Karnataka High Court on Tuesday dismissed the state chief minister’s plea to quash criminal proceedings against him in an illegal land denotification case.

The single bench of Justice John Michael Cunha also slapped a penalty of Rs 25,000 on B.S. Yediyurappa who had approached the court in 2017 seeking to quash the FIR against him.

It is the second such setback for Yediyurappa in about two weeks after the same court on December 22 dismissed another plea to quash an FIR in a different land denotification case.

This has come as a major blow to Yediyurappa who is already under pressure from his own party lawmakers over cabinet berths and inadequate funds for their constituencies. The Congress immediately demanded his resignation citing the penalty slapped by the court.

In 2010, Yediyurappa, as the then chief minister, had illegally denotified 1.1 acres of land in Matadahalli in Bangalore allegedly for the mother-in-law of his predecessor and Janata Dal Secular leader H.D. Kumaraswamy.

The case was based on a complaint filed with the police wing attached to Karnataka Lokayukta in 2015 by social activist Jayakumar Hiremath.

“I had filed the complaint with substantial evidence of Yediyurappa illegally denotifying the land in favour of Kumaraswamy’s mother-in-law, Vimala, who then transferred it to her son (T.S.) Channappa,” Hiremath told The Telegraph on Wednesday.

Apart from Yediyurappa, who is the first accused, the FIR named Kumaraswamy, Vimala and Channappa and the officials concerned who facilitated the deal. They were slapped with several sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and relevant sections of the penal code.

“The high court’s decision to dismiss his (Yediyurappa) plea is really a boost to my case,” Hiremath added.

Denotification is a process of regularising government land so that it can be sold to a private person or a business establishment.

There are many instances of illegal denotification of land to palm off undervalued land to friends and relatives of politicians.

Justice Cunha had on December 22 dismissed another plea to quash an FIR in a case related to denotifying government land in the tech corridor of Whitefield in east of Bangalore. As the then deputy chief minister in a JDS-BJP coalition headed by Kumaraswamy, Yediyurappa had denotified large tracts of land.

State Congress spokesman and senior lawyer V.S. Ugrappa on Wednesday said Yediyurappa had no moral right to continue in office after being slapped with a fine by the high court.

“Not only did the court dismiss his writ petition, but also slapped a fine on him in a clear sign that there is substance in the case,” Ugrappa told The Telegraph.

“The chief minister tried to misuse the process of law by filing a petition to quash the criminal case. This whole thing is in breach of his oath to uphold the law and Constitution. What right does he have to stay in office after violating every bit of the oath?” Ugrappa said.

While there was no official comment from the BJP, a party functionary said it was up to the chief minister to comment.

The dismissal of his two pleas came at a time he is under tremendous pressure from within the party over his leadership and the involvement of his son B.Y. Vijayendra who has become the “eyes and ears” of his father.

Frequent meetings by disgruntled BJP lawmakers over the rising influence of Vijayendra had rankled the chief minister, especially after some of them called for a change of leadership.

In an effort to calm disgruntled party lawmakers, Yediyurappa on Tuesday announced he would grant Rs 25 crore for the development of each BJP MLA’s constituency.

This was preceded by an ugly spat between him and lawmaker Basangouda Patil Yatnal at a conciliatory meeting on Monday.