CBI court denies bail to Yeddyurappa, kin in illegal mining case

BANGALORE: The threat of arrest loomed large over former Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa, both his sons and a son-in-law, as a special CBI court on Wednesday rejected the anticipatory bail petitions filed by him and his family members in connection with an illegal mining case. 


Special CBI judge R Venkata Sudarshan dismissed two anticipatory bail petitions, one filed by Yeddyurappa, and another by his sons BY Raghavendra and BY Vijayendra and their brother-in-law Sohan Kumar. 

CBI is investigating charges of bribery against Yeddyurappa on a Supreme Court directive. Payments made by a Jindal group company to a trust run by Yeddyurappa's sons and a mining baron, R Praveen Chandra, to firms owned by the two brothers in return for favours, including grant of mining licences and denotification of prime land acquired in violation of rules, are under the CBI scanner. 


The CBI judge said that he rejected anticipatory bail to the four applicants given "the magnitude of the case" and to ensure "free and fair investigation". The 75-page order also said that the CBI's concern about Yeddyurappa and Raghavendra, a sitting MP, being "influential persons" could not be discounted. "But mere rejection of anticipatory bail cannot be a ground for arrest," the judge said. 

Within hours of the special court rejecting their petitions, lawyers for Yeddyurappa made a futile bid to mention the issue before the high court but the judge Subhash B Adi said the matter could be taken up on Thursday. 

CBI sources, however, said there were no immediate plans to arrest Yeddyurappa or his family members. They only said that "appropriate steps" will be taken. 

The court's rejection of Yeddyurappa's anticipatory bail has apparently disheartened the former CM, who blamed it all on his fate. Yeddyurappa was alone and had confined himself to a room in his Race Course residence when news of the court decision came in. 

A BJP MLA, who was in Yeddyurappa's residence at that time, said Yeddyurappa preferred not to talk to anyone including his family members. "Yeddyurappa did not come out of the room for a long time. Finally when he did, we (legislators) did not have the courage to console him. He just blamed it all on his fate," the MLA said. 

Yeddyurappa, who is now pinning hopes on the HC where he has filed an anticipatory bail plea, will also have to contend with the fact that both his sons and a son-in-law are likely to be arrested this time.