Bengaluru, 14 June

Home Minister G Parameshwara on Friday said that with a non-bailable arrest warrant against him in a POCSO case, it will be "good" if former Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa comes back to Bengaluru soon and appears before the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which is probing it. According to reports, the veteran BJP leader has gone to an “undisclosed” location in New Delhi.

"Warrant has been issued, he will be brought and information will be gathered from him, and further action will be taken in accordance with law," Parameshwara told reporters.

On Yediyurappa's whereabouts, Parameshwara said he is said to have gone to Delhi and has informed that he will be back on 17 June. "Now that a warrant has been issued, it is good if he comes back soon," he said.

A Bengaluru court on Thursday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Yediyurappa in the case registered against him under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act on March 14 this year.

The Special Investigation Team of the CID had moved the First Fast Track Court seeking an arrest warrant against him since he failed to appear for questioning on Wednesday. Yediyurappa had sought time to join the probe.

When asked about BJP alleging "vendetta politics" on the part of the ruling Congress, Parameshwara said: "They have to say such things, what else can they say?"

Answering a question as to why the police was "silent" for three months and all of a sudden is now acting on the case after the Lok Sabha election polls are over, the Minister said: "investigation was on, FSL reports had to come. Procedurally what has to be done is being done, because he (Yediyurappa) is a senior leader, a VIP. So after proper verification they (police) are going ahead because if anything is wrong it will come on them."

Asked about "reports" that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had allegedly instructed for Yediyurappa's arrest, during his recent visit to Bengaluru, Parameshwara outrightly rejected them and said: "No, why will he (Rahul) involve himself in this? There is no use in simply cooking up a story. It is a local issue....there is no pressure from anyone."

Meanwhile, hitting out at the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government, the Karnataka BJP said following the "humiliating defeat" in the Lok Sabha elections, Congress leaders have become busy plotting various conspiracies against the BJP.

"Congress, resentful towards the BJP, is now attempting to arrest our respected leader, Yediyurappa ji, based on a complaint from a mentally unstable woman. This comes after Rahul Gandhi faced court proceedings for spreading misinformation against Karnataka BJP," it said in a post on 'X'.

BJP alleged that In light of the corruption charges involving Minister B Nagendra (who subsequently resigned) in the Maharshi Valmiki Development Corporation and the subsequent allegations against the government itself, the Congress has devised a conspiracy to divert attention by maligning Yediyurappa.

"Previously, the Home Minister Parameshwara himself had stated that the complaint from the mentally unstable woman was malicious and without merit. It is absurd that the case is being revived after three months," it said.

"Why is the government focusing on Yediyurappa ji’s only, among 53 complaints filed by the woman, including against her own children and husband? Why plot a sudden arrest three months after the complaint was filed? If Congress leaders in Delhi succumb to such vile, vindictive politics and target Shri Yediyurappa ji, there is no doubt that Congress will be thrown out of Karnataka," BJP added.

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi too, hitting out at the State government, said the Congress, unable to "digest" its defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, is showing its "political hate" against Yediyurappa. He accused the Congress government of running a conspiracy by filing a false case against the 81-year-old Yeddyurappa to hide its mismanagement.

Court issues non-bailable arrest warrant against BSY

According to police, Yediyurappa has been booked under the POCSO Act and Section 354 A (Sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) based on a complaint by the mother of a 17-year-old girl who alleged that he molested her daughter during a meeting on February two this year, at his residence in Dollars Colony here.

The victim's brother had filed a petition in the court earlier this week alleging that though the case was registered on 14 March, no progress has been made in the investigation. The petitioner prayed that Yediyurappa should be arrested and interrogated.

After the Sadashivanagar police registered the case in March, the Karnataka Director General of Police Alok Mohan had issued an order transferring it to the CID for further investigation. The 54-year-old woman, who had leveled the charge against Yediyurappa, died at a private hospital here last month, due to lung cancer.

Yediyurappa has denied the charge and said he would fight the case legally. In April, the CID collected the voice sample of Yediyurappa after summoning him to the office. The government, meanwhile, has appointed Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Ashok H Nayak to represent the CID in the case. Yediyurappa has filed two separate petitions in the High Court, seeking anticipatory bail and quashing of the FIR.