Karnataka’s former health minister G Puttaswamy Gowda has been acquitted in the PC Dental and Nursing College case by a city civil and sessions court after over seven years since the CBI filed a case.

Designated CBI court judge SV Patil said that the prosecution had failed to prove the offences charged against the former health minister and former chief minister S Bangarappa along with four others ( Dr. RD Pennathur, principal, PC Dental College, Dr. RB Choudhury, chairman, PC Dental College and Nursing Trust, MA Manju MLA and R Suri Babu, personal secretary) who were charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI in 1996 had booked a case against the former health minister and the former chief minister for granting sanction in violation of Karnataka State Universities Act. 1976 for affiliating PC Dental College to the Bangalore University and regularising the excess admissions made by the college in violation of Karnataka Universities Act 1976.

The anti corruption unit of the CBI had filed the case on May 10, 1996 following a Supreme Court directive.

The charge was that the accused had entered into a criminal conspiracy with the objective of obtaining pecuniary advantage by corrupt or illegal means or by otherwise abusing the official position as public servants in the case.