BSY absolved of Upper Bhadra scam
Lokayukta police file ‘B’ report; claim they found no evidence of wrongdoing
The Lokayukta police on Monday filed a ‘B’ report in the investigation into the alleged irregularities in awarding contract for the Upper Bhadra Project by former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa.
S Girish, the investigating officer and Lokayukta DySP, while submitting ‘B’ report into the Court, said there was no evidence of any wrongdoing as alleged in the complaint.
He further submitted that some violations were observed in the financial transactions among Murudeshwara Power Corporation and Dhavalagiri Properties and Sahyadri Healthcare, but these deviations come under Companies Act, 1956, and do not attract the provisons of Prevention of Corruption Act.
The Lokayukta police has written to the Registrar of Companies to pursue the ‘minor’ violations, he stated.
Voluminous report
The investigation report ran into 21,000 pages divided among 38 volumes. The police were investigating the case following a private complaint lodged by JD(S) spokesperson Y S V Datta.
Lokayukta sources pointed out Yeddyurappa merely approved the recommendations of the technical committee which had decided to award the contract to RNS-Jyothi. The committee had not been formed during Yeddyurappa’s tenure but during the rule of Governor Rameshwar Thakur.
Interestingly, the complaint states that the supposed kickbacks for awarding the contract amounted to Rs 13 crore. However, investigations have revealed that the amount transferred for ‘investment’ was actually Rs 16 crore.
Lokayukta police has not considered this as a kickback primarily since the money was transferred to the companies owned by Yeddyurappa’s sons and son-in-law, more than one-and-half years after the contract was awarded.
The Lokayukta Court will next hear the case on February 23. Datta has filed objections to the report.
Case history
The investigation was handed over to the Lokayukta police on August 8, 2011 after Datta filed a private complaint alleging that Yeddyurappa during his tenure as chief minister favoured the joint venture RNS Infrastructure-Jyothi to execute the project, even though the price quoted by them was on the higher side.
Datta had stated that Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Limited (KNNL) had floated a tender for construction, operation and maintenance of Upper Bhadra Lift Irrigation Scheme Package 2 for lifting of 21.5 tmc ft of water for irrigation and drinking water purposes.
The initial amount for the tender quoted in 2003-04 was Rs 550 crore.
The contract was, however, awarded only during 2008-09, when Yeddyurappa was the chief minister.
While 16 firms came forward to obtain tender documents, only five were shortlisted, and eventually only two companies - Kirloskar Brothers Limited and the joint venture company RNS Infrastructure-Jyothi - took part in the tender process.
Datta had alleged that Yeddyurappa awarded the contract to RNS-Jyothi on September 30, 2008 in an arbitrary manner as Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL) as well as an expert committee had opined that both the bidders were not technically qualified to execute the project. Further, Datta alleged that Kirloskar had quoted Rs 1,025 crore for the main offer and also submitted two alternative proposals - one for Rs 1,020 crore and another for Rs 1,006 crore - whereas RNS-Jyothi quoted Rs 1,032 crore.
Blacklisted firm
Also Jyothi was blacklisted by Himachal Pradesh Electricity Supply Company for five years. A sum of Rs 103.20 crore was also paid to RNS-Jyothi by the government, without seeking any reasons for such an increased cost from the originally quoted price of Rs 550 crore.
Datta had also submitted documents to prove that Murudeshwara Power Corporation Limited and RNS Infrastructure were run by the same management.
Payments made
Murudeshwara Power Corporation Limited subsequently made two payments to two companies, a sum of Rs two crore to Sahyadri Health Care and Diagnostic Private Limited and a sum of Rs 11 crore to Dhavalagiri Properties Developers Private Limited.
While the latter is owned by Yeddyurappa’s two sons, B Y Vijayendra and B Y Raghavendra and son-in-law R N Sohan Kumar, Sahyadri Diagnostics lists Raghavendra, Vijayendra and Sagar Healthcare and Diagnostics (Legislator Hemachandra Sagar as Chairman) as shareholders in the company.
A similar ‘B’ report was filed against Home Minister R Ashoka in a private complaint alleging land grab.
Opposition cries foul
The Opposition parties have smelt a rat in the Lokayukta police giving clean chit to former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa in the Upper Bhadra Project scam.
Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Siddaramaiah, said the government had meticulously shunted out ‘honest officials’ from the Lokayukta to favour the implicated persons.
“There have been several instances of police filing ‘B’ report no matter how conclusive the case is. It has been done even in 302 (murder) cases. The police are known for taking advantage of certain provisions in law,” he said.
JD(S) State President H D Kumaraswamy too came down heavily on the Lokayukta police.
He said ‘B’ report had been filed despite availability of evidences to establish that Yeddyurappa’s sons had received a kickback of Rs 19 crore from the company which bagged the contract.
Party spokesperson Y S V Datta, who had filed a private complaint before the Lokayukta, was not available for comments.
