The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday granted anticipatory bail to former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy who is an accused in the Janthakal Enterprises mining case.
The Special Investigation team (SIT) of the Lokayukta probing the mining scam in the state has registered a case against Kumaraswamy after he was named by senior IAS officer Gangaram Baderiya, an accused in the case.
Justice Rathnakala granted anticipatory bail and directed Kumaraswamy to co-operate in the investigation whenever he is called by the SIT.
The judge granted bail
on the grounds that three FIRs pending before the lower court and the fourth FIR before the high court had similar allegations against Kumaraswamy with regard to the Janthakal Enterprises mining case. Kumaraswamy’s counsel Hashmath Pasha produced a statement made by the SIT before the Supreme Court, which said that the allegations in the four FIRs had similar contentions.
The SIT had arrested Baderiya for awarding licence for mining to Janthakal Enterprises in 2006.
During the probe, in his statement, the IAS officer had said that the licence for mining was given on the instructions of the then chief minister Kumaraswamy.
Subsequently, the SIT summoned Kumaraswamy to appear before the investigation officer. He later filed an anticipatory bail application before the lower court, which was rejected. The JD(S) leader then approached the high court.
Published 10 August 2017, 20:55 IST