In an embarrassment to the BJP whose leader L K Advani has set out an anti-corruption yatra,former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa was today sent to jail following his arrest in connection with two corruption complaints against him. Yeddyurappa dodged an arrest warrant issued by a Lok Ayukta court and surrendered before the court late in the evening. He was then placed under arrest. His case will be heard on October 22. S N Krishnaiah Setty,a former minister in Yeddyurappas government and a co-accused in one of the corruption cases,was also denied bail and remanded to judicial custody. Prison authorities have been directed to get his health examined. Yeddyurappas sons B Y Raghavendra and B Y Vijayendra,son-in-law R Sohan Kumar and seven other relatives and family friends who are accused of being beneficiaries of his allegedly corrupt administrative decisions were,however,granted bail. The Lok Ayukta court rejected Yeddyurappas bail plea on Saturday morning and issued a non-bailable warrant for his arrest after rejecting his request for exemption from appearance on medical grounds. After he turned himself in,Yeddyurappa sought to be sent for medical treatment for a back ailment but Lok Ayukta judge N K Sudhindra Rao ordered that he be taken to jail where a jail doctor could examine him. The arrest followed the exhaustion of all available legal remedies in two of five private corruption complaints filed against him by advocate Sirajin Basha. He was accused of using his position as Chief Minister to garner personal wealth. Since January this year when five complaints of corruption,citing three instances of corruption each,were filed against him,Yeddyurappa has attempted to obtain anticipatory bail or stay proceedings against him but his pleas have not been entertained by the designated Lok Ayukta court or the Karnataka High Court so far. Although a single judge of the Karnataka High Court briefly stayed proceedings in the cases in which Yeddyurappa was placed under arrest,the orders were overturned by a division bench which said no stay order could be issued in Prevention of Corruption Act cases as per Supreme Court orders. The complaints filed by advocate Sirajin Basha in which Yeddyurappa was denied bail pertain to his decision to hand over land measuring 2.05 acres,1.07 acres and 3.05 acres,acquired by the governments Bangalore Development Authority,to alleged relatives and benamis of his sons. Yeddyurappa has been accused of causing a loss of Rs 124 crore through these deals. In a second complaint in which Yeddyurappa sought bail,he is accused of denotifying government land in favour of people including former minister Krishnaiah Setty who allegedly made huge payoffs to companies run by his sons and son-in-law. Shortly after the Lok Ayukta court issued an arrest warrant,Yeddyurappa went missing and could not be located by police officers of the Lok Ayukta who attempted to serve the arrest warrant on him. We went to his two houses and searched for him but he could not be located, Lok Ayukta Deputy Superintendent of Police Prasanna Raju said. Even as the Lok Ayukta police waited for Yeddyurappa outside the court premises,he gave them the slip and avoided a public arrest by making his way to the Lok Ayukta court through a second entrance.
