Granting interim relief to former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy in the Janthakal mining case, the High Court of Karnataka on Thursday directed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) not to arrest him till June 20.

Kumaraswamy had filed an anticipatory bail application before the high court after his advance bail was rejected by the Lokayukta Special Court on June 13.

During the hearing, Kumaraswamy’s counsel Hashmath Pasha submitted that his client was named in two other similar cases and had got bail from the Lokayukta Special Court. “Cases are being registered against my client in the same case with different case numbers. But this time, there has been abuse of the legal process,” he said.

Pasha said that there is an apprehension that his client could be arrested by the SIT. He sought an interim bail from the court till the disposal of the petition and said that his client would cooperate in the investigation.

Justice Rathnakala said that the SIT would not stoop to such a level while investigating into such issues. The judge directed the SIT not to arrest Kumaraswamy till the next date of hearing on June 20
and ordered notice to the SIT and directed it to file its objections.    

 The SIT has registered a case against Kumaraswamy after he was named by the IAS officer and an accused in the illegal mining case, Gangaram Baderiya.

He was booked for cheating, forgery, criminal breach of trust and giving false information, criminal conspiracy under the IPC sections. Kumaraswamy has been booked under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988,  and the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957.

The SIT had arrested Baderiya for according mining permission to Janthakal Enterprises in 2006. During the probe, in his statement, Baderiya said that the licence for mining was given on the instructions of the then chief minister Kumaraswamy.

The SIT had summoned Kumaraswamy to appear before the investigating officer. He later filed an anticipatory bail plea before the lower court, which was rejected on June 13.