BJP MLA Virupakshappa moves HC for anticipatory bail in bribery case

PTI, Mar 6, 2023, 3:07 PM IST

BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa, accused in a bribery case, on Monday approached the Karnataka High Court seeking anticipatory bail. Channagiri MLA’s advocate approached the bench of Justice K Natarajan seeking urgent hearing of the petition. The court said it would hear it after listing on Tuesday.

In an alleged cash-for-contract scandal, over Rs eight crore was recovered by Lokayukta from the MLA’s son V Prashanth Madal last week. Lokayukta has registered an FIR in the alleged bribery case, in which Virupakshappa was named accused number one. The unaccounted cash was recovered from the office of Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited, of which Virupakshappa was the Chairman, after a trap by Lokayukta in which his son was caught red-handed while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 40 lakh. The MLA subsequently quit the post.

Further searches led to the recovery of about Rs 2 crore from the KSDL office and over Rs 6 crore from Prashanth’s house. Altogether Rs 8.23 crore cash, huge quantity of gold and silver ornaments and large investments in land in various parts of Karnataka were allegedly uncovered, Lokayukta sources said.

Virupakshappa has also approached a civil court in Bengaluru seeking injunction against media houses from publishing defamatory news about him.

Congress general secretary and Karnataka in charge Randeep Singh Surjewala today slammed the BJP government on the bribery case.

“Day 4 of #MysoreSandalSoapBribeGate ! BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa still missing. If Bommai Govt can’t even arrest an absconding MLA, how will it tackle law & order and criminals in #Karnataka ? Will disclose more info on bribe gate shortly. TIME FOR HM & CM to Quit !” the Congress leader tweeted.

He sought to know whether some more people were involved in the scam.

“Did Prashant Madal S/O BJP MLA eat up a paper, when he was arrested on 3rd March? Was the name of Yathish Chandra IPS, DCP Crime Branch written on the slip? Was name of children of 2 politicians on the slip too? Who all were receiving the money?” Surjewala asked.