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BS Yediyurappa POCSO Case: A court in Karnataka’s capital Bengaluru on Thursday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against former Chief Minister of the state and senior BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa in a POCSO case. With this, the apprehension has deepened that the former Chief Minister may be arrested. However, he has filed an anticipatory bail petition in the Karnataka High Court to get exemption from arrest, which will be heard on Friday.
In fact, an FIR was registered against him on February 2 this year on charges of sexually abusing a minor girl. In this case, the Crime Investigation Department (CID), which is investigating the case against Yeddyurappa under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses) Act, had issued a summons to him on Wednesday and called him for questioning, but he could not appear. Sources close to Yeddyurappa said that the senior BJP leader is currently in Delhi and is likely to join the investigation after his return.
What is the matter?
According to the police, Yediyurappa has been booked under the POCSO Act and Section 354 A (sexual assault) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) based on a complaint by the mother of a 17-year-old girl. The girl’s mother has accused Yediyurappa of sexually assaulting her daughter during a meeting at his residence in Dollars Colony on February 2 this year. The FIR states that the victim girl had gone to the former chief minister’s residence to seek help in a rape case but was sexually assaulted there.
According to the FIR, the victim’s mother has also alleged that when she asked the former CM about this, he said that he was investigating whether the girl was raped or not. The FIR states that later Yediyurappa had allegedly apologized and asked her not to tell anyone about this matter. However, Yediyurappa said that the woman who made the allegations had filed 53 such cases against different people.
DGP handed over the case to CID
Hours after the Sadashivanagar police registered the case on March 14, Karnataka Director General of Police (DGP) Alok Mohan issued an order transferring the case to the CID for investigation with immediate effect. The 54-year-old woman who levelled the allegations against Yediyurappa died of lung cancer in a private hospital last month.
81-year-old Yeddyurappa has rejected the allegations against him and said he will fight the case legally. In April, the CID summoned Yeddyurappa to the office and collected his voice sample. Meanwhile, the government has appointed Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Ashok H. Nayak to represent the CID in the case. Yeddyurappa, on the other hand, has sought quashing of the FIR and has approached the court.
