Bengaluru, 14 June

Karnataka High Court on Friday restrained Criminal Investigation Department (CID) from arresting former chief minister BS Yediyurappa in POCSO case registered against him.

It also directed the veteran BJP leader to appear before CID, which is probing the case, on 17 June. 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 14 March this year.

Yediyurappa had sought time to join the probe. According to reports, the veteran BJP leader has gone to an “undisclosed” location in New Delhi.

According to police, Yediyurappa has been booked on a complaint by the mother of a 17-year-old girl who alleged that he molested her daughter during a meeting on 2 February, at his residence in Dollars Colony here.

High Court, which adjourned the hearing for two weeks, during the hearing observed that the 81-year-old Yediyurappa is now in the sunset of his life and it is not appropriate to arrest him.

Noting that Yediyurappa had sent a letter to the police volunteering to appear for inquiry on July 17, Meanwhile, Home Minister G Parameshwara said that with a non-bailable arrest warrant against him in a POCSO case, it will be "good" if Yediyurappa comes back to Bengaluru soon and appears before CID.

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?"

 
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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 .

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

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, Congress has devised a conspiracy to divert attention by maligning Yediyurappa. PTI