Thaindian News

Bangalore, Oct 26 (IANS) A court here Wednesday extended till Nov 26 the judicial custody of former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister Katta Subramanya Naidu and his son Katta Jagadish in a corruption case.

While Jagadish, a BJP Bangalore corporator, is in jail here, his father is undergoing treatment for cancer at Mumbai’s Lilavati hospital.

Along with the father-son duo, the jail stay of S.V. Srinivas, managing director of Itasca Software company, was also extended till Nov 26.

Naidu and Jagadish are charged with taking a bribe of Rs.85 crore for illegally allotting 385 acres of land near Bangalore to Itasca software company.

The allotment took place when Naidu was Karnataka’s industries minister in the Janata Dal-Secular-BJP coalition government in 2006-07.

Naidu resigned last year as IT minister after the case was filed against him, his son, the software company honcho and six others. Of the six other accused, four are on bail while two are absconding.

Special Lokayukta (ombudsman) Court Judge N.K. Sundhindra Rao extended the judicial custody of Naidu, Jagdish and Srinivas as it ended Wednesday. Rao, an additional sessions judge, functions as Lokayukta judge for speedy disposal of corruption cases.

Naidu was sent to jail Aug 8. He stayed there only for a few days as he is suffering from cancer and was shifted to the government Victoria Hospital here for treatment.

The Lokayukta court earlier rejected Naidu’s plea for bail and permission to go abroad for treatment.

He was allowed to undergo treatment in any government or private hospital in the country at his own cost.