SC stays Karnataka HC order refusing to quash corruption case against Yediyurappa

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed an order of the Karnataka High Court that had refused to quash a corruption case against former chief minister BS Yediyurappa.

Yediyurappa was accused of denotifying parcels of land and allotting those to entrepreneurs during his tenure as Karnataka’s deputy chief minister between February 2006 and October 2007.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli ordered issuing notices to the state and other respondents, seeking their comment on Yediyurappa’s appeal against the high court ruling.


In its order in December 2020, the high court had also raised eyebrows about alleged laxity in the probe into the case. The criminal case was registered by the Karnataka Lokayukta Police in December 2015 on a private complaint filed by one Vasudeva Reddy under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

According to Yediyurappa, the high court had quashed the FIR registered against the prime accused, Raghunath Vishwanath Deshpande, in 2015. He contended that the probe against him based on the same FIR was illegal and amounted to abuse of the process of court.

The high court had hauled up the police for allegedly delaying the investigation against the BJP leader and said the “circumstances clearly indicate that the delay is intentional and deliberate”.

Yediyurappa had petitioned the high court against a February 2015 order of a Bengaluru court that directed the Lokayukta police to investigate the charges levelled in Reddy’s complaint. He had also sought quashing of the FIR lodged by the Lokayukta police.