Court rejects Kumaraswamy’s anticipatory bail plea

Mangalore Today / PTI

Bangalore, August 30 : The additional city civil and sessions court Tuesday rejected the anticipatory bail of former Karnataka chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and his wife and lawmaker Anita in a graft case related to the multi-crore-rupee mining scam.

Judge N.K. Sudindhra Rao, who also functions as special Lokayukta (ombudsman) court for speedy trial of graft cases, said the summons he served on both the accused Aug 8 stood and they have to appear before him later in the day.

Kumaraswamy’s counsel Azmath Pasha, however, appealed to the court to grant exemption from their physical presence in the court as he was moving the Karnataka High Court for anticipatory bail.

The summons were issued on a complaint by city-based advocate Vinod Kumar alleging that Kumaraswamy granted a mining lease to Jantakkal mining firm flouting rules and illegally allotting land to a housing society, which in return gave a residential plot in Bangalore to Anita.

 

 

Kumaraswamy was chief minister of the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition government in the state February 2006-October 2007. Anita represents the Madhugiri assembly constituency in Tumkur district, about 70 km from here.

Kumaraswamy, who is the regional party’s state unit president, is a member of the Lok Sabha from Ramanagara, about 60 km from Bangalore.

The complaint was based on the final investigative report submitted by former Lokayukta Justice (retd) N. Santosh Hegde July 27 on the mining scam in which Kumaraswamy was named for granting lease to two mining companies violating norms.

The complaint also claimed that Kumaraswamy had given officials just two hours to grant the lease to the mining firm.

The ex-chief minister is said to have allotted 70 acres to Vishwabharathi Housing Cooperative Society in Bangalore. The society in return favoured his wife Anita with a 100 ft x 150 ft residential plot.

In a related development, Justice Keshavanarayan rejected Kumaraswamy’s application seeking stay on proceedings in the Lokayukta court.