A bench of chief justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi suggested that the lawmaker move a plea for regular bail instead of a request for anticipatory bail. The chief justice said the lawmaker must show the courage to face the trial since he was a people’s representative.
Justice Bagchi remarked that the court would have considered the request, but for the fact that the petitioner has taken the stand that he did not know the prime accused in the case. His call records, however, contradicted this.
The MLA from KR Puram in Bengaluru moved the apex court after the Karnataka High Court had, on February 10, declined anticipatory bail to him. The order led to the cancellation of interim anticipatory bail the court had granted him in December.
The former minister now faces the prospect of arrest by the police with the setback at the apex court. The Bengaluru Police are camping at the international airport to take him into custody and record his arrest. He has been outside of Karnataka since the high court rejected his request.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for Basavaraj while senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, representing the State, requested the bench to pass orders so that the MLA surrenders before the police.
The Bengaluru Police had named him among several people as accused in the FIR on charges of conspiracy and murder. He, however, moved the high court praying for quashing of the FIR. The court, however, directed the police not to take coercive action against him, protecting him from arrest.The criminal investigation department (CID), which later took over the probe, invoked the provisions of the Karnataka Control of Organised Crimes Act (KCOCA), 2000, on all the accused persons. The BJP MLA moved the high court challenging the CID’s charges. In December, the court quashed the CID invoking the KCOCA against the MLA.
A special court in Bengaluru had, in December, rejected Basavaraja’s request for an anticipatory bail.
