Bengaluru, March 11 BJP MLA Chandru Lamani, representing the Shirahatti Assembly constituency in Gadag district, has been granted conditional bail by the Special Court for People’s Representatives in Bengaluru on Wednesday in connection with an alleged bribery case.
The court granted bail on the condition that Lamani furnish a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh and provide two sureties. The order comes as a major relief for the legislator, who had been in judicial custody at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in Bengaluru for the past 15 days.
Lamani was arrested by the Karnataka Lokayukta Police on February 21 after he was allegedly caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 5 lakh from a contractor in Laxmeshwar town of Gadag district.
The Lokayukta stated that the trap was laid by the Gadag unit under Section 7(a) read with Section 7(A) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Officials said Lamani was apprehended while allegedly accepting the money as part of a larger bribe demand.
Lokayukta officials said Lamani had allegedly demanded Rs 11 lakh from a Class One contractor, identified as Vijay Poojar, in connection with the allotment of a contract under the Minor Irrigation Department. The alleged bribe was linked to the construction of retaining walls on both sides of a stretch of road.
During the operation, Lamani’s government personal assistant, Manjunath Valmiki, and his private assistant, Guru Lamani, were also detained and questioned.
The trap operation was conducted under the leadership of Dharwad Lokayukta Superintendent of Police Siddalingappa. Following the arrest, Lokayukta officials also conducted a search at Balaji Hospital in Laxmeshwar town, which is owned by the MLA.
The development had earlier been seen as a setback for the BJP, which has been targeting the Congress-led government in Karnataka over allegations of demanding commissions from contractors and delaying payments.
BJP leaders have said that the district-in-charge minister and Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, H.K. Patil, and other Congress leaders, like Krishnagouda Patil, are behind the conspiracy to get Dr Lamani arrested.
“The complainant, Poojar, is a Congress office-bearer. He is part of the conspiracy to trap the MLA. It is not acceptable,” BJP leaders Basavaraj Chakrasali and Fakiresh Rattihali said in a media conference.
BJP MP and former CM Basavaraj Bommai also suspected a conspiracy against MLA Lamani and demanded that the matter be investigated from all angles. Bommai stated that under the Prevention of Corruption Act, even forcing someone to accept a bribe was an offence and therefore the matter should be investigated properly.
--IANS
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