HC refuses to let Soudha driver off the hook

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka has refused to discharge one of the accused in a case wherein the Vidhana Soudha (State Legislature) and its vehicles were used to cheat a businesswoman. One of the accused in the case, Sathisha B M who was a driver in Vidhana Soudha approached the court seeking to discharge him in the case against him.

The court said since the trial was on for three years and his involvement is deep, the case against him cannot be quashed. Sathisha ' s petition came up before Justice M Nagaprasanna who gave his judgement on November 2.

The complainant in the case is S Indira from Coimbatore. It was alleged that Ramesh, who was known to Indira through her brother, approached her in December 2018 for borrowing Rs 100 crore for cashew business and sought her help to obtain a loan from a bank.

Indira approached Ilamadi from Andhra Pradesh for help. She was told to arrange Rs 1.12 crore as stamp duty. The money was allegedly transferred, but no loan was provided nor the amount returned. The complaint thus came to be filed.

Sathisha is accused of having driven around the main accused and the complainant in the government vehicle. The meetings also took place in Vidhana Soudha. Rejecting the petition of Sathisha, the High Court noted that “he has mis-utilised government vehicles."