Karnataka ex-CM Kumaraswamy seeks bail in land grab case

Former Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy has sought anticipatory bail apprehending arrest over his alleged involvement in an illegal land deal in the state.

Kumaraswamy sought anticipatory bail from the Karnataka High court on Monday after police attached to the state Lokayukta filed a chargesheet against him, former minister C Chennigappa and two others, A V Raviprakash and A V Sriram, on a private complaint alleging illegalities in de-notification of government land in 2007 when Kumaraswamy, a leader of the Janata Dal (Secular) party, was the state chief minister.

He has been charged with illegally freeing from government control over three acres of land in east Bangalore during his tenure.

Kumaraswamy, now a member of Parliament, is the son of H D Deve Gowda, the JD-S chief and a former prime minister of India.

Raviprakash and Sriram, whose land the state government had acquired to form a residential layout, got it freed from official control and sold it to private parties for over Rs2 crore. The amount was several times more than what they would have received from the government in compensation for the land.

Justice KN Keshavanarayana of the Karnataka High Court today sought the Lokayukta's response to Kumaraswamy's bail plea. He will again take up the matter 20.

Kumaraswamy, Chennigappa, Raviprakash and Sriram have been charged with cheating, criminal conspiracy and corruption. Chennigappa, who was a minister in Kumaraswamy's cabinet, is accused of acting as a conduit to get the land freed from government control.

The chargesheet was filed on a private complaint by M S Mahadevaswami, a Bangalore resident who had accused Kumaraswamy of misusing his official position as the chief minister to give back the land to Raviprakash and Sriram even though the Bangalore Development Authority had started development work on it.