Halashree Swami getsbail in BJP ticket case

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday granted bail to Abhinava Halashree Swami of Hirehadagali Halaswamy Mutt, Vijayanagar district, who is the third accused in the case of cheating a businessman into believing that he will given a BJP party ticket in the recent Assembly election.

The bench of Justice Vishwajit Shetty ordered granting of bail after hearing the arguments of his advocate and the government advocate. During the hearing of the petition, the government prosecutor brought to the notice of the bench that the investigating officers had filed a charge sheet to the trial court today (Wednesday).

Arun Shyam, senior advocate for the petitioner, argued that since the charge sheet has been submitted, the investigation has been completed. This makes it unnecessary for the swamiji to be in custody or face investigation.

The money alleged to have been received by the petitioner has already been seized by the investigating officers and handed over to the Magistrate Court.

The charges against the petitioner are punishable by less than seven years and the veracity of the allegations against him is yet to be proved in trial. Therefore she should be granted bail. Accepting the arguments, the HC granted bail.

Businessman Govind Babu Poojari had filed a complaint with the police, alleging that he was cheated by the accused who had taken Rs.5 crores of money, promising that he would be given a BJP ticket to contest from Byndoor constituency in Udupi district.

The accused Hindu activists Chaitra, Srikanth, Ramesh, Gagan, Prajwal and Dhanraj were arrested by the CCB police. On September 19, 2023, Halashree Swamiji was arrested by the CCB police in Cuttack, Odisha, where he was in the run, on the charge of receiving Rs.1.5 crores from the complainant.

The LVII Additional City Civil and Sessions Court refused to grant him bail following which he approached the High Court seeking bail.