Yeddyurappa to appear in court as bail plea rejected

Scam-hit former Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa will appear Monday in the court of the Lokayukta (ombudsman) in a graft trial case as the state high court has rejected his anticipatory bail application.

"Yeddyurappa will appear in the additional city civil court and sessions court as he has recovered from fever and in response to the summons issued earlier (Aug 8) by the trial court judge (N.K. Sudhindra Rao)," the former chief minister's legal advisor Putteswamy Gowda told reporters here.

As additional city civil and sessions' court judge, Rao also functions as special Lokayukta court for speedy trial of graft cases.

Though Yeddyurappa was to appear in the trial court Saturday in response to the summons, his counsel pleaded for personal exemption as he was suffering from fever.

Rao, however, rejected the counsel's prayer and ordered Yeddyurappa to be present in the lower court Monday.

"Yeddyurappa is better and improving. He went to a local temple in the city earlier in the day to pray and worship Lord Hanuman. As a law-abiding citizen, he will fight the cases foisted on him after two city advocates filed a private complaint alleging irregularities in the de-notification of land (freeing from government control)."

Rejecting the anticipatory bail plea, Justice N. Narayana Swamy of the high court directed Yeddyurappa to be present in the ombudsman court later in the day

The case relates to the denotification of lands near Bangalore in favour of his kith and kin during his tenure as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) first chief minister in south India.

The case was filed Jan 23 by advocates Sirajin Bhasha and N.K. Balaraj after state governor H.R. Bhardwaj gave them permission Jan 21 to launch criminal proceedings against Yeddyurappa.

Yeddyurapa resigned July 31 after former Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde recommended his trial for graft in the multi-crore mining scam in the state.

In their complaints, the two advocates accused Yeddyurappa, his two sons B.Y. Raghavendra and B.Y. Vijayendra, son-in-law R. Sohan Kumar and 11 others of conspiracy to denotify the lands in return for monetary benefits.

Raghavendra is the ruling party's Lok Sabha member from Shimoga, about 280 km from Bangalore.

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