Bengaluru, Jul 4 (IANS): In a setback for Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, the Special Court for People's Representative here on Saturday not only dismissed the 'B-Report' submitted by the Lokayukta police seeking closure of investigation against him, but also directed the Lokayukta police to probe the matter as per the directions of the high court.

The court further directed the Lokayukta police to file a report by August 21.

The case pertains to the denotification of a prime land in Bengaluru, which was related to the Varthur-Whitefield IT Corridor. The land was acquired in 2000-2001 for an IT park.

Vasudeva Reddy had filed a case against Yediyurappa before the Lokayukta, seeking prosecution of the Chief Minister.

Special court Judge Sridhar Gopalakrishna Bhat said in his order, "The 'B Report' submitted by the investigation officer under is hereby rejected. Consequently, acting under Section 156(3) of CrPC, the Deputy Superintendent of Police of Lokayuktha is hereby directed to investigate the matter further in the light of the observation made in this order and file a final report/additional final report expeditiously as per the law."

Bhat added in his order that the office is hereby directed to send the copy of this order to the ADGP, Lokayuktha, Bengaluru, for further necessary action.

In 2006-07, as the Deputy Chief Minister in the JD(S)-BJP coalition government headed by H.D. Kumaraswamy, Yediyurappa had denotified the land, according to the complaint lodged by Vasudeva Reddy with the Lokayukta court, alleging irregularities in the denotification process.

The court had directed the Lokayukta police to register a case, which was registered on February 21, 2015 under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

In December 2020, Yediyurappa had filed a petition in the high court seeking quashing of the case.

Yediyurappa had contended that the high court had quashed a similar FIR against the then Industries Minister and Congress leader R. V. Deshpande on October 9, 2015, claiming that hence the investigation against him based on the same FIR was illegal, but the court had rejected his argument.

On January 6, 2021, the Karnataka High Court had dismissed the petition of Yediyurappa seeking quashing of an FIR filed by the Lokayukta police in this case.

Dismissing the petition, Justice John Michael Cunha had directed the police to expedite the investigation.

But the Lokayukta police then filed a 'B Report' seeking closure of the investigation, which Reddy had challenged in the special court.