BENGALURU: BJP MLA from Chikpet constituency in Bengaluru, BG Uday aka Uday B Garudachar, has been convicted by a court for not mentioning the criminal case he was facing and details of his wife’s bank account in the affidavit he filed to contest the 2018 Assembly elections. The court has sentenced him to undergo two months of simple imprisonment and has levied a penalty of Rs 10,000. The MLA was granted bail and he will be appealing against the order in the High Court.
HG Prashanth had filed a private complaint against the MLA in 2020, alleging that there were two criminal (cheating) cases against Uday in Ashoknagar police station and Devanahalli, but he (Uday) had not mentioned this in the affidavit he filed before the election commission on April 18, 2018, to contest of the Assembly elections.
Further, the complainant alleged that the MLA had not furnished the bank balance details of his wife, and an investor in Maverick Holdings Pvt Ltd where he was the managing director and was disqualified from the Registrar of Companies. The complainant had prayed for action against Garudachar accusing him of submitting a false affidavit to contest the election.
The accused MLA had contended that the police had filed a B-report (closure report) in one case and the High court had stayed the other. He had also defended that he was unaware of the exact balance in his wife’s bank account as locker charges were debited without his notice. Further, he mentioned that there was no column in the affidavit to mention that he was the director of the private company.
Preeth J, the judge of the Special Court for the trial of cases filed against sitting as well as former MPs/MLAs, pronounced the accused guilty under section 125A of the Representatives of People Act on Thursday, while observing that the accused was bound to furnish information in respect of pendency of the case (Devanahalli) and to furnish correct details of the bank account and also the available balance in his wife’s account as on the date of filing the affidavit.
The court imposed a penalty of Rs 10,000 and ordered that he has to further undergo 15 days of imprisonment if he fails the pay the fine. However, the same court granted him bail as the imprisonment is less than three years and the MLA’s advocates said they will challenge the order in the High Court soon.