Lokayukta arrests Karnataka BJP MLA in corruption case
Madal Virupakshappa, the Channagiri MLA, was arrested from a toll booth in Kyathsandra in Tumakuru district and will be brought to Bengaluru for questioning, police said
Bengaluru: Karnataka Lokayukta police on Monday arrested ruling Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Madal Virupakshappa, hours after the Karnataka high court rejected his anticipatory bail application in a corruption case.
The Channagiri MLA was arrested from a toll booth in Kyathsandra in Tumakuru district and will be brought to Bengaluru for questioning, police said.
On March 2, in what caused the BJP embarrassment, Virupakshappa was named the main accused in a corruption case lodged by the Karnataka Lokayukta after his son was caught taking a bribe of ₹40 lakh. In the raids that followed, Lokayukta authorities recovered ₹6.1 crore in cash from his Sanjay Nagar residence and ₹2.2 crore from his office. A total of ₹8.23 crore in cash, a huge quantity of gold and silver ornaments and large investments in land in Karnataka were allegedly uncovered.
Virupakshappa’s bail application was rejected by justice K Natarajan of the special court for elected representatives. “I am of the view that the petitioner-accused No.1 is not entitled to anticipatory bail as he is required for custodial interrogation,” the judge said. “Though this court granted the interim anticipatory bail until disposal of the case because there was no material found in the FIR (first information report) at that time, but now, there is sufficient evidence to show the involvement of the petitioner in the commission of the offence.”
Virupakshappa claimed the allegations made in the FIR were absurd and there was no sufficient ground to proceed against him, a Lokayukta police officer said. “While hearing his plea, the bench had given him interim bail till the disposal of the anticipatory bail petition,” the officer said, seeking anonymity. “The court has rejected the anticipatory bail and thus the interim bail also stands cancelled.”
“There is no black spot in my career. This controversy is because of a conspiracy,” Virupakshappa said after his application was rejected. “I will come out of this with a clean slate.”
