Bangalore:
The Karnataka High Court will resume hearing the bail plea of former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa today. The BJP leader was arrested on October 15 after a special Lokayukta court charged him in alleged irregularities in denotifying government land.
Mr Yeddyurappa is in jail at a time when LK Advani is in Karnataka as part of his nationwide rally against corruption.
Mr Yeddyurappa is accused of using influence as the Chief Minister during his term to illegally denotifying several acres of land, mainly on the outskirts of Bangalore to benefit his sons and son-in-law. Mr Yeddyurappa has denied these charges.
On October 22, the special Lokayukta court hearing charges of corruption against him in five land cases, had ordered that his judicial custody be extended till November 3. Mr Yeddyurappa is lodged at Bangalore's Central Jail.
The 68-year-old had moved High Court after the Lokayukta court had first remanded him to judicial custody on October 15. That was a dramatic weekend. Mr Yeddyurappa surrendered in the special court hours after it had rejected bail and ordered his arrest. The court had sent him to jail for a week, but after a few hours at Bangalore's Central prison, the former CM complained of breathlessness and chest pain and was moved to the Jayadeva Cardiology hospital.
When that hospital pronounced him fit for discharge three days later, Mr Yeddyurappa moved to another hospital on October 18. He spent only a night there, after which he moved back to jail - his close aides and a minister said he was upset at media reports suggesting that he was "faking illness" to stay out of jail.
Mr Yeddyurappa's sons, B Y Raghavendra, a Lok Sabha member and B Y Vijendra, are among the other accused in the land case. The Lokayukta court had granted them conditional bail on October 15.