BS Yediyurappa, 3 more face chargesheetin Pocso case

BENGALURU: CID officials investigating the case of alleged sexual harassment of a 17-year-old girl by former chief minister BS Yediyurappa Thursday filed a chargesheet against the BJP veteran and three others at a special Pocso court here.
According to CID sources, investigating officer and deputy superintendent of police (DySP) Puneeth Kumar R submitted the 750-page chargesheet that comprises digital evidence, forensic report, statements of 74 witnesses as well as that of the surviving girl.
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According to a senior police officer, although the Pocso court received the chargesheet, there was a discussion in court on whether the special court dealing with Pocso cases or the one dealing with elected representatives should conduct the trial, since Yediyurappa is a former people's representative. The principal city civil and sessions judge will now take a call on this.
Yediyurappa has been named as accused number 1 in the case. Three other individuals - Arun YM, Rudresh M, and G Mariswamy - have been identified as the second, third and fourth accused, respectively.
The chargesheet has been filed under Section 8 of the Pocso Act and IPC Sections 354A, 204, and 214.
According to police, Rudresh and Mariswamy had visited the survivor's house after the incident. On Feb 20, they called the girl and her mother to Yediyurappa's house and deleted a video uploaded on Facebook by the mother. The video was also deleted from the mother's phone. Moreover, on Yediyurappa's instructions, Rudresh allegedly handed Rs 2 lakh to the girl's mother.
Following a high court directive not to arrest Yediyurappa, CID officials recorded the former CM's statement on June 17. Earlier, they had recorded the statements of the other three accused persons as well.
Yediyurappa's advocate CV Nagesh had claimed that the survivor's now-deceased mother was in the habit of filing multiple complaints with the intention of blackmailing people.