Bengaluru, 4 July

A Bengaluru court on Thursday issued a summons to former chief minister BS Yediyurappa to appear before it on 15 July in connection with a POCSO Act case filed against him.

The Criminal Investigation Department had filed a charge sheet against the BJP leader at Fast Track Court 1 for POCSO Act cases here on 27 June.

A day later, the Karnataka High Court extended its interim order restraining the CID from arresting Yediyurappa after allowing the prosecution to file objections to the petition filed by him seeking quashing of the FIR against him, and then adjourned a further hearing by two weeks.

The CID, probing charges against Yediyurappa of sexually assaulting a minor girl, has alleged in the charge sheet that he and three other accused paid money to the alleged victim and her mother to buy their silence.

The 81-year-old Yediyurappa has been charged under Section 8 (punishment for sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and Sections 354A (sexual harassment), 204 (destruction of document or electronic record to prevent its production as evidence) and 214 (offering gift or restoration of property in consideration of screening offender) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The other three co-accused -- Arun YM, Rudresh M and G Mariswamy who are aides of Yediyurappa -- are charged under IPC Sections 204 and 214, in the charge sheet.

The case was registered on 14 March this year based on a complaint by the mother of a 17-year-old girl who alleged that Yediyurappa sexually assaulted her daughter during a meeting on 2 February at his residence in Dollars Colony here. Yediyurappa was questioned for over three hours by the CID on 17 June.

The 54-year-old victim's mother, who had leveled the charge against Yediyurappa, died at a private hospital here in May, due to lung cancer. Yediyurappa has denied the charge and said he would fight the case legally.