Court orders Lokayukta probe into BSY and family deals

DHNS

Bangalore, 24 March 2011: A special court on Thursday ordered a Lokayukta probe into the land scam charges against Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and his family.

 

Hearing a private complaint filed by advocate Sirajin Basha, the 23rd Additional City Civil and Sessions judge C B Hippargi agreed that there was a “prima facie” case against Yeddyurappa and asked the Lokayukta to investigate the matter and submit a report by May 4, 2011.

 
Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Basha’s counsel C H Hanumantharaya said that the judge ordered for a Lokayukta probe in view of the “gravity” of the charges.

 

A total of five complaints were filed by Basha and another advocate K N Balaraj after Governor gave sanction for prosecution of Yeddyurappa in January.

 

The first charge pertains to the alleged denotification of one acre and 12 guntas (a gunta is 1/40th of an acre) in Rachenahalli village meant for public in 2006 when the Chief Minister also held the portfolio of the Urban Development and the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA).

 

Later, the land was converted from agriculture to non-agriculture category before being sold to Yeddyurappa’s son B Y Vijayendra and his son-in-law Sohan Kumar for Rs 40 lakh. Both, in turn, sold the land to South West Mining Limited for Rs 20 crore, “gaining Rs 19.6 crore illegally”.

 

The second charge is about the “illegal sale” of one acre, six guntas of Survey No 56 in Arkavathy Layout by former Minister Krishnaiah Shetty to Dhavalagiri Developers of which Vijayendra and his brother B Y Raghavendra were directors for Rs 60 lakh against the market value of Rs 8 crore.

 

The third charge is amalgamation of 18 metres of road areas and sites Nos 1 to 10 in Arkavathy Layout by Yeddyurappa on the application of a woman Akkamma and others “without any actual ownership of these sites”.

 

Charges against the Chief Minister were levied under sections of the IPC pertaining to forgery, cheating and impersonation and some sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.