Memory chip key evidence in POCSO case against Yediyurappa: CID

Bengaluru: A memory chip recovered from a damaged mobile phone is among the key evidences in the sexual assault case against former chief minister B S Yediyurappa, The Indian Express reported citing sources.

The forensic experts in Gujarat recovered the memory chip containing the ‘full original video’ from the phone which was assumed to be destroyed.

The victim’s mother reportedly recorded on the phone the video of her confronting the BJP leader at his residence on February 2, 2024 over his alleged assault on her daughter after the minor reported the incident to her.

On June 27 the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) filed a chargesheet under Section 8 (sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, 2012, Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 354 A for sexual harassment and sections 204 and also Yediyurappa and three of his associate faces 214 for destroying evidence alongside offering gifts to silence the victim.

CID sources reportedly said that the mobile phone, used by the victim, on which her mother recorded her confrontation with Yediyurappa, is a key documented evidence in the chargesheet running over 730 pages with statements of 76 witnesses.

Detailing the reason for delay in filing the chargesheet which should have been done in 60 days of filing an FIR, CID informed the Karnataka High Court on June 14: “There was no facility in Karnataka to recover the memory chip from the half-burnt phone. There were chances of the memory chip getting damaged. Only the Gujarat FSL (Forensic Science Laboratory) had the facility to recover the chip. They recovered the chip and sent it on May 13.”

CID informed the court about the delay while the court was hearing Yediyurappa’s plea to quash the case.

“The memory chip that was recovered from the damaged phone was transplanted into another device for recovery of the full video (recorded on the day of the incident) at the Karnataka FSL. This is among the key technical evidence in the case,” a CID source reportedly said.

The victim’s mother had reportedly deleted the video from her phone and her social media accounts at the insistence of Yediyurappa’s aides a few days after the incident.

However the original video remained in the phone, which was ‘assumed to be damaged since it had stopped working but the memory chip was recovered,” the outlet reported quoting a source.

CID has also found voice sample of Yediyurappa matching with the voice heard in the video during the mother’s confrontation with him.

Three associates of the Yediyurappa Arun Y M, Rudresh M, and Y Mariswamy are charged under IPC sections 204 and 214 for destroying evidence.