NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the Karnataka Lokayukta’s plea against the Karnataka High Court decision to grant anticipatory bail to Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) MLA Madal Virupakshappa in a corruption case. The counsel appearing for Karnataka Lokayukta mentioned his plea and sought urgent hearing of his appeal against anticipatory bail granted to BJP MLA.
Channagiri MLA Madal Virupakshappa, whose son was arrested while he was allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 40 lakh on March 3, appeared before Lokayukta in Bengaluru on March 9. The Lokayukta police had arrested his son Prashanth Madal for bribery of Rs 40 lakh.
Initially, the lawyer mentioned the plea before the bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, who asked the petitioner to go before another bench headed by Justice S K Kaul. The CJI said, “He is part of a Constitution bench hearing a different matter, so they will not be able to take up Karnataka Lokayukta matter”.
When the lawyer mentioned his plea before a bench headed by Justice S K Kaul, the judge said, “What was the urgency for listing of the plea?” The lawyer replied and said, “The accused is a sitting legislator.” Thereafter, Justice Kaul directed to list the matter at the earliest.
Recently, Madal Virupakshappa was granted anticipatory bail by Karnataka High Court in corruption case. Earlier this month, the Lokayukta police raided the Bengaluru residence of Virupakshappa’s son Prashant Madal and recovered over Rs 6 crore in cash. About Rs 1.7 crore in cash had been recovered from his office.
Virupakshappa has claimed that the Rs 6 crore belongs to his family. “It was our family’s money. I have not done any illegal transactions as president of KSDL. We kept the money from our arecanut plantation and crusher at home. This money was discovered during the Lokayukta raid. I have documents for that money,” he said. (ANI)