Soon after a Bengaluru court issued an arrest warrant against former Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa in a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act case registered against him, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led Congress government of doing “politics of vendetta”.
Addressing the media in Bengaluru, former BJP national General Secretary CT Ravi said the Siddaramaiah government is pursuing the case after four months in retaliation for dragging Rahul Gandhi to court in a defamation case.
The case was registered against Yeddyurappa on March 14. The 81-year-old Yediyurappa has denied the charge and said he would fight the case legally.
“Is this not politics of hatred? CM Siddaramaiah claimed he wouldn’t pursue the politics of hatred, but now he is doing just that. The people of the state will question this. The people are asking why the government was inactive for four months after the POCSO case was lodged against Yediyurappa. Home Minister G. Parameshwara had even stated that there was no substance in the case,” Ravi said.
The BJP leader also claimed that it is an open secret that since Rahul Gandhi was dragged to court in Bengaluru, the Congress wants the BJP to be dragged to court as well.
“We will honour the court order in Yediyurappa’s case. But this is a political conspiracy. The alleged incident took place on February 2, and the case was lodged in March. Yediyurappa had gone to the police station to record his statement. But the police told him that it was not necessary, and later recorded his statement at his residence,” Ravi said.
Commenting on the matter, N. Ravikumar, BJP MLC and the party chief whip in the Legislative Council, said that there is no substance or truth in the case.
“Home Minister Parameshwara had said that the complainant is mentally challenged and has lodged more than 60 cases against IAS/IPS officers, and politicians. The government itself had said that this case was not important. Despite Yediyurappa conveying to the police that he was ready to give a statement, the police asked him not to come to the police station and later collected his voice sample in April,” he said, adding that the entire matter is a conspiracy hatched by the Congress in retaliation to Rahul Gandhi being dragged to court in a defamation case.
“The CM, Deputy CM, and Home Minister have acted on the advice of Congress’ Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala and hatched this conspiracy,” Ravikumar alleged.
“The Congress, which did not act in the last four months, has suddenly woken up. They have obtained a non-bailable arrest warrant and want to arrest Yediyurappa. This is highly condemnable,” said BJP MLC Chalawadi Narayanaswamy.
Case Against Yeddyurappa
In a major development, a special court in Bengaluru on Thursday issued a non-bailable warrant against the BJP veteran in connection with a POCSO case against him relating to the alleged sexual harassment of a minor.
Talking about the warrant, Karnataka Home Minister Parameshwara said, “They (police) will get him and collect all the information as per the law. Let them say whatever they want. The FSL report is yet to come. Since it is a high profile case it will come on police if something goes wrong. There is information that he is in Delhi. It seems he has said that he will come on July 17. Now since there is a warrant, it would be good if he comes soon. If not, police will have to go and get him.”
According to police, Yediyurappa has been booked under the POCSO Act and Section 354 A (Sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) based on a complaint by the mother of a 17-year-old girl who alleged that he molested her daughter during a meeting on February 2 this year, at his residence in Dollars Colony here.
The victim’s brother had filed a petition in the court earlier this week alleging that though the case was registered on March 14, no progress has been made in the investigation. The petitioner prayed that Yediyurappa should be arrested and interrogated.
After the Sadashivanagar police registered the case in March, the Karnataka Director General of Police Alok Mohan issued an order transferring it to the CID for further investigation.
The 54-year-old woman, who had levelled the charge against Yediyurappa, died at a private hospital in the city last month, due to lung cancer.
In April, the CID collected the voice sample of Yediyurappa after summoning him to the office.
The government, meanwhile, has appointed Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Ashok H Nayak to represent the CID in the case. Yediyurappa has moved the court seeking quashing of the FIR.
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