Bangalore, May 22: The Hartal Halappa case took another twist on Friday when the Shimoga Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) II court first orderd collection of blood samples from the former minister for a DNA test and later suspended the same till May 24.
The two orders came wihtin the space of four hours. The judge suspended the order after Halappa’s counsel sought time to file an appeal in the high court against it. The former minister has been accused of raping Chandravathi, the wife of his friend Venkatesh Murthy.
“We were expecting the order to be passed in favour of the prosecution this morning, and I was ready with an appeal,” said Ashok Bhat, Halappa’s advocate. “It is too premature to allow a DNA test of my client. We do not know if the stains on the dhoti was that of human blood or semen. There is no forensic report as yet to establish this. In such a volatile situation, the blood sample could be misused by the prosecution. Let the prosecution prove that it was blood stains,” Bhat said.
In the meanwhile, Bhat has decided to file an appeal in the high court to nullify the prosecution’s prayer for the DNA test.
–Agencies–