Petitioner withdraws appeal against Yeddyurappa

In a surprise move, a complainant who had challenged Karnataka high court's move to quash the FIR against former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa in the alleged illegal mining case, Monday withdrew his appeal in the Supreme Court.

A bench of justices T S Thakur and Gyan Sudha Mishra, before whom the matter came up for hearing, asked counsel K V Sreekumar to file an application and affidavit for withdrawal of the appeal filed by the petitioner D M Vishwanath against Yeddyuruppa.

During the brief hearing, the counsel submitted the petitioner intended to explore the remedy available to him before the high court which is examining the apex court-appointed Central Empowered Committee report on the illegal mining row.

The stinging remarks of the Lok Ayukta against Yeddyruppa in the alleged mining scam had led to his exit from the chief ministerhip in July last year.

However, on Yeddyruppa's appeal, the HC had in March this year quashed the FIR against the former chief minister and struck down portions of the Lokayukta report which accused him of complicity in illegal mining.

Challenging the order, Vishwanath had said the high court "had erred in holding" that there was no material placed on record to establish that Yeddyurappa had shown any official favour to the companies.

"It is most respectfully submitted that the Lokayukta is the primary investigating authority and submits its recommendations on the basis of material that it has been able...to collect. Thereafter, the due process of law has to be followed and appropriate proceedings initiated to establish the guilt or otherwise of the public servant," the petition had stated.