Karnataka Home Minister says BJP veteran may be arrested under POCSO if necessary

Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Thursday said the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), probing the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) case against former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, has issued notice asking him to appear before it for questioning, and he may be arrested if necessary.

"Notice has been served procedurally, the charge-sheet has to be filed by June 15. Before that they (CID) will file the charge-sheet. They will have to follow procedure for it. They will have to record his statement and produce him (in court), all these are procedures and the department will do it," he told reporters here.

In response to a question, Parameshwara said: "If necessary they will arrest. I can't say (if) it is necessary, CID has to say it. If they feel it is necessary, they will do it." The BJP veteran, who is also a member of the party's parliamentary board, is presently in Delhi, and he is likely to join the probe after he returns, sources close to him have said.

According to police, Yediyurappa has been booked under the POCSO Act and Section 354 A (Sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) based on a complaint by the mother of a 17-year-old girl who alleged that he sexually assaulted her daughter during a meeting on February two this year, at his residence in Dollars Colony here.

On March 14, hours after the Sadashivanagar police registered the case, the Karnataka Director General of Police Alok Mohan issued an order transferring it to the CID for further investigation with immediate effect.

The 54-year-old woman, who had leveled the charge against Yediyurappa, died at a private hospital here last month, due to lung cancer.

The 81-year-old Yediyurappa has denied the charge and said he would fight the case legally.

In April, the CID collected the voice sample of Yediyurappa after summoning him to the office.

The government, meanwhile, has appointed Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Ashok H. Nayak to represent the CID in the case.

Yediyurappa has moved the court seeking quashing of the FIR.