The Supreme Court on Monday protected the Chief Minister of Karnataka and the former minister of industries Murugesh Nirani from the arrest pertaining to a case of alleged forgery over the withdrawal of approval given to a piece of land.
A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justice V Ramasubramanian issued notices to complainants and agreed to hear the pleas of CM Yediyurappa and Murugesh Nirani challenging the order of the HC that restored the complaint. The Bench said that in the meantime there shall be a stay of the arrest.
A Senior Advocate Mukul Rohtagi appeared for Yediyurappa. He said that the appeal raises a legal question as to whether the Court can proceed with the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act without prior sanction on grounds that he had resigned the office which allegedly he used for the commission of the offense.
Rohtagi sought a stay on the high court order and proceedings. He said that Yediyurappa can be arrested after the trial court issues an arrest warrant. To which the Bench said that he was the sitting Chief Minister and no one can issue an arrest warrant against him, they can only issue a letter of request and not a warrant.
CM Yediyurappa said that he filed an appeal after being aggrieved at the 5th January judgment which set aside the well-reasoned judgment of 26th Aug 2016 passed by Special Judge who held that the complaint was dismissed as a prior sanction was to be provided. In addition to this, the 5th January judgment allowed the petition filed by the complainant under section 482 CrPC.
The High court had set aside the judgment saying no sanction was necessary only on grounds that the petitioner had resigned the office which he had used for committing the offence.
Yediyurappa in response to this said that the complainant waiting for him to resign from the office before filing the complaint is an abuse of the process of law. He further said that the High Court by allowing the complainant to use this device has rendered protection illusory.
The complainant Pasha has accused CM Yediyurappa and Murugesh Nirani who was the former principal secretary VP Baligar of committing forgery of documents that were issued by her seeking withdrawal of the approval granted for allotment of 26 acres of land. This land was located at the Devanahalii Industrial area in Bengaluru.
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