N D Shiva Kumar TNN
Bangalore: Former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa was arrested on Saturday on charges of illegally garnering prized real estate for himself and his family, an embarrassment that could seriously dent BJP’s anti-corruption crusade and leave the party’s only southern government wobbly.
The BJP strongman who builtthe party into a formidable force in Karnataka and formed its first government in the south found himself to be undertrial No. 10462 in Bangalore's Parappana Agrahara Central Jail after a judge remanded him to judicial custody for a week.
Suchhasbeen thedramatic fall from grace for Yeddyurappa. While he weathered the dissidence, he was undone by his family which contracted a large number of questionable business deals which involved Yeddyurappa denotifying large tracts of expensive land in Bangalore in favour of his sons and son-inlaw's associates in the twoand-a-half years he was in power.
Two-and-a-half months after he was forced to resign as chief minister by the BJP high command following strictures against him in Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde's mining report, Yeddyurappa surrendered before a Lokayukta special court and was sent to jail late on Saturday evening. The court had denied bail to him in two denotification cases in the morning.
The other 22 accused in the cases, including Yeddyurappa's sons BY Raghavendra and BY Vijayendra and son-in-law RN Sohan Kumar, were granted conditional bail.
There was drama aplenty before the 68-year-old politician surrendered. He went missing for over four-and-ahalf hours after his bail plea was rejected, keeping in suspense the Lokayukta police who visited his Race Course Road andDollarsColony residences to execute the arrest warrant. Amid reports that he had almost reached Tumkur and was planning to seek shelter in a religious institution there, the former chief minister surfaced in court at 4.44pm.
Judge NK Sudhindra Rao immediately ordered that the accused be sent to judicial custody till October 22. Following pleas from counsel about his client's frail health, the judge directed the jail authorities to provide proper medical assistance. Turning down requests from Yeddyurappa's counsel to recall the warrant, the judge ordered a Lokayukta deputy SP to personally escort Yeddyurappa and convey the orders of the court to jail authorities. ‘Bad health’ did not help BSY
As Yeddyurappa walked out of the court hall at 4.55pm, he tried to flash a smile, but his trademark ‘V’ sign was missing. His sons were desperately trying to hold themselves back from breaking down.
It all began in the morning. Yeddyurappa was absent when the court took up the two cases for hearing at 11am. His counsel moved an application seeking exemption from appearance and stated that he was suffering from back pain and unable to climb the stairs and, hence, could not make it to the hearing. He further claimed that Yeddyurappa had been advised bed rest for five days. Taking objection, the court said the question of exemption didn't arise, as it had reserved order on his bail plea. “Where is he? Has he been hospitalised,” the judge asked.
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