BSY's bail application adjourned

Bangalore: The Karnataka High Court on Monday adjourned to January 12 applications of former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa and Housing Minister V Somanna and his wife for anticipatory and interim bail in an FIR against them alleging irregularities in denotification of land.

When the applications came up for hearing, Justice Subhash B Adi adjourned the petitions after arguments in the matter remained inconclusive.

Counsel for Yeddyurappa, Ashok Haranahally, said the complainant had no knowledge about the transactions and "in the entire complaint there are no allegations to constitute an offence". Proper investigation has to be carried to bring out the facts, he submitted.

Counsel for Somanna and his wife Murthy Dayanand Naik submitted they had not violated any law and are the bonafide purchasers of the land.

The FIR was filed against them on November 26 after Lokayukta Court Judge NK Sudhindra Rao had directed Lokayukta SP (Bangalore Urban) to conduct a probe under relevant section of the CrPC and submit his report on December 26.

The complainant, Ravi Krishnareddy, a software engineer, alleged Yeddyurappa had denotified 22 guntas (one gunta is about 1086 square feet) of land in Nagadevanahalli in 2009 to an education trust owned by Somanna's wife, violating rules.

The land had already been acquired by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) in 1998, he had submitted.

The erstwhile land owner Lingaraju, one of the accused, tried in vain to get the land denotified in 2005 when N Dharam Singh was Chief Minister and also in 2006 during the tenure of HD Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister.

Lingaraju again applied for denotification of the land in June 2009 and Yeddyurappa passed favourable orders.

The building constructed by the education trust is an "illegal" building as it had not been accorded permission for construction by the competent authorities, it was stated.

Subsequently, Yeddyurappa, Somanna and his wife filed for anticipatory bail. When these came up for hearing on December 2, the court ordered issue of notice to Lokayukta police.