BANGALORE: The Lokayukta Special Court has extended the judicial custody of KGF MLA Y Sampangi till Monday (October 31) as the court has to cross-examine the witnesses in a land case.On Saturday, the court recorded the statements of two prime witnesses, including the complainant Hussain Muyeen Farooq and Arun Kumar, while posting the case to Monday.Thus, the court has extended the judicial custody of MLA Sampangi, as it had found prima-facie violations of his bail conditions, and hence cancelled his bail on Friday.Proceedings commenced at 11 am on Saturday and was deferred by an hour as one of the witnesses was absent. It eventually started at noon when Farooq’s statements were recorded for over two hours. The court has also verified other documents in the case, including a CD and a cheque.Farooq detailed about how the MLA was trapped while accepting the bribe on Januaruy 29, 2009. He stated that two persons, Ilias Nayaaz and Khana Fiaz, have been staking claim on a site owned by him in KGF. Forged documents were being used by the duo to trespass on Farooq’s property.At Andersonpet police station, sub-inspector Pasha and inspector Lakshmaiah refused to register a complaint by Farooq, but was done so only after a sub-inspector from KGF intervened. Meanwhile, Nayaaz’s wife lodged a complaint against Farooq claiming ownership of the same site. A criminal case was registered against Farooq. When Farooq apprised Sampangi of the issue, he demanded Rs 5 lakh for getting the case closed. The entire conversation with Sampangi was recorded by Farooq.MLA Sampangi asked him to come to the legislator’s home and make the payment; Farooq informed him that he had only Rs 50,000. The MLA told Farooq to issue a cheque without a name for the remaining `4.5 lakh to file a B report in the case against Farooq.Later, Arun Kumar stated how he was witness when the Lokayukta police trapped the MLA.Shettar Named WitnessLokayukta police named former Assembly Speaker Jagadish Shettar as one of the witnesses in the MLA Y Sampangi case, who has been booked under Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly accepting bribe. Judge N K Sudheendra Rao asked the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) whether Shettar should be cross-examined as he was the Speaker then. The SPP told the court that he wants to examine the witness; Sampangi’s advocate also expressed desire to cross-examine Shettar. The case has been posted to October 31.SPP Pramod Chandra told Express that a legal debate has now begun, and the court will give its opinion on the issue soon.
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