bail conditions may hamper the speedy progress of enquiry and trail.

The SIT said the petitioner’s mother died in 2014 and no yearly obsequies were performed in the subsequent years. Though he was free to travel in 2015, Riyaz has not produced any material to show that he visited Medina to perform such yearly obsequies. The ground of ‘yearly obsequies’ is invented only for the purpose of this petition the SIT said, contending that other members of his family are capable and available to conduct the yearly obsequies.