Supreme Court stays High Court order on criminal proceedings against B S Yediyurappa

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed an order of the Karnataka High Court against former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa that had refused to quash the criminal proceedings pending against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act on charges of de-notifying several acres of land in 2006-07.

A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli issued notice to the Karnataka government on a special leave petition filed by the senior BJP leader.

The top court passed the order after hearing senior advocate K V Vishwanathan on behalf of Yediyurappa.

Yediyurappa had challenged the validity of the High Court's order of December 22, 2020.

The High Court had declined to quash the investigation conducted by the Lokayukta police, saying "laxity in conducting the investigation in the instant case is deprecated and the Lokayukta Court is directed to keep watch over the investigation ordered by the criminal courts in respect of the misconduct of public servants and MPs and MLAs involved in the commission of criminal offences".

Yediyurappa was aggrieved by the order of a district court in Bengaluru on February 18, 2015 to Lokayukta police to investigate the charges levelled in a private complaint filed by Vasudev Reddy. He also sought quashing of the FIR lodged by the Lokayukta police on February 21, 2015 in the matter.