BENGALURU: High Court judge Narayanaswamy recused himself from hearing the bail petitions of the accused in the Lokayukta extortion scam on Wednesday.
The applications of all the accused were posted before Justice Narayanaswamy after the Supreme Court sent the matter back to the high court.
The accused are Y Ashwin, son of former Lokayukta Justice Y Bhaskar Rao, former Lokayukta PRO Syed Riyaz, real estate agent Ashok Kumar, journalist Srinivasa Gowda, RTI activist Shankare Gowda, First Division Assistant at the DG&IGP’s office, Narasimha Murthy, and others.
The bail applications of all the accused were allowed by Justice Narayanaswamy last September. While setting aside the order, the apex court referred the case back to the High Court. Accordingly, the case was posted before Justice K N Phaneendra recently, who in turn, asked the matter to be placed before the same judge who has already heard the case. Accordingly, the bail applications were placed before Justice Narayanaswamy.
The Chief Justice will now pick another judge to hear the pleas.